It’s Father Versus Son on Hip-Hop

Note: It’s a tradition in the Holmes household for father (Emory Holmes II) and son (Emory Holmes III) to watch movies together at least once a month.

Last month they saw John Singleton’s drama “Baby Boy,” set in South-Central Los Angeles, which stirred a lively discussion about the “hip-hop aesthetic” in films and other forms of pop culture.

As Holmes II reports: “We were soon involved in a sharp father-and-son debate, which, I think, exposed not only our differing opinions but the conflicting perspectives between our generations as well. His generation, formed between 1965 and 1985 and raised on the conventions of hip-hop, views it as an art form, and my generation, formed between 1945 and ‘65, and raised on the conventions of jazz, R&B; and rock, considers hip-hop a violent trifle.”

Over the weeks, the debate evolved from a question about the existence of a hip-hop aesthetic in American movies into a discussion of whether hip-hop can rise to the level of a serious art form. What follows is an excerpt of that cross-generational discussion.

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Emory Holmes III (Son): Your generation considers hip-hop unintelligent noise with no redeeming cultural or artistic value. But if you believe that film is art, then I can prove to you that hip-hop is art, using the same principles.

Emory Holmes II (Father): Film is certainly art, and hip-hop is certainly not. Even if you argue that film began more than a century ago as no more than a peep show, you would have to admit that it quickly evolved into a major art form.

And it has not hesitated to grapple with the great human themes with which all serious art forms must grapple: What is the value of life? Who is man? What are his values? And what is his responsibility to his society? What has hip-hop accomplished in its first 20 years? And what great themes does it grapple with?

Son: Hip-hop has tackled many different topics, such as religion, survival, oppression, poverty, the desire for success, love, hate, sexuality and man’s relation to God. Hip-hop uses imagery, music and dialogue like movies do. For some reason, primarily money, contemporary hip-hop has become impoverished, and the importance of having skills has diminished. What a hip-hopper means by ‘skills’ is a virtuoso mix of poetic delivery, rhyme pattern and a barrage of crafty punch lines. Now all you hear on the radio is a bunch of senseless garbage that sells like hotcakes, so people do little to change it. Artful hip-hop has difficulty getting exposure because record companies consider it to be unmarketable. So many rhymers, who take it seriously and don’t want to compromise for a buck, usually have to go the independent route. This is similar to the film indie system and the directors who complain about the commercialized film garbage that the studios put out so frequently.

Father: But is hip-hop capable of producing great art? And where are its Eisensteins and Coppolas--its important innovators, cinematic and otherwise?

Son: Sergei Eisenstein and the early Russian directors believed that you can captivate an audience with multiple events of eye candy, one after another. This is similar to a hip-hop performance whose multiple meanings let a listener’s imagination run wild. These philosophical values and multiple meanings are not just in hip-hop--they can be appreciated in the works of Francis Ford Coppola, who is known for creating films that are layered with different philosophical meanings which help open up your mind as a thinker.

Father: Coppola? Aren’t filmmakers like Spike Lee or John Singleton more representative of hip-hop’s core visual and philosophical aesthetic than artists like Coppola?

Son: With the exception of films such as “Krush Groove” [1985 rap musical] there are few examples of a hip-hop film. Most people think that films from Spike Lee and John Singleton are hip-hop just because there is violence, black people and rap music. Since hip-hop has no color and it is all about the skills, then I consider films from Spike Jonze, Melvin Van Peeples and Quentin Tarantino to possess qualities that embody a hip-hop aesthetic. Spike Jonze’s “Being John Malkovich,” Melvin Van People’s “Story of a Three Day Pass,” and Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” all contain well thought-out dialogue, mixed with creative editing, and interesting story development. The skill levels that were needed to create these art pieces you will find as essential elements for the hip-hop culture.

Father: Isn’t hip-hop Afrocentric and deeply concerned with issues of race and race resentment?

Son: Hip-hop has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with skills. Yes, John Singleton and Spike Lee are considered hip-hop filmmakers, but mostly because they are black. I respect them because they elevate the art form through relevant issues, regardless of their race. Since it is all about the skills, and not race, I consider a lot of film makers that aren’t black hip-hop-type filmmakers, even though they don’t possess the elements that would make their films hip-hop.

Father: Most of the work I’ve seen from directors who claim to be working from a hip-hop point of view have produced work that is offensive and banal.

Son: Well, I feel that most of the work that people consider examples of hip-hop are not. They are only the products of salesmen, and their ultimate hunger and drive is for money. They are using hip-hop to gain money, sex, drugs and power.

Father: Are you saying that hip-hop is not concerned with money, sex, drugs and power?

Son: Well hip-hop is not the same as rock ‘n’ roll. It inherited the same type of rebellious image, but sex, drugs, money and power were not a part of the hip-hop aesthetic. That is one reason why Tupac [Shakur] and Biggie [Smalls] were looked down upon in the hip-hop community--because of their promotion of excessive materialism.

Father: Are you kidding? Tupac and Biggie have been made into icons of hip-hop culture.

Son: . A majority of their music isn’t thought-provoking past these three topics, which are violence, women and money. In hip-hop culture the highest attainments are not the things that you are tempted by, but the things that you can create which can elevate yourself and those around you.

Father: Most Americans would say that hip-hop is surly, vulgar, low-minded, unsophisticated, violent, irredeemable dreck, but you seem to be saying it is some sort of high minded spiritual calling-- and the numbers of drive-bys, murders and other criminal activities associated with hip-hop seem the very end of hope for our communities. Besides that, rap is bad art; it’s drivel.

Son: Hip-hop signifies an entire culture, while rap is just a small part of that. Drive-bys, murders, and other criminal activities, are associated with rap music, most specifically gangsta rap. Gangsta rap is a low minded division of hip-hop that focuses on the difficulties of street life and coping with impoverished circumstances. It is the expression of choice for troubled youth. The hip-hop purists look down on gangsta rap because of its lack of variety and its promotion of superficial values. Hip-hop has this same criticism of contemporary film because of its lack of truth and reality and its promotion of glamorous rich lifestyles

Father: Lack of truth is the only sin in that list of charges. Telling stories about the wealthy and the glamorous is one of the most pleasurable diversions in art. It is only falsity that is unforgivable for the artist, and falsity is at the core of every bad art, every bad artist. You say that hip-hop has superiority over film because hip-hop believes that film is vain and shallow and only worthy of ridicule. But every art form makes fun of the other. And at its best an art form is a mirror and a window for the thing it looks at. No one gave a more wicked or more serious and pleasurable critique of television than did movie writer Paddy Chayeskfy in his 1976 film “Network.” It was not only a satire about power and media and people who live rich and glamorous lives, it was also a piece of visual and narrative music, a surreal burlesque that managed to be utterly true and utterly absurd at the very same time. That’s what great art can do.

But let me ask you this. If you had a single choice between a world of hip-hop and a world of cinema, which would you choose?

Son: Personally, I rate hip-hop as a higher art form than cinema because hip-hop is more accessible than cinema. You can listen at your house, in your car; wherever you go, hip-hop can go with you. With cinema you have to go through much more trouble in order to get exposed to it--you have to rent a film or attend the theater. I enjoy cinema, but if I were to make a choice between the two I would have to choose hip-hop.