Listen, you may not know this, but because of the kinetic bond that we share through the ethernet cable connected to your computer, I'll let you in on a little secret: There are major differences between Hip Hop and Rap.
Rap is that commercial shit played on the same-song-every-four-hours radio which usually lacks substance, creativity, and musical value. Rap is Vanilla Ice, Puff Daddy, Salt N' Pepa, and the like. Generally, rappers spout elementary school rhymes over disco hits from the 1970s, lack lyrical content and appeal to the masses, often selling millions of albums and guest hosting Yo! MTV Raps while performing on the David Letterman show. On the flip side, Hip Hop is a culture that is musically innovative and original, while maintaining a lyrical integrity that is engaging, intriguing, and powerful. Hip Hop is also grassroots in form and revolutionary in format. So how does one tell the difference? Well my friends, if one can feel the music in one's chest and in one's bones, then it's Hip Hop. If not, then you're probably listening to rap.
The two groups reviewed here are all unquestionably on the Hip Hop side of the equation. Common represents true Hip Hop from the jazzy to the hard, the poetics to the politics, and if there was a term in Webster's Dictionary that defined the essence of what I believe to be Hip Hop, then next to it would be a photo of Company Flow holding up a middle finger, with the caption below reading "INDEPENDENT AS FUCK." Can you see it?
