The way I see it, hiphop/rap is long past it's glory days in the early to mid 90's. Looking back at rap legends like Snoop Dogg and the Wu in their prime in contrast to MANY so called "artists" today...feelsbadman.
(Take a look at Method and Red Man, Bone Thugz, 2Pac, Biggie, ect. THEN compare them to Drake, Souljah Boy, T-Pain, ect.)
The all too common trend seems to be that every artist, and rap itself as a genre, is declining in so many ways.
Take for example Eminem. His first three albums(Infinite, The Slim Shady LP, and The Marshall Mathers LP) are in my opinion, three of the best examples of hip hop at it's purest, "realest" form. THEN starting with the Eminem Show, MONEY got involved. Em's last three albums are pretty terrible in comparison to his first three, when considering lyrical content, flow, mechanics, and most of all EMOTION. Why do most rappers lose the strong emotions in their songs once that paper starts flowing?
Even worse than losing emotion, is flat out losing skill and making empty BS music just to sell records. A glaring example of this raptravesty is Lil Wayne. Wayne BLEW UP in popularity after his album Tha Carter II. Before that, rap fans were still most of Wayne's fan base and he was still making decent music. Starting with Tha Carter III and up to the present, EVERYONE knows and loves Lil Wayne, even though it's obvious the quality of his music has declined. You can tell when a rap artist has sold themselves when you start seeing their t-shirts at Hottopic. I was appalled today when I saw a Wiz Khalifa t-shirt in Hottopic. Another tragic example of a rapper who used to make good stuff, and has since lost most of who they are in their music because of $crill.
To sum it all up(tl;dr), MOST rappers are presently concerned about one thing: money. Once they make it, they'll put out all sorts of empty, but catchy nonsense to sell their wack records.
With that out of my system, I'd now like to show you all a video that gives me hopeful expectations of rap in the future. Hopefully, it's going to be an Odd Future...
I agree, hip-hops gone downhill now days, frustrating really. Following, interesting blog you have (:
ReplyDeleteIt seems like most music is heading in this direction these days. Hopefully Odd Future doesn't too after being on tv. Following!
ReplyDeleteHmm, I'm interested in what you think about Eminem's Recovery. Personally, I think it's the bomb.com. It's the only kind of modern rap I'll listen to.
ReplyDeleteRecovery is most definitely better than Relapse. But Relapse was awful. Recovery is definitely worth listening to though. In my opinion, it's just not on the same level as his first three albums.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the best part of rap/Hip-Hop is the emotion added in there. I do admit I dont listen to some of the rap sometimes but that may be because its just a chill song or I enjoy the punch lines in there. For example Chamillionaire has funny lines but he doesn't have the emotion in most of his songs. But other than that I try to stay with underground rappers that go with emotion.
ReplyDeleteAgreed with what imarkzor said about Recovery/Relapse. Recovery's pretty good, but think about it in comparison to something like The Marshall Mathers LP... And as far as Odd Future goes, if I EVER see any merch with their name's on it in Hot Topic, I will personally find each and every one of them and slap them in the nuts.
ReplyDeleteAgreed with you on this one! Rap is all about emotion. Eminiem is certainly a rapper which you can hear the emotion in it!
ReplyDeleteHip-hop evolves and goes through stages.
ReplyDeleteLike anything really - good times followed by bad followed by better and so on.
Biggie & 2pac were the best and forever will be
ReplyDeleteIm not too huge into rap but my fav rapper is still Ice-T, THE OG everyone!
ReplyDeleteI agree 100%, but it's not just rap that is ruined by money. Granted, there are a lot of rappers that are obviously in it for the money, but you can look at other genres and see the same money-effect happen. There will be a lot of angst-ridden young bands, and they just lose their edge as they get more and more famous. That's one reason I like Smashing Pumpkins; Billy Corgan pretty much said, "we can't sing about how terrible the world is now that we're rich, so it's time to quit." Great post!
ReplyDeleteI don't agree. The rap is still there, it's just not on the radio. The reason being commercialized music.
ReplyDeleteIm with Innovations, I think the good rap is still there, the sound has changed but its still there.
ReplyDeleteYeee.
ReplyDeletepopularity up quality down
ReplyDeleteVery good stuff
ReplyDeleteBiggie is still the best!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think that rap has really gone downhill. Even Eminem is showing up on more of the pop radio stations.
ReplyDeleteOdd Future is blowing up. Yonkers goes sooo hard.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with what modern rap and hip hop has become. I think some of these rappers great grandparents would be disgraced with what some of them have become.
ReplyDeleteEminem all the way! Followed!
ReplyDeletealphabetalife.blogspot.com
yeah man, that vid was crazyy, but they seem cool 8D
ReplyDeletehate all rap
ReplyDeleteNot usually a fan but its ok
ReplyDeleteI blame lil wayne and his crap followers such as drake
ReplyDeleteOMG YES, GOLF WANG BE CHANGING THE GAME RAP IS IN THEIR HANDS TYLER THE CREATORS GOT IT
ReplyDeleteswagged out blog, haha. agree on the hip hop - OFWGKTA is doing some crazy stuff and it's revitalizing the whole hip-hop scene. love it.
ReplyDeletealso, frost for pvp or pve?
I remember back when I use to actually like some Rap.
ReplyDeleteI never got into rap, but the older stuff i've listened to is way better than what's on the radio today.
ReplyDeletePhilospohy indeed. I dont much like rap. but Rap is okay sometimes
ReplyDeleteIt sucks when "art" becomes indistinguishable from manufacturing.
ReplyDeletei completely iunderstand mate, great post
ReplyDeleteto be honest, i think this whole decline in the quality of lyrical content started with the introduction of gangsta rap. (biggie, tupac, dre, snoop, etc)
ReplyDeletebiggie and tupac were great, but they set up the wannabe gangsta future of hiphop that is today.
i like tupac :)
ReplyDeletewow right on brotha. there is no heart left in these clowns
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you
ReplyDeleteIts not only rap, pretty much almost every genre isn't as good as it used to be. Now money is the only thing most artists care about.
ReplyDeleteOur parents gave us pink floyd and the beatles to listen to... what are we going to give to our children? lady gaga and justin beiber? no chance!
ReplyDeleteMusic as a whole has collapsed into some sort of money-grabbing monster. No room for originality.
ReplyDeleteNice blog! Followed and Supporting!
ReplyDeletehttp://ausbargain.blogspot.com/
I'm more like a rock person, but I don't bind myself to a single music genre. I like the 90's rap. I just feel what you're saying, man. There's no good hip-hop now. Only little boys trying to rap for money. That's obviously crap.
ReplyDeleteLately rap has become marketing. There is no artistic aspect on it anymore. Now it's just lil wayne and his gay gibberish.
ReplyDeleteAlmost all popular music these days seems to have gone downhill.
ReplyDeleteWhen is your next post going to be man, I'm interested!
ReplyDeleteSeconded, Westus. I hope we'll see a new article soon.
ReplyDeleteI guess it just happens for some people. Nice blog, following
ReplyDelete