Sitting in the chair while getting a cut, I’m trying to get one of the guys to actually explain himself when he says, “Hip hop is dead.” It’s very popular to say that nowadays, but harder to explain. Not many people keep the perspective of realizing that hip hop changes every few years, into a new progressive beast. I’m sure that Chuck D and Rev. Run sat around smoking an L and thought, “man all these kids from Cali want to talk about is drive-bys and 40s. Hip hop is dead, brother.” Twenty years later, though it looks a little different, hip hop is still alive. Although, we never would have imagined that Cosby sweaters and Elroy Jetson space boots would make the cut, but then again one thing we’ve learned is that anything can happen. So, in typical Friday fashion, I jotted down some notes on where I felt the current state of hip hop is at.
- Drake is the most hated in person in all the land; he is, just admit it. People say Drake is soft, but will fist pump harder to Headlines in the club than anything else. People said “The Motto” and “HYFR” were wack, but when they come on in the club, they’re doing that silly Weezy bump and asking if anyone is high right now.
- Rick Ross is finally not lying about his life; he really is a boss. People often forget that Ross ain’t had an album in two years, and only had two singles in that time too. Simply put, he’s a marketing genius. What he’s done with Maybach Music has been nothing short of phenomenal. Keep it real, (and I’m from DC) most people in America thought Wale was grade F material. Quiet as it’s kept, Ambition was a solid LP.
- Kreayshawn and Iggy Azalea are actually pretty dope. I always say if you want to get anywhere in life, get a white girl in the group. Look at what that did for Black Eyed Peas and Taylor Gang. Juicy J and T.I. are on the come up.
- Nicki Minaj is a great example of the youth in America, albeit her being damn near 30. She’s uber talented, extra creative, doesn’t care what anyone thinks about her, but we are convinced that she is legit bat-sh*t. Now think about those kids you see on the train in the morning…
- The Sick & Shut-in List: Lupe Fiasco, Odd Future, Kat Stacks and Max B.
- Everybody has a cousin who has been baptized at least three or four times. Henceforth, we re-baptize Jeezy in the name of God’s Son, The Ruler and the Killah named Ghost. Hopefully this go around, he won’t backslide into obscurity again.
- The Weeknd is high again y’all. Not sure if he falls into the hip hop category, but he definitely made a big splash last year. Hopefully this year he’ll ride a plane without the use of narcotics.
- Big K.R.I.T. reminds us that real hip hop has its place, it’s just not in the bank account. French Montana, Future ATL, and Two Chainz are riding around and spending it; but we have no clue what they are talking about.
- Evidently we can get enough of J. Cole. I’m sorry, but J. Cole fails to meet expectations. Jay-Z tabbed him as the person he was passing the torch to… one problem: he’s not even considered to be in the same league with any new major artists, like…. Drake. So let’s call it what it really is; Drake has the torch, and J. Cole is the new Nas. We’ll be hearing for years how much more lyrically talented Cole is than Drake. However, if the money doesn’t come to J. Cole, who will really care?
- Waka makes music for the people… and the strip club. Don’t judge Waka, do not judge Waka. Sean: “Waka is straight trash.” Me: “BUT YOU KNOW ALL THE WORDS TO NO HANDS AND ROUND OF APPLAUSE!” Sean: “Is that your only argument?!” Me: “IT’S THE ONLY ARGUMENT I NEED SEAN!”
- Flo-rida and Pitbull done came a long way… Seems like two people figured out that trying to be hood and thugged out wasn’t really a good way to make a whole lot of money. House music is the new cornbread. Ain’t nothing wrong with that.
- Joe Budden is funny as hell, but he’s never going to sell an album in stores; let’s just come to grips with that. If men were in complete control of hip hop then Slaughterhouse would be the gods, but since we’re not, they’re not. I could see a reality show in his future, Joey’s personal life lately has been nothing short of awesome.
- Hip Hop is primarily dominated by people who have less talent and more business savvy. Taking a step back and thinking about it, a whole lot of these rappers can’t really rap all that well. I think I heard Two Chainz say, “I just call her boo, I don’t know her whole name” and that was his hook.
