David Bowie had a long legacy of being a creative chameleon, slipping in and out of different identities like coats. His entire career was like that. So it’s safe to say he constantly had his finger on the pulse of what was going on in the creative world.
During a 1993 interview, host Bryant Gumbel brought up Bowie’s comment that the artists making some of the most creative moves were rappers. But that wasn’t the entire theory. Bowie elaborated more on what he saw as a shift of social causes in music.
“I think that the white generation have come of age, in fact, they’re part of the administration now,” he began. “The people who brought rock and roll to us in its white form. The quality and significance of the social message has moved very much fundamentally to the Black and Hispanic market. And that’s where the new force of music is coming from.”
“White music is as fragmented as society is itself,” he continued. “And it seems to be reflecting that sense of chaos and that fragmentation.”
When Considering Hip-Hop in the 90s, David Bowie Felt There Was a ‘Very Strong Social Point’
David Bowie then continued his evaluation of the social shift in music. He added, “With Black music, there’s a very strong social point to make. There’s a means of discovery and a purpose.”
Additionally, Gumbel posed the question of money as a motivating factor for making music. Was there a point where selling out became a lucrative opportunity after all? Did the growing amount of money being funneled into the music industry lead people to make music professionally?
“I think most bands are really, really working out there for the music more than anything else,” David Bowie replied. “I really like to believe that.”
“It’s nice to think, to be cynical about it, that it’s a nice career opportunity for young people, but I don’t think it is,” he continued. I think everybody who picks up a guitar or puts pen to paper has something in his system, in himself, that he wants to express to others and have them understand him.”
The post David Bowie Had This To Say About Hip Hop in 1993, and His Words Ring Truer Now Than Ever Before appeared first on VICE.
