One sunny day in 1995, the Notorious B.I.G. sat in the passenger seat of a black Mercedes-Benz, indulging in joints and engaging in casual conversation. This was a typical day for Biggie, but on this particular occasion, his friend dream hampton was in the back seat with a video camera. Dressed in stylish Versace sunglasses and a checked purple shirt, the 23-year-old rapper, who had recently released his breakout album “Ready to Die,” held a bulky cellphone to his ear, making plans and chatting about girls in his distinct lisped voice. He chuckled and raised a square of rolling paper containing marijuana leaves to his lips.
Behind the camera, hampton interrupted to ask if Biggie intended to consume their entire bag of weed. Annoyed by the interruption, Biggie playfully mocked her question. Struck by Biggie’s tone, hampton responded sharply, questioning why he was targeting her that day and suggesting they settle the matter outside before hitting the road. The video abruptly cut to static.
I had the opportunity to watch this footage in June of this year in the basement of hampton’s house on Martha’s Vineyard. hampton herself was upstairs, as she believed it would be strange to watch her younger self with me. It surprised me that she was willing to show me the footage at all. hampton is widely regarded as one of the most significant music journalists of her generation. She began her career writing for The Source, a hip-hop magazine, in the 1990s and later became a contributor to Vibe and The Village Voice. hampton challenged hip-hop from within, treating the genre with the seriousness it deserved while calling out its materialism and misogyny. She co-wrote Jay-Z’s influential 2010 memoir and produced the 2019 documentary that played a crucial role in bringing R. Kelly, an R&B star known for contributing sexually explicit refrains to rap songs, to justice for his decades-long history of sexual predation.
However, when I initially arrived two days earlier, I had anticipated that discussing the many artists she had encountered in her career would be off-limits. She had publicly distanced herself from hip-hop and now primarily focused on filmmaking and activism. She texted me that a profile centered on hip-hop would be her “nightmare.” However, her stance had softened slightly by the time we met.
Her reluctance to discuss hip-hop is partly due to the life she leads in her early 50s. Despite being born in Detroit and making her name in New York City, she now spends most of her time on Martha’s Vineyard. When she first visited the island shortly after the birth of her daughter in 1996, she experienced a newfound sense of tranquility. “I didn’t know what it felt like for a place to bring you peace,” she shared. Now, her yard is frequented by wild turkeys, and her home resonates with indie rock and NPR news rather than the sounds of Kendrick Lamar or Ice Spice. Despite hip-hop celebrating its 50th birthday this year, hampton recognizes that the genre isn’t particularly appealing to middle-aged mothers like herself. She remarked, “Even if I could get down on some kneepads and do ‘WAP,’ which I can’t, it’s not for me,” referring to the sexually explicit choreography associated with Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s 2020 hit.
However, her disengagement from hip-hop also stems from pain and frustration. hampton and Biggie were so close that she asked him to be her daughter’s godfather, and he even gave his daughter the middle name Dream. She took him along to her film classes at NYU, and he provided feedback on her writing. While hampton challenged Biggie about the sexism in his lyrics, he concealed his abusive behavior towards his girlfriend and protégé Lil’ Kim from her. She will never know if he would have evolved as an individual or artist. Biggie was tragically killed in a drive-by shooting at the age of 24, most likely due to a rap feud. “I watched someone get killed who would still be alive if it wasn’t for hip-hop,” hampton revealed.
Even as she surveys the current hip-hop landscape, hampton still sees an abundance of violent machismo that shaped and endangered her friend, as well as an aspect she has been protesting since the age of 19. hampton believes that hip-hop has become a tool of the very unequal and exploitative system it originally defied. Initially, she felt that the music embodied a certain joy and upliftment while being grounded in the struggles of America. Rap seemed to be reaching for something greater, but perhaps the mistake was its desire to assimilate into mainstream American culture.
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