Sunday, March 29, 2009

Hip Hop is Officially Dead (Again): The Professional Bowling Tour Discovers the Notorious BIG



Yes, I watch professional bowling. Yes, as folks who have been coming to our site for sometime know, I basically grew up in a bowling alley (another story, for another time).

And yes, I do think that bowling is authentic ghetto nerd behavior.

In watching the pro tour this week, I was totally thrown out of frame (get the pun!) while preparing to watch bowling phenom, Jason Belmonte (the guy who doesn't use his thumb in the bowling bowl, and instead uses a two handed delivery--insert fingers into mouth to induce vomiting...I am a purist, back in my day I was more of a "stranker," I swore by the book Bowling 300, and still consider David Ozio to be the epitome of bowling excellence):



It seems that the PBA is now using the Notorious BIG's song "Juicy" as background music for its televised events. This is just too much for me to bear. Once more I declare that hip hop ("commercial," at least) is officially dead. Also notice the use of the phrase "strong Island" during the telecast. What has happened to our youth I must ask, because to me, time seems to have certainly passed us by.



Nevertheless, Biggie will always be, and thus remain, timeless in his greatness.

Gordon and I have often wondered what hip hop would like in 30 years. I have always joked that it would be a wax museum come to life with Snoop, 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Kanye, Jeezy and the like performing at oldies shows, for their aging, still wanna pretend to be thugs for the evening fans whose pants have long since ceased to sag as a signifier of style or youthful rage (now they just sag because folks are just old and don't care anymore). Predictably, their grandchildren will look on with shock and disgust...just as we goof on our parents and grandparents when they go to see the once counter-culture, and now wonderfully passe, icons of their youth. Fate (and time) does indeed have a sense of humor.

2 comments:

Freeman Press said...

Hip hop is always a young man game. So far no one but some old nostalgic whites in other countries want to go to a Rob Base concert. Hip Hop has always been up to date with content, sound, and slang. It's funny to find it in so many places but it is now bigger than Rock so get ready to hear it at your ballerina recital

Art Picked Me said...

I saw some of this and died laughin when I found out there was a bowler who shares the name of the lead singer of The Cure...and he has Fibromyalgia, which gives him pain everywhere.

Life imitating art is a trip, que no?