Still Number One
KRS ONE on old-school and the philosophy of hip-hop
By Chris Jay 03/19/2009
KRS ONE, born Lawrence Krishna Parker, is unquestionably one of the most influential and controversial MCs of all time. From his ground-breaking early years with Boogie Down Productions to his award winning work as a social activist, KRS ONE is a bona-fide living legend in the rap world. Best of all, he’s a legend who is making an ultra rare appearance in Ventura. The Reporter caught up with the outspoken MC, who shared his thoughts on the current state of hip-hop and old-school philosophy.
VCReporter: Twenty years ago you helped create the Stop the Violence Movement in rap music. It gained a lot of momentum but gangster rap exploded shortly thereafter. How did it feel to watch the violent side of hip-hop become so popular after spending so much energy trying to promote unity and peace in the scene?
KRS ONE: First of all, for our movement it was good that mainstream rap went in such a sexist and violent direction, ’cause we were then able to go . . . “See!” But we were also able to keep our movement alive because anything that goes into the mainstream eventually dies. Violent and sexist rap became the mainstream, but now the entire music industry has collapsed. Not just because of that fact, but I think that had a lot to do with it. The music we put out now is not geared much toward mainstream marketing and selling records, that’s not our mission at all. Our mission is to inspire an international, global community called hip-hop.
So how do feel about where hip-hop is now?
Keep in mind you’re talking to the unorthodox. I’m not gonna have the view most do. Hip-hop is doing fine; it’s rap music that’s struggling. Hip-hop, in terms of graffiti writing, b-boys breaking, beat boxing, djs — that’s expanding all around the world into more than we ever thought it could be. We’re maturing and rising to our own divinity. I’ve written about it extensively in my new book that’s dropping this summer, The Gospel of Hip-Hop. It’s rap music, though, the corporate commercialization of MCing that is struggling and rightfully so. You know some of the older artists like Afrika Bambaataa and Cold Crush, they call rap music the bastard child of hip-hop. These rappers today deserve the downsize they are experiencing because they just did it for corporate reasons, just to exploit the culture, make some money and then go do a movie or open a clothing line. We were waiting for years for them to go ahead and get fed, ’cause we know after a few albums their career would be over or they’d be on their way to prison. It’s a shame it have to go down like that.
Along with your partner, the late Scott La Rock, Boogie Down Productions wound up producing some of the most important records in the history of rap, such as Criminal Minded and By All Means Necessary. Did you have any idea at the time the overwhelming influence you’d have on the genre?
Wow. Thank you for feeling that way and for acknowledging Scott La Rock’s contribution. To answer your question, because I am a philosopher by trade, I do things very specifically and did so back then. With that said, you can never really gauge the actual impact, or be accurate with what your expression is going to look like in the future but you can in some ways calculate where things will wind up. One of the rhymes I would point to in terms of calculation is the record “I’m Still Number 1” off the album By All Means Necessary, 1988. On it, I rhymed, “I say noones from the old school cause rap on a whole isn’t even 20 years-old/50 years down the line, you can start this, cause then we’ll be the old school artist.” I was really saying to all the old-school artists, really the artists of the ’70s, who were saying to us in the mid-’80s, “Oh you’re new school and you really don’t have any cred,” how can you say we are new school and you’re old when rap isn’t even 20 years old. In the future they’re gonna call us old school and you might not even exist. Sure enough, 20 years later I’m now considered old-school. It tickles me sometimes when people call me the father of hip-hop or the godfather of hip-hop, I can’t even accept that title.
I’m more like a stepfather of hip-hop if anything. So going back to the question you asked, no, we couldn’t predict what or where hip-hop would go or who those records would impact, but we did talk about the future. As a philosopher, there’s something to be said about the nature of time. I understood that back in the ’80s, and I was trying to express it in the music, the idea of being timeless.
Is there any MC the Blastmaster would be afraid to go up against in a battle?
No one. In hip-hop, you can’t just say, “I’m old-school, respect me,” which is what a lot of artists try to rely on. These kids nowadays want to sharpen their blade against your back. If you’re somebody like me who thrives on competition and controversy, you always got to watch out. The difference between me and most other MCs is I’m always up for and prepared for the challenge. A battle broke out the other day at my show in Atlanta. It was all in respect but I still had to lay down three MCs on the spot.
KRS ONE will perform Saturday, March 21, at Karma Lounge, 281 W. Main St. in Ventura. For more information visit www.myspace.com/karmaloungevta.
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