- Young Money is winning. I don’t know how anyone assesses success, sometimes it’s money, and other times it’s respect. Up until this point, it almost never involved the two words, “Young Money.” Truth be told, Lil’ Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Drake, and now Tyga, are having great years. This week Nicki Minaj signed an endorsement deal with Pepsi. What does that mean? In addition to having the most spins on Soundscan, they also have deals in place with Sprite, Pepsi and codeine. Rack rack city, trick.
- Diddy is still king. His best quote ever: “You have to adjust to the environment, it’s cold outside, and everybody’s standing outside in bathing suits. I’m not going to stand outside in my bathing suit. I’m going to adapt to the situation. If I’m not getting my money from records, then we’re going to get our money from shows, appearances, endorsements, building other brands, television shows…” Nobody would have predicted that he’d lose the “greatest rapper of all-time” and still manage to keep his label. In fact, since losing Biggie he’s taken Bad Boy to levels that we would have never imagined in 1997. Diddy has the holy trinity of hip hop; money, power, and respect. “Believe that.”
Never smile too hard, this how I smile... take the picture.
That’s basically it. Next year, we’ll have new artists and music. We’ll claim we don’t like something and it’ll get catchy. For the record, Domino is not a crossover singer no matter how many Black men know the words to that song. If I could predict anything that will happen over the next year, it would be that more rappers go down the Flo-rida and Pitbull route. What’s the point in talking about drugs and guns if it’s not selling records anymore? Please reply, 50 Cent.
Questions: What are your thoughts on this list? Have you made similar observations that aren’t listed here? I know you are going to really enjoy the mix today. Thank God it’s Friday, and I’m out.
Nice list! There are many people that are obsessed in hip hop music. I have watched one hip hop movie and I can relate to what they can feel when they were dancing. The mixture of emotions may rather come to their self if they were dancing. Nice article indeed, thanks for sharing it.
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I know this is off topic but tracyann you have an adorable baby, (if it's yours)…..I just wanna pick him/her up and cuddle them……soooooo stinkin cute…
ok now back to the regularly scheduled programming…..
From my perspective people still rock the "Hip Hop is Dead" line because of the drastic change from what hip hop was created as to what the majority of it is now. I will admit Hip Hop is a lot better now then it was say 5 or 10 years ago. But its still not what it use to be. Those you mentioned, well some not all, are acceptions amongst the straight tomfoolery that dwells in the genre of Hip Hop. It began being about rocking the party, being the dopest MC, lyricism. But these days its more about lies and misogyny. Talking about who you killed or will kill. How much drugs you've pushed. How many women you've had suck your duck and how you smash and pass. Look at almost any dude trying to make it into Hip Hop. Peep their freestyles. Its all the same material. "Imma gangsta. Imma killa. I move weight. I run the block. I f*** all the hoes".
And then you have the dudes like Soulja Boy, Waka and the rest who are EATING of Hip Hop but themselves possess NO LYRICISM. They drop a dope beat, a hot hook and bar after bar of the words rhymes you can image. I couldn't tell you the lines of their songs because they are so bad I refuse to commit them to memory. But I know the beat and the hook. Sadly thats all you need to be hot in hip hop.
As for the other people you mentioned. I will use Nicki Minaj as the example. She began hip hop but she can hardly be considered straight hip hop now. She has on foot securely planted in Pop. And why…..because Pop pays.
Humpty Hump. Nice n Smooth. NORE. Digital Underground. Luke. all those groups/artists had "no lyricism" and were heralded by hip hop heads. Party rap and lyrical rap both have a place in my opinion
If anyone "heralds" Nice and Smooth or Digital Underground, they lose their hip hop head card.
I agree 100% that both party and lyrical rap have a place. Nothing was wrong with the party rappers, they just aren't strong lyrically because it's not their thing. The difference was in the 90s, for every Humpty Hump, there was a Redman or Tupac to balance it out. For every Nice and Smooth was a Tribe Called Quest, for every Domino there was a Nas.
Now I could be wrong, because my old behind ain't into this new hip hop scene, but who are the popular artists that are also strong MCs to balance out the Soulja Boys and Wakas? If I had to guess, I'd say Wayne, Drake and J. Cole, but I once again admit I'm rather ignorant on today's hip hop.
There are equal amounts of lyricism and party rap, but the lyricism isnt getting promoted right.
