Is there a room for Hip Hop in House?

To me its amazing that Diddy is suddenly a House DJ and on the cover of April's Mix Mag with the question; Can House save Hip Hop? WHAT!?!?

Ok, so while I haven't read the article yet, I am amazed that the question was actually asked... It's rare to find House heads that love Hip Hop or Hip Hop heads that love House, and I'm not talking about the top 40 lovers, the ones who jam out to Madonna remixes and club versions of 50 cent, I'm talking about the hardcore run to the floor and move your head fans of music that can spend days in a music store looking for records, analyzing lyrics or replaying songs at full volume. There seems to be a disconnect with the music of Hip Hop and House that once existed...


My theory is simple and it may be weird or medically inexplicable but here it is;
I noticed one night after hours of dancing and took a moment to sit and breath, I noticed the throbbing sensation of adrenaline pushing through my veins with the same timing as the music. I thought it was just me but I began to experiment, I would go out dancing and notice my heart rate aligning with the tempo of the music. Then I would do it at home, with headphones on, without dancing but with deep breathing.

Research carried out by scientists at John Moores University in Liverpool (UK) in 2007, reported in the Int J Sports Med 2007;24, came up with with the following formula for predicting maximum heart rates in both endurance and anaerobically trained athletes:

• Male athletes - MHR = 202 - (0.55 x age)
• Female athletes - MHR = 216 - (1.09 x age)

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/maxhr.htm

202 - (.55*28) = 186 (My maximum heart rate)

Considering my less than par condition of being an athlete, a poor diet due to a lack of access to healthy foods (Thanks Bloomberg), and my lack of motivation for exercise, I would knock off a good chunk off that number, but even still a House BPM of 128 would fall well within a healthy dosage of heart elevation regardless of my age. If House can give you a nice dosage of pure adrenaline then it makes perfect sense to me why the music is loved by people who also love to dance. Maybe this is a stretch, but it makes sense to me...

Jungle Brothers - I'll House You
Uploaded by hushhush112

On the contrary you have Hip Hop heads who don't love House. My girlfriend for instance is a Hip Hop scholar and will one day earn the first Hip Hop Doctorate in history. We constantly debate over music and she cringes when I play House in my car (Although she doesn't cringe when I'm DJing, which proves that love is not only Blind, it's also Deaf!). Her beef with House is the lack of lyrical content and flow that is unique to Hip Hop. She enjoys music with an all inclusive emotional process to the words and not just cheesy club lyrics of joy and happiness all the time... (Not always, but overwhelmingly overplayed...)

So I guess at some point between Wepa Man and Wu Tang the two genre's made a split... One genre appealing to those into rhythms and dancing, the other genre left for those craving witty lyrics and lounges... Maybe it was the drinking problem that tore them apart...


So how did Hip Hop and House find each other again? After so many years of separation can Hip Hop and House reconcile its differences? Or was there ever a divorce? This single released in 2000 by Armand van Heldon featured a well known Hip Hopper. Proof that the love affair was still alive!


So why is Diddy turning to House music after all these years?
Could it be the success of Kanye's syntho pop electro charged Chicago auto(out of)tuned House album that caught his eye?
Perhaps he's just following Timbaland's model to go overseas and steal music thats hot in the UK...
And what's with MixMag's question?

Perhaps the Federal Bailout plan should include a forced merger of Hip Hop and House to save the industry... or maybe this is an episode of celebrity matchmaker...


I grew up surrounded by Boogie Down music and between the Jungle Brothers, Rob Base & E-Z Rock, Afrika Bambaataa, Das Efx, TKA, Louie Vega and Big Daddy Kane, I couldn't identify the difference or isolate specific genres, to me it was all one.


Now I understand the differences and I am a bit disappointed that the fusion of House and Hip Hop is being perceived as something new and innovative... It's not... Even 50 cent has done a House remix... (not worth mentioning...) And music distributor Beatport has renamed the genre to House Hop even though the genre was once labeled Rap House... But regardless I'm glad that people are growing interested in fusing the two once again! I just hope that the Hip Hop game doesn't wear out its partnership too quickly this time...


Here's an interesting documentary on Hip Hop/House that I found dating back to 1989!


"Don't call it Club Rap, call it Rap House."