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“Hip hop is dead”, “the game has changed”, “things ain’t the same”, “bring back the 90’s”, “fuck Lil Wayne”, “2Pac is the best”
Visit any hip hop site and you will find literally hundreds of comments like these. So what happened? Everybody has their opinion and perspective on things.
Here is my personal take on events that led up to hip hops demise and my optimism for a golden era revival.
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Humble Beginnings
In order to figure out what went wrong with hip hop you have to start with what was right with it. Long before the cristal popping and the cribs on Mtv, Hip hop started out life at the most disenfranchised end of society within the urban ghettos and slums. It captivated this demographic because it painted a very real picture of everyday life for the people who lived there. Early hip hop celebrated virtuous lyrics that echoed knowledge and truth. If emcees didn’t come with something profound then they couldn’t hang. A lot of the music from the early 80’s right up until the start of the 90’s also had a politically motivated undertone. Song lyrics from groups like Public Enemy would tackle controversial topics about inequality within the black communities of corporate America. Hip hop had become far more than just music. It was a powerful platform to express opinion. Getting your message heard was the focus and any fame and fortune that came with it was just a side effect and not the sole motivation. This purity and realness is evident in almost all golden era hip hop music.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.0.85″]<script async src=”//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js”></script><!– [et_pb_line_break_holder] –><!– Primary sidebar –><!– [et_pb_line_break_holder] –><ins class=”adsbygoogle”<!– [et_pb_line_break_holder] –> style=”display:block”<!– [et_pb_line_break_holder] –> data-ad-client=”ca-pub-8514846310726536″<!– [et_pb_line_break_holder] –> data-ad-slot=”2810057309″<!– [et_pb_line_break_holder] –> data-ad-format=”auto”></ins><!– [et_pb_line_break_holder] –><script><!– [et_pb_line_break_holder] –>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<!– [et_pb_line_break_holder] –></script>[/et_pb_code][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.85″ background_layout=”light”]
Gangster Rap
As much as it pains me to say it, gangster rap was probably the first nail in the coffin for hip hop. This is a controversial one because there are so many classic rap albums that fall in to the category of glorifying violence. When I was in my teens I used to listen to a lot of N.W.A, Geto Boys, Spice1, Above the Law and Mc Eiht. I could quite easily switch from listening to Music to Driveby to popping Fear of a Black Planet in the tape deck. It was all just hip hop to me at the time. I never really looked at the wider negative effects it could have on young society and ultimately the future hip hop scene. I even remember Reverend Calvin Butts campaigning to ban gangster rap and the “steamrolling” incident in which the Reverend crushed a stack of gangsta rap albums to draw awareness. At the time I was on the other side of the fence rallying for Snoop and Ice Cube who were obviously opposed to his actions. I regurgitated their defensive claims that they were not glorifying violence but “simply telling it how it is”. I think there is a certain amount of truth to that, especially in early gangster rap music but as I got older I found myself naturally moving further and further away from gangsta rap. Ironically it turned out that Snoop did too. “Eazy-E cruising down the street in his six-four, jocking the freaks, clocking the dough” is a world away when you’re pushing 40 with a wife 3 kids and a mortgage. Having said that, early gangsta rap music was still soulful and gritty and much of it had thought provoking content. Just compare a track like “I seen a man die” by Scarface to any modern day gangsta rapper.
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Record Companies
After the national attention that Ice-T and N.W.A attracted in the late 1980s and early 1990s, gangsta rap became the most commercially lucrative subgenre of hip hop. Controversy sells and wherever there is money record executives take notice. The record execs don’t really care about authentic music because most of them don’t listen to the music they promote anyway. They only care about crunching the numbers. They look at the data and the stats and plot a course. If “get rich or die trying” sells 10 million then they stick with the formula until it ceases to have the same effect then move on to the next gimmick. It’s a vicious cycle because now the consumers are perpetuating the problem unknowingly.
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_testimonial _builder_version=”3.0.85″ quote_icon=”on” url_new_window=”off” author=”Rakim” background_color=”#000000″ use_background_color=”on” quote_icon_color=”#e02b20″ quote_icon_background_color=”#f5f5f5″ background_layout=”dark” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”right”]
“The conscious level in the hood is kinda low right now. The majority rules and if the majority is talking blue and somebody comes out talking grey; it’s hard for that person to get people to see his grey colour because there’s so much blue out there”
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Formula Music
There is a reason that most of the mainstream popular music sounds the same. It’s all produced using a formula. When you hear the excuse that they are only providing what the masses want to hear, don’t fall for it. If you play the same message to the people over and over again without the option of an alternative it will eventually become the adopted and accepted message. Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes truth, as the old saying goes. Creativity will always be compromised when formulas to generate sales is the goal. Something that hip hop never had to contend with during the early years before it became a commodity. A sad but true fact of the system.
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Formula Music
There is a reason that most of the mainstream popular music sounds the same. It’s all produced using a formula. When you hear the excuse that they are only providing what the masses want to hear, don’t fall for it. If you play the same message to the people over and over again without the option of an alternative it will eventually become the adopted and accepted message. Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes truth, as the old saying goes. Creativity will always be compromised when formulas to generate sales is the goal. Something that hip hop never had to contend with during the early years before it became a commodity. A sad but true fact of the system.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.0.85″ show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” src=”http://www.thehiphop-foundation.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/50cent.jpg” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_overlay=”off” force_fullwidth=”off” show_bottom_space=”on” /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_testimonial _builder_version=”3.0.85″ quote_icon=”on” url_new_window=”off” author=”Method Man” background_color=”#000000″ use_background_color=”on” quote_icon_color=”#e02b20″ quote_icon_background_color=”#f5f5f5″ background_layout=”dark” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”right”]
“When Wu Tang started putting out clothing it was shoddy gear, I never rocked that shit”
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Technological Advances In Music Distribution
The way in which people access music and media has vastly changed. Gone are the days of the record player, cassette and CD. This is probably one of the biggest factors of all effecting the independent artists as they can’t even sell Cd’s from the boot of their car anymore to earn a couple of bucks . Most are left to give away their music for free in the hopes that one day after a lot of social media sharing one of their tracks might be heard by the right influential person. Owning a physical copy of a rap album with all the images and the artworks contained on the vinyl sleeve or cassette insert was all part of the fun. The iconic covers of classic rap albums where sometimes as important as the content within. Just the mention of a classic instantly brings an image to mind. Just think about Nas Illmatic and you immediately know what I mean. Now fast forward to today’s digital era and do the same with the current new kids on the block. How many can you visualize?…. See my point? Not only has the music been watered down, but also the medium in which it is presented has too.
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The Tipping Point
Most of the previous decade has been a blur but one thing most people agree on is at some point Hip Hop took a momentous fall from grace. We all know who some of the culprits are who helped cause this mess but the question is, have we crossed the point of no return?
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The Golden Era Revival
Just like the fashions of yesterday, what goes around comes around. The last few years have seen some quality hip hop emerge on independent labels. Even the mainstream has shown flickers of talent breaking through that could be a sign of a paradigm shift. We recently witnessed Kendrick Lamar call out rappers compelling them to step up their game. If this shift does take place then we could potentially witness a revival of some kind. But will we learn from the mistakes of the past?
Even if hip hop can’t be rescued from the point of no return, at least we have a back catalogue of timeless classics to revert back to any time we choose. For that we can be thankful.
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