The state of Hip Hop

**Red_Liner740** · 04-19-2012, 02:00 PM

^^ No no, tell u how you REALLY feel...lol

Good post, not that i followed hip hop...

**kanabis** · 04-19-2012, 02:06 PM

Its all about $$$$ fame and women these days that why you dont see real artist anymore. Look at Kendrck lamar, why isnt he up there with Drake ,Tyga and the rest of these fake rappers?... its because yes he wants to be rich and famous but he puts his music first .

**toshison** · 04-19-2012, 03:58 PM

Originally Posted by awyala

Puff Daddy was the prophet of the bling movement that killed hip hop

I think you give puffy way too much credit. He made his contributions to the music, both postive and negative but he is not solely responsible for the current state of hip hop. He didn't really have anything to do with the whole dirty south era. You can thank Master P/No Limit Records and Birdman/Slim/Cash Money Records for propelling that scene to its current heights. The reason why there are so many cruddy rappers out there is because there are so many cruddy fans out there that have arguably poor taste in music. The Dirty south style would of never made it if it wasn't for fans buying the music. You can blame them for it.

Here's my perspective. What really changed hip hop is the ever expanding and diverse fanbase.... Hip hop use to be counterculture, urban and edgy and that appealed to a smaller group of listeners but now probably most 12 year old girls with an iPod have a few rap songs in their playlist. More and more pop music incorporates rap and I've even heard some new age country music where the dude is pretty much rapping/not singing.

With hip hop, there was never really a period where there was nothing but good music, there was always crappy rap/hip hop coexisting with quality. I mean Vanilla Ice blew up in an age of Public Enemy, EPMD, Tribe, De La soul etc... While the south/No Limit Records was blowing up in the mid to late 90's, the eastcoast (including Toronto) was putting out some of the best indie label/underground hip hop ever. Its just there are a lot of fans that like the gimmicky crappy sound of crappy hip hop and they seem to outweigh the fans that like the "real hip hop".

Originally Posted by awyala

No TO rapper who put years in the game respects Drake, but rather they have been mesmerized with the free ride they thought they could get off Drake and the possible spotlight he could have brought to TO. Sadly for the likes of Saukrates, Maestro, Kardy, and even K-Os...the pillars of TO hiphop with over 15 years to their name, Drake dusted them off for his American, and Forest Hill roots)

I aint hating on Drake at all. He made it and he's successful so I figure good for him. You don't have to like or buy his music so what does it really matter how he rose to fame? I am sure a lot of TO hip hop acts/groups would love to have reached his level of success. Lets not forget Maestro's failed attempt at achieving success in the U.S. He left for the U.S in what 1992 to work with Showbiz and to try to get his name out in the there but he failed to gain commercial success so he came home.. In 98 he put out that really iffy album and tried to reclaim his spot as the primo rapper in T.O. It didnt work in my opinion. And then there is Kardinal who's music is very much mainstream and club/airplay friendly.

I've followed Saukrates since "They Still Caught Up", he's a Toronto HH icon but I think he has respect for Drake. You got to be positive and if commercial success comes your way you gotta embrace it. Can't blame Drake for that. Its like blaming Rashard Lewis for being one of the highest paid NBA players.. Dont blame him, blame the guy that gave him the deal.

**rmemedic** · 04-19-2012, 04:07 PM

Originally Posted by ep1x

something speaks to me that you blast this track in your car with the windows rolled down on the gardiner expressway during rush hour bumper-2-bumper.

No, I save the "spank box" on playboy radio on my Sirius for that!
I slowly rolled past a family in a minivan with their windows down... Got some weird nasty looks!

**JonnyWyshbone** · 04-19-2012, 08:03 PM

I think drake's awesome, I think the problem is the artist who come out with half *** tunes but because they got some corporate entity behind them paying for airplay and marketing they can make it, while some indie kid has to hold somebody at gunpoint to get a demo on the radio. I hope 98.7 brings back the demo battle, it would be nice to hear raw talent on the airways again.