It isn't being promoted right because "the majority", who happen to be young and historically uninformed about Hip-Hop, doesn't want to hear it; when I say "historically uninformed" I mean they have no concept of its history, and honestly Hip-Hop as a genre is almost by itself in that respect.
The great rock groups of today are knowledgeable about their predecessors; they admire people like Elvis, Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Guns & Roses, Nirvana. Even pop singers admire the careers of artists like Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Michael Jackson. Hip-Hop artists however? A lot of them look at their predecessors as old fogies who are out of touch and trying to hold onto something that's escaped them. It's a travesty, honestly.
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I came up in the 90's, NY all day. When a young Jay, Nas, the LOX, Biggie, Def Squad, Hit Squad, Tribe, Wu Tang and an assorted few others. I'm not really sure what a Big Krit is and I'll never in my lifetime purchase a Young Money album. Rick Ross to me was a crack kingpin out in Cali. I don't hate on the new generation because its still a bunch of brown folks gettin paid so its all good.
I will agree with you on ya last statement, Diddy is King
I was going to post…"who is Big Krit, Kreayshawn and Iggy Azalea ?"
I am obviously……………Getting old
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Yea…. Rap aint the same no more…
:Plays a Joell Ortiz Mixtape:: Ahh, that's much better.
Word to my muva. And Sh1t…
I give props to these young cats who have discovered a way to make money by pandering to FEMALES (and yes it's mainly FEMALES) who buy their records and dance to them in the club, making "songs", if you want to call them that, with catchy hooks and sing-a-long melodies that heffas have trouble getting out of their head but no trouble getting out of their clothes to.
However…. I do not respect, admire or support any of their music; I still spend my dough to purchase albums and attend shows by artists like Slaughterhouse, Phonte, Elzhi, and a host of talented LOCAL MC's that I want to see make it on the national stage.
Thus the conundrum of J. Cole… He's from the same city I was born in, so I try to throw him at least some support by default, but I have to admit to being fairly disappointed in his album; granted, I loved the mixtapes, and I understand the need to put more commercial music on the album, but I'd have had more respect for the effort if he had stuck to his guns lyrically and spared us the bullshit club music; but who am I? "Work It Out" and "Can't Get Enough" are the only Cole songs most females know, and they certainly buy more records than men do statistically…
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Actually no, i'll have to stop you. Because Drake doesn't really cater to females. It seems that way but what are his Top 5 best selling songs of 2011? Don't worry, i'll wait. You'll see….
Well, according to Billboard (http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100#/artist/drake/chart-history/855020), his top charting songs released in 2011 were:
"Make Me Proud" (peaked at #9, decidedly female oriented)
"Headlines" (peaked at #13, not necessarily female oriented, but sing-songy)
"Marvin's Room" (peaked at #21, DEFINITELY female oriented)
"We'll Be Fine" (peaked at #89)
"HYFR" (peaked at #92)
Now, if you consider the fact that "Thank Me Later" released in June of 2010, the last single from that album I believe was "Fancy", which peaked at #25 and remained on the charts for 20 weeks after release, that song could TECHNICALLY be considered one of his top songs of 2011. However, given the 5+1 songs I mentioned, at least three were definitely female oriented, and at least two out of the remaining three had those sing-songy, melodic sing-along hooks Drake is known for.
With all that being said, I don't consider Drake to be one of the cats I was talking about in my original post (that chagrin was more so reserved for the likes of Flocka, Gucci, Souljah Boi and such) because whether people admit it or not the dude actually CAN rhyme, and he's actually NICE when he rarely wants to be… he just chooses not to for some strange reason. "So Far Gone" era Drake was often lyrically dope… "Take Care Drake"? Catchy… but lyrically dope? Not so much.
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Ima give you the courtesy of fixing your argument… cause next time you do research on a one-sided argument i'll shut your sh*t down so far you won't come back. Go to Soundscan though, stop going to Billboard.
Hint: Drake passed AKeys with most #1 singles in 2011.
