Words by Kevin Fairbanks,

For almost a decade, mainstream Hip Hop has been getting a lashing
by the purists in our community for not keeping to the culture. Now as
we reach the turn of the decade if you ask a teenager what Hip Hop is
they will most likely say four words: money, girls, parties, and Lil’
Wayne. Yet, on the other side of the Hip Hop world you have many
artists and fans who proudly describe Hip Hop as emceeing, DJing,
breaking, and graffiti (four words that a person doesn’t even need to
know to enjoy a rap record today). Representing this way of life,
rather than a simple taste in Hip Hop is the duo of Pace Won & Mr.
Green. Their aptly titled song “Hip-Hop” was the first single off of
their summer underground hit The Only Color that Matters is Green
and takes punches and kicks at anyone who isn’t down for the cause, tradition, and culture of Hip-Hop.

For the revival of the RH: Inspired By column, we sat down with Mr. Green to find out how the song came together.

Mr. Green:
"Putting
together the song "Hip-Hop" was kind of a crazy process. Not that it
was a particularly difficult song to make, but it went through a lot of
stages before it was completed. I remember making the beat on my
laptop at the Rutgers Student center in New Brunswick. At that time I
didn't have a studio set up and I would just make beats everywhere I
went. The original beat was exactly the way it sounds now, just the
piano for 4 bars and then the drum break and bass kick in. I sent it
to Pace and wasn't even sure if he was going to like it. A couple days
later he called me and and put the phone to the speaker... I was blown
away.

It's a good instrumental but when he rapped on it, it
was like it came to life. On the first version that got recorded, Pace
said "Hip Hop started after dark" in the hook instead of MC Shan. It's
really raw, sounds a lot different than the finished one we did the
video for. I put that version on my album Green Future (you
can still buy it on iTunes and in stores). One night at a party in my
hometown, Highland Park, I bumped into my friend Phil Sedehi who was
getting into making music videos. He had just done a video for Sav
Killz and Planet Asia that came out really dope. I played him "Hip
Hop", and he said he wanted it be his next video. Months later, I
finally got my studio up and running and Pace and I went back and
rerecorded most of the songs for The Only Color that Matters is Green.
He had me get the MC Shan quote and throw it in the hook. That was
when the song came to life for the second time. Shortly after we
rerecorded the song, we started filming the video. We shot one day on
random side streets in and around Flatbush Brooklyn where Phil lived
and then another day near Pace's house at these basketball courts on
Clifton Ave. in Newark. When the video was finally finished it made the
song so incredible.. I couldn't believe it. It's crazy to think that it
started with the beat that I made on my cheap $600 laptop, with some
$20 headphones and ended up being what a lot of people consider an
underground classic. "

Taken from Ruby Hornet.com, click here for the full story.

Thank you for reading,

-Green