Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Rap and the Hall of Fame

News Flash! Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were just inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame as the first hip hop group. In my rock history classes I find that students are not in agreement on the place hip hop has in the canon of rock and roll. Has hip hop even been around long enough to earn a place in a hall of fame? Is rap and hip hop more distinct from rock than R & B was from early rock and roll? If so is it not at the beginning of its own canon separate from rock? The cultural underpinning of hip hop is certainly as distinct as the the rise of the adolescent class was for rock and roll. Should there be a hip hop hall of fame separate from rock and is rock now destined to become stale as previous musics have when a new musical style coupled with mass media gains enough energy to break free from its host musical substrate?

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