Hint: I'm on One…
Hint: Drake still sucks
But he ya boy boy so its all good..lol
Ok, I'll bite…
For the record, Billboard rankings are directly determined by Soundscan numbers, and I'm sure that you know that, as knowledgeable as you are; however, according to virtually every online article mentioning Drake's record #1 singles, he passed Diddy (saw nothing mentioning Alicia Keys) in 2011 with the record for most #1 records on top of the Billboard chart all time (based on Soundscan numbers) with a total of 11 (as of the end of 2011) as follows:
Best I Ever Had – 2009
Forever’ (Eminem, Kanye West, Lil Wayne & Drake) – 2009
Say Something’ (Timbaland Feat. Drake) – 2009
Over – 2010
Fancy (Feat. T.I. & Swizz Beatz) – 2011
Right Above It (Lil Wayne Feat. Drake) – 2010
Aston Martin Music (Rick Ross Feat. Chrisette Michele & Drake) – 2010
Moment 4 Life (Nicki Minaj Feat. Drake) – 2010
I’m On One (DJ Khaled Feat. Drake, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne) – 2011
Headlines – 2011
Make Me Proud – 2011
I didn't get this particular info from Billboard, it was posted in virtually every article. However, as you can see only four of those songs actually dropped in 2011, and of those four only three were actually Drake's songs instead of just songs he was featured on (I'm willing to count "I'm On One" tho, considering Khaled is a DJ and Drake did both a hook and verse).
So that leaves in 2011:
I'm On One
Fancy
Headlines
Make Me Proud
Marvin's Room
We'll Be Fine
HYFR
I don't think any one would dispute that three of those seven tracks are female oriented; of the remaining four, at least three still have the sing-songy hooks I mentioned earlier. Now, regardless of whether you meant his all-time #1 single count or his top 5 singles in the year 2011, you'd be hard pressed to change the often-held opinion that he's come off soft since after "So Far Gone" released; at least, to people who were listening to him back then. Even with that being stated, not sure where your desire to "shut my sh*t down" comes from, because I'm actually agreeing with you on many levels. You wrote that "Drake is the most hated in person in all the land; he is, just admit it. People say Drake is soft, but will fist pump harder to Headlines in the club than anything else. People said “The Motto” and “HYFR” were wack, but when they come on in the club, they’re doing that silly Weezy bump and asking if anyone is high right now." I wholeheartedly agree; while I won't necessarily call "The Motto" or "HYFR" wack per say, I do stand by my contention that neither is particularly lyrically impressive, at least in my opinion. Hell, people go crazy in the club when "Round of Applause", "Same Damn Time" or "Racks" come on, but I don't think you're going to try to justify them, so it's obviously not a reliable measurement of how dope a so-called "MC" is lol.
Once again, I stand by my previous opinion; "So Far Gone" Drake = often lyrically dope; "Take Care" Drake = catchy, probably sell a lot of records. But lyrically dope? Not so much. I don't hate on dude for making catchy music that people (and I believe mainly women) rock to. Hell, women are the main purchasers of music, it makes perfect sense. I don't even knock him for bragging about being the nicest in his records, because most rappers do. I'm not a hater of Drake… I'm more-so a fan who's disappointed in the lyrical quality of his latest offerings, to be honest. I do think a lot of the flack he gets is undeserved tho.
Welp, sounds like a solid explanation to me.
agreed.
Ditto.
Just getting around to responding to this…
I'm On One – male oriented.
Fancy – enn… you think it's female oriented but it's really not. mad dudes use that song to pick up women.
Headlines, Make Me Proud, We'll be fine, and HYFR are all male oriented.
Marvin's Room seems female oriented but it's really male oriented. Drake relates with men that's what you're missing. He makes a song and you say in your head, "Damn I really feel that way too". Drake says all the stuff we think but don't say aloud. You never have to cater to women, they're just interested to know the male psyche.
I can agree that mad dudes used "Fancy" to pick up chicks, but doesn't the fact that they were able to do so inherently mean that it's a female oriented track? Also, "Make Me Proud" was male oriented???
Maybe we're looking at these from different perspectives. I can agree that Headlines, We'll Be Fine and HYFR are male oriented tracks, but "Make Me Proud", "Marvin's Room" and "Fancy" are all written FROM the male perspective TO a female listener… at least that's the way I see it.
