 |
Hip Hop Isn't Dying, It Just Sucks |
 |
Editor’s Note: News headlines make up the usual discussion here at The Seminal. However, Tuesdays we include contributions of music and culture in combination with our standard political fare. If you are a practicing musician, please send us a work of yours in mp3 format. We also encourage articles from practicing or amateur music critics. If your work product suits our tastes, you'll find it posted the following Tuesday. Enjoy!
Hip hop sales are down. According to Nielsen SoundScan, sales in the Rap category dropped 20.7% compared with sales in 2005. That is the second largest drop behind the New Age category, which fell 22.7%. Right behind in this dismal race is R&B with a drop of 18.4%. Of course record sales are down across the industry, but the average change is only -2.4% with some genres, such as Classical, gaining as many percentage points as Rap lost. Clearly hip hop, which has been the darling of the record industry these last few years, is in trouble.
But why are sales down? Countless articles, including a recent high profile story from the AP, have said the problems with hip hop stem solely from its content. The above article among others argues that hip hop lyrics too degrading towards women and the thug life image is played out. From the article:
"I'm not removed from it, but I can't really tell the difference between Young Jeezy and Yung Joc. It's the same dumb stuff to me," says [Nicole] Duncan-Smith, 33 [who is married to a hip hop producer]. "I can't listen to that nonsense … I can't listen to another black man talk about you don't come to the 'hood anymore and ghetto revivals … I'm from the 'hood. How can you tell me you want to revive it? How about you want to change it? Rejuvenate it?"
OK. Point taken. The music doesn't speak to you. But here's the real deal: If you go out there and just replace all the negatives in rap lyrics with positives, replace every Young Jeezy-type MC with a Common and every call to murder with an exhortation to love your fellow man, hip hop sales would still be down. Why? Because people fail to realize that hip hop first and foremost is a musical art-form. Right now, hip hop just isn't living up to musical standards. It's just plain bad.
A Comparison
On one hand you've got what I would call "artistically interesting" hip hop, hip hop that has musical value and makes an artistic statement. One example would be the legendary song "CREAM" by The Wu-Tang Clan off of 1993's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). To refresh you're memory here's the track:
On the surface, the lyrical content of this cut is pretty similar to what's popular today. It's about growing up in the ghetto and living the thug life, the same exact themes hit on in about every song on the hip hop charts today. Here's the rundown:
Do we have violence? Sure!
And running
up in gates, and doing hits for high stakes
Drugs? Yep.
No question I would speed, for cracks and weed
The combination made my eyes bleed
Money? That's easy…just look at the title (CREAM = Cash Rules Everything Around Me).
It's all there. So what's the difference? Well to start, lyrically "CREAM" is about more than just drugs and guns. This particular song is also about survival, big dreams, and the mysteries of life:
It's been twenty-two long hard years of still strugglin
Survival got me buggin, but I'm alive on arrival
I peep at the shape of the streets
And stay awake to the ways of the world cause shit is deep
A man with a dream with plans to make C.R.E.A.M.
Which failed; I went to jail at the age of 15
A young buck sellin drugs and such who never had much
Trying to get a clutch at what I could not… could not…
The court played me short, now I face incarceration
Pacin — going up state's my destination
Handcuffed in back of a bus, forty of us
Life as a shorty shouldn't be so ruff
But as the world turns I learned life is hell
Living in the world no different from a cell
The complexity in the lyrics helps push this song into the artistic realm. Of course, it has musical credentials too, but we'll get to that later.
Let's contrast the above with Pretty Ricky's "Push It Baby", which was as high as #5 on the Billboard hip hop/r&b charts. Here it is, in case you haven't heard it yet:
Again, on the surface this song references familiar themes. You've got sex of course. Here's the hook:
I Wanna See You Push It Baby Oh Just Push That Thang On Me
Push It Baby I Wanna See You
You've got money:
Buying Out The Bar Like It Ain't No Thang
Hot Boy Like Wayne
Diamonds In My Chain Blang Blang Blang
And the ghetto life:
Urban Legend In The Hood Like T.I.
