"It's Hip' To Be A Saint In The City"

"I was the pimp's main prophet I kept everything cool

 Just a backstreet gambler with the luck to lose"

These lyrics are taken from the Bruce Springsteen song, "It's hard to be a saint in the city," which I immediately thought of when reading this weeks blog question: 


"Does the city play an essential role in the creation of "hip"? 


The song, infused with jazz,  is brilliantly written about the hard life situations that occur in the city, and how it's so easy to get caught up in a life of crime, but also the myth that is created around rebels. Here, you listen to it: It's hard to be a saint in the city

Okay, back to the question: Yes! Hip absolutely comes from the city and I feel that Leland hits the nail on the head when he says: 

"As a delivery system for hip, popular culture moves in tandem with technology and media. Technology has a way of making race an abstraction....."

Without the city, there would be no popular culture; it's hard to be popular on a farm!


Another example that jumps to mind is MODERN ART?! 
Would anyone know who Andy Warhol was if it wasn't for the city?






"City life has a way of living
 in the moment,
 and that's where hip lives."
~ I said that














And finally to CONTRADICT myself, hip also came from the country. More specifically, the blues came from the country. In a previous post, I discussed the origins of the blues, as outlined by John Leland, and without farms and plantations, blues didn't exist. 
Young blues artists got their start playing in rural areas and then they migrated into the city. 
So "hip" transcends the city.

Is a Hippopotamus hip?

I mean, it’s in the name!

no claim to fame, but if

you piss him off, he’ll

make lunch a game.

Now I understand hippos

are herbivorous, give ‘em

a chance, they’ll strike

a chorus….go hippo…go hippo…

Named after the Greek

word “river horse”

this mammals got style

and uses force!

They get their cool from

water or mud,

let’s face it ladies, that

bull’s a stud.

Hippos are from Africa,

not Nebraska,

And almost extinct

just like this beat….

~Goodbye Waterface

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippopotamus

"This Is What You Shall do"

"This Is What You Shall Do"_

Wake up every morning with a clean slate/Don't hold anything against yesterday-for it is never coming back/ Stretch out and feel good to be alive/Even though some days you wish you weren't/Always grant people second chances and third chances- if they are deserving/Life is too short-If there was ever a cliche to live by, this is the one!/Tell the people you love how much they mean to you- even if they already know/Take walks in the rain and be afraid that you don't have it all figured out-fear is your friend/
Except that bad things happen but that you have the power to make good things happen/
Take a deep breath and just feel the oxygen in your lungs and in your gut and know that you are alive/
Hold on to the things that make you feel at peace and let go of the ones that take your peace from you/
Know that you possess the ability for greatness and that your future is not written-no matter what people tell you/Also know that some people will try to deceive you- and you will know by the feeling in your soul/Be kind to all creatures even those who try to deceive you/Know in your bones that you are from the earth and one day you will return to the earth-and the sun will still shine./

"Damn Right I got the blues!"

In John Leland's book, "Hip: The History", he makes some damn good points about the blues that I would like to re-examine here.

• The blues were the Africans way of making sense in this new environment, brought on by slavery.
• The first real "celebrity" came from early blues artist's; for white folks it was Elvis Presley doing the blues
• Rhythm IS the universal language and helped to blend the white and black communities
• The blues helped to fuel the economy through records and guitar manufacturing
• Blues musicians became the ultimate "Rebel Icon"- The essence of "Hip"

>Early blues music grew from farms and plantations and was essentially black slaves singing about everyday life and just trying to get by. Out of this grew the first idols like Charley Patton - who defied his father to lead a life of music and entertaining- thus becoming even more of a bad ass! Leland makes a great point on this when he says,

                      "The history of the blues seems custom made for American-legend, an act of spontaneous creation by rebel geniuses."

So was the black blues musician the first "Rock Star"?

                                                        Robert Johnson


Rhythm became the common ground for black and white cultures to come together, thus making blues music the first beacon for civil rights, in a way.

>Another interesting point is that during the civil rights movement in the 60's, the beat poets and people who were considered "hip" were advertising the blues and the black musician and saying that this was part of American history!

>Bob Dylan especially was sort of "accepted" by the black community to tell the stories of suffering and discrimination. That's were we get songs like "Hattie Carol," "Who killed Davie Moore?" and "Hollis Brown." This too may have opened alot of eyes to racism and helped whites to empathize.

> Without the blues, America would not be the same.

What is a "Hipster"?

     I think we all can agree to the idea that the "Hipster" is constantly changing. Each decade had their inevitable form of Hip, and consequently the "Hipster". What was the Hipster of the 60's? Swingers and people who were still claiming to be "Hippies" after 1967 and were only looking to score psychedelic drugs and get high. The 70's? Anyone remember the feathered hair-do? Or bell bottoms so big they needed their own zip code? Now, 40 years later and we have taken to "skinny" jean to an all new non-blood circulation level! Let's not even get started on the 80's, can we say hairspray and the "Valley Girl".
The 90's, (sigh).  And now we have the Modern Hipster. 

    With no real definition of the Hipster, it is hard to say for sure exactly what this means. We know one when we see one, but sometimes they are disguised. This form of trickery is just another part of what makes a hipster. Basically what it boils down to are these four categories: dress code, the hair-do, the cause, and attitude. To classify as a hipster, usually one has at least three of these going for them. Just to give a few examples: Ironic sweaters, plaid, the "Jegging", Buddy Holly glasses, messy hair for guys and the straight bang for girls, supporting local or organic, and lastly acting like ya' just don't care. 

      My Point Exactly! (Skinny jeans, the messy hair-do, and the disgruntled attitude)

    Hipster also goes way beyond the premature Jonas Brothers pop rock glam wear, it seeps into the subterranean coffee shops where the high school/college drop-out resides in hopes to someday be a published starving artist. If they could for just one day not scrounge pennies to pay for their American Spirits, then maybe they would go back to school or get a real job. What can I say, I used to be one, this is something that can be overcome with a simple move out of your parent's basement. 

~ Goodbye Waterface