Is "Hip House" a legit sub-genre of Hip Hop?

[beatlover]

Hip House is just a zit on the face of Hip Hop during it's Puberty.

[L.E.S. lady]

I don't see why not. I used to love

I'll house you
come into my house
let it roll.

No worse than the other spin offs.

[JahBrown]

I loved that brief era..Just about the majority of the artists of that time embraced it..Chill Rob G. "Make It", Queen Latifah's "Come Into My House", Doug Lazy's "H.O.U.S.E.", Craig G., Roxanne Shante, Redhead Kingpin, Heavy D., Mantronix..ah whole heap ah artist..

[EyeGetzRaw]

Eye voted Yes on this one, 'cheka...but in reality, Eye don't think it's a simple yes or no question.

The observations that were made in the text you highlighted were fair but, Eye think your question still lingers even after reading that.

What it clearly points out is that, similar to Hip Hop, there was a House music sub-culture that existed independently on the underground. It also indicates that there was crossover of the two energies (mainly, because they both occupied common space, namely the clubs...in the form of dance and/or party music) and that there was a distinct result of the merge which was labeled "Hip-House".

What it doesn't answer is whether or not that result can be considered a sub-genre of Hip Hop (as opposed to being a sub-genre of House, a distinct genre of it's own or merely a passing fad)???

The apex for the House scene was occurring more or less at the tail-end of Hip Hop's Golden Age. Seeing as how the nature of Hip Hop music is to appropriate and re-contextualize, it was only natural that there were going to be Hip Hop artists that made songs that incorporated House music. But that fact alone would not be enough to constitute sub-genre status IMO.

Much in the same way that Run-DMC or the Beasties including a handful of Rock-based tracks on some of their early albums did not make that hybrid (Rock/Rap) a sub-genre, the marriage of Hip Hop and House being embraced by various artists (on both sides) on some of their songs does not a sub-genre make...a style, maybe, but not a sub-genre.

However, if you have artists who are creating music (body of work, not just a song) that organically incorporates that hybrid sound as their foundation as opposed to using it as merely a stylistic option, then there is cause for legitimate discussion as a sub-genre.

That said, you had acts like KC Flightt, Doug Lazy, C&C Music Factory, Twin Hype, et. al. who's primary sound was Hip-House. Their existence solidifies the argument for sub-genre status, but which family they are a sub-genre of (Hip Hop or House) is debatable. I'm of the opinion that it should be classified as a sub-genre of both, however, a strong case can be made for the House side laying more claim.

Again, much the same way that groups like Rage Against The Machine, Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, Linkin Park, et. al. legitimized the Rap/Rock hybrid as a sub-genre (so-called "Agro" music), they are still widely recognized as Rock acts first and foremost. Eye believe that this is mainly due to the music (as opposed to vocals). Agro's counterpart, Hip-House was typically viewed in much the same way...as House (or a more generalized, "Dance" or "Club") music.

To divorce either from the Hip Hop side of their roots, however, is a disservice and disrespect to Hip Hop. It's like the prodigy of a mixed-marriage attempting to deny either side of their heritage.

One final thought...because it was a legitimate sub-genre doesn't mean it was an enduring one. Although House music has diminished in terms of mainstream popularity, it has survived and maintains a sound following. The same cannot really be said for the sub-genre of Hip-House, although it appears to be resurfacing under the new moniker, "House-Hop".

[bountyhunters-inc]

When it comes to classification (viz. labeling) or indentification of anything IMO there are two main styles. Lumpers and splitters. Being my background is not music theory and there are so many subgenres in all sorts of music genres today its hard for me to keep up on so... I 'll take the lumper approach and vote yes. Mainly, because there are enough elements or ingredients that make it taste more like a HH spin off rather than something that has a "house-esque" soul.

Shout out to the Heads up this mutha, have been to the lounge for about TWO minutes. Peace from the Bounty.

[djharoldrenny]

Good read. Hip-hop has revolutionized music and american culture itself. At this point, any music form that fuses a single element of rap pronunciation will be considered a "hip-hop" music in some form.

[rchecka]

Thank you all for your comments, especially Eyegetz, you broke down your point perfectly and I think you are right about the "disservice" comment especially.

I may waiver to legitimizing certain Hip House tracks as Hip Hop, but there is enough of the Technotronic and C&C music factory type mainstream garbage music that does Hip Hop no justice what-so-ever that keeps me leery about lumping Hip House into Hip Hop as a whole. The fact that the worst music of the genre got the most popular doesn't help either, the really good stuff never got on the radio. And the legitimate HH artists that dabbled in Hip House kept it a brief experiment, so they clearly knew that it was a dying fad unworthy of their attention.

I think at least we can all agree that Hip House was short lived because of it's basic self-contradicting nature of implied feminine beats meeting the street masculinity of Hip Hop lyrics in general, and it could very well be the shortest lived sub genre of Hip Hop since that contradiction is so obvious. In terms of time span I don't think it lasted longer then maybe 3-4 years and maybe only 2 years of it was in its prime. Personally, I wasn't sad to see it fade away.

[neb dirty]

What continually happens in Hip-Hop music is that nothing stays the same for more than four years at a stretch, that's why I say that you have to include Hip-House as a sub-genre of Hip-Hop music. Sure, there were a lot of people who jumped on the bandwagon but we can say the same thing about new jack swing. People like Mr. Lee and Doug Lazy kinda pigeonholed themselves by doing mainly Hip-House, so when the time had passed on that sub-genre, then they were stuck, they never adapted to the next phase. I think that Mr. Lee got into production, so at least he stayed in the game on the business side, but most of those cats that exclusively used Hip-House as their mode of expressing themselves through music probably will never be heard from again. I have to agree with you, Checka, though, when this genre died I was, in a word, elated.