But let's face it, these lyrics can't even begin to touch Raekwon and the rest of The Clan! Here's a bit more if you aren't convinced:
When I Step Up In He Club-I'm So Hot Hot Hot
Tossing Dollars At These Hoes Like Ah Ah Ah
Pretty Woman Up In Here Like Bah Bah Bah
Spitting Game In Their Ear Like - Lalalalalalaa
Baby Blue I Don't Play No Games
Head To My Feet So Fresh So Clean
Buying Out The Bar Like It Ain't No Thang
Hot Boy Like Wayne
Diamonds In My Chain Blang Blang Blang
I got canary diamond Bustas
Got the matching Lamborghini same color mustard
Baying drinks for these chicks and now they owe me
More gin if u wine I'm the same ol G
As far as I can tell, there isn't another side to this song. There is no complexity to be found. There's nothing about the world beyond "the club", nothing about growing up poor, or even much about the classic rags to riches story. I get no indication that the rappers in this song are thinking beyond the next drink or the next diamond or the next girl. It's all bitches and booty and bling (and bullshit if you ask me).
Now, "CREAM" may already be winning this comparison, but I would argue that if you put "CREAM's" excellent lyrics under "Push It Baby's" beat, you'd still have a dud. Here's why:
Musically these songs are in different leagues. "CREAM" employs (by my count anyway) at least 10 different musical samples to create texture and to demarcate different internal sections. "Push It Baby" uses maybe 5. Sure the songs have the same basic structure of verse/chorus pairs, but "CREAM" adds musical drops, reversed samples, delays and echos to the mix. It all adds up to create an atmospheric track that feels empty, spacious and melancholic, and just like the lyrics.
On the other hand, "Push It Baby" will cut the beat occasionally, but the instrumentation is pretty static throughout the song with samples coming in and out in extremely predictable ways. To me it feels claustrophobic. Where "CREAM" is repetitive in a minimalist way, "Push It Baby" repeats like a bad advertising slogan; it's determined to drive that hook into your head whether you like it or not. To me, "CREAM" comes off as well structured and layered where "Push It Baby" with its played out instrumentation and attention-getting riffs, feels cookie-cutter and monotonous. To put it another way, I can listen to "CREAM" over and over again and hear something new each time. With "Push It Baby" all I have to hear is the first verse and the hook and I've pretty much got the idea. Here's what it comes down to: "CREAM" is art and "Push It Baby" is not.
Even if you take a step back, Wu-Tang's entire album and image are way more interesting than Pretty Ricky's. 36 Chambers is an album in the style of Pink Floyd or The Beatles. It is a coherent piece of work. Each of its songs have something to say and it holds together as a complete artistic statement. No wonder it is widely considered one of the greatest hip hop albums ever produced. On top of that, the Wu-Tang clan projects a multifaceted image. Part thug, pimp, philosopher and poet, the Clan isn't just a one-note wonder.
Pretty Ricky's album Late Night Special isn't cohesive. It may be just about sex, but there is no artistic statement to be found. Here's what one reviewer had to say:
If sex sells, then Pretty Ricky's second album will likely be a big hit on the music charts, because songs about sex is about all that this four-man vocal group has to offer.
Certainly this album won't stand the test of time like 36 Chambers, and neither will the group. Pretty Ricky's image is the slick, blinged-out sex addict and that's where it ends. How can I be expected to stay interested?
But Pop Ain't Art
"OK!" you say, "You've made your point. Pretty Ricky isn't art. But popular music isn't about art anyway. Since when do the pop charts reflect artistic value?" Well, that's not entirely true. I say the pop charts do reflect art, albeit in a roundabout way.
Good music, music with artistic value, does not necessarily rise to the top of the charts. However, the pop charts aren't always the cultural wasteland they have been these past few years. Elvis Presley had #1 hits, so did Stevie Wonder, Santana, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, The Beatles, and Janis Joplin, all artists with significant artistic merit. In the hip hop world, real artists like Kanye West, OutKast, Lauryn Hill, and Biggy Smalls all spent at least a week at #1. Though the pop charts measure sales and not artistic merit, some of the good stuff does hit occasionally.
