Hip-Hop is Another Word for Love

I think one of the reasons I love hip-hop and am so passionate about its music is much deeper than the lyricism, the clothing, and the beats. I own a t-shirt by the company Stampede that boasts the words "Language, Culture, and Respect." Those three words embody what hip-hop and hip-hop culture is. Yet the one word that really stands out amongst the three is "respect." The people I have met that are integral parts of hip-hop have shown us fans nothing but love. The first hip-hop show I ever went to was Jedi Mind Tricks, Iyan Anomolie, and Reef The Lost Cauze when I was a junior in high school. Granted these guys are extremely underground, but they showed the crowd so much love that night. I purchased a CD from Iyan himself and he sincerely thanked me for purchasing his music. My buddy Colin gave Reef a hug because he was so blown away by his music, and Reef hugged him right back. I will always remember that night because of how genuine those artists were. The same trend continued at other concerts I attended. Kid Cudi came across so thankful that he was performing before a sold out crowd at the House of Blues in Cleveland when I saw him. I have seen The Roots twice and both times they interacted with the crowd , taking time to shake members of the audience's hands and throw out a drum head or two. Even though The Roots are giants in the hip-hop world, they still took time out to thank their fans.

All this "respect" culminated when I attended The Reflection Eternal Tour in Columbia, Mo this past Monday. Headlining the show was the always energetic Talib Kweli and his beat-making side kick, Hi-Tek. They brought with them two other acts that could headline their own show in the supergroup Slaugtherhouse and the timeless Slum Village. After Slaughterhouse performed, I saw them exit the stage to go congregate in the lobby. So naturally, I followed. The group stayed for about 45 minutes just signing t-shirts in the lobby. In one of the coolest moments of my life, I was able to shake each of the group member's hands and have a short conversation with them as they signed my Slaugtherhouse t-shirt. I told Joe Budden that the intro on Escape Route was tough, and he responded me by thanking me and telling me it was one of his favorite songs as well. Crooked I joked around with me, telling me he was going to write a novel on my shirt, which he did. He even told me Circle Of Bosses is coming to us in September. Joell Ortiz wrote his signature "Yaowa" on my shirt, looked at me to see if I noticed, and then started cracking up. Royce dapped me up and when I told him "Shake This" was my shit, he looked a bit shocked that I knew that track and then genuinely thanked me. I walked away from those guys feeling amazing, because they showed me respect like I was one of their boys. I then went outside and met Hi-Tek, and the first thing he did was thank my roommates and I for coming to see his show. But that is just how hip-hop is. It isn't the facade of guns, killing, and degrading women. It has never been that. Real hip-hop has always been about love, respect, and having fun. Slaughterhouse embodied that when I met them, and it gives me even more optimism about the future of hip-hop as it climbs towards become what it truly was meant to be. And I'm out.