Hip Hop Listers - Discussion about hip hop's direction

[DJTrey313]

I can see from previous discussions that there are definately some hip hop listeners here. Here's the question tho, what direction do you think hip hop is heading? I mean, Gangsta rap is like...pretty much dead, at least the realest ones (ie Tupac, Biggie, Snoop before his commercial days), then there's the conscious rap that kanye's bringing...but theres no1 else besides him. And of course there's the southern rap, which i'm personalyl not a big fan of...And Then like just recently Rev Run of RunDMC just dropped an album after all these years (i listened to the album at my universal internship...it was...different, to say the least), could old school hip hop come back? what're your thoughts?

[Mediocrity]

Don't forget people like Blackalicious, MF Doom, Jay-Lib, Mighty Mouse etc..

[2.2 Straight six]

i think it's heading towards the (excusme my language) pussy boys, like this "pretty ricky" guy. ok, fair enough with the emotional crap, but "pretty ricky" WTF ? its changin into "rappers" that think they're hard an think they're real or think they're on the same level as pac was but are bullshitting. i dont listen to a lot of new stuff, i dont think it means anything.

i love pac's songs because you can look into the lyrics an you can see what he's saying, take ghetto gospel or changes for example. he's rapping about what he wants to see in people he's not rappin' some pussy-boy shit about some whore he saw at a dull party last weekend.

...end of rant.

[goat_launcher]

In my honest opinion - hip hop is going towards the shit hole - the emotional stuff that straight 6 talks about wont stay on the charts long enough for anyone but 17 year old girls to notice - THe REAL problem I'm worried about is these hard core wannabe fags AKA 50 Cent, the game, (you get my point) These idiots only live by one thing - street cred....in all my years of immersing myself in the hip hop world, I've found that the concept "street cred" is 90% bullshit, 10% truth. Just cuz these idiots came from some rough neighborhood and had gang relations, the public trust whatever comes out of their mouths....but growing up in compton doesnt automatically give you lyrical skills

P.S. Getting shot 9 times doesnt mean your a hard core gangsta, it means your dumb ass doesnt know how to dodge bullets.

[thrasher]

IMO it's going the same way the rest of music is going, which is pretty consistent over time. Most of the pop rap shit is exactly that, shit. Most of the good stuff is underground, for real hip hop fans to enjoy.

[drewh4386]

Personal it won't matter to me...times change. For all the new stuff people don't like, there are going to be new people that will like. So it is not headed in one direction...it is headed in many directions. IMO they are many different regions/styles of hip-hop/rap to classify them all going in one direction. my 2cent

[PBking82]

Eh, I see hip-hop being dead within the next 10 years. I allready consider it to be dead in a lot of aspects. The last "true" gansters are dead. Pac, Biggie, Eazy. That's about it. (sorry to go off-topic) Is there anybody out there who actually liked CB4??? Seriously wtf were they trying to say with that movie? That Eazy wasn't actually a real gangster? Whatever. But, Bone thugs is disbanding they're all doing their own things. Mobb Deep pretty much sold out by putting little john on their newest album. All the MTV crap is garbage and it will continue to get worse and worse as more white suburban gets think it's cool to be black or act black. Maybe it will evolve into something else, but my consensous of pretty much all new music right now is that it is absolute garbage. No body seems to be making music to make music anymore, they just want the money and will do whatever it takes to make that money. Peace-

[eckoman_pdx]

Well, it's dead to me. There no more real gangsta's, no more gangsta rappers anymore. Back in the day Snoop was good, but I don't care for his new "mainstream" commericalized junk. Sure, I know people that liked "Beautiful" but come on...from Snoop? A far cry from what he was back in the day. Ja Rule is a stickin p*ssy ass joke, 50 cent just raps about sex. His whole dang album, just sex and crap. But he's been shot 9 times, so he must be real!! Or you're in gang, so you must be real! That doesn't mean a damn thing. Tupac had no real gang connections, he was not in a gang, but he's more real than any of these punks today claiming "street cred" just by flashing colors. They brag about getting shot. Tupac and Biggie got shot, and look where it all ended. Back in the day, pac, biggie, cube, easy, mc ren, nwa...they were real. Most mainstream rappers today are nothing but punks and wanna-be's, and hip-hop and rap is headed in the wrong direction if you ask me. For the most part, when Pac and Biggie died, Gangsta rap died with them.