The real problem with hip hop though, to me anyway, is the lack of an artistically interesting underground from which these hits are spawned. Without a solid underground scene its hard to create hit after hit worth listening to. For example, in 1969 Marvin Gaye, Sly & the Family Stone, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Peter, Paul, and Mary, and Diana Ross & The Supremes all held a #1 song, and each one of these musical entities had something artistic to say. Why were there so many artistically valid #1 songs in 1969? Because the rock, folk and soul underground scenes were booming! With so many bands making so much music at the same time, smart artists had the opportunity to synthesize each genre down to its essential elements and craft songs that were both artistically valid and broadly appealing. I think hip hop right now lacks that critical mass that a vibrant artistic underground scene brings and which is needed to achieve the same effect. Without this kind of foundation the hip hop music that hits on the charts is fated to be nothing more than a fad, a quick flash in the pan with no real thought behind it.
Sure there are a lot of interesting artists in the underground hip hop scene. Immortal Technique, OneBeLo, and Thaione Davis are just a few of the hundreds out there trying to do something good with the music. But for every true artist trying to make it there are two MC's just trying to ride the fad and cash in. As each hip hop "genre" comes and goes (Crunk, Screwed, Reggaeton, and Dancehall to name a sad few), more and more untalented people come out with their own version of the latest sound. This only serves to add more noise to the system and those putting out real music get drowned out. The scene right now is chaotic, without any unity or artistic purpose; it's just people trying to get rich.
Without this cohesive scene there is no foundation. More one-hit wonders get thrown up the charts, each making pure pop music with no artistic backing behind it. Without a functioning underground artistic music will make it to the top only rarely because so little artistic music is being made in the first place. It is hard for an artist to synthesize, create, and collaborate if there is no one around worth working with. Honestly, it's a wonder we've seen the likes of Kanye and Biggy on the charts at all!
Create Art People!
So what's the answer? Well, I'd argue that it's deceptively simple. Really, all you have to do is make good music. You can write your lyrics about whatever you want as long as you put some thought into it. And you can derive your musical influences and samples from whatever corner of the world you choose as long as they all come together in a cohesive and interesting way. Now, making art is by no means easy, but it is the only way to ensure hip hop will continue to be relevant in the future.
It takes a lot to "kill" a genre of music. People have been writing about the end of rock and rap since the day they were created. I'm not saying hip hop is dying or dead. But I am saying that if hip hop wants to be more than top 40 fluff, if it wants to mean something to people like it did in the 80's and early 90's, if it wants to speak for a generation, then it needs to get out of the money game and start getting back into making real music for real people. It is the only way.
If you think that I'm right then don't buy the crap out there! Vote with your wallet and do your part to keep bad hip hop out of everyone's ears. We will thank you later. On the flip side, support the artists out there who are making something you care about. When America gets over its current obsession with hip hop inspired money and violence, these worthy underground artists will still be there ready to give people something worth enjoying.
What do you think? Am I right or dead wrong? How can we save hip hop, if indeed it is in need of saving? Please discuss in the comments below…
Hip Hop slit its own throat. Its just a bunch of wannabe chumps saying the same ol' stuff and renting bitch's and cards to be in their videos. Ya get what ya deserve!
It is not just Hip Hop, it is all genres. As a huge music fan, I haven't found anything released within the last 5 years that has been worth listening to, don't get me wrong there have been a few things but not many. I find myself constantly going back to the "classics" because I just can't stand the new stuff, so unoriginal, so forced, such a waste of my time. I wish I had a nickel for everytime I hear the latest and greatest from a band on the radio and it sounds like 5 other band's songs, just regurgitated, not to mention that, song sounds just like 4 other songs by the same band.
