I'll Forget About This Tomorrow

I added a bunch of hip-hop to my workout mix because I needed a change of pace and more songs. My sessions are lasting longer than two hours now, and it’s important that my music stays fresh. I didn’t look at the songs I was picking. I sorted by genre and rating, and I selected the top twenty in the list. One of the songs was Boogie Down Productions’ “My Philosophy”. BDP was the last of the old school. They’re the step between Grand Master Flash and Public Enemy. It was socially conscious, slightly militant New York rap aimed at New Yorkers. For every reference to Malcolm X there was a reference to how Brooklyn sucked. I love their stuff. There’s next to no production value. There are no music videos, just an MC and his mic over a drum beat. Boogie Down Productions has infinite street cred. Unfortunately, the inner city youth who grew up on BDP have miserably failed to pass it on to our children. Having “My Philosophy” stuck in my head all day led me to trying to become a fan of BDP on Facebook. They don’t have a fan page. There are three groups I could join, but I don’t want to join a group. One of the groups is in South Africa, one is in Romania I think, and the one that actually refers to BDP only has 311 members and most of them are White. I don’t have a problem with White people loving BDP. I think it’s great, but I’d like to see a bunch of American Black faces to go along with those White faces. I’d like to see a fan page for some musical and cultural pioneers. It’s disappointing that we’re not passing on our contributions to the next generation, and BDP’s lack of support is the latest example for me. We don’t play rock n’ roll anymore. We don’t play the Blues anymore. Soul is dead, and Jazz is dying. Now we’re abandoning the roots of hip-hop. What the hell are we going to have in twenty years to let us know where we came from?