Editorial
Is Hip-Hop a Passing Fad?
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(NewsUSA) - In the 30 years since hip-hop developed from basement jams and Bronx block parties, it has run the gamut from fame (and infamy) in the late '70s through the '90s, to a somewhat recent fall from grace and every stop in between.
But rap is not dead.
One has only to look at artists like DMX and the Beastie Boys - both of whom are dropping new albums this year -- to know that hip hop is alive and well and enjoying something of a rebirth.
The point is underscored by noting that the Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year and that the 40-year-old X, who was recently released from an almost one-year stint in prison in Arizona, is releasing his seventh album.
This, said Jake Shapiro, COO of Big Jake Music, a Los Angeles-based indie record label that represents DMX, is a testament to the fact that hip hop may have started back in the '70s as a popular trend, but is still relevant today.
"Artists, like X, are hip-hop's most beloved and influential people," said Shapiro. "He embodies everything that is hip-hop - an amalgam of barking and rhyming in loud bursts of manic ... energy."
Born Earl Simmons in December 1970, DMX was signed by a subsidiary of Columbia Records at the age of 22 and has enjoyed almost two decades of honors and accolades, including multi-platinum-selling records, and being the only artist in Billboard history to reach number one with five consecutive albums.
By Mark Lamdanski
Editor
IMC Magazine Staff
Mark Lamdanski - Editor
Carol Riordan - Lead Editor/Design
Kiva Johns-Adkins - Contributor of Behind the Music
Diana Barnes - Contributor of INN a New York Minute
Beth Fedornak - Guest Writer
Carlos Gnipp - Conributor
Randy Skaggs - Contributor
Megan Garzone - Photographer/Contributor
Neil Derek - Contributor