Hip Hop itself has alw
ays been about showing your lyrical prowess on the mic and talking about how good you are at the art. Hip Hop started in the late 70s and around the same time another person ascended to the top of the wrestling world at the same time that paralleled hip hop. Who is this man? None other than one of the greatest white men ever to live “Nature Boy” Ric Flair. Yeah, I said he is one of the greatest white men to ever live….hahaha!
Who is Ric Flair you may ask? Ric Flair is one of the biggest icons in professional wrestling history. Flair was often popular with the crowd due to his in-ring antics, including rule breaking (earning him the distinction of being “the dirtiest player in the game”), strutting and his shouting of “Woooooo!” (Flair got the inspiration from Jerry Lee Lewis‘ “Great Balls of Fire”) Flair’s mobility has become limited in the last ten years of his career due mainly to his age and years of competition taking a toll on his body, but remained a visible character. The “Woooooo!” yell has since become a tribute to Flair, and is often shouted by the crowd whenever a wrestler performs a knife-edge chop, one of Flair’s signature moves. From the late 1970s, Flair wore ornate fur-lined robes of many colors with sequins during in-ring appearances, and since the early 1980s, his approach to the ring was usually heralded by the playing of the “Dawn” section of Richard Strauss’ “Also sprach Zarathustra”(source)
You are probably wondering what the hell Ric Flair has to do with Hip Hop. Hip Hop was created upon four elements: The MC, The DJ, The B-Boy, and The Graffiti Artist. Hip Hop has many parallels to wrestling with the mic/promo skills, elaborate outfits, and extravagant story lines. Ric Flair epitomized the showmanship, style, microphon
e skills and bravado that many hip hop artists portray. Hip Hop from its infancy has been about showing and proving you were the best on the microphone. Hip Hop is and always will be about being better than the competition to many extents. Sure hip hop has also had elements of education, misogyny, black consciousness, and gangsterism as well but the true core of it is the idea of me proving my art is better than yours.
If you look at the early career of Ric Flair and parallel it to many elements of hip hop you will see that many elements of both intertwine. I am not stating that Hip hop totally stole its style from the great Ric Flair but, I know many MCs grew up watching Ric Flair in the early 80s and implemented many things from him in their rhymes. Ric was all about the show, the clothes, the cars, and being the champion. Ric Flair wears the extravagant robe, big gold chains, fly sunglasses, the biggest Cadillac, and the finest women. Sounds real familiar to hip hop doesn’t it? Ric Flair’s elements can be seen in everyone from LL COOL J, Run DMC, Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick and Ice Cube to today’s artists such as Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Gucci Mane, Souljah Boy, and Young Jeezy.
Here are some of this Ric Flair quotables and you can see some the parallels with him and hip hop:
“I’m Ric Flair! The Stylin`, profilin`, limousine riding, jet flying, kiss-stealing, wheelin` n` dealin` son
of a gun!”
“In order to be the man, you have to beat the man.”
“If you don`t like it, learn to *love* it!”
“When somebody has convinced you that you`re not worth anything to anybody anymore, and they spend a lot of time doing it, you start believing it yourself.”
“I’m every woman`s dream and every man`s nightmare.”
“All the women want to be with me, all the men want to be like me”
Now checkout one of my favorite videos and see the style Ric Flair and see some of the similarities to hip hop.
Not only are these damn near hip hop quotables in many ways but many rappers try to emulate their lives like this. It’s funny how Hip Hop has become more and more comparable to Ric Flair because it’s started to become ever closer to being like wrestling itself. Everything from trumped-up beefs, interview interferences, slappings in public, jewels being taken has seemed to become a part of Hip Hops mantra. The more and more I think about it Hip Hop hasn’t only emulated some swag from Ric Flair but is closer and closer to becoming like wrestling all together…Fake!
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thoughtsunchained
August 4, 2010
When I first saw this post I was skeptical but great job at explaining and backing up your comparison! Hip hop has fallen far from where it began with all the lame artist’s dropping albums just to make a dollar, but it’s not over yet Remember what you said, “but the true core of it is the idea of proving my art is better than yours.” One day I believe an artist will rise and remind everyone that hip hop is about lyrical prowess not fakeness. – Thoughts
The Pounder
August 4, 2010
Crazy good piece and angle you came from. Hip Hop will stay alive though! Believe it!!
Kwheats
August 5, 2010
Interesting Post… Although I had no clue who this Flair fellow is, there was something about him that stood out. You presented him in the light of someone who wanted to stand out..be different…defy the odds. Which is why he may be considered an icon in the world of wrestling. Comparing this to the hip hop world I can only raise the question, do todays artist who claim to be hip hop artists really align with Mr. Flair and his individuality? You said “but the true core of it[hip hop] is the idea of proving my art is better than yours.” Today’s mainstream artists such as Gucci, Souljah Boy, Rick Ross, and whoever else is on 106 and Park, may believe in proving their art is better, but I think they lack in being different. I think what separates Hip Hop from Rap is the idea and the intent behind the music. If you look at artists like Wale, Lupe, Talib etc you see a distinct separation between them and you see many individualistic aspects to their lyrics and their music.And then you have the mainstreamers talkin about money and hoes. I think that a good portion of our generations artists are trying to fit in instead of stand out like Mr. Flair.I think Hip Hop back then more so than ‘hip hop’ today has that parallel that you’re talkin about.
darcwonn1906
April 6, 2012
I don’t think that Diggame was referring to Flair’s effort to “be different”. If anything, he is referencing Flair’s effort to “be seen” and “create headlines” for himself. At the end of the day, Flair was a character. A lot of hip hop nowadays (like a lot of wrestling 99.9% of the time) is about characterization. Good, bad, or indifferent, people tend to remember wrestlers not only for their prowess but for their showmanship and ability to grab our attention. Many hip hop stars/artists work to do the same.
Still, you said plenty to think about. I applaud you, Kwheats. Your summation is damn good.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
April 6, 2012
I love the interesting connections you make between Flair and Hip-Hop.
darcwonn1906
April 6, 2012
Yeah, this was great. I agree with this article.
Be reminded: Killer Mike made a song called “Ric Flair”. Listen to it. And see how much of your argument REALLY makes sense.
Marcus Ma'at Atkins
April 6, 2012
Great article and thesis!