WHAT IS HIP-HOP to you by KENNI MAY

This is something my homie Ken May wrote for me almost ten years ago, RIP Homie!!!

WHAT IS HIP-HOP TO YOU? IS IT SOMETHING THAT CAN BE EMBRACED AS MEMORIES OF AN EVENT THAT HAPPEN WITHIN A SPAN OF A LIFETIME- FROM ADOLELESCENT TO YOUNG/OLDER ADULTS/ IT HAS BECOME A CULTURE THAT HAS ENGULFED DIFFERENT RACES AROUND THE WORLD. FROM BREAKDANCING TO BENTLEYS, THE HIP-HOP INFRASTRUCTURE MADE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR A GENERATION OF KIDS/ YOUNG ADULTS WHO MAKES UP AN ESTIMATED 1 BILLION YEARLY IN ALL SALES.

HIP-HOP REPRSENTS GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN WHEN THE GROUNDS ARE ROUGH, IN OTHER WORDS AGAINST ALL ODDS.SINCE THE MAYLAY OF AT THE SOURCE AWARDS, ALL EYES HAVE BEEN ON HIP-HOP; THE WAY THEY LABEL THE CULTURE AND WHAT IS THERE TO COME.
WHETHER PARENTS PLAY IT OR TRY NOT TO LET THEIR CHILDREN LISTEN TO IT, THERE ARE MORE THAN ONE WAY RAPPERS AND EMCEES MAKE OUT OF HARD TIMES THROUGH LEGAL AND ILLEGAL MEANS. NOTICE ON ONE END YOU HAVE AN ARTIST SUCH AS GANGSTARR WHO LEFT BOSTON TO GO TO NEW YORK WITH NOTHING BUT SKILLS AND A DREAM TO BECOME ONE OF THE MOST RESPECTED ARTISTS IN THE INDUSTRY.

ON THE FLIPSIDE, YOU HAVE SNOOP WHO BECAME LARGER THAN LIFE BY HIS LYRICS REPESENTING TALES FROM HIS HOOD. BUT, HE LAID HIS FIRST LYRICS DOWN FOR THE DEEP COVER SOUNDTRACK WHILE HE WAS IN THE PENNITENTARY, WHICH WAS A SUCCESSFULL. NOW HIP-HOP CAN BE WHATEVER YOU CHOOSE FOR IT TO BE. BUT BEFORE YOU DO, THINK ABOUT A CULTURE THAT REPRESENTS A VOICE OF A GENERATION