Music Friday: 2-Cent
2-Cent is a New Orleans based group of film makers and activists. Better yet, here is how they describe themselves:
2-Cent Ent. is a standard of content for the young “hip hop” generation in all forms of entertainment: media, music, publications, and events. 2cent has set its self forth as the one company that truly speaks for the young generation by educating and entertaining at the same time. By showing what young people want to see plus what they need to see.
I have been meaning to draw attention to them on this blog for a while.
You can check out their website here, and you will see that there is plenty of interest to look through — videos, music, commentaries. Don’t be put off by the MadTV-looking picture on the home page. 2-Cent has an edge and has a lot to say.
At the very least, you should watch "New Orleans for Sale," a powerful video they made about disaster tours: “If you keep paying your money to see it, should we rebuild it?”
On Irvin Mayfield’s radio show, which I mentioned in the last Music Friday, Wynton Marsalis talked about how sad he believes hip hop culture to be. He mentions that the rhythms are unsophisticated and the lyrics tend toward minstrelsy. One thing that he overlooks is that hip hop is not relegated to the commercial garbage on the radio. Another thing that he overlooks is the verbal skills that are often featured in hip hop.
There is corporate hip hop, reinforcing all those stereotypes of gangsters and hos, and greedily consumed by kids in the nicest suburbs; there is also — still — a form of hip hop that does come up from the streets, from the culture. There is still something real in it.
2-Cent is striving for the best of hip hop culture. Wynton should take a look.
Behind the cut, a New Orleans rap featured on the 2-Cent site, “Fresh Air” by Dee-1.














