Underground Hip Hop

Underground hip hop or underground rap as it's commonly & collective term given to all the hip hop music production beyond the commercial circuit. Beyond the music, graffiti, b-boying or break dancing, turntablism and beat boxing are modes through which it is promoted. The artists of this genre are the very competitive counterparts of their well established commercial counterparts. Obviously enough, there exists a difference in the subject matter of these artistes who tend to focus more on issues such as family, politics and relationships. They are surprisingly self-critical and usually more introspective. Their style is diverse, emerging from battle rapping. They use jazz, funk, electronica and techno genres to derive their distinct technique. Also, traditional hip hop music is greatly popular for its beats that can be used by those who follow underground hip hop.

Curiosity gets the better out of us when we see that a tradition that is only two decades old has been misinterpreted and criticized vastly. How underground hip hop music gets so poorly understood by those who are outside the community. To begin with we must highlight the inverting prevalent in their language. For instance in their lyrics the African American community expresses good as bad, cool as hot and ill as well. Also, there exists no other genre of music that is quite as similar. Underground hip hop has permeated all the genres of popular music. Despite its rich content and popularity, it is misunderstood and ignored as much as it is loved, appreciated and adored. This is because of the blatant manner in which underground hip hop deplores commercialization. The evils of commercialization have sucked much of the richness of content from the underground hip hop songs, letting to the rise of rough annotations of lust same as the descriptions of the dominant culture. For instance we can look at the lyrics of Nelly, a renowned rap artist that goes "it's getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes". Also no matter how sympathetic the drama of ghetto driven existence might seem, it's almost invisible to the proud dominant culture. The understanding is also vague to the world because the rhymes are really not written for them. It's meant for the members of the communities from which spring the underground hip hop artists. This isn't protest music, though it is often misunderstood to be that. The audience is the friends and acquaintances of the performers who speak the same dialect and comprehend the underground hip hop language and slang completely. This obviously leaves very little space for any kind of misunderstandings or misconceptions within the group. However to outsiders the meanings shall always remain partial and hence there shall exist a prejudice against the underground hip hop artists. The underground hip hop artists also have a sense of subtlety to their credit. There is no glitz and glamour that decorate their messages that are usually about the sadness that makes for much of the existence- as it is seen by them- around in the ghetto. Infact, in the conclusion of his documentary The Color of Fear, Lee Mun Wah says that perhaps the biggest difference between underground hip hop and commercial rap artist is in the matter of focus. The former's attention is on the pain while the latter rests its success on pleasure. There is no quick cure for the tough problems of racism, poverty or injustice. But there would be no cure at all, if we don't focus on understanding the turmoil these underground hip hop artists try to voice. Much of the truth of the world outside the bubble in which we thrive is stated through the rich language and charming beats of underground hip hop. If only we'd listen and not just hear and watch without only merely seeing.