🎅 Was Hip Hop GOOD This Year? Pt. 1 - The Music
The genre has actually been really, really nice!
👋 Happy Holidays to all who celebrate, and Happy Not Holidays to those who don’t!
If you only believe today’s rap music is over sexualized, drug-filled, violent mumblerap nonsense — if you believe that Hip Hop as a culture has no redeeming value — if feel like Fat Joe feels, that “Hip Hop had its worst year ever” because “our icons are getting scrutinized” — I’m here to tell you that you have been hookwinked. Led astray. Bamboozled!
And you might be entitled to compensation!
Repeat visitors know I don’t really name names or make lists. After all, I’ve already gifted the world with the only “top rappers of all time” list that matters. Plus, I usually let others rock with their year-end wrap-ups and all.
But this year I think it’s important because, as with most things Hip Hop, what most of us will see and hear across the multimediaverse will not depict a fair and balanced view of what Hip Hop AS A WHOLE delivered to humanity this year.
So I wanted to share some of how I saw this year in Hip Hop, and since it’s always easier for folks to complain than to praise, I would really love to hear your thoughts, comments, and suggestions about what YOU thought helped put Hip Hop on Santa’s “GOOD” list in 2024.
We can do this in two ways.
1) Leave a comment…
and/or 2) share your thoughts during tonight’s livestream at 9pm ET on YouTube!
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For now, let’s get into Part One of my year-end thoughts — including some essential resources and links.
- Manny
🎶 PART ONE: WHEN I HEAR MUSIC…
Again, it’s all subjective, but rap music released in 2024 covered a huuuuge spectrum. As I say all the time, whatever kind of rap music you like, you can find — and in 2024 I just feel like that was more true than ever.
It’s impossible to recommend things based on where YOUR taste lies. Instead, I want to share with you a few trusted sources that I rely on when I need to stay connected with the genre — especially since I spend so much time on the culture side of Hip Hop things.
If “mainstream” rap music isn’t your cup of tea, here are some places where you can find a greater assortment of creative rap offerings.
WALLY HART
Wally’s a Hip Hop professor but don’t let the ivory tower digs fool you. He posts regularly to his Facebook page recent releases by artists that might have slipped under algorithmic radars. He stays up on releases so we don’t have to, and that’s a valuable service for the busy and horribly scatterbrained rap music fan (allegedly). To give an example what we’re talking about, here’s a portion of his top albums for 2024:
That’s a helluva list. If you know like I know, it’s really hard to say you’re a fan of rap and not find something on that list that’s worthy of your eartime. So shouts to Wally Hart for his love for the genre, and for taking the time to name names — and for making it all a Spotify playlist!
DJ HOODWINK
A supporter of our work here and past HHCSA guest under his alter-ego Dr. Raphael Travis, DJ Hoodwink runs a Discord server which shares the name of his seminal book, The Healing Power of Hip Hop. There, he highlights several high-powered DJs doing their DJ thing, as well as a sharing a steady stream of music, including his own mixes, mixtapes and playlists which feature a variety of music along several themes: esteem tracks, resilience tracks, growth tracks, community tracks, social change tracks, etc.
This is a valuable service for folks who are looking for “conscious” or “substantiative” rap or perhaps teachers or counselors or other professionals who recognize the ability to connect to young people through music, but want to be a bit selective. Many times, we feel this sort of music only lives in the past. DJ Hoodwink shows that it doesn’t.
Two standout recent projects:
OLD SCHOOL: THE MIXTAPE
”This mix was inspired by a street interview with KRS-One where he emphasized the innovation and curiosity of youth alongside the wisdom and experience of elders […] In fact, that is the key to our future, in leveraging the best of each and every generation. But we must be present and open to learning in ways we are not used to…”
The 2024 HDWK 100
”The Essential Playlist for those wanting to look inward and outward as they learn, grow, and work toward positive change. This is also great material for therapists, teachers, and other professionals using Hip Hop in practice (Note: Review content for what is appropriate for your setting, and consider radio-friendly/edited versions as needed).”
DJ Hoodwink also has a 24/7 live radio stream to check out anytime.
🗝️ = TRUSTED SOURCES
The key to all of this is to find you some trusted sources who spend their time making it easier for you to not lose hope in the genre. Whether we’re talking about the Boom Bap curatorial brilliance of DJ Absurd’s absurdly long catalog of weekly mixes, the indie/underground/eclectic tastebuds of the good homie M.C. K~Swift, the HipHopHeads subreddit, even a few “mainstream” sources like Okayplayer or using the dreaded algorithms to your advantage, there is NO EXCUSE to claim there isn’t “GOOD” Hip Hop music being released.
All. The. Time.
🙏 Another important thing to consider. Part of why we don’t hear about all the great things happening in Hip Hop is because of a lack of independent, respectable journalism that represents Hip Hop with integrity and respect. Many of us complain about it, but it’s imperative that when we see it, we have to support it — or it just isn’t going to be sustainable. Even NPR is funded in part by THE PUBLIC. This kind of high-quality Hip Hop cultural programming is rare, so we owe it to the culture to recognize it when we see it, and financially support those efforts.
Especially this newsletter, the livestream, and the podcast — the only Hip Hop media ecosystem solely dedicated to erasing racial and economic disparities and uplifting humanity through the music and culture.
Please considering upgrading your subscription to this newsletter to paid ⬇️
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⏭️ In PART TWO next week, I’ll make the case that the REST of Hip Hop culture has been similarly elevated this year. We’ll look at some interdisciplinary advances in areas like education, mental health therapy, politics (and some failures there), film and TV, the international scene, and more.
In the meantime, let me know YOUR favorite Hip Hop moments from this past year.
Tune in to the livestream tonight, Monday Dec. 23 at 9pm ET to share your thoughts or leave a comment here.
🙏 MANNY THANKS
❤️ Thank you so much to our most recent Patreon supporters, Teremoana R., Randy S., Tony P., Jaime F., Austin R. (from the Too Pretty band), Sarah R., Dr. Elliot Gann and AJ Woodson. Huge shouts to the OGs of the supporting fam: Silent Knight, Mark E., Jesse G., Toast, Nicholas S., Briana C., Stephie, Cath, Morgan, Andrew Wang, Raphael Travis, Patrick, Chris J, and Adam K!🙏🙏🙏
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📅 UPCOMING DOPE & INTERDISCIPLINARY HIP HOP EVENTS
Jan. 11, 2025 [D.C.]: Club Quarantine Live with D-Nice at The Kennedy Center
Jan. 15, 2025: CALL FOR PROPOSALS DUE for the 2025 Hip Hop Literacies Conference at The Ohio State University
Mar. 21-23 [Columbus, OH] The 2025 Hip Hop Literacies Conference at The Ohio State University
April, 2025 [D.C.]: Words, Beats & Life Festival (More info to come.)
April 18-19, 2025 [Hartford, CT]: The Trinity International Hip Hop Festival
June, 2025 [NYC]: #HipHopEd Conference (Email hiphoped@gmail.com to be added to the update list)
November, 2025 [ D.C.]: Third Annual Hip Hop Studies Conference at Howard University (More info to come.)