Beats don’t stop: Hip-hop culture marks 50th year

For 50 years, hip-hop has influenced culture on an international scale.

From trailblazing pioneers like old-school legends like the Sugar Hill Gang and Eric B. and Rakim to modern-day megastars like Drake and Kendrick Lamar, hip-hop continues to evolve after half a century. . From the launch of Sugar Hill as the first hip-hop label to his record launch, to Jay-Z earning the most Grammy Award nominations in history (88, 24 of which), rap is inextricably linked to New York City. .

North Carolinians have also made their mark, including DaBaby of Charlotte, J. Cole of Fayetteville, and Petey Pablo of Greensboro.

Salisbury’s Michael ‘MVP Mike’ Cartwright wants to join them. Cartwright, an up-and-coming senior at North Carolina A&T State University, is about to step into the entertainment industry.

Cartwright, who considers himself a low-key entertainer, has seen other local rappers rise to prominence, including Kash Kaila, Zei Thagin, K$lime, SGB.Blick and Fendifrvr. He also works on his own music.

“It feels good that people know me as MVP Mike and as a person because I feel like it embodies my personality,” Cartwright said. “When I walk into the room, I feel like I’m the MVP.”

Cartwright, like Lamarr, sees Stunna 4 Vegas as an influence, especially because of his hometown connections. Both of them attended West Rowan Middle School, which made Cartwright more intentional about MVP Mike’s aspirations. He realized that if someone in his neighborhood could succeed, so could he. Stunna 4 Vegas is signed to DaBaby’s Billion Dollar Baby Entertainment label.

“when [Stunna] It exploded and I was like, ‘OK, my dreams are within reach’, as long as I can do this music work, someone from Salisbury can do something that big and go like that. It’s really inspiring because it does what it does,” said Victory Christian Center High School alumnus Cartwright.

Hip-hop has experienced many ups and downs throughout its first half-century. But there have also been big strides in building a better, more positive image for the genre, such as Lamar becoming the first rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize for his album DAMN in 2018.

Next year, the hip-hop museum will open in the birthplace of the hip-hop movement, The Bronx, New York, thanks to contributions from the entire hip-hop community, from fans to artists, deejays and photographers.

With the looming talk of hip-hop’s future, some observers believe hip-hop is heading south. But Cartwright believes the genre is evolving and change is inevitable.

“I think the whole thing is that times are changing. As time goes on, more is allowed,” he said. “My generation feels like it’s a lot faster to focus now because of social media. But in terms of its production and how big it is and how much room there is for everyone to do it, I think it’s great.”

Social media, especially Tik Tok, has its own influence within the hip-hop game. Some artists are now called “Tik Tok artists” because of the amount of music played on the app.

Despite some criticism of the controversial app and its new style within the hip-hop community, Cartwright said it was also part of the evolution of the culture and a way to reach potential fans. I believe there is.

“I feel that TikTok has affected hip-hop in terms of exposing a lot of artists, because a lot of people have been underground for a very long time,” Cartwright said. “And of course not everyone has a million plays on radio, but they might have a million plays on Tik Tok, and there are ways to make money on Tik Tok.”

Courtesy Keon Gordon

Charlotte-based Keone Gordon, stage name DJ Mills, is a hip-hop entrepreneur and owner of We Vibe Entertainment LLC. Gordon, 33, teaches at West High School in Mecklenburg.

Keonn Gordon, also known as DJ Mills, has been mixing music in Charlotte since 2018 and teaching since 2015.

DJ Mills, owner of We Vibe Entertainment LLC, working with MVP Mike, says hip-hop’s popularity depends on its distribution on social media platforms.
“It’s no longer what’s trending on the radio, it’s what’s trending on social media apps[such as TikTok],” said Gordon, who teaches at West Mecklenburg High School. “It’s all about what’s trending right now. This also affects how long an artist stays around.”

Some might think it’s a hassle to juggle teaching during the day and DJing at night, but Gordon’s love of both keeps him motivated.

“Some nights, like Thursdays and Sundays, we played clubs that finish at 3am, so it’s sometimes hard to balance the hours,” he said. “After a few hours it can be difficult to get up for work. But my love of music and my love of teaching keeps me going.”

Gordon, 33, was inspired by his father after watching him DJ at family events. It wasn’t until moving to Charlotte in 2018 that Gordon decided to take it seriously by signing with a DJ service company. This gave him the groundwork to go out and start his own business, We Vibe Entertainment.

Despite many changes in the hip-hop world, Gordon believes the industry is doing okay.

“Hip-hop is bigger than ever today and I definitely believe it’s headed in the right direction,” he said. “From a business perspective, more artists are signing independent distribution deals and getting the approval of record label owners and businesses than ever before. It feels like we’re branching out, we have to keep hip-hop fresh.”