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Today’s Hip Hop has become a multi money making venture; a far cry from the genre that Afrika Bambaataa first imagined when first using the term hip hop to describe the subculture that hip hop music belongs to.
Over time hip hop has lost its ‘soulful’ content and now meaningless catchy hooks and ill-mannered lyrics seem to dominate the mainstream labels artists. What we have today is not really hip hop.
When hip hop releases developed into something that was decided on in corporate boardrooms, the ‘soul’ or knowledge contained in hip hop rhymes went away, or though it seems.
When many think of the hip hop icon Tupac Shakur, they see or remember the ‘Death Row Era’ Tupac (2Pac). The wild untamable THUG Pac; when in looking at the entire man Tupac Shakur we see an activist, a thought provoking artist who could bring the streets news and pain to his rhymes. He wrote about things we all could relate to. Many loved Tupac because Tupac loved many and cared about many. Tupac made us think thru his rhymes, made us seek knowledge and at times he even comforted us with his rhymes.
In today’s hip hop scene there are a few artists who bring meaningful messages to their rhymes; but the vast majority of what we hear on the radio and most of the music ‘pushed’ by major labels is a mindless mess of dribble.
The In The Shadow of an Icon project by Thug Life Army Records takes a look at artists who grew and learned out of what Tupac spoke about and cared about – the life struggles of the real people in hip hop culture; the hood or street people. It is meant to stimulate and up build communities instead of tearing down the community; in the way that hip hop seems to do today.
The In The Shadow of an Icon project has an immense ‘cast’ of over 25 artists, all hailing from different areas of the nation. All of whom can bring their life experiences with them in their flows. Thought provoking and knowledgeable, this project is meant to bring hip hop back to the motivation period where it first began.
Touching on topics with a meaning and relevance to the ‘street’, this project portrays true hip hop, updated and put forth by some of the best ‘underground’ or overlooked artists in hip hop today.
As ‘mainstream’ hip hop gravitates to a point where many can not relate to their music, it is stimulating to see such a project put forth. Hopefully to motivate and inform those who listen to it and to prove that hip hop is not dead – most are just looking in the wrong places for it.
Tupac said “I’m not saying I’m gonna change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world”, and thru this project we can see that Tupac has indeed ‘sparked’ many people to try to change things and have followed his lead of truth and reality in hip hop.
In the Shadow of an Icon is available nationwide and also on line at all major download points and thru the Thug Life Army Records web site at www.ThugLifeArmyRecords.com or any of the following
http://www.TupacTribute.com or http://www.2PacTribute.com or http://www.tlarecords.com
2Pac also said ‘Don’t be a playa hater, be an innovator”, and that is what this project is trying to be. Check it out.
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