Tonight, The Wall Street Journal continues its Summer Scoops Live series with “Planet Hip Hop,” a panel about why hip-hop has gone global, and where it’s headed next. Featured guests include drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson of The Roots, hip-hop legend Chuck D and rapper Bajah from Sierra Leone; WSJ culture editor Christopher John Farley will moderate. The event is currently sold out; if you don’t have a ticket, reporter John Jurgensen provides live coverage on Speakeasy.9:25: With a remark about how the successful rapper Jay-Z made the idea of selling-out irrelevant, ?uestlove has the last word on the panel. He heads to DJ stand and puts on Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights.”
9:21: An audience member asks the panelists if they’ve had moments where they questioned their artistic choices and whether they’ve had to make compromises along the way.
?uestlove uses it as opportunity to address identity issues in black music and how, in many respects, the Roots are the odd men out as a live act, made up of eight members. “We’re the last group of black musicians with a major record deal—everyone else is solo.” It’s an outsider status that sometimes masks what the group is doing musically. For instance, the Roots’ “Game Theory” record was channeling Radiohead’s “Kid A,” but because it had come from a group of black musicians rooted in rap, few critics heard the influence. “We’re on the island of ‘Lost,’” he says, with no one there to call the band on its artistic choices.
9:10: A question about how to fight against mediocrity results in more darts from Nichols, who tries to debunk the accepted wisdom that classic rap was by definition jazzy, fun and socially conscious. Prefacing with the fact that he’s “older than Chuck,” Nichols admits that he was almost offended the first time he heard “Rapper’s Delight,” the 1979 single by the Sugarhill Gang, which is cited as the first rap song. “It the wasn’t the music I’m talking about, it was the narrative,” says Nichols, who at the time took issue with lyrics that seemed to perpetuate black stereotypes.
?uestlove remarks, “He also hated the Roots when he first saw us.”
And his manager replies, “That’s because they were doing some bad jazz.”
9:01: Farley wraps things up to segue into a DJ set by ?uestlove, but the DJ says he’d rather keep the conversation going and will take more questions from the audience.
8:58: The panelists commiserate about the difficulty of pinning down the nature of hip-hop, something that encompasses a lifestyle, a style of music, a social movement and other elements. In a meta moment Nichols says, “I do these hip-hop panels all the time and I never know what…anybody is talking about.” When you try to jump from the music’s street roots in the 1970s to the flashy stars of today, it’s a futile effort, Nichols says, “You start with the big bang and you end up with toaster ovens.”
Chuck remarks, “That’s a well-said point. Rich should know that I will steal that. Because theft is big in hip-hop.”
8:50: Another question: What’s the future of hip-hop? Will they be teaching it at Juilliard?
Nichols uses the question to express more frustration about the state of the music. “When people talk about hip-hop, I have no idea what they’re talking about at this point. Is it the drums? The rhythmic speaking? Is it the making something out of nothing?”
8:45: Chuck once said hip-hop was the black CNN. Does he still believe that?
“I said that in 1988.” He follows ?uestlove’s lead, exploring musical dissent and where the genre’s leaders are. He says the missing element in hip-hop is that “not enough trickle down in the development of knowledge, wisdom and understanding.” Using another sports analogy, he says there aren’t enough Derek Jeters and Reggie Jacksons of rap to show rookies how it’s done.
8:39: An audience member asks: Will a black president change hip-hop in any way?
?uestlove says that the reaction to Reagan built hip-hop to what it is. In the modern era, he cites an example of musical rebellion outside rap, when Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks spoke out against the war and the policies of the Bush Administration—and was virtually blackballed for it.
8:33: Stoute exits for a charity event to encourage self-esteem in young women with Mary J. Blige. “That’s the way she’s using her brand,” he says. And the microphones go into the crowd for questions.
8:31: On the commercialism question, Nichols is pragmatic. “Hip-hop is one of the few areas of pop music that embraces a winner-take-all stance.”
8:27: Can an artist who’s aligned with a corporation be considered credible? Chuck is skeptical.“Take it from a guy with a ‘94 Mitsubishi that still runs.” (But he drove here in something else from his fleet: a ‘97 Acura.)
8:19: Stoute takes a more measured tone, referring to Kanye West’s music as the future of hip-hop because it’s melodic. But Nichols isn’t having it. “No disrespect to Kanye, he’s one of the most contrived black artists out there.”
8:18: Asked whether how rap artists are being broken, Richard Nichols–manager of The Roots, who’s also a panelist–lights a match on the discussion. ”I think hip hop’s having a problem because black people aren’t dangerous any more.” And then, “America’s relationship about black people is about danger.” Turning to his panelists, “Chuck is dangerous. The Roots? Not so much.” And this: “You take the danger out of black people, you’ve got fake white people.”
8:12: Delving into the thorny issue of of commercialism and hip-hop, a genre that pioneered product endorsement and, in the opinion of many hip-hop lovers, has been co-opted by it. Dropping multiple expletives, Chuck says “I’ve spent a career, bushwhacking those… who are fake.”
8:10: Scenic note: Out the windows of the Kaplan Penthouse, the sun is setting over the West Side apartment towers and the Hudson River.
8:05: Moving on to influences, ?uestlove discusses Marvin Gaye’s divorce record, “Here, My Dear,” and other “black concept records.” He says “It’s very melodramatic, which is right up my alley.”
8:03: Stoute, (who recently shared weight-loss tips with the WSJ—100 pounds over nine years!) riffs on Main Source’s “A Friendly Game of Baseball,” which compared police racial profiling to a ball game.“He wasn’t the greatest MC, but the way he put that song together was so smart.”
8:00: Chuck D: “There has to be some sort of honesty that has to come into the commerce.” A longtime defender of online and musical freedoms, he calls the record industry to task for chasing downloaders with lawsuits. Once an aspiring sportscaster, Chuck draws an analogy to athletics. “The record industry has allowed itself to get drugged out on steroids.”
7:56: Steve Stoute, a former record executive and brand manager who’s part of the panel, speaks up as a music man with an advertiser’s angle. He discovered how vital branding was when he put out the Men in Black soundtrack with Will Smith. “It sold 10 million copies. But it also sold 14 million pairs of glasses.” He knew the Ray-Ban people were onto something. No overhead and far fewer egos.
7:53: ?uestlove tells what seems like an unlikely story: How the Roots ended up as the house band for Jimmy Fallon. But it’s not so strange given the band’s long path of collaborations and special assignments, including supervising the music on the late, great Dave Chappelle show. Fallon is a way for the band to keep the money coming in without having to spend two-thirds of the year on the road, as they’ve done since the mid-1990s.
7:48: Chuck, wearing a t-shirt with Jimi Hendrix’s face on it, goes briefly back in time, name-dropping rap pioneer MC Melle Mel, then fast-forwards to the rush of rappers who followed. He says, maybe dilution started the drop off in radicalism.
7:45: Cuing “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy, Farley starts off by asking Chuck D, what happened to hip-hop’s radical spirit? Chuck responds first by wishing the president a happy birthday, three days after his own. He says it’s the first time he’s older than the president.
7:41 p.m. ET: A hip-hop mix compiled by moderator Christopher John Farley (“The Message” by Grandmaster Flash, “Can I Kick It” by a Tribe Called Quest) fades out as the Planet Hip-Hop panel begins.