I was having an argument with a fan of rap music from the younger generation and I still can’t fathom what happened to rap music. Rap music used to be an art, it was poetry recited over music by master rhyhmer’s who maintain a flow without even breaking a sweat… it was so beautiful, it was similar to watching an artist painting a picture… watching him fill the canvas stroke by stroke and the end product leaves you with a smile and just stare at it with admiration. When did we trade all of this in for cheap product placement and sexual innuendos?
Compared to a lot of people my age my music taste is quite current. I’m a huge fan of the Dubstep and the Trap takeover which is happening right now; actually EDM on the whole is on the rise and taking a lot of the music industry by storm which is nice to see. The bar for EDM is being raised daily even though people say making EDM is done by computers and is so easy, well guess again, it’s not. Producers like Deadmau5, Zedd, Bob Sinclair, Skrillex (Some of my favourites, no disrespect to anyone not mentioned here) put in a great deal of work to stay relevant and keep coming up with unique content and they are reaping the rewards. I digress, getting back to topic, even though EDM has been getting better, rap just simply seems to be getting worse with each new song coming out.
So let me be straight with you, Even though I was born in 1988 and the 90’s is easily the golden age for hip-hop I got in to hip-hop very late in my musical journey. (I was in to some lame stuff which I still like such as Venga Boy, Toybox, Mr. President and West Life....etc , etc.) By the time I started listening to hip-hop the music industry was dominated by the likes of Chingy, Nelly, Usher, Ludacris, Missy Ellitot, Fat Joe whose music I will say is still played in any club or house party you go for I must say… this was the gangster age of hip hop, as in the proper straight up cut you up gangster if you bump in to me gangster age of hip hop where everyone even in Sri Lanka (including yours truly) dressed and talked gangster, walked around with chains, studs and the sideways cap. You had songs like Lean Back, Stand up, In Da Club, and Get Low played all over… house music was still new and didn’t have a huge following yet, you had your rock heads who were an entirely different crowd and we co-existed with the dose of healthy rivalry and mockery. I digress again, sorry about that… the memories keep gushing out when I tend to go down this road. Mainstream hip-hop wasn’t the most intelligent at this point, no lie (Go read the lyrics to Oochie Wally, specifically the 3rd rap, you are definitely in for a surprise) but rappers made sense and the gangster culture was major at this point… everybody wanted to be a gangster, even if they came from a nice family, in short the music was written to suit the social context. Of course you had your unconventional rappers like Eminem, Flipside and Bubba Sparxxx (to a certain extent) offering music with more than simply face value. But in general rap music was good… the music made sense, the rhymes were slick and the beats were pretty dope. After I fell in love with the rap I started doing my research and started listening to G.O.A.T’s (Greatest Of All Time) of hip-hop… Tupac, Biggie, Grandmaster Flash and Dr. Dre, Wu Tang Clan, Cypress Hill, Ice cube, Snoop Dogg, NWA etc, etc, some of the pioneers of hihop who made hip-hop what it has become. Hands down there will never be another Tupac or a Biggie ever born again, that spot will never be filled. Period!
Of course the 2000’s also saw the birth of Lil Jon, Lil Wayne and Akon (Yes, like it or not Akon is to blame, he will actually accept all the blame) which caused the demise of hip-hop as we knew it. If you look at most of the hip-hop songs it’s a repetitive chorus and some random lyrics about drugs, sex, money or brand names thrown in. Don’t get me wrong the music is catchy, sure I am a sucker for some of these songs but if you look at the songs and you ACTUALLY listen to the words their pure garbage, nonsense sung over a catchy beat and a sweet hook to get the fans addicted. I challenge you, show me one commercial song produced or sung by one of the modern era rappers which offer more than face value and aren’t crude marketing tools. Sure you have a few rappers that actually who I will acknowledge as Rappers rather than wannabe gangsters…. Macklemore is honestly is the only guy that comes to my mind right now, I actually have to think to find rappers I actually respect! Ooh Skepta is pretty good, at least his song Hold on … and so is No Regrets by Nappy.
So as you can imagine I am totally doing a hip-hop flashback while writing this article, here’s a preview of what my Youtube playlist was:
Dr. Dre - The Next Episode ft. Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Nate Dogg
Lil Bow Wow Feat Snoop Dogg - That's My Name
Nelly - E.I
Nelly - Ride Wit Me ft. St. Lunatics
Jagged Edge featuring Nelly - Where The Party At ft. Nelly
Nelly ft. P. Diddy & Murphy Lee - Shake Ya Tailfeather
Chingy feat. Snoop Dogg and Ludacris - Holidae Inn Music
Terror Squad - Lean Back ft. Fat Joe, Remy
Houston Featuring Chingy, Nate Dogg & I-20 - I Like That
Ludacris - The Potion
Missy Elliott ft. Ludacris and Trina - One Minute Man
Wyclef Jean Ft Missy Elliot- Party to damascus
Grandmaster Flash The Message
Skee-Lo - I Wish
JAY-Z - 99 Problems
2pac – Changes
Biggie Smalls - Hypnotize
Which brings back me back to my initial question, when did we trade real hip-hop music for cheap product placement, drug related songs, parties, prostitutes and sexual innuendos?
