This is all that is wrong with hip-hop!

[dacalion]

Yeah, I agree this isn't the hip hop that I grew up on either, but hip hop has taken 'the ways of the world' and incorporated it into the genre. Even the tats...I can't imagine the older heads like Rakim, KRS, EPMD with their faces all tatted up. That shit wasn't cool back then. Personally, I wouldn't even call it "evolution", I'd call it "de-evolution". But hey, if these cats want to be or feel the need to be spectacles....so be it! More power to them =).

 

[Formant024]

This is getting old, cant we just skip these bs posts and skip the whole existance of THESE artist on this site altogether...

seriously, buy a tabloid, start a motivational photoshop frenzy...

 

[LouBez]

Lol...it looks like two brothers from the hood having fun and enjoying life to the fullest...thats just wrong!

 

[Fred Knox]

What are they doing that's what's wrong with hip hop? lol am I missing something here? These are the grumpy old men type of threads. Accept it that hip hop is not the same as it was in the 90s.

 

[Fade]

No, what's wrong with it is they look fucking stupid.

 

[LouBez]

Fade, you dont think in a few years when you're flipping through old photos with your wife and fade jr. that you guys are gonna look and say "damn why were this guys pants so damn big, who would pay 85 dollars in 1996 for some big ass jeans with a huge ugly logo, he looks fuckin stupid" Or do you really believe that oversized kani's, XXXL polo rugbys, and "urban" logos bigger than the shirt themselves are gonna hold up as sophisticated hip hop gear? 20 niggas on stages grabbing their dicks, man thats ART!! come on man.

 

[Fred Knox]

No, what's wrong with it is they look fucking stupid.

To who you? That's all you have a problem with? A lot of shit has looked stupid over the years. Including big ass cross colors clothes and big donkey rope chains. All that looks stupid to somebody. Who cares.

 

[LouBez]

Acid washed Edwins will always look cool!!!

 

[Fade]

LOL, who cares? It doesn't look stupid to you but looks stupid to me. Let's just have fun with the picture!

 

[Sucio]

Lol...it looks like two brothers from the hood having fun and enjoying life to the fullest...thats just wrong!

I agree to an extent.


Wayne is not the hood nigga from the block who had to hustle to get into the game.

T-pain may be...I'm not familiar of his start....


Now if it was niggas like MOP doing some wild crazy shit like that...I would agree wholeheartedly.

 

[LP*]

I dont really care much for either artist, that being said I think wayne put in a lot of work to get where he is now, I did like the Carter 1 and 2 and some of his older mixtape shit. T pain just looks like a clown and i personally think his whole career is a gimmick with that autotune stuff, I cant really take dude seriously. I think mainstream hiphop has strayed very very far from what it once was. I think its kinda sad a lot of kids look up to these people and try to emulate them, the same way im sure a lot of us have emulated artists we looked up to, but alot of the mainstream artists now dont really talk about much but pussy,money, and weed as compared to artists i looked up to growing up such as Nas and Pac had real messages in the music. The tattoos all over thing probly wouldn't have went over to well 20 years ago, but i tattoo on the side for extra cash so really that just makes my pockets grow so its cool with me lol. But really to each his own, there are plenty of quality artists out now, if you dont like somethin you dont gotta listen. i just wish some of the newer mainstream artists would start trying to educate people instead of just dumbing shit down, just my opinion.

 

[MitchHolmes]

I dont really care much for either artist, that being said I think wayne put in a lot of work to get where he is now, I did like the Carter 1 and 2 and some of his older mixtape shit. T pain just looks like a clown and i personally think his whole career is a gimmick with that autotune stuff, I cant really take dude seriously. I think mainstream hiphop has strayed very very far from what it once was. I think its kinda sad a lot of kids look up to these people and try to emulate them, the same way im sure a lot of us have emulated artists we looked up to, but alot of the mainstream artists now dont really talk about much but pussy,money, and weed as compared to artists i looked up to growing up such as Nas and Pac had real messages in the music. The tattoos all over thing probly wouldn't have went over to well 20 years ago, but i tattoo on the side for extra cash so really that just makes my pockets grow so its cool with me lol. But really to each his own, there are plenty of quality artists out now, if you dont like somethin you dont gotta listen. i just wish some of the newer mainstream artists would start trying to educate people instead of just dumbing shit down, just my opinion.

you make some good points. As far looking up to certain artists... Tupac was very educated, well spoken quite the artist but he had his dark side and I woulnt want my kids acting the way he did in certain moments. I woulnt want my kids growing up looking up to a lot of these rappers because the violent image that they portrait isint really what I want my kids to look up too growing up.
With that said it is great entertainment and if my kids want to listen to the music thats all good.

