(First things first: I must give credit where it's due to my unofficial contributor for this particular post, Mrs. Scribbler. Many of the issues that I plan on tackling in this potentially-controversial post are the end results of a conversation that she and I had on this topic recently, and for that, I say "thank you beeb" :-)! Now, let's start the show...)
When I did a Google search for "real hip-hop", the image above was the first that popped up, including several variations of it further down the page. The next image featured 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G. and Run-D.M.C. in the center with other hip-hop legends like LL Cool J, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Rakim, Ice Cube, Jay-Z, Nas, KRS-One, Public Enemy and a host of others on the outskirts. Conversely, the sixth image in the search showed a picture saying "THIS ISN'T HIP-HOP" with an "X" through pictures of artists like Lil' Wayne, Drake, Big Sean, Rick Ross, Wale, Wiz Khalifa, J. Cole, Nicki Minaj and even Busta Rhymes--whose face ironically appeared on the aforementioned collage with the hip-hop legends. I also saw images of graffiti, DJing, breaking, boomboxes, cassette tapes, microphones, headphones, and all of the typical associations with "real" hip-hop. However, I write this post because I have become perplexed and somewhat annoyed by the notions of "real hip-hop" or "real hip-hop is not on the radio"--concepts that I believe are nothing more than "urban myths".