I honestly don't know too many dudes that even LIKED "Marvin's Room"; the collective opinion of cats in my circle was that it sounded like the ultimate hater's anthem, and that any dude caught pandering to his ex about how wack her current dude is deserved the utmost clownage. But that's our opinion, your mileage may vary. I do agree that it's easy for men to empathize with the his standpoint (sure we've all FELT that way, even if we had the good sense not to actually voice those thoughts); perhaps the fact that many dudes were disgusted with the idea of him actually voicing those thoughts to a chick in a drunken late night phone call is a reason the song was met with such collective disdain. It seems like the kind of phone call you wake up the next day and face-palm yourself with regret over.
"Fancy" while admittedly a catchy song and well executed, is written by both TI and Drake from the perspective of a male addressing a woman. "Make Me Proud" I honestly don't even feel like I have to justify as female oriented given the presence of Nicki Minaj, but for the sake of argument I'll just say that I don't understand how a melodic hook to a collective of females repeating "I'm so proud o'you" could be misconstrued as being for the male audience.
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I grew up listening to hip hop: Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow, Run D.M.C., etc. Me and my best friend thought we were going to be the southern version of Salt N Pepa. I thought I could rock a mike better than MC Lyte. The state of hip hop has changed. The audience has changed so I guess that's why. They are catering to their audience. I love a good lyricist more so than the junk most are rapping about now. I agree with what's already been said: all that's needed for a rapper to succeed now is a good hook, a good beat and a good marketing team behind them.
Exactly Shelia G….the audience has changed…..thus the changes in hip hop….
you can't comment on the hip hop blog if you make mad comments on the soap opera stores…..all ima say is drug store cotton lol
Has anyone seen the 2012 MC Bracket that Scott Van Pelt (yeah, I know) has going on now? That tournament could lead to arguments with people losing their lives if brought up in a barbershop.
http://espn.go.com/espnradio/bracket?id=7620069
Daaaaammmmmnnn! They put Biggie vs. Outkast?!?! I cannot. I'm showing my age. Lol.
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An even bigger shock is that Outkast beat Eric B and Rakim in the second round by a vote of 74%-26%. That should have been much, much closer.
Mmmm…true, true. I had not yet worked my way backwards. The results are very interessante!
I'm not surprised at all. I'm gonna go ahead and assume most of the audience are 2520's and, generally speaking, will gravitate more toward the commercial side of the hip-hop/rap genre. I'm not saying Outkast is commercial, but they are more widely known. Most of the ppl voting probably barely or never heard of Eric B and Rakim. Or they are familiar with the name, but not with their work. On the flipside they just saw Andre 3000 in a Gillette commercial last week! lol.
Larry: "I'm gonna go ahead and assume most of the audience are 2520's and, generally speaking, will gravitate more toward the commercial side of the hip-hop/rap genre."
But they voted for Del the Funky Homosapien over Lil Wayne, by a percentage of 74-26. There seems to be a decent amount of hip hop heads voting over there.
HAHAHA! Kanye beat out Goodie Mob but was promptly served by Eminem. This is pure entertainment! Thanks for sharing…
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I have have one word to say to that, Hugh: Jeggings.
Lol.
Yeah, you are probably right. I mean i m in that age bracket but Iisten to a lot of 90s hip hop so I would have thought it would be a closer race btw Eric B and Rakin and Outkast. I was a little disappointed that Nas got knocked out early. Tupac beat Talib Kweli and Common by large margins and I will say this, lyrically those two can match and in some cases are better than Pac .
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I recently read an excerpt of an article w/ Andre 3stacks and he was like, "rap is a young man's game." And then threatened as he usually does to never make another album. And then I went to weep. But I think it's truth. Music in general, but hip hop in particular seems to epitomize your youth before – before responsibility, before bills, before adulthood. My mama will ride around and get it to a hits of Motown CD.
And so sure there was a point when hip hop was the soundtrack of my life. And so this why I love going to Panama's 90's parties cause you can't tell me nuffin when Crush on You or Explosive comes on. But then when I went to grits and biscuits party and lost my mind on some Cash Money but was like huh when Round of Applause came on. Because now hip hop is just background noise cause unless it's Phonte or The Roots giving me a semblance of substance then I know it ain't for me. Like literally, they are not making the music for me. My homegirl likes to say that everyone thinks the hip hop from their era was the "best". And then she'll follow up with, "but in truth it's all foolishness." Lol…
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Drake is nice. He makes catchy sh*t with some hot punchlines. He aint the Gawd MC though.
