"I've always been a big fan of Run-DMC. With DMC coming to Tech, I had to be here," said James Cummings, senior international studies major. In starting his lecture, DMC talked about the notion of 'old-school' hip-hop music.
"It's just like classic rock, old school when it comes to hip-hop isn't a time period, it means better than anything that will be made after it," McDaniels said.
McDaniels began with how he got into music, starting from hearing a cassette of hip-hop while he was a boy in Hollis, N.Y.
McDaniels also went over the beginnings of hip-hop, from when DJs would come together and play for people in local parks and playgrounds. Continuing from there, McDaniels described the universal nature of hip-hop music.
"Hip-hop gives you the total being of our existence," McDaniels said.
McDaniels explained how hip-hop rose into its popularity.
"It was an epidemic, but the reason hip-hop did what it did was because it was good, and it was universal, and it was relatable to every one of us," McDaniels said.
While McDaniels' focus was on the history of hip-hop music, McDaniels also stopped to challenge current rappers to expand their work.
"It was always about innovation, and that's what's missing from rap music today: creativity. You're supposed to be creative and innovative about it," McDaniels said.
McDaniels also lamented the sometimes repetitive content of current music.
"We used to rap about cars and jewelry and girls and sex, but there was a difference with us," McDaniels said. "When we did it, we were rapping about things we wanted. We'd rap about it for one record and then never again. You 'Mr. Current Popular Rapper' selling all your albums, you're on your eighth album and you're talking about cars and rims and stuff," McDaniels said.
McDaniels tried to explain the differences between time periods in hip-hop.
"The difference between the old school and so called new school of hip hop is that the MC, the artist, played the records, and because of the sacredness of the culture, the artform, we cared about the audience more than we cared about the dollars," McDaniels said.
Despite McDaniels' less-than- happy outlook on the current state of hip-hop, he noted the ability of the music to positively benefit peoples' lives.
"What I'm trying to get at is that this consciousness, the way of thinking, living, breathing being creative, it didn't create just rappers and producers. It created journalists, writers, authors, doctors, lawyers, designers, and directors and the list goes on and on," McDaniels said. "The same thing we did with the music we did with the world. We started changing people's lives because we were providing them information."
While wrapping up his lecture, McDaniels remained upbeat about the future of hip-hop music because of its strong roots and history.
"If hip-hop died tomorrow, there's still going to be hip-hop out there. Hip-hop has a power to change and make everything better. It's more powerful than politics and religion combined," McDaniels said.
You might be interested in... rappers, hip-hop, dmc
