Hip Hop legend KRS-One has always been an advocate and leader for the culture. The Bronx native is hopeful about the future of Hip Hop and has a vision where a clear distinction is made between the culture of Hip Hop and the music. Rolling out spoke with KRS-One about the future of Hip Hop and his thoughts on C. Delores Tucker
What do you want to see from hip-hop in the next 50 years?
For the next 50 years of Hip Hop I’d like to see Hip Hop spelled with a capital H. One of the major reasons why we are being exploited is because we are being exploited as a music genre. As long as Hip-Hop stays a music genre spelled in lower case you can exploit the genre. You can name it whatever you want, put its image out any way you want. The minute you start recognizing Hip Hop as the global culture that it is already, all of that corporate exploitation goes to the side. You can’t exploit a culture, you can exploit a music genre but you can’t exploit a culture. Cultures have rules, laws, principles, precedents, customs, traditions that have to be upheld or you are defaming the culture. You are slandering our global name.
So we ask after August 11th, after Hip Hop turns 50 that you begin to spell Hip Hop as a proper noun. Capital H lowercase ip, space, capital H lowercase op. That’s the correct spelling of Hip Hop. If you spell Hip Hop in lowercase you are referring to the music genre. If you are referring to Hip Hop as culture we are asking that you give it the same grammatical respect that you would give any culture.
Was C. Delores Tucker right about the music?
No. I know what the question implies. In respect to our mother, I would say yes from an elders perspective she was right. From a civil rights, Black Church, NAACP perspective she was right. I am articulate, sensitive and knowledgeable about the way she saw it. So I give that respect. A lot of my elders don’t agree with a lot of what we are about. But, I understand why. So from an elders perspective I say yes. Now , was it progressive, was it effective, was it sensitive? No, no and no and that goes for Rosa Parks too who sued Outkast. All of the 60’s Civil Rights leaders seemed to have it in for us. The only three that I can say personally had our back through the whole 80’s, 90’s and now are Dr. Betty Shabazz, Minister Louis Farrakhan and Stokley Carmichael Kwame Toure my personal teacher. From Kwame Toure’s point of view she was wrong. From Malcom X’s point of view she was wrong, from the Nation of Islams point of view she was wrong. The reason she was wrong is because I exist.
