KRS-One's rant above is a relic of a lost time, when making socially conscious hip-hop had just as much of a shot at being profitable as virtually unconscious music (unsurprisingly, it was taken on the set of a video for his Stop the Violence Movement project). I like plenty of music about absolutely nothing (much of it literally containing commands to work and shake your body), but I mourn the loss of variety. NO ONE would say this today, because it simply isn't true: you don't get paid as much if you say something as opposed to nothing.
And speaking of idealism, there's so much of it in this video, too, which comes from the set of a video of yet another KRS-One-related project, H.E.A.L (directed by Ted Demme!).:
Come for the naive hope, stay for Big Daddy Kane's pink sequined baseball cap.
Both of these come from a late '80s/early '90s VHS series called Slammin' Rap Video Magazine. There's a YouTube channel with many of the set's offerings (though it is frustratingly incomplete -- I uploaded both of the videos above myself, and M.I.A. is the interview they did with H.W.A. that I'm DYING to see). Nonetheless, it's worth checking out for a flashback to a more positive, less PR-controlled time when people wore their lack of media training on their sleeves (see YoYo's adorable babbling). L'Trimm's entry might be my fav, though, especially when they explain why their name is French.
Sigh...back when rap didn't just depress me. Oh, what used to be....
I think I had most of the rappers shown in that video on YO! MTV Raps trading cards. Now I must find those!
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This one is better than the previous one. Good work then!
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