Thankyou for writing this, this is exactly correct in every way. Ive been saying this for a few years now, i can not even stand to listen to anything on the radio because of all the absolute repetitive lyrics and crappy beats out there The underground scene is still strong, Im from the midwest and Minneapolis has produced an array of very talented lyricists that ive come almost soley to rely on.
My hip hop listenings consist of Atmosphere, heiruspecs, Doomtree, P.O.S, and Apathy for the most part….as well as stuff from 10 plus years ago. I loved the read. It was awesome of you to put your insight out there
Greedy poor people helped the greedy rich people kill hop-hop to make a few bucks.
CREAM is amazing. This article warmed my heart.
I'd like to respond to Stave Halet by saying that there is tons of great music out there, and some of it has even been making a run at charts. In the past two months we've seen Modest Mouse, the Arcade Fire, and the Shins land at #2 or higher with their releases. The new LCD Soundsystem and Panda Bear releases I think will become "classics" that I will return to throughout my life. There is no denying great music.
I tend to agree with you in that hip-hop has grown stale as of late. Hell, it hasn't been a genuinely good genre for a good 10 years. The late 80s in NYC was a breeding ground of talent - Boogie Down Productions, Rakim, Stetsasonic, Gang Starr, De La Soul, etc. along with incredible avantgarde masterpieces of the 90s: Main Source, ATCQ, Pharcyde, Freestyle Fellowship, and, of course, the Wu-Tang Clan.
I believe that the Wu were the ultimate supergroup (of all-time, in any genre) due to their immense artistic talent. RZA was an excellent producer, GZA was.. well he was quite simply a genius in his use of wit (metaphors and every other literary function), Raekwon and Ghostface are marvelous storytellers. Raekwon's OB4CL is regarded as a "cinematic" album, due to its intense lyricism, stark realism, and vivid descriptions of the underworld. That is art and talent, and it's simply not existent in today's incarnation of the genre.
There are still some great MCs around - Aceyalone, El-P, El Da Sensei, MF Doom, etc. but there just aren't enough. To think that simply rapping about conscious topics automatically makes you "underground," (with the exception of J5 and the Roots) is rather discouraging. Not that I expect a rebirth of the golden age, I know that's naive, but I do expect quality.
God I'm happy this site is back online…
Anyway, thanks for the comments people. It seems we are pretty much on the same page. It's sad for me to see hip hop as a genre gutted in the popular charts. Without the solid underground I've been referring too hip hop becomes a get-rich-quick, cash in with the latest sound kind of genre. This makes it hard for true underground artists to see success and for real music appreciators to respect it.
Judging by all the anti-hip hop comments over a digg.com, it seems hip hop really needs an artistic core if it has any chance of getting any respect. For me, that means not buying the crap out there. Probably easy for me and the others reading this to do, but still, if you own a 50 cent album you should be ashamed. You've contributed to the downfall of a beautiful artform.
Not to say hip hop is dead yet, who knows, but right now it sure looks boring out there…
Its good to see that other people feel this way too. I'm sick of people looking at me funny and saying, "Why are you listening to that? its old." Meanwhile they're listening to "This is why i'm hot." Songs like that simply have no merit.
I'll have to check some of the artists mentioned here that i have never heard of, they are listed with some of my favorites. Some of you sould check out Brother Ali and Jay Mel, I didnt see them mentioned anywhere around.
I have been saying it for years, Hip Hop/Rap sucks today with the occasional artist. The best years of Hip Hop/Rap was when it was in it's early years, just starting up. That is where a lot of originality was created.
Hip Hop is flowing down the drain. It's a sad reality. There are a few artists out there. One that strikes me as worth while is K'Naan. But it's like finding a needle in a the depths of an ocean. I would have to say, I miss that poet essence.
