>Anyone who claims License to Ill is hip-hop is fronting - I don't care who
>they are. Such claims are revisionist history. At the time of its
>release it was widely recognized as a jokey joke from a gang of upperclass
>brats.
>JP
Once again, JP, I agree with you here, but only to a point. Licensed to Ill
was most certainly a send-up of rap, but as far as it, or the Beasties, not
being taken seriously as artists, I refer you to Daryl McDaniels of Run-DMC,
who once said on touring with the Boys: "From day one they were killing.
Even when nobody knew them. It could be a completely black, Negro, Southern
crowd there to see Run-D.M.C. and Whodini, but when the Beasties came on it
wasn’t like people were walking around getting hot dogs—they really paid
attention to them white boys."
And Chuck D has been quoted as saying: "They came out to our radio show at
WBAU (in Long Island), trying to prove to the rap market that they were
viable white kids. You really couldn't doubt their legitimacy 'cause they
were down with Def Jam and Run-D.M.C., and the beats were right. And as long
as they talked about white boys and beer and stuff like that, who could
knock their topics."
These quotes may be revisionist history, but if so, I would say that's not
giving DMC or Chuck D too much credit. And as far as the class issue is
concerned, that's a sword that cuts both ways. Public Enemy, Run-DMC, Eric B
& Rakim, De La Soul, LL Cool J, Tribe Called Quest, Ice Cube, and Dr. Dre
all came from working middle-class (or better) homes. Does this mean that
their contribution to rap should be less significant because they really
didn't come from "the streets?" Or if you say that because they're black,
their contributions are inherently more credible, doesn't that smack of
racism? I guess it comes down to an oppositional argument--Class vs.
Race--and I'm not so sure that class has been less significant in the
development of the rap genre.
Lance . . .
PS--Found the Beasties first Def Jam 12" ("She's On It")--with LL Cool J's
Radio stuck inside!!--Run-DMC's Raising Hell, and Eric B & Rakim's "Move the
Crowd" 12" (inside of an Afrika Bambaataa sleeve) for two dollars each in a
Lafayette, Louisiana junk store this weekend. Life is good.