[KustmAce]

Rap is going the same direction and all music, mainstream. Bands/singers/rappers/misc artists only produce what will sell, and the majority of buyers are teenie boppers, so they appeal to that group. Look at it from the artist point of view. You can make it strictly about the music and fall flat and never get anywhere, or you can make what you know will sell, and make bajillions of dollars. I personally think I would rather sell albums and make buckets of money.

But people seem to only be judging rap and other music by the stuff they aire on MTV and whatnot. Yea a lot of 50s singles are a little thin lyrically, but some of the songs that don't have videos and that arent on the radio are bomb. Same with all the other major players in the rap game nowadays.

Besides, Three 6 Mafia is BACK. And that makes me smile.

BTW, thank you to everyone for not turning this into another "rap sucks" thread.

[drewh4386]

Originally Posted by KustmAce

Besides, Three 6 Mafia is BACK. And that makes me smile.

BTW, thank you to everyone for not turning this into another "rap sucks" thread.

[goat_launcher]

Originally Posted by KustmAce

Besides, Three 6 Mafia is BACK. And that makes me smile.

Damn straight.

[-GS-]

Eh im going to have to disagree with the majority of you guys. I think rap is not dying but rather growing. Sure the industry is watered down to hell and back, and theres alot of shit artists out there, its gaining more publicity and gaining more notice then ever before.

No doubtledly the glory days of rap are in the 90's (atleast to me) and they no longer are here, but you cant even compare these times to those...You may ask why, but its because they are called the glory days for a reason, they are the BEST and there is a reason that they cant be duplicated, so I dont understand why they are even compared to those times.

As i mentioned before, hiphop is bigger then ever. Sure it may not neccessarily be better, but it has more widespread knowledge then ever before, and a larger audience. I dont see it dying out for a hell of along time, i see it gaining more force, and gaining more artists (whether they be good or bad).

Also alot of people talk about the "gangster" days being over. I dont understnad how people can first complain about the state of the industry at the moment, about how it degrades women, promotes violence etc, and yet still talk about the glory days being the most gangster days....

Thats just my 2 cents.

[Fully_Sick]

theres heaps of good acts still going strong

and what im concerned is that HIP HOP is prevailing not gangster bullshit, i wanna hear rhymes about parties, the game, life, drugs, not the same old "sorry momma" "pop a cap in yo ass" bullshit.

De la soul
Blackalicious
mf doom
People Under the Stairs (definely peep these dudes if you havent)
J-Live
Non-Phixion
Jedi Mind Tricks
Mos Def
Talib Kweli
Pharcyde
Gangstarr
Immortal Techique

its looking a lot better than the 2pac/ vs biggie era, and guess what all these emcess actually can free and rhyme decent,

[Nicole8188]

Originally Posted by 2.2 Straight six

like this "pretty ricky" guy

Too bad Pretty Ricky is a group of guys. Meh...I like them. It's because I'm a wimpy girl.

[craigcully]

Originally Posted by KustmAce

Besides, Three 6 Mafia is BACK. And that makes me smile.

Some 3-6 fans, huh? Does anybody know if Project Pat is out of jail yet? Man, my friends and I wore out his cd's in high school...

As for the topic, I'd have to agree with drew... it's just broadening out into many different directions, mostly defined by the locale. It's just aging and following the trends and interests of the listeners and artists of the time. I do believe hip-hop is here to stay, though I cannot say in what form it will be in 20 years. I guess it could be said it's getting a little watered down and mainstream, but I guess that's how music goes... it'll change eventually, like oldies rock to power ballads to punk rock, everything just evolves with age.