the golden age of hiphop?

The metallic ages concept comes from Greek myth, yes (Hesiod IIRC) - the point about a Golden Age being that its an unrecoverable past which was golden essentially because nothing (no conflict) happened in it - a huge unchanging block party which is (like the Greek GA) actually constituted from latter-day (Age of Iron) mythmaking. So Golden Age = Old Skool but it derives its quality from the impossibility of its existence now, i.e. the ppl trying to imitate it are onto a loser.

Also implicit in the Golden Age concept was the notion that the latter ages were when everything interesting happens.

Oh, OK, hip-hop. I think it's fine at the moment, and now is really the only time when I'm even remotely starting to get any kind of coherent grip on 'what's happening'.

The late 80's, early 90's Native Tongues period was, I think, the least interesting period in hip-hop history. Tribe, De La Soul, Brand Nubian, all that shit, it's all very interchangable and homogenous-- they all had distinct sounds, but their attitudes and approach to their music was creepily pod-person-esque. In 1998 "underground" hip- hop was the bomb--the Stones Throw Bay Area stuff was just hitting the East Coast, Rawkus signed a deal with Priority, people were starting to make money but the music was still challenging and interesting and most of all _fun_. That was my hip-hop golden age. It's all over now that Mos Def licenses to Nike and has recorded a rap-metal album.

You're far too cynical, Adam. Though the idea of Mos Def taking the style of "Rock'n'Roll" further is not something I want to imagine.

Very *very* good analogy, Tom.

tom, how does a scene with 'no conflict' ('huge unchanging block party') affect the quality of the music? are you implying that there should be conflict (or PAIN) for music to be good or interesting? isn't this a bit close to all the defenders of music because it has 'soul', unlike all 'the britneys of the world'? eh?

Sorry, 'no conflict' was a reference to how the Greeks conceptualised the golden age, being as their own one involved much local warring, internecine strife, low life expectancy etc. etc. Clearly the idea of a time with no conflict is a fantasy, albeit an appealing one: the point was to underscore the impossibility of the 'golden age' and to remind ppl that the term originated as a reference to something placid and event-free.

Ethan, are you trying to say that there's isn't conflict between Britney and Christina? What would you call it?

well, just as much conflict as there was between tribe and wreckx-n-effect. they fucked up q-tip's eye, man!