Heck ya. Great read i can not stand hip hop/rap. I also can only stand alittle country music. Great read again thanks for this.
looks like you struck the right chord j-ro. well done. as a lover of hip hop, i agree with most everything you said to the point where it's redundant. anyone who thinks what's on the radio nowadays deserves their ears, let alone respect, doesn't get either from me. I show all the love i can, however, to those who keep the art form exactly that, art. One Be Lo, who we saw together in Chicago, deserves respect. Countless others, but in the next couple music tuesdays I hope to present some of the new artists New York has to offer. Not necessarily hip hop, but cats who go out every weekend and put on shows that make you think while they make you move.
again, good stuff J.
Superb article.. Couldn't agree more.
Props for the mention of One Be Lo, he's certainly doing his thing; lyrics with some depth and adventurous production. None of this pop-centered xylophone pinging crunked up rubbish - it's just too clinical and boring.
Been feeling CYNE lately - only really come across them recently but for me it's the best hiphop production out there and the MC's are more philosophical and contemplative; without the played out gangsta' facade.
Another one definitely worth a mention is K-OS. In all the above artists there is actual artistic integrity. Still.. They don't make it high up the charts because they're influctuated with over-exposed ghetto-superstars pushing the 'bling' culture.
Needless to say I don't bother to keep up with much mainstream hiphop anymore, there's nothing coming through worth listening to. The odd MC with a hot flow and good rhyme-patterns, but still the content and production just isn't there. Only recent stuff I'm feeling is albums like Dangerdoom, and some Lupe Fiasco - particularly the tune "Ghetto Story"!!!
It's all about the old skool Mobb (the Infamous), Big L (RIP), Nas (illmatic), D.I.T.C, GZA, Raekwon, Jay-Z (Reasonable Doubt), J5, Biggie, Outkast.. Rarely stray out of those sorts of boundaries, just constantly taking trips back in time.
I'm going to see the Wu here in London in July.. F*cking hope they don't have Pretty Ricky warming up…..!!
http://www.userbraindamage.com
This was just pointed out to me by malharden over at The Daily Kos:
http://usatoday.feedroom.com/ifr_main.jsp?nsid=d5b9b6dc4:1119ef69c4e:- 22b3&fr_story=FEEDROOM187370&st=1175196320789&mp=FLV&cpf=false&fvn=9&f r=032907_032523_5b9b6dc4×1119ef69c4exw22b2&rdm=141819.77144527237
I'm just speechless honestly.
There is a huge difference ! Hip Hop = Culture | RAP = Commerce.
Hip Hop is alive and well. It's "RAP" that has become a victim of its own invention. RAP now is like Rock in 1987. Lets look =]
1987 Rock = Longhair, MakeUp + Spandex ( All Rockstars )
2007 Rap = Bling, Rim's (22's) + Platinum teeth w/ bad breath ! ( All Rapstars)
See it ? Hope so. Now…, The Question: " WHERE THE FOCK IS THE KURT COBAIN OF RAP ? "
I agree with everything you say in the article, J, and I would only add a few things:
I think one thing that falling hip hop record sales tells us is that corporations can only dictate people's tastes to a certain extent before people get fed up with it. The fact is, corporate hip hop is slick - they have million-dollar beats, flawless production, sophisticated marketing. When it does sell, there's a reason why - the beats are catchy, above all. But obviously corporations can't keep fooling people forever with a shiny product that has no real substance.
It's also vital to point out, as you do, that hip hop isn't "dying." That idea is usually batted around by bunk-ass second-rate battle rappers who can't think of anything to write about except for their nostalgia for the late 80s and their hatred for people more successful than they are. Hip hop is alive and well - in certain quarters. Genuine innovation has taken place, and that's why while I'm not down with corporate hip hop, I'm not down with people who are stuck in 1994 either.
The fact is, Aesop Rock, Cannibal Ox, and OneBeLo can do things lyrically that the KRS-ONE or Big Daddy Kane of 1989 couldn't have done. That's not because anybody's better than anybody else - it's because artists build on each other, and the work of the people that came before you makes your innovation possible. Without Van Gogh, no Salvador Dali.
The underground is full of talented people. The question is, why don't they get the attention they deserve? I hope that technology is changing this - making it easier for underground geniuses to get their music out - but it's also contributing to the over-saturation of MCs that often buries the very best of us in obscurity.
