The Current Hip Hop Situation
 

I listen to pretty much anything you can throw at me, but the one thing i haven't been able to listen to for a few years now, is the newer Hip-hop. Personally, the direction that it has went puts a sour taste in my mouth. I know there are rock bands that have taken it back to the earlier days of rock, like The White Stripes and The Black Keys to name two. If new people did that in Hip-hop, i could definitely listen to it. I'm talking all the way from Kurtis Blow to N.W.A. eras. How many feel the same?

Hip Hop is more of a technology based genre of music, so as the technology improves, so will the way the music is created. I personally love the hip hop that has come out in the last decade, probably some of the most innovative and genre defying stuff to date. With the rise of the Independent scene, hip hop in whole is losing the gangsta personification that plagued it throughout the late '80's and '90's. Also if you look at people's profiles on sites like Last.fm, you'll notice that a lot more people who listen exclusively to rock or metal, are starting to open their minds and ears to hip hop. Could you give some examples of the newer stuff you've heard?

There's so many different things going on with hip-hop that it's hard for me to give much of a response to this question. I mean, yeah, I think a lot of top 40 hip-hop is garbage but there's still tons and tons of great stuff out there.

try these if you're into older hip hop
blu
pacific division
the cool kids
U-N-I

I'm partial to the older hip hop myself, but there's some great modern hip hop, particularly alternative/underground stuff like Madlib, El P, Mos Def, MF Doom and Danger Mouse.

Lil Wayne, 50 Cent and all that stuff is pretty horrible.

Kayne West is overrated, he had a good tune or two, but I hate how processed his vocals are and that seems to be the problem with most modern hip hop and pop music. Not to mention how much of a colossal douchebag he is.

Just listen to Atmosphere or Dalek and then tell me that it's all bad.

In general I just don't really care for hip hop, one of the main reasons though is the lack of lyrics with any real meaning to them. However, I picked up the a cd released by First Avenue, which is a music venue up here in Minnesota. The cd consisted of bootlegs record over the past 35 years at First Ave, and one of the tracks was "Woman with Tatooed Hands" by Atmosphere, and it's absolutely amazing.

yea you'd think with all the world's problems they'd find somethin' good to rap about.

Hip-hop is still in a state of finding itself. Like most genres it is very hit or miss. I can understand the desire to for hip hop to return to its roots, but hip-hop is very much evolving into something that will surpass anything we've heard from the genre so far. its best days are yet to come.

Personally i have to agree that technology plays a huge roll in the development of this genre. There are so many more creative options available to songwriters and producers that ithink we will hear music and new things that have never been done befor. Hip-Hop is not my number one choice in music but the things im hearing are really starting to sound cool (from a producers position)

Bond