He’s wearing a wide rimmed hat and flashy sneakers so what’s he doing emerging from the Synergy house garden on a Saturday afternoon?
You may have seen him around campus lately, or, if you’re from The Bay Area, you may have picked him out years ago. Welcome, hip-hop hippie, to mainstream culture. With Jay-Z and Kanye West headlining two iconic hippie fests this summer and the hipster on his long-awaited decline, society is ready and eager for the convergence of these kindred sub-cultures.
Last year, I was surprised when a hemp-clad male friend pierced his ears and, rejecting a pair of wooden earrings from India, opted for a pair of over-sized rhinestones from Claire’s. To Loomis-bred ears entering the halls of Mathias, that thumping sound you hear is a bass. And don’t be surprised when, this year, you hear as much Saul Williams as Old Crow Medicine Show, and it’s coming from the same dorm room.
Artists like the San-Francisco based Michael Franti have tapped into this overlapping fan base since the mid-nineties. In many ways, there could be no better epi-center for the hip-hop hippie than San Francisco, with its equal parts urban and eco-friendly community. Given common political beliefs in pacifism and social justice (not to mention a shared penchant for weed) the confluence of hip-hop and hippie cultures seems a likely progression. It isn’t even new to CC. We witness the intersection of the two cultures in the wildly entertaining slam-poetry competitions every year.
It comes as a surprise, then, the level of controversy surrounding Jay-Z’s performance at the Glastonbury Music Festival this summer. Responses ranged from bemusement to disgust. Noel Gallegher of Oasis’ claimed no one would show up. Despite criticism from stuffy old people, Jay-Z’s set was, in fact, met with enthusiastic acclaim from a packed crowd. He opened with a cover of Oasis’ “Wonder Wall” in a spot-on rebuke to critics. One reviewer said of the politically charged performance that followed, “For a second you could have sworn that the world had changed a little bit, just like it did after Bob Dylan went electric at Newport in 1965.” (melodytrip.com)
In this light, the hip-hop hippie resembles an angel sent to rescue youth culture from hipster apathy just in time for the upcoming election. So, let us do our part to hasten the rise of the hip-hop hippie. Bump Immortal Technique as you cook up some quinoa and help boost Jay-Z’s Glastonbury show to one million views on youtube. While Kanye West’s tardy start-time put him out of favor at Bonnarroo, his presence there reminds us that the times, they are a changin’.
by Artie Niederhoffer
[this is good] Tell to me, please - where I can read about it?
Posted by: Dwayne Sandoval | 05/19/2010 at 03:18 AM