**FullMotoJacket** · 04-19-2012, 09:13 PM

**JonnyWyshbone** · 04-19-2012, 09:21 PM

Originally Posted by FullMotoJacket

OMGROFLMAO!! That's effin awesome dude, oh that was my laugh of the night!

**knowledge** · 04-20-2012, 04:56 AM

Great thread, OP...I thought about makign this thread about a year ago, but I didn't think there'd be much interest in it. For what it's worth, I used to live & breathe hip hop. I used to be active in the manifesto events, breakdance, graf, spit, DJ, etc.

I came to terms with the "death" of hip hop a long time ago (I have it in quotations because there are plenty of great lyricists out there...I would just never put their songs in my phone. I got stuck in the boom bap era and I could never move past it.

Whenever I talk to someone who laments for the music, I always tell them that they have have 3 other decades of music to fall back on if they don't like what's coming out now. On top of that, it started off in both coasts as a social movement - it has no social role to fill anymore; the industries that thrive off the music are all entertainment-based; dance/choreography, fashion, merchandise, etc.

If you want to be upset...don't be upset at the artists, be upset at the people willing to support their music. They're only supplying a demand that already exists. This has happened to pretty much every other genre of music. When rock went mainstream, there were plenty of fans saying that it's just not the same. The same goes with House & plenty of other genres that have become "pop".

- As for Drake...he isn't a terrible rapper, but he makes some terrible songs. As a lyricist, he's above-average. Some of his verses are actually really good.

Originally Posted by 2live&ride

lol...

Why? Smith was a decent rapper for the style of rap that was coming out in his era. & Jazzy Jeff is a great DJ. Plus he coined the transformer scratch...that's a pretty big deal

**Shaft** · 04-20-2012, 07:33 AM

+1 for DJ Jazzy Jeff, not to many people know his influence, super fast DJ too!

Personally I think hip hop was taking a weed nap lol Yes the garbage out their is perpetuated by the masses and the radio stations (I'm almost certain the first Mase video was the day hip hop started to go mainstream) but digging in the crates is part of hiphop. I grew up north, we had county and rock on the radio and the only way I got into hip hop was tapes. I still have some mastermind tapes lying around that I'd get from T.O. I still can't listen to the radio because I know it is being control by some idiot that has no concept of what "real" hip hop is supposed to be. Are you telling me that you are going to compare Drake to Chuck D lol

A few of my influences were/are Run DMC(first tape/record), Tribe, Dilla, Beastie Boys, Black Sheep, Common(old common not new), De La, as I got older wu tang, any boot camp, pharcyde, dilated people's, goodie mod, outkast, etc. These days I love finding hip hop. The upcoming Killer Mike album produced by El-p is reminiscent of when ice cube and bomb squad met!!! Followed by El-p's album Cancer for Cure is real rap! Im still trying to decode Company Flow verses! The last huzzah - Mr Mother****ing Exquire track was sick, Danny Brown up and coming, Blu, Marco Pollo, Apollo Brown, Das Racist, Despot, Ruste Juxx etc

For true hip hop fans you can always dig something out from the crates, even buried under all the garbage that's around these days.

**JonnyWyshbone** · 04-20-2012, 08:32 AM

Does anybody else hate when an artist says they got an album dropping, you wait cuz you know the album's gonna be sick, it drops and there's only 11 on the bloody cd!! At least pretend to make an effort, I mean even Pac's albums got like 20 tracks each and the man's been dead since '96. Hey do you think Pac made more money alive of dead? I mean, he was popular either way, but I'm thinking after.

**JonnyWyshbone** · 04-20-2012, 08:41 AM

Who remembers the first hip hop album to introduce you to the life. Mine was X-Clan's To the East, Blackwards. The first record I owned was Public Enemy's Yo! bum rush the show