Bridging The Gap Poem by Eddie Henderson

There’s a lot of debate over the content of popular music these days
How the radio waves are polluted and similar products are distributed
Without thought or effort, the idiot box is fed with images of false lives to be beamed inside our heads
I’m not here to disagree with all of that
As a poet, I’m just trying to bridge the gap

Change flows through each generation
But a lot of the criticism stays the same
Once upon a time kids caught drama from they mama’s when a Marvin Gay record was played
You want sexual content? Listen to the baritone moans of Bary White and Isaac Hayes
We all learned how people thought Ray was playing “the devil’s music” back in his day

I’m not gonna even get started on the super freak Rick James
But they are still considered legends because they spoke to their generations
They made life fun, and pushed it to the limit
Even though prior generations may not agree on how they lived it

Now for the main event… Hip Hop. The most popular topic
The art form that has evolved so rapidly since “Sugar Hill Gang” introduced it.
The originators rapped about what they saw
Today, it’s pretty much the same
We could debate it all night but to the core It’s drugs, violence and gangs

Fast forward to the late 80’s to mid 90’s hip hop’s golden age
Back when Rakim, LL, Tribe, De La, BIG, Pac. Slick Rick and so many others rocked the stage
Topics ranged from how I’m the greatest MC and how you can’t touch my DJ
Back to sex, drugs and stickup kids
Same thing back on replay

In the new millennium all rappers want to do is dance
It’s got a lot of old school cats upset
But would that be the same people that were doing the Humpty hump and the Ed Luva Dance by any chance?
Y’all remember that

There are some soldiers out there fighting the good fight
Conscious rap from the soul, beats hittin that sweet tooth like candy yams
Their music gets categorized as well
Labeled as product that doesn’t have blockbuster sales
But what the hell, it’s just music
Pick and choose as you please
As a poet, I can only paint the picture of how as much as these things claim to change, they stay the same.