What is Pure Hip Hop or Hip Hop

Music business executive Londyn McGrew answers the question what is pure Hip Hop. The original post appeared on Facebook and is used with permission. To maintain the authenticity and integrity of Londyn's response, very little editing was done. With that being said you may find a few spelling or grammatical errors. Remember to focus on the content of what Londyn has presented as that's the essence and what is most significant. 

It’s all hip hop in a sense because it all derived from the same place…It has just evolved into different forms, sounds and styles from its original origin. I look at hip hop music like humans. 

Humans do not look the same as they used to 20, 30, 50, 70, 100 or 200 years ago. Human’s features have changed, language has changed, fashion has changed and the subject matters we talk about have changed. But what has not changed about humans is that we are flesh and blood humans that bleed the same blood. That’s how I look at it when it comes to the hip hop music. Underneath all the different styles of hip hop and rap music (if you want to separate the two), it all birthed from the same place. 

Some people talk about conscious stuff, some talk about the streets, some talk about girls, some talk about political and social issues and some talk about partying. Those kats back in our day like Eric B & Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, KRS 1, Special Ed, African Bambada, UTFO, Sugar Hill Gang, Run DMC, Kurtis Blow, Cool Mo Dee, Heavy D and the countless other talked about the same stuff. It’s just a little more extreme now and the music has crossed over, in which the most of the old school hip hop artist did not have the opportunity to do except for Run DMC. Run DMC was hip hop that crossed over but just because it crossed over did not make it less hip hop. That took hip hop/rap music into the pop world thus changing the whole hip hop industry. 

That’s just my opinion.

Londyn McGrew