The Death of Hip Hop?

Recent comments, with fam and on twitter*, has me currently reflecting on hip hop. There's been myriad blogs on the status of the culture of the hip hop world but the topic came up and I enjoyed the discussion. Hopefully, I can relay to you all what I thought was interesting.

First, I know I titled this death of hip hop but I dont believe its dead. I think its more in a coma. The cause of which being the lack of love now on display. Hip hop is an art. Art demands that it be nurtured with love and is often driven by hunger and passion. There is almost none of that in hip hop today. No love, just lust. No hunger or passion...just flash in the pan "artists" with zero content but a beat you can bob your head to. Remember when we used to hold artists to a certain standard? Lets think back to the Renaissance Era. Think Pablo Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo...people who originated the term Renaissance Man. Do you remember them for substandard meaningless works? No. They took their time at their chosen form of art and made sure what they produced had meaning and was a masterpiece. Let me extend that on a lighter level to how hip hop used to be. A simple example is 2pac and his numerous unfinished tracks. By no means was he a lyrical giant, but look at the time and love he put into his work. Who would you say matches that now? And that was just the 90s.

Allow me to build on 2pac as an example for a minute. 2pac also references back to a time when up and coming emcees had to EARN their time on a mic while coming up under established emcees. For those that dont know, 2pac came up under Digital Underground. Another of my favorite emcees, Redman came up under EPMD. Examples to lesser extents include Snoop coming up under Dre and Nas coming up under the likes of Main Source and MC Search. There was a time when you established your credibility to a certain extent BEFORE you were given your own album. That time has passed. 95% of current artists couldnt get a deal in the 90s. Fresh Prince was barely taken seriously and he would DOMINATE this rap world. These new emcees are shoved into the spotlight, hot for a summer, and then gone again. So who do we blame for that?

Unfair as it might be, I blame the South movement. With the exception of Outkast, and few others, the majority of rap from the South was/is completely DEVOID of content and reliant on a beat. The prominence of Master P showed that you didnt need rhyme skills or content to make a lot of money and since then thats all its been about. There was a time when if you didnt have lyrical content, you were wack...PERIOD. That is no more. Hell, sometimes we cant even understand what the rappers are saying. Might as well be reggae. I digress. Most of rap is like that Southern rap now. Diversity is severely lacking. There was a time when there were rappers that represented each region. Now who represents for the East & West? We rely on rappers that would be considered aging or just plain old. Jay-Z & Nas on the East. The West? Who...Snoop? Maybe Ice Cube?

Another thing that I think is hurting hip hop and maybe music in general is that there's no anticipation for it anymore. Everything is leaked early. There was a time when we'd go to a music store to listen to or purchase new music when it came out. Release dates were like events. I think this was a significant part of the experience of available new music and its lost. I guess the quality is so low now that release dates are trivial. I'm guessing eventually we'll even be able to watch streams of artists actually experimenting with, and recording, songs. Also, how many of us grew up watching Yo MTV Raps and/or Rap City? Now, I cant even tell you the last rap video I watched on purpose. We used to debate what songs those shows had listed and the order. Now...who cares really.

So how do we fix things? PERSONALLY, I think more attention needs to be paid to the artists that still perform real hip hop. I can name off a list of them but you know who they are. They were probably at some point featured on the Rock The Bells tour, to give you an example. I think those artists from before the rampant dilution of hip hop started, need to step in and save it. A lot of them are still around...performing to lesser fanfare than should be the case. We've spent this last decade watching our best rappers turn into actors and its left us with people who act like they can rap. I'm getting tired of watching hip hop languish away with assisted breathing tubes into a seemingly inevitable oblivion of nonsense and rampant buffoonery. Unearned rap sales & popularity has enabled uninspired mediocrity. Hip hop used to be "ill." Now it just makes me sick. Hopefully we dont reach the point where its just too late to save it altogether.

*special shout out to @Ron_Julio for inspiring the discussion