Be my guide: Hip-hop talk at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland

For a music-themed road trip, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland is pretty much a must-see. Many readers agreed with me, as evidenced by several suggestions to stop at the museum, which is downtown on the shore of Lake Erie.

I had last visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame about a decade ago. I’m glad I ignored the dissenting advice from reader Chris Ridenhour, who called it “one place you should avoid.” Ridenhour goes on to assert that “the only good thing that ever came out of Cleveland was Pere Ubu” (apparently, an experimental rock band — thanks, Internet).

The museum was worth revisiting. Besides the standard exhibits, I got to catch the middle of an onstage interview with Darryl McDaniels, a member of the pioneering hip-hop group Run-DMC. McDaniels spoke quite convincingly on his involvement in the creation of the music genre and its intent to educate poor  minorities.

As part of the nonprofit organization’s ongoing series of educational outreach programs, McDaniels was the ideal candidate for the event. He effortlessly transitioned from well-placed lines of spoken poetry to off-the-cuff humor to landing on a grander lesson.

McDaniels talked about how in the early days of hip hop, the desire to one-up another rapper in their lyrical battles would force them to hit the books. They needed to inject bigger words into their vocabularies and grander concepts into their songs to leapfrog the next guy.

“He just did a social studies record,” McDaniels said, providing a scholarly analogy for the audience of schoolchildren and teachers. “I’m going to do an economics record,” he said, drawing laughs from the crowd.

McDaniels went on to highlight the poisoning of hip hop by modern musicians. “A lot of people don’t want to use hip hop as an educational tool,” he said,  “because a lot of the people who have been doing hip hop for the last 15 years have been doing it wrong.”

When the godfather of the genre tells you that you’re not on the right track, you should probably listen. It’s like Chuck Berry telling Metallica (which I was saddened to discover is currently the youngest group to be inducted into the hall of fame) that they messed up rock. (They did, if you ask me.)

Modern hip hop, McDaniels said, is riddled with degrading sexual, racist and drug messages. ”We put the positive stuff on the hip-hop records,” McDaniels said of the hip hop of old. “We listened to what the elders were telling us. And we put them on the records.”

“This is the power of hip hop when it’s used the way we created it to be used,” he said.

Speaking of elders, Bruce Springsteen is the museum’s current centerpiece. His exhibit occupies two floors—and a billboard that faces east as you enter the city. Contrary to my own assumptions, leaving New Jersey provides no escape from the Boss. His will continue to be the showcase until spring next year.

The tour guides presented a number of other worthwhile exhibits, including Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” an ode to music technology and a critical look at the advent of MTV.

But the hall of fame was just the beginning of my evening in Cleveland. Check back with the Los Angeles Times Daily Travel & Deal Blog for a recap with an honest look into Midwestern night life.

To provide travel tips, send e-mails to mark.milian@latimes.com, leave comments on this blog or, for those on Twitter, send tweets to @mmilian.” To follow my road-trip status live, visit http://twitter.com/mmilian. For the trip schedule and cities, check out my earlier posts.

—Mark Milian, Los Angeles Times staff writer

[Photos, from top: Los Angeles music exhibit at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame  and Museum in Cleveland; Darryl McDaniels from Run-DMC discusses the roots of hip hop; and patrons examine Bruce Springsteen's many guitars. Credit: Mark Milian / Los Angeles Times]

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 11:07 am by Mark Milian and is filed under Arts & Culture, Be My Guide, Midwestern States, News, Tips & Advice, Summer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.