J. Cole is nice as sh*t too. He has a certain relate-ability (Idk if this is a word) that I can appreciate. (I mean hey, I'm a college grad from a bad neighborhood, who tries to tell the girls to stop hoeing before inevitably getting subdued by their hoedom).
If we can get the 2007 Wale back, he'd be the next Biggie.
It's more than female buying rap music though, it is also white males buying it. Females tend to buy the music that they can dance to, sing along with, or speaks to them. Also, white males by music that doesnt accurately reflect the background.
Lastly, I think rap has always followed the culture of black people as a whole. For instance, the Nations of God's and Earth's were wildly populare in the late 80's to mid 90's, thus, all of rap music reflected that. Five percenters kind of bred a pseudo intellectualism that was reflected in music. So as people get dumber rap music will as well.
Its not the rap that's changing, its the people.
I see cats must be on the young money pay roll ….no thanks. I will embrace music that speaks and develops even in the party aspect. Stay off the winston jerome kool aid joe!
Hip hop is not dead. What we have now is not hip hop it’s hip pop. Hip pop has simplistic shallow lyrics with a catchy beat or tune that are flavours of the month. You won’t be listening to super bass or monster attack years from now.
Drake: Drake is the most hated I can’t speak why others hate him but as for me I lost respect for
him. He use to rap, room for improvement, comeback season ( which I will argue is his best work) and So Far Gone (did a lil singing) but now young money has changd him into a complete singing fairy. He’s talented period there’s no disputing that but his style has changed to cater to low attention span pansies. I was listening to his “Ignorant Sh*t Track” and I was wondering damn Drake can rhyme his verse was better than Wayne’s on this one what happened?
Rick Ross: Mr. Co catchy tunes that I will never endorse personally however I remember watching biggie documentary and his mom was talking about the juicy song and his mon said life was never that hard that he created that persona so I guess Rick is just imitating
Keyshawn and Iggy. I don’t endorse racist and they are not that good. But whites are the number one purchasers of rap music so why not pimp a white girl.
Nicki Minaj: talented hahaha what she recycles Lil Kim’s style and adds a retarded voice and now she has skills? Nicki has a power house team who promote the hell out of her that’s her skill. Her rapping his sub par and simplistic but these young girls love it b/c today’s children and music buyers attention span is very low.
Jay Cole: talented but yeah I have to agree
Joe budded: he will never sell his lyrics are too complexed
Young Money: lol yeah they are winning but for how long? NWA was winning, Wutang clan was once on top, Bad boy, Ruff Riders, Cash Money( talking about when juvenile was there), Even no limit at one time.
Puff daddy: p diddy, diddy aka shiny suit man is an opportunist. How many artist have been on bad boys label and succeeded? 112 , the lox, dirty money, faith evens, choppa city, day 26? Puffy makes his money by laching onto a new talent and after he makes a quick buck he disposes of them and moves onto a new host somewhat like a parasite. The only one who wins is puffy.
Hip pop is not about producing quality but making money off of music with a catchy hook, choruse or beat with shallow lyrics.
Hip hop is not dead. What is being advertised now a day is not hip hop it’s hip pop. Hip pop has simplistic shallow lyrics with a catchy beat or tune that are flavors of the month. You won’t be listening to super bass or monster attack years from now.
Drake: Drake is the most hated I can’t speak why others hate him but as for me I lost respect for
him. He use to rap, room for improvement, comeback season ( which I will argue is his best work) and So Far Gone (did a lil singing) but now young money has changd him into a complete singing fairy. He’s talented period there’s no disputing that but his style has changed to cater to low attention span pansies. I was listening to his “Ignorant Sh*t Track” and I was wondering damn Drake can rhyme his verse was better than Wayne’s on this one what happened?
Rick Ross: Mr. Co catchy tunes that I will never endorse personally however I remember watching biggie documentary and his mom was talking about the juicy song and his mon said life was never that hard that he created that persona so I guess Rick is just imitating
Keyshawn and Iggy. I don’t endorse racist and they are not that good. But whites are the number one purchasers of rap music so why not pimp a white girl.
