BadSeed Blog

Sunday, May 1

Hip Hop culture rules the streets and halls of high schools around the world, so the truth is that this was inevitable:

No longer just for rappers and street toughs, gold teeth have gone to the girls. For prom or a day in the park, girls from the Bay Area to the Bayou to the Bronx are accessorizing their smiles. Bay Area makers of the removable mouthwear say teenage girls are the fastest-growing segment of their customer base.

So, the inexorable march of hip hop bling bling culture continues to prove that it knows no bounds. 16 year-old girls imitating pimps and hustlers at their senior prom? Without a doubt. Do these youngsters actually know any hustlers? I seriously doubt it. But they've seen enough videos to know how they want to act.

But also, the fact that mainstream media is ready, even eager, to recognize and cover these trends is notable. Last week, the New York Times ran a feature on an infamous graffiti artist known as Revs. The article was in depth and had historical information about Graf culture, icons, and history. Hip hop has earned an undeniable status as focal point of modern American culture, enough so that trends like gold- and ice-grills on teen girls earn feature article status in major newspapers on a regular basis.

The power of hip hop is massive. Should that fact matter when it comes to the images and stories that rap music focuses on? Do popular artists have a responsibility to the hip hop nation - to youth particularly? Or is art just art, self-expression not to be burdened with the weight of potential influence it may have?

Beyond philosophical questions, one major issue is that popular rap artist are controlled for the most part by multinational corporations and have little say in the overall commercial version of hip hop. Media monoliths like Clear Channel and Viacom (MTV) - who control access to and content that reaches most of America - could care less how rap music influences children, so why should Li'l Jon?

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