I guess part of the responsibility for making hip hop better lies with the artists, who need to get better at business and marketing, but a big part of it also lies with the fans, who need to take it on themselves to search out the good music (which does exist), rather than passively letting the radio and the TV tell them what to like, and then wondering why they're not satisfied. And hell, just from the response to this article you can see that a lot of people are desperate to talk about the state of hip hop, and hungry to see the music get better. If that exists, then hope does too.
A big up to the Chicago underground which is full of talent - Thaione, Modill, Qualo, and many others.
As a thirtysomething who keeps Eric B & Rakim, EPMD, and Gangstarr on ipod rotation this article really rang true for me. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who has this opinion about today's hip hop. Great article, keep up the good work.
the hip hop you guys listen suck. You must do a better research and go to labels like ANTICON o BOTANICA DEL JIBARO, where u find great artist talking other things than money, drugs and hoes.
For User Mix3dSign4lz, check BUCK65 of anticon records. Thats your Kurt Cobain of rap. Also Sage Francis. Antennae from Botanica del Jibaro
For Steve Halet, there are A LOT of really awesome releases these days, most of them from underground labels or netlabels. You just have to search in the internet, download mp3 and stuff. Your problem is that you just dont know where to search. Or maybe your musical tastes sucks.
If you guys think that these days the sales are a good point to check whetever if a genre is popular or not, you are really wrong. People nowadays download music, for free most of them, including myself. Music aint about money. If you want to make money out of music, think twice. You might end up living under a bridge.
This article is the best sum of everything that has been eating my soul for the past 5 years. Thank you for stating the problem so eloquently…
Omaha, NE Hip Hop - you would never guess:
http://www.myspace.com/articulate007
@18 Mix3dSign4lz
Ive been saying the same thing for a lil while now, I totally agree with you. This is the "rock hair band" era of hiphop. Im looking for the Hiphop Curt Cobain or Seattle. The hiphop "seattle of the early nineties" could be chicago or chicago and detroit cause there is some incredible stuff bubbling out of that area, but no big saviour has emrged yet.
I just wonder if hiphop can be saved with all the forces fighting against it i.e. hungry kids in the hood who see it as the only way out and internet downloading hence the end of physical albums. Time will tell.
@blit
I'd argue yes and no. Certainly the pop charts do not reflect good music all the time. That's not their goal. They reflect sales. However, good music and popular music are sometimes one and the same. Why does this happen? I think its because music that has strong roots has the power to put art on the pop charts. My example from above is the year 1969, which saw over a half dozen true artists with #1 singles. Why did that happen? Because the underground scenes these musicians came from were strong.
Hip hop lacks that cohesive underground, so the music that gets popular is only looking to cash in. It isn't building on anything because there is nothing to build on. Hip hop is less a scene than a mish-mash of various trendy genres trying to throw the next hit up the charts.
No roots, no art.
hiphop today is suffering the same fate that heavy metal did back in the early 90s - the formula has been done to death and no one is stepping up with fresh ideas.
every music video is the same - same cars, same parking lots, same strip clubs, same hoochies, dollar bills used as confetti. yawn, people are getting tired
until some new cats step in and turn the hiphop world on it's head then sales will keep slipping
ummmmm i think hip hop will lead to a new direction, because the sneaker scene (aka. hypebeast) is contributing to new rappers such as the Cool Kids, Little Sister, Kanye, Lupe, etc. aka HIPSTER hip hop is on the rise.
I wholeheartedly agree with j-ro on why hip hop sucks, and I can't remember when I've actually listened to a commercial station. I usually have to catch a college station like georgia states 88.5, to catch up on my hip hop. And even then it's hard to support some artists because it's hard to find their stuff.I usually have to hunt for music like there's no tomorrow. As far as commercial albums go Lupe Fiasco was tragically overlooked. However, when I was a shorty I bought two live crew as well as public enemy. So I bought crap as well.
