Not another 'state of hip-hop today' thread

[Jester]

Originally Posted by IWP

Hip hop is going to die in a few years just like disco did in the early 80s. Well it won't die, but I think it's going to be supplanted by electronic dance music, electropop, and and even rock in the 2010s, and go down the same path that rock did in the 90s, and ghetto/urban fashion is going to go down the toilet. Can't wait for the 2010s! =D

Don't worry, the hip hop culture is a lot different than the disco culture.

[Captain Awesome]

Originally Posted by jester

don't worry, the hip hop culture is a lot different than the disco culture.

lol

hip hop (the culture) will probably never die. And i can't see rap music dying either. There's still thousands of great rappers out there who do what they're supposed to do rather than make songs about bling and whores with guns and coke. Best way to think of it is modern day poets and as long as there is one kid listening to the rappers who are actually talented then hip hop will live on.

"This is Hip Hop, a sick mans medicine it's blood, sweat, tears and love and adrenaline... and it just gives me that feeling!"

[Jester]

Originally Posted by Captain Awesome

lol

hip hop (the culture) will probably never die. And i can't see rap music dying either. There's still thousands of great rappers out there who do what they're supposed to do rather than make songs about bling and whores with guns and coke. Best way to think of it is modern day poets and as long as there is one kid listening to the rappers who are actually talented then hip hop will live on.

"This is Hip Hop, a sick mans medicine it's blood, sweat, tears and love and adrenaline... and it just gives me that feeling!"

What's wrong with rapping about bling, whores, guns or coke?

[Captain Awesome]

Originally Posted by Jester

What's wrong with rapping about bling, whores, guns or coke?

What's not wrong with it? It's pointless and meaningless. Rap is an artform the goal was to break the mould not fit around the same crap just to make yourself millions. Gangster rap can be entertaining the same way vin diesel movies are entertaining but they're runining rap. Everyone thinks it's about black gangsters, it was never about that. Intelligent lyricists are naming themselves after drug dealers just so they can make more money. It's disgusting.

Don't get me wrong there is gangster rappers that i liked but only if they are talented as lyricists (eg big pun, royce 5'9 ect). But even when they are talented as lyricists they are wasting their talent. Rap (like all music) is a way to express yourself. When they start talking about guns and coke they're talking about stuff they've seen in movies they're acting tough throwing up a facade to keep the idiots buying their music.

Rap is there to express thoughts, feelings and opinions. Not to brag about your chrome rims and how awesome a drug dealer you are. If they're so great at being gangsters they wouldn't need to rap for a career. They're all fake and they are pissing all over the hip hop culture.

You want to know how to tell if someone is a good rapper? read their lyrics. If they mean something written down then great. If they mean nothing written down then i don't give a **** how catchy the song is, they have failed as a rapper.


"You're only making them dance, you're not moving them."

[anticipation]

Originally Posted by Captain Awesome

What's not wrong with it? It's pointless and meaningless. Rap is an artform the goal was to break the mould not fit around the same crap just to make yourself millions. Gangster rap can be entertaining the same way vin diesel movies are entertaining but they're runining rap. Everyone thinks it's about black gangsters, it was never about that. Intelligent lyricists are naming themselves after drug dealers just so they can make more money. It's disgusting.

Don't get me wrong there is gangster rappers that i liked but only if they are talented as lyricists (eg big pun, royce 5'9 ect). But even when they are talented as lyricists they are wasting their talent. Rap (like all music) is a way to express yourself. When they start talking about guns and coke they're talking about stuff they've seen in movies they're acting tough throwing up a facade to keep the idiots buying their music.

Rap is there to express thoughts, feelings and opinions. Not to brag about your chrome rims and how awesome a drug dealer you are. If they're so great at being gangsters they wouldn't need to rap for a career. They're all fake and they are pissing all over the hip hop culture.

You want to know how to tell if someone is a good rapper? read their lyrics. If they mean something written down then great. If they mean nothing written down then i don't give a **** how catchy the song is, they have failed as a rapper.


"You're only making them dance, you're not moving them."

do you know what cognitive dissonance is? gangster rap was and is essential to hip hop, everything that preceded pioneers like NWA, Kool G Rap, and to a lesser extent EPMD is not necessarily the end-all be-all of rap. these mc's were the catalysts for those blaxploitation films you're talking about, they provided the stereotypes that the middle and upper classes try to emulate so desperately. their lives were filled with inner city violence and narcotic trafficing, so for you to say that they are betraying some banal, idealistic notion of hip hop that you hold by rhyming about their own experiences is ridiculous. the subject matter of a rapper's music is immaterial, it is how well they convey their message that determines their worth.

[Engine]

Originally Posted by Captain Awesome

You want to know how to tell if someone is a good rapper? read their lyrics. If they mean something written down then great. If they mean nothing written down then i don't give a **** how catchy the song is, they have failed as a rapper.

Originally Posted by anticipation

the subject matter of a rapper's music is immaterial, it is how well they convey their message that determines their worth.

So at least you two agree on that - and so do I. Good lyricism is key.

[music_phantom13]

Originally Posted by Captain Awesome

Rap is there to express thoughts, feelings and opinions. Not to brag about your chrome rims and how awesome a drug dealer you are. If they're so great at being gangsters they wouldn't need to rap for a career. They're all fake and they are pissing all over the hip hop culture.

I don't even know how to respond to the stupidity of that statement.

[Jester]

Originally Posted by Captain Awesome

What's not wrong with it? It's pointless and meaningless. Rap is an artform the goal was to break the mould not fit around the same crap just to make yourself millions. Gangster rap can be entertaining the same way vin diesel movies are entertaining but they're runining rap. Everyone thinks it's about black gangsters, it was never about that. Intelligent lyricists are naming themselves after drug dealers just so they can make more money. It's disgusting.

Don't get me wrong there is gangster rappers that i liked but only if they are talented as lyricists (eg big pun, royce 5'9 ect). But even when they are talented as lyricists they are wasting their talent. Rap (like all music) is a way to express yourself. When they start talking about guns and coke they're talking about stuff they've seen in movies they're acting tough throwing up a facade to keep the idiots buying their music.

Rap is there to express thoughts, feelings and opinions. Not to brag about your chrome rims and how awesome a drug dealer you are. If they're so great at being gangsters they wouldn't need to rap for a career. They're all fake and they are pissing all over the hip hop culture.

You want to know how to tell if someone is a good rapper? read their lyrics. If they mean something written down then great. If they mean nothing written down then i don't give a **** how catchy the song is, they have failed as a rapper.


"You're only making them dance, you're not moving them."

You don't have to be involved with those kinds of things to find them interesting or intriguing.

There is no concrete "THIS IS WHAT RAP IS ABOUT" standard, that's bullshit.

If you can only rap about things that you have truly experienced and been a part of, then the genre has become limited and therefore sucks.

You're stuck on "people rap gangsta rap to make money," which is totally irrelevant.

Gangsta rap isn't ruining rap. It's the lack of creativity by rappers.

There's no topic that should be excluded from music. Especially rap.