Nicki Minaj: talented hahaha what she recycles Lil Kim’s style and adds a retarded voice and now she has skills? Nicki has a power house team who promote the hell out of her that’s her skill. Her rapping his sub par and simplistic but these young girls love it b/c today’s children and music buyers attention span is very low.
Jay Cole: talented but yeah I have to agree
Joe budded: he will never sell his lyrics are too complexed
Young Money: lol yeah they are winning but for how long? NWA was winning, Wutang clan was once on top, Bad boy, Ruff Riders, Cash Money( talking about when juvenile was there), Even no limit at one time.
Puff daddy: p diddy, diddy aka shiny suit man is an opportunist. How many artist have been on bad boys label and succeeded? 112 , the lox, dirty money, faith evens, choppa city, day 26? Puffy makes his money by laching onto a new talent and after he makes a quick buck he disposes of them and moves onto a new host somewhat like a parasite. The only one who wins is puffy.
Hip pop is not about producing quality but making money off of music with a catchy hook, choruse or beat with shallow lyrics.
:Puff daddy: p diddy, diddy aka shiny suit man is an opportunist. How many artist have been on bad boys label and succeeded? 112 , the lox, dirty money, faith evens, choppa city, day 26? Puffy makes his money by laching onto a new talent and after he makes a quick buck he disposes of them and moves onto a new host somewhat like a parasite. The only one who wins is puffy."
Diddy is one of the greatest marketers in this generation, period. His hustle is crazy. Now, all of the stuff that is described above in the quoted text is not uncommon among the music industry..happens all the time. Other labels just don't make reality shows out of it. They just take the 'L' and move on. One thing I will say by watching the reality shows Diddy gives these people plenty of resources and the opportunity to succeed. Hooks them up with the best producers, choreographers, vocal coaches, etc…some artists just can't sustain it…others can.
Diddy is great at ripping people off and having self promotion. I never said it was uncommon but I refuse to see him in any other light than a parasite. Name me one artist (beside BIG) that puffy has made great? Puffy is the only one who succeeds that's it that's all.
"10.Waka makes music for the people… and the strip club. Don’t judge Waka, do not judge Waka. Sean: “Waka is straight trash.” Me: “BUT YOU KNOW ALL THE WORDS TO NO HANDS AND ROUND OF APPLAUSE!” Sean: “Is that your only argument?!” Me: “IT’S THE ONLY ARGUMENT I NEED SEAN!”"
Yuuuup. Pretty much, lol.
This is what REAL HIP HOP looks like @SBMDotOrg! lololol http://wp.me/p12p5J-hb via @pinchmycheekie
…and on top of writing an EXCELLENT post…you quote Bad Teacher. I *heart* you.
I don't think Hip Hop is dead at all and never will be. I think some of us Ole Skool folks may feel that way because it's not the same as we remember it. It's changed a lot. All the 70's and 80's babies remember when hip hop was a baby like us. We (hip-hop) and us grew up together. Now the face and personality has changed and grown into something we don't like, unless it sounds and looks like what we remember.
We gotta move on from what hip-hop used to be and appreciate and respect what it is today and be glad that it's legacy is still alive and well and it's stood the test of time. Today much like everything else in life hip hop is part of a trend. Trends change like the weather.
So again I say, hip hop may have changed a lot, but it's still alive and well and always will be.
Long live hip-hop!
Personally I feel that the essence of hip hop remains the same and most all the hip hop artists today simply try to emulate all the ole skool people they grew up listening to and have so much respect for; ie Nikki Minaj really respecting and taking after Lil Kim and Diddy wit his samplin azz always sampling some ole skool oldies music like The Isley Brothers….
Now that I've had my "Brown Sugar" moment….lol to answer the questions posed. I like the list and have made similar observations Doc J.
I think the reason why the quality of music that Drake and Young Money and Waka Flaka and Wale put out right now sells is because we are not the same generation of folks as we were in the 70's and 80's.
