What Happened to Hip Hop?

Just so you know, this is not going to be a post that's all about ripping on today's hip hop stars, but rather a refresher course of the roots of hip hop music and where the genre has gone in recent years.

Hip hop has come a long way since the pioneers of the genre took the world by storm. Back then, not many rappers were making the millions of dollars that a lot are making today, and it's a damn shame because the lyrics had so much more meaning compared to some of the stuff that is popular today.

A Tribe Called Quest, Run D.M.C., De La Soul, Eric B. and Rakim, Dr. Dre, Nas, Grand Master Flash, Public Enemy, and N.W.A. are just some of the artists who 'inspired' a lot of rappers today, yet a lot of their early works are often overlooked in this new hip hop generation.

Back then, hip hop wasn't listened to by as many people compared to today. The people of this decade are more into dance beats and metaphoric lyrics that don't tell a story. I'm not saying this is a bad thing because I do enjoy some of the artists who employ these two things, but doesn't it get repetitive listening to artists who use similar techniques?

Maybe it was just my upbringing. There probably aren't many white people who were brought up on gangster rap like myself. I remember being four years old and my brother putting on the song "Wake Up" by Bone Thugs N' Harmony and being instantly hooked. How can I speak for the majority if I didn't live like the majority?

The things in hip hop that caught my attention then are barely around in the genre anymore. The stories of hardships, chilling back in the day, violence. The artists wanted to bring listeners into their actual lives through music. Tell me, how many hip hop acts do this today?

Even some of the artists who used this method of songwriting in the early part of this decade have started to shy away from it. 50 Cent brought that gritty, gangster style with Get Rich or Die Tryin'. After that? Well, he was the trend setter for this new age crap that's all about money, girls, cars, sex, and self image. That's not creative music, it's just a bunch of metaphoric lyrics that anyone can write. It's not very difficult to think of a metaphor for why I like to party and have sex with multiple women.

I don't care what you do with your money. Tell me how you got to that point in your life.

Back in the day, rappers weren't trying to tell us how hot they were or about the ridiculous things they spent their money on. They were more focused on the story they were telling. What is Lil' Wayne exactly saying in his songs? The lyrics sound awesome, but what's the plot of the song? She licked him like a lollipop... Sweet...(?)

(I will say that his first album, Tha Block is Hot, is pretty sweet, though. Not many of his fans listen to it much, but they should)

Have we as a culture stopped caring about lyrical substance? Thank god for rappers like Kanye West, Common, Jay-Z, Nas, and Kid Cudi, who haven't exactly kept to the early styles of hip hop, but they're mainstream and still bring substance to their music.

I always felt that music was supposed to inspire us. All of the greatest musicians have defied time with their music. The Who, Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Frank Sinatra, Jimi Hendrix, and basically everyone who was involved with MoTown moved us then, now, and will always.

Other than Lil' Wayne's album sales, what about his music will stick with us as we get older?

The 80s and 90s are called the Golden Age of Hip Hop for a reason. They were changing the genre with every new album.

Do you disagree with me when I say a lot of today's rappers sound exactly the same? Read this quote from Jay-Z (the king of hip hop) that was in his interview for Esquire magazine concerning this trend in today's hip hop genre, "It's simple addition by subtraction: to save the culture, the artists that routinely damage it by simply following trends must perish."

Think about it.

(Other rappers to look into for substance over flash: Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Notorious B.I.G., Busta Rhymes, The Roots, Dead Prez, Beastie Boys, EPMD, Wu-Tang Clan, Method Man, RZA, old Snoop Dogg, old Eminem, old Nelly, OutKast, 213, old LL Cool J, Afrika Bambaataa, Dumate, Ice Cube, Ice Tea, The Game, Magoo, and Matisyahu)