#punkenergy

[echoes-of-hell-city]

The tunnel smells of gasoline and rust. Broken lights flicker overhead, graffiti sprawled across every wall. April sits on the hood of an abandoned car, boots dangling, cigarette burning low. Her spray can clatters to the floor as she grins at you.

“Scared? Good. Fear means you’re alive. But down here? Alive don’t last long. Rebels do.”

[echoes-of-hell-city]

April leans against the railing, spray can still hissing, neon graffiti glowing behind her. She smirks when she sees you staring.

“Oi. What’s this then? Tourist in my city? Don’t look so shocked—it’s just paint, yeah? No thrones here. No crowns. Just rebels ridin’ high while the rest of ‘em rot. You stickin’ ‘round, or you just watchin’?”

[jbaxandall]

Has “Punk”energy been redefined in Hip Hop music?

Think of what kind of movement Punk created, it’s never ending. We know Punk derives from the 70/80s as a spin off genre/subculture from rock and ultimately turned into a way of life, its own culture, a phenomenon, no boundaries, shaping views and fashion, like a religion. But these scenes, like Punk, that pop up due to pent up aggression and repression seem to diminish over the years due to those who adopted it at impressionable ages, grow up and change.

But we don’t forget.

Punk is still there. It’s developed into different formulations of what it represents into things where it probably shouldn't be, that’s what Punk is. It’s not a stereotype that we all view it as, it’s the opposite. Does this mean we can look at Punk in Hip Hop?

We have seen Punk progress in modern day into genres and bands starting off with Nirvana breaking boundaries, and modern artists like Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Paramore, The White Stripes and even pop artists like P!NK and Gwen Stefani (just to name a few). We can see it spread it in these genres, artists and even spout into Indie Rock, but can we see it form in Hip Hop?

Just under the last decade or so, Hip Hop has been KILLING it in the charts, award shows and we are listening to some of the best Hip Hop & Rap since the 90s and early 2000s who involved artists like, NAS, Souls of Mischief, A Tribe Called Quest and WU-Tang Clan. That old school beat and rhythm, a newness and rawness, that laid back essence that is very rare to capture these days.

Hip hop/RAP derived from the same principles of Punk, an expression out side of POP/POP culture, a way of addressing a lifestyle that not everyone experiences, a lifestyle that is dangerous or glamorous. Fashion has embraced this genre too, just how Punk did, but the way Hip Hop has influenced fashion and the rise of Sports Luxe styles is completely mind blowing.

Today, Punk is not as prominent as we have seen it before but I believe that it has formed in a different way this time round. We see this Punk Hip Hop energy that artists like Travis Scott, Tyler The Creator, N.E.R.D, Chance The Rapper and Childish Gambino radiate when they are performing, on stage and in their presence. They truly are pushing boundaries, art direction, videos, fashion and you see the way their fans and audiences react when they are on stage, it’s the same head banging/bopping that was done in the 70s/80s with not one person looking the same. When you meet a person who is connoisseur of Punk and one of Hip Hop, there share the same passions and characterises about music and how the energy makes them feel a way that has never been more important than right now.

If you think about it, we are going through similar political situations as we did in the 80s thus the evolution of Punk and what it stood for and how artists adapted this. Right now we have Hip Hop artists involving this into their music, look at DAMN, that was political and called out huge people of power and what needs changing just like when God Save The Queen came out and it helped changed the game up and it’s spreading like wildfire.

Keep it up with this Punk Hip Hop energy.

Author: Jennifer