Compared to a lot of people my age my music taste is quite current. I’m a huge fan of the Dubstep and the Trap takeover which is happening right now; actually EDM on the whole is on the rise and taking a lot of the music industry by storm which is nice to see. The bar for EDM is being raised daily even though people say making EDM is done by computers and is so easy, well guess again, it’s not. Producers like Deadmau5, Zedd, Bob Sinclair, Skrillex (Some of my favourites, no disrespect to anyone not mentioned here) put in a great deal of work to stay relevant and keep coming up with unique content and they are reaping the rewards. I digress, getting back to topic, even though EDM has been getting better, rap just simply seems to be getting worse with each new song coming out.
So let me be straight with you, Even though I was born in 1988 and the 90’s is easily the golden age for hip-hop I got in to hip-hop very late in my musical journey. (I was in to some lame stuff which I still like such as Venga Boy, Toybox, Mr. President and West Life....etc , etc.) By the time I started listening to hip-hop the music industry was dominated by the likes of Chingy, Nelly, Usher, Ludacris, Missy Ellitot, Fat Joe whose music I will say is still played in any club or house party you go for I must say… this was the gangster age of hip hop, as in the proper straight up cut you up gangster if you bump in to me gangster age of hip hop where everyone even in Sri Lanka (including yours truly) dressed and talked gangster, walked around with chains, studs and the sideways cap. You had songs like Lean Back, Stand up, In Da Club, and Get Low played all over… house music was still new and didn’t have a huge following yet, you had your rock heads who were an entirely different crowd and we co-existed with the dose of healthy rivalry and mockery. I digress again, sorry about that… the memories keep gushing out when I tend to go down this road. Mainstream hip-hop wasn’t the most intelligent at this point, no lie (Go read the lyrics to Oochie Wally, specifically the 3rd rap, you are definitely in for a surprise) but rappers made sense and the gangster culture was major at this point… everybody wanted to be a gangster, even if they came from a nice family, in short the music was written to suit the social context. Of course you had your unconventional rappers like Eminem, Flipside and Bubba Sparxxx (to a certain extent) offering music with more than simply face value. But in general rap music was good… the music made sense, the rhymes were slick and the beats were pretty dope. After I fell in love with the rap I started doing my research and started listening to G.O.A.T’s (Greatest Of All Time) of hip-hop… Tupac, Biggie, Grandmaster Flash and Dr. Dre, Wu Tang Clan, Cypress Hill, Ice cube, Snoop Dogg, NWA etc, etc, some of the pioneers of hihop who made hip-hop what it has become. Hands down there will never be another Tupac or a Biggie ever born again, that spot will never be filled. Period!
Of course the 2000’s also saw the birth of Lil Jon, Lil Wayne and Akon (Yes, like it or not Akon is to blame, he will actually accept all the blame) which caused the demise of hip-hop as we knew it. If you look at most of the hip-hop songs it’s a repetitive chorus and some random lyrics about drugs, sex, money or brand names thrown in. Don’t get me wrong the music is catchy, sure I am a sucker for some of these songs but if you look at the songs and you ACTUALLY listen to the words their pure garbage, nonsense sung over a catchy beat and a sweet hook to get the fans addicted. I challenge you, show me one commercial song produced or sung by one of the modern era rappers which offer more than face value and aren’t crude marketing tools. Sure you have a few rappers that actually who I will acknowledge as Rappers rather than wannabe gangsters…. Macklemore is honestly is the only guy that comes to my mind right now, I actually have to think to find rappers I actually respect! Ooh Skepta is pretty good, at least his song Hold on … and so is No Regrets by Nappy.
So as you can imagine I am totally doing a hip-hop flashback while writing this article, here’s a preview of what my Youtube playlist was:
Dr. Dre - The Next Episode ft. Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Nate Dogg
Lil Bow Wow Feat Snoop Dogg - That's My Name
Nelly - E.I
Nelly - Ride Wit Me ft. St. Lunatics
Jagged Edge featuring Nelly - Where The Party At ft. Nelly
Nelly ft. P. Diddy & Murphy Lee - Shake Ya Tailfeather
Chingy feat. Snoop Dogg and Ludacris - Holidae Inn Music
Terror Squad - Lean Back ft. Fat Joe, Remy
Houston Featuring Chingy, Nate Dogg & I-20 - I Like That
Ludacris - The Potion
Missy Elliott ft. Ludacris and Trina - One Minute Man
Wyclef Jean Ft Missy Elliot- Party to damascus
Grandmaster Flash The Message
Skee-Lo - I Wish
JAY-Z - 99 Problems
2pac – Changes
Biggie Smalls - Hypnotize
Which brings back me back to my initial question, when did we trade real hip-hop music for cheap product placement, drug related songs, parties, prostitutes and sexual innuendos?
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