Wel said. Currently, I am creating a presentation for schools in Austin Tx about Hip Hop history and lyrical content. My main focus is to wake these kids up to what they are listening to. Im glad I read this article.
Lots of great comments, thanks everybody!
I'll have time to comment in depth sometime this weekend. For the most part though I agree with the premise of what Jason is getting at here.
check the noise:political economy of music
hiphop is dead because of technology rendering the production of it too easy….
the ultrasimple shit is a backlash against an oversaturated underground scene that tried to take everything towards more "art," "individuality," complexity, etc.
i respectfuly disagree with the section regarding an underground scene because there is an immense underground scene, bigger than it ever has been. the only problem is cant nobody make enuff $ doing music so ppl scheming on some other shit………
listen to the drums from 60s -> 80s it is the same shit that is going on… more glam, more dance floor oriented, more flashy clothes. so think of the "artistic" rappers u feel as 60s artists and these new dudes as 80s artists.
for lyrical complexity check Qwel from Typical cats. nobody can touch him on the rhyme schemes/patterns period.
Bigger isn't better. The underground scene is big sure, but people aren't there for the music. They are there for the money, cashing in on the latest sound for a quick buck.
The scene has no unity and that's the point. There is no goal behind the music anymore (afrocentricity, political, and liberation music seems to be out of favor these days), and there is little art being made. No collaboration, everyone's a hater.
Maybe you're right about the 60's to 80's though. Hopefully there will be a hip hop backlash a la grunge and we'll get some art back.
Listen to a band called 'Butterfingers'. They're Australian. freshest thing I've heard.
This is what happens when the big money producers step in and manipulate. I pulled up a track by NWO the other day and j-Ro is 100% correct, there's no comparison between the rich musical and lyrical art of early rap / hip hop compared to the crap white / jewish producers want to pass off on the fans. The closest thing hip hop has to progress is Jay Z and even that's growing formula hop stale…
I haven't bought a rap/hip-hop cd is years because of this problem. One main person you forgot to mention was 2-Pac. Talk about art; he was a poet, not a rapper. Great article and right on.
Well you're right. But please don't forget that there is a great HipHop developement next to the Mainstream. All that electro offbeat stuff (a 'la Grime, Baile Funk or in the Breakbeat-scene) that became more and more popular over the last year really has a future!
Thanks for expressing my mind!
the current state of hip-hop reflects the state of all commercial music. it is a reflection of the state of the major labels and not the actual art form. commercial hip-hop sucks, especially if you happen to be over 30 and can still remember the origins of the culture. what we need is an indie movement in hip-hop, committed to artistic integrity as well as commercial viability (you're damn right you can have both!) we need to use the internet as a tool for information dissemination and find new ways to promote hip-hop beyond the current pop market. it's ok if you've never been to jail or sold drugs, find other topics and develop writing skills. otherwise do us all a favour and die quietly somewhere!
Hip hop desperately needs that underground scene as iyahman pointed out. I think the first step is to put the commericiality on hold for a bit. Basically, we need artistic investors, people who are willing to put work into art and aesthetic and wait for the payoff.
I think they r crazy hip-hop is the best thing that anyone has every came out with!!!!! I hope people understand that all the music/beats that r played r made by instroments 2! They just sound like they r not. I think it is wrong to dis on hip-hop! It's like telling gay people thats not right,I don't walk up to gay people and say that do i no.So stop dis on hip-hop!!
@amy
I love hip hop. I think its a great artform. I think what people are doing with it today is dragging it through the gutter. The hip hop today is not what hip hop once was or what it should be.
Wow this was a great article, exactly what blogs should be. This was almost magazine quality. I think hiphop definitely has lost alot of creativity.
My prediction is that this new age pop rap style about clubbing and finding "bitches to fuck" will die out near the end of the decade? Why? Look at every example of a dead musical era.
Disco. Sure it was great while it lasted. A great appeal, a wide target audience, and had a popular hook into the industry (Saturday Night Fever set a huge trend.) But, from all the studies of this genre I've read into, the prevalence of this genre was everywhere. Every night club was playing disco records. Every label had their own disco-themed record, and people just got sick of being exposed to this for so long. There was even massive anti-disco demonstrations involving burning vinyl records.
