Jigga Man: The New American Dream is becoming old news

I recently received an email announcing a concert commemorating the release of Jay Z first album, Reasonable Doubt. Widely regarded as an unheralded hip hop classic in the mainstream, that true Jigga zealots eschew as possibly his most skillful display of the talent and intelligence he later "dumbed down" in order to "double his dollars", the celebratory concert is being promoted as Hova embodying the new American Dream. Hip hop culture seems to be running with this idea. I most recently found my boy adorned in an Ecko tee-shirt, boldly plastering the statement, "I am the American Dream" across the front.

Indeed, promoting Jay Z as the new American Dream, while celebrating his only album that, at least in retrospect, can't be classified as a mainsteam version of Jigga, is another audacious proclamation of hip hop's omnipresence. The drug rap that Jigga helped to popularize with this '96 album, through songs such as "Can't Knock the Hustle", now has a dominant hold on the industry. As ghostwriter, and underground legend Mad Skillz accurately proclaims "All you cats rap about is cars and crack."

People like Jigga Man should heed the words of artists like Skillz. Hip hop's lack of innovation and diversity these days makes me wonder if its nearing it's end. I was delighted to hear that one of my favorite emcees, Nas will be releasing an album called "Hip Hop is Dead." While I'm confident that Nas is alluding to the art form's almost complete departure from its roots, as opposed to prophesying about the end of its corporate profitablity, I for one am not uncomfortable in asserting that its mass appeal will soon decline if CEO's like Jay Z don't revamp its glorification of nihilism.

That's not to say that gangsta/crack rap and naked misogyny won't have an audience. The underground mix-tape scene isn't going anywhere. However, I know I'm not the only person that's getting tired of seeing the same old thing. I've been tired of it for over 7 years, but it's only been within the past year or two that I've essentially stop paying attention to most of it. And that's primarily because I got tired of seeing neo-minstrels test the limits of vulgarity. I finally realized I had to give up on mainstream hip hop when I heard 3-6 Mafia made a song called "Let's Plan a Robbery."

To each his own. That's my philosophy. However hip hop's overrepresentation of ignorant black people is bound to diminish in the next few years. I don't mean this in an offensive way. The choice to exhude ignorance as an entertainer is obviously a profitable venture, a way out of desperate situations for many, and an exercise in personal freedom. However, middle class negroes hoping to follow in the footsteps of their college educated peer Lil Jon should soon realize that 3-6 Mafia's Oscar might be the climactic point for the idiocy that is unconsciously legitimized and promoted in mainstream American music. In other words, minstrels better milk it for what it's worth while it's still here.

I suspect that one of two things will happen in the near future:

1) Hip hop minstrelsy will become increasingly diversified; or
2) The Kanye Wests will take over and push the 3-6 Mafia's and 50 cents out the mainstream

I see this happening within 3-5 years. I happen to think that the latter is more likely, and companies might finally be realizing that there are limits to the dumbing down of commercially successful music. You want to dumb down to your audience, not be dumber THAN them. Part of me feels that people like 50 and his entourage suspect that the same thing is happening, at least domestically. Hence the childish simplistic marketing ploy of beef. His popularity abroad doesn't appear to be waning, proably because no one in Portugal knows what the hell he means most of the time.

The upside-down popular culture with no regard for norms, public decency and shame that hippies, other white liberals, and black entertainers like Rick James (R.I.P.) created in the aftermath of the turmoil of the late '60s, before hip hop babies like myself were born, was the original version of "wildin' out" that we see being promulgated in hip hop entertainment today. This is the only trickle down effect that's occured in recent decades, a cultural one, not an economic one. Ironically, very few young adults seem to be interested in wildin' out in the club anymore, unlike the Studio 54 days. Then again, not all young adults are ready to behave as such, given the inundation of childish mores in popular culture that serve to keep us in our teen years in mind only. All statistics show how everyone's getting married later, having kids later, and maturing later (myself included) these days. Last time I was in the club, it was clearly much more about posting with a drink in hand. In fact, from what I hear and see (from the few visits I've made to NYC clubs in recent months), it seems like a lot of people are throughly bored in the club nowadays.

Thus, Jigga Man may be celebrating on the outside, but if the absolute flop of Young Jeezy's Thug Motivation suggests anything, the Can't Knock the Hustle era's dominance of hip hop will soon be over. The only hustle record companies might not be able to knock is that of Latino immigrants crashing the borders. Reggaeton anyone?