Hip-hop culture, which is not the same as rap music, originate in both of these among many other things. Punk music and hip-hop culture are not hermetically sealed off from each other. E.g., the Beastie Boys, who started out as a punk band before evolving into something that some, but not all, would say owed a lot to hip-hop culture.
Culture is irreducibly complex, which is why in twenty years nobody’s going to understand why you or I were drawing borders this or that way around hip-hop or punk or whatever. They’ll be too busy arguing about how Biebercore is not the same thing as Bieberpunk.
Did you like the music? Did you appreciate the artistic statement? Do you know the things their intended audience knows? Grade them (and yourself) on those scales all you want, but don’t waste your time policing genre boundaries. They’re far too porous, and that’s a good thing.
I really do not mean to police genre boundaries or draw any borders. pussy riot can make a “hip-hop” song, what do I care.
In the interview a connection was drawn btwn the style and the content of the piece…namely that the hip hop format is an appropriate style to use to talk about Chaika because both are rooted in gangster culture. My reaction was to that part, so I said that I thought it was that it was clumsy and misguided.