There's plenty of other instances of this in time and we can safely conclude that new society and advancements in technology is to blame. We see a trend now, from disco to pop rap, everyone has a rap record about clubbing, and everyone has an R&B track about having sex with some floosie. My main point is: it's easy to make a song about either of the mentioned topics. I think most people just want the money, and I see why. Most cities these rappers claim to be from are a fucking disgrace. To put it in the words of Dave Chappelle. "If you want to make it out of this ghetto, LEARN HOW TO RAP! DANCE, NIGGA! ENTERTAIN THOSE WHITE PEOPLE!"
Look ! I can appreciate art, or anyones concept of art.I listen to just about all music ,except for rap , hip hop ,and chinese opera.Chinese opera is very complex and lets face it… alot gets lost in translation.
Rap and hip hop however are the lowest forms of music I've ever heard.They use riffs and bites from other good musicians , step on it a little and call it their's. It doesnt use any imagination whatsoever, its repetitive,it's boring and provides no soulfull nourishment. These "punks" can't dance {most of them},I dont see them play any instruments,and they sure as hell can't carry a tune.
Rap is art like shit is chocolate.
@micky
With all do respect, I think you need to educate yourself a little in regards to hip hop. Just because hip hop traditionally takes samples from other music does not mean it is unoriginal or unartistic. As with anything, it can be done well or poorly. Check out Wu-Tang and see if you can pick out the old soul songs they are sampling. And if you want a hip hop group who can play instruments, check out The Roots.
j-ro
using other peoples music is un- original, I hope you are well aware that my opinion applies to most rap and hip hop. There's no comparison to an artist whom has labored hours and days to write a peice of music so somebody can come along and take a small peice of it and use it to hi-lite a part of their work because they know it sold before.
I am a musician , I have been a percussionist for 35 years and I don't need to be educated to learn the difference between shit and ice cream.
I give credit to Sam and Dave , Bo Diddly, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, Miles Davis, Marvin Gay, Scatman Cruthers. On the other side I give credit to the categories of Marilyn Manson, Ministry, etc…
I like to see how deep ones interpetation of something will go.
I will make my description of my opinion a little more accurate.
Most rap and hiphop is garbage that any idiot could make in studio.
Root's and some others deserve credit,but the mass of the buisness is filled with alot crap with no substance.
Again, micky, I think you need a little education. There is tons of music that is written and original that is complete crap. Someone wrote the music Britney Spears and the American Idols sing, but that doesn't make it good. Similarly, there is a ton of hip hop that is, in fact, crap, but there is also a ton that is based off of other people's music that is quite artisitic and original. Music is a fluid artform and artists have been sampling, borrowing, or stealing from each other for years. Elvis Presley borrowed heavily from the old black blues artists down South. So did Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones. Quoting, or borrowing some music, is an accepted practice in both the jazz and classical worlds. Hip hop artists do not, or should not, sample because they are lazy, or because they lack the artistry necessary to create original work. They sample to pay tribute (like those before them) and they sample because they HAVE the originality to take 3 seconds of someone else's music and turn it into something completely different and new. If you think all music needs to be totally original I'm afraid you won't have much to choose from. Nothing is every really original, and especially in the modern era people have come to understand that borrowing well can be just as original as writing your own piece (see Andy Warhol).
Lastly, to really understand hip hop you need to look at the lyrical dimension as well. Words and rapping come from a long tradition of oral history in African American and African cultures. There is some real poetry in the music, and that must be factored in too. I'm not saying you have to love hip hop, but to say that it is inherently unoriginal, or has more crap under its label than any other musical genre, is to label yourself naive.
J-RO
Do you understand what the whole hassle over Imus is ?
That is the crap I'm talking about.
It's about time we started exposing our kid's to things that will bring them closer together.
You're right, maybe I do need some education in some area'