 

[LouBez]

Lp i wish educational artist got more burn to, but at the end of the day we're talking about entertainment...if an artist doesnt entertain you then on to the next one...i have never understood hip hop fans disgust wity artists that dont fit into the lil boxes they've built...I think game is a corny fraud, but it doesnt piss me off that he is successful, I am not under the false assumption that if he wasnt doing so well that an artist I like would have a better chance to be popular...

I feel like ALOT of this attitude stems from artists who believe that another artists success is somehow making it harder for them to succeed...

 

[Sucio]

One of my main gripes about the culture is that the culture has such a lock on the influential standpoint, that instead of keeping the people back, the artists should help their people grow....

Now why do these artists claim they're part of some gang? It's sad....especially when they have no place in a gang...

It's sad. I love hip-hop, but it's also putting the false message in the youth's minds.

 

[thedreampolice]

I think all music should grow and evolve. BUT at one point hip-hop was about being socially conscious, about treating people equally, and getting real about problems in the ghetto and DOING something about it (IE: NWA). It was about getting involved. It was about remembering the past but push forward the future. It was about being REAL about who you are and your life. Now its a big autotune circle jerk with no emotion. I know some of you don't agree, but look at people like Jay-Z, Kanye, RJD2, The Roots, Eminem they are moving hip-hop forward (and keeping it in the charts) and still retaining the passion, the timeless message of success after struggle. There lyrics have MEANING! Look at Eminem's new album, it is intensely personal, as is Kanye's. This is what music is all about.

Seriously, FUCK Black Eyed Peas, T-Payne and anyone else that can't write lyrics for shit and rely on gimmicks only YOUR ARE NOT AN ARTIST as you don't create ART!

 

[LP*]

@MitchHolmes ya i understand what you mean, I wasnt trying to say that Pac never did anything bad or that he was a perfect role model. I just meant that he said alot in his music and tried to make a difference. But I have seen quite a few upper middle class suburban kids walking round with red flags in there pocket because they seen wayne do it, like what he is representing is really cool. But I know what you mean about not wanting your kids to look up to some artists like Pac portraying a violent image, but at the same time its real, there is good and bad in everybody, just gotta look for the good and maybe try to learn from there mistakes lol
@Loubez Ya personally if i dont like an artist i just dont listen. If wayne wasnt popular there would most likely be some other person that wasnt really saying anything to take his place. I would rather see artists like skyzoo or torae making money and getting the props they deserve, but I dont believe if any a these mainstream dudes were gone that it would give them a chance to shine.

But really the mainstream artists are where they're at now because thats what the general public wants to hear, so I think its more the general public's fault for pushing these types of artists, and not alot of the quality artists. Sadly alot of people dont really like to think lol

@Sucio ya the whole gang member thing is annoying,especially when the people really arent in it

 

[MitchHolmes]

You make a point but Snoop Dogg was claiming crip in the 90s too... Was on trial for murder. Other rappers like Mack 10, The game were throwing up blood sets before Wayne.

All this to say though if Wayne and Tpain want to dress a certain way then so be it.

 

[LouBez]

I still dont understand the logic behind wanting artist A to be as or more successful tham artist B...Is it to validate your taste? Why does it matter?

 

[thedreampolice]

@Mitch, yup and thanks to NWA it is now cool to be in a gang. NWA started with such great intentions and now have created even more problems.

@Lou I don't think anyone is saying that. And honestly I can't fault T-pain for making money while he can, BUT his music is not timeless and in 5-10 years that autotune sound will be considered a joke. It happens every decade or so, the 80's hated the 70's rock sound, the 90's hated the 80's synth sound and so on. My point is that hip-hop is more important than that and that t-pain is not helping with social issues one bit and he discredits people like Common who do. Because people (who don't know hip-hop) look at it as one big whole thing. So t-pain/black eyed peas give a distorted image of what hip-hop is and is about.

 

[Krazyfingaz]

Remember when rappers used to do videos on college campuses and education was a big deal back then? Speaking of gangs, remember when the Bloods and Crips and I think even the latin kings would drop compilation albums waaaaaaaaaaaaaay before rappers were claiming sets or throwin it up? IMO that shit was lame then and its lame now.