Right now the music that Drake, Young Money and Rick Ross put out is exactly what the teens and youngins today want to hear……I mean really…….anybody wit common sense knows good and hell well ole skool rappers like Roxanne Shontae, EPMD, De La Soul, Get Fresh Crew, Kool Moe Dee, would not sell like Young money is right now…
I think a lot of people get it wrong, hip hop isnt a monolithic genre so because it is diversifying does not mean it is dead. We have reached a point where there is conscious hip hop, party hip hop, emo hip hop (shoutout to drake), house hip hop, hip hop fusion and the types go on and on. This is a good thing because it means that hip hop can now relate to different types of people. As for "good" hip hop not being successful how about those who say this go out and buy a CD instead of downloading torrents from their favorite artists. I dont know about you but sometimes I am in the mood to listen to some no-so-serious hip hop. We should embrace that we now have hip hop for the intelligent and not so intelligent.
I strongly believe J.Cole is the future btw. He just needs to be prolific. People forget that one of the ways Lil Wayne became so popular is that he featured in almost every song out in a 2 or 3 year span while dropping albums and mixtapes. The best way to be successful in hip hop is to stay in people'e consciousness
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" The best way to be successful in hip hop is to stay in people'e consciousness" Cosign Sir Fariku
Hip hop is the soundtrack of my childhood and teens.. So, I can't help but have a bond with it. What concerns me though, is the lack of soul. So I would ask the question, has hip hop lost it's soul? It seems as though the music pumping out of my speakers is not much of an art form as much as it is a billboard to smoke, drink, spend money, kill people, sell drugs to them, have sex with as many women as humanly possible and MAKE SURE to let them know they are still "H**s and tricks." My issue is that hip hop ceases to be progressive… IT's not a reflection of our lives, but a repetetive rant about self hating, depression, overindulgence, and otherwise destructive behaviors.
I understand club bangers belong in the club and what not. But music is also self expression. Really, is this all we've got?
#4 hands down is the truth. I look at my female students like Really when did that become okay??? I have written them off as weirdos.
#15 Diddy is the man. One word-Ciroc- I will drink to that!!!!
Hip hop is not dead. What we have now is not hip hop it’s hip pop. Hip pop has simplistic shallow lyrics with a catchy beat or tune that are flavours of the month. You won’t be listening to super bass or monster attack years from now.
Drake: Drake is the most hated I can’t speak why others hate him but as for me I lost respect for
him. He use to rap, room for improvement, comeback season ( which I will argue is his best work) and So Far Gone (did a lil singing) but now young money has changd him into a complete singing fairy. He’s talented period there’s no disputing that but his style has changed to cater to low attention span pansies. I was listening to his “Ignorant Sh*t Track” and I was wondering damn Drake can rhyme his verse was better than Wayne’s on this one what happened?
Rick Ross: Mr. Co catchy tunes that I will never endorse personally however I remember watching biggie documentary and his mom was talking about the juicy song and his mon said life was never that hard that he created that persona so I guess Rick is just imitating
Keyshawn and Iggy. I don’t endorse racist and they are not that good. But whites are the number one purchasers of rap music so why not pimp a white girl.
Nicki Minaj: talented hahaha what she recycles Kim style and adds a retarded voice and now she has skills? Nicki has a power house team who promote the hell out of her that’s her skill. Her rapping his sub par and simplistic but these young girls love it b/c today’s children and music buyers attention span is very low.
Jay Cole: talented but yeah I have to agree
Joe budded: he will never sell his lyrics are too complexed
Young Money: lol yeah they are winning but for how long? NWA was winning, Wutang clan was once on top, Bad boy, Ruff Riders, Even no limit at one time.
Puff daddy: p diddy, diddy aka shiny suit man is an opportunist. How many artist have been on bad boys label and succeeded? 112 , the lox, dirty money, faith evens, choppa city, day 26? Puffy makes his money by laching onto a new talent and after he makes a quick buck he disposes of them and moves onto a new host somewhat like a parasite. The only one who wins is puffy, he made a living off of that and branched off making Ciroc and Sean jean still a parasite.
Hip pop is not about producing quality but making money off of music with a catchy hook, choruse or beat with shallow lyrics.
oh could you erase this i thought my first post never went through thank you 😀
"If I could predict anything that will happen over the next year, it would be that more rappers go down the Flo-rida and Pitbull route."
This is just about the worst scenario that could happen to music
**Bows my head*** I think Waka its a bad rap.. He make great booty shaking songs aka club music. As far as the rest of the list I think its dead on. I thought I was the only one that thought J.Cole was over hyped.
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