What the hell happened to Rap music?

[Fade]

There wasn't much on TV last night so I took a chance and put on the Grammys to see how ridiculous it is and I wasn't surprised.

Now before I continue, I know, I know, "Oh you're old, you're out of touch, you don't know today's music, etc, etc, etc". Yeah, yeah I know what some will say, but it's not about being out of touch. Because with Rap and music in general, I always focus on the production side of it when listening; I've always been like that. I know times change and the music is different but I just can't get with today's stuff. There's a few here and there that aren't too bad but it's just not on the same level as the 90s stuff. And with all of the music I listen to every day, I can definitely have a legit opinion on what's hot or not.

Here's last night's Rap nominees:

• "Savage" – Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyoncé
• "Deep Reverence" – Big Sean featuring Nipsey Hussle
• "Bop" – DaBaby
• "Whats Poppin" – Jack Harlow
• "The Bigger Picture" – Lil Baby
• "Dior" – Pop Smoke

Here's the same category from 1995:

• "U.N.I.T.Y." – Queen Latifah
• "Fantastic Voyage" – Coolio
• "Flava in Ya Ear" – Craig Mack
• "Gin and Juice" – Snoop Doggy Dogg
• "This D.J." – Warren G

Of course I'm a fan of the 1995 nominees but it's more than that. The production then vs. now is so different, but so is the content and style. The Big Sean track sounds pretty good, it seems solid, but yet of course since the Grammys are a popularity contest (always has been pretty much but today it's so obvious), it was Megan Thee Stallion that won this year. The track is boring but it won because it's all marketing today. She's famous and had Beyonce on it so it makes the track even more popular.

I just don't know where the music will go from here because a lot of it sounds the same and it's just nothing special either. I mean, you look at when Mobb Deep came out with The Infamous album - that changed everything! Wu-Tang's album - changed everything! The Chronic - you get the idea.

There's nothing that stands out to me today unless I really dig deep and go look for it but that's a shame. There's so much talent right here on ILL and yet people would rather listen to something that's been marketed to oblivion and forced down their throats.

Anyway, I just had to vent. Here's some good shit:

 

[thedreampolice]

This is why Kendrick is so important, one of the few young rappers in the game growing the art of hip hop. Rap and country are in the same boat these days, it’s just commercialized bullshit that doesn’t mean anything when they both came from such rich and honest origins. It’s a shame.

 

[OGBama]

What @Fade happened to rap as both a music and a culture is not the money but rather the worship of money as opposed to seeing money as a side effect of people knowing an artist for his or her talent. Remember when rappers wanted to be known for the fact that they could rap as opposed to becoming a rapper to get famous?

The @thedreampolice doesn't mean anything part is cultural so sadly the music reflects where everyone collectively is. Think about it, rap lyrics today and this isn't my age talking, have no thought put into them 'cause dumbassery is at an all time high. The 90s had suspect and questionable lyrics from a "does this make sense" point but it's like today you just feel dumber just hearing onomatopoeic rappers aka what I call mumble rappers and add to the fact that most people's idea of a rapper is the ex felon, ex dropout, etc. and you feel like Hip Hop ain't shit 'cause individuals and collective society are culturally sedated.

 

[Fade]

It's just sad to see how much the music has changed. I accept that it changes it over time but the music today is literally garbage compared to the older stuff. It's all the same and there's flavor. Nothing stands out.

What's worse is for the younger generation growing up with today's music, they think it's awesome and don't even care about the older music. They're missing out.

But that's just how things are I guess. I just wish there would be more attention to the underground groups that are trying to change it, but unfortunately those guys will get a few hundred listens versus millions for some idiot talking about her wet pussy.

 

[OGBama]

It @Fade comes down to marketing which takes money the average person doesn't have but I still don't make excuses for trash music, period. I'm happy I grew up when I did musically albeit I hated the late 90s and early 00s regarding pop boy bands. As far as wet pussy, as a Black female, I see it like Cardi and Meg do not represent the average Black woman plus I'm sick of people pearl clutching as if it was much more acceptable if a song about wet pussy came from guys like Luke and all others back in the day but that is respectability politics which is racist/sexist in nature. Also Meg and Cardi are a continuation of the historically limited spaces in the mainstream for Black women who rap.

 

[thedreampolice]

OMG Key and Peele just did a video today on this topic. We need this now!! They get it!



@OGBama But why Cardi, there are SOOO many good female emcees. Jean Grae and Eternia are two examples that come to mind. Cardi is just...not very good.

 

[OGBama]

The @thedreampolice "why" to Cardi is she represents a certain harmful stereotype of Black women rooted in racism/sexism and when you add money to the mix you get bullshit that is presented as a standard. I'm always open to listening to quality women who rap and as someone who makes this music but not in the lane of Cardi's weak ass, it depresses me what gets supported. I'm to a point where I solely want to listen to female emcees, period, that ain't strippers and I always felt female emcees provide perspectives that get overlooked.

 

[thedreampolice]

I just have to say here is Jean Grae with the roots. I fell in love with her after seeing this performance.



Also Eternia is fire. Check her out. (not so top secret but she is on the next Drunk Pedestrians record...she crushed it! )

 

[OGBama]

You @thedreampolice may like as much as I do

 

[thedreampolice]

Sweet, I added her on my Apple Music. I will check her out.

 

[Fade]

OMG Key and Peele just did a video today on this topic. We need this now!! They get it!



@OGBama But why Cardi, there are SOOO many good female emcees. Jean Grae and Eternia are two examples that come to mind. Cardi is just...not very good.

LOL. Perfect.

That's one of the things I really miss, where you hear about struggles rather than gloating about stuff. I also miss the fun Rap, what happened to that? I mean actual fun Rap music, not Eminem type of funny.

 

[2GooD Productions]

You @thedreampolice may like as much as I do

sa roc is dope, came across her a few weeks back.
@thedreampolice I totally forgot about Jean Grae

One of my favorite females to ever do it is Bahamadia

 

[2GooD Productions]

this is the track that got me hooked on sa roc, the way she sings hooks made me fall in love with her, not to mention the dope rhymes

 

[Fade]

This literally represents actual Hip Hop:

 

[Iron Keys]

• "Bop" – DaBaby
• "The Bigger Picture" – Lil Baby

why they all lil these days or babies?? one even took it so far as to be a lil baby

 

[2GooD Productions]

why they all lil these days or babies?? one even took it so far as to be a lil baby

Because originality is dead.

 

[Fade]

Imagine our names like Lil Fade, Lil Iron Baby, Lil 2Good.

 

[OGBama]

It's @Iron Keys @Fade @2GooD Productions because Hip Hop has been infantilized since its inception. Think about how record labels once had an unspoken rule that if a rapper was 25 he or she was old given the fact that, Hip Hop began as a youth centric culture that was supposed to mature equally with its audience over time but Hip Hop runs from maturity. The reason is because "it is generational gapped and divided and its anti-educational posturing limits cultural discussion and cannot totally serve Black folks. This dysfunction is tied to age-specific experience and expression. Because Hip Hop situates itself exclusively as a youth-identity rhetorical form, it will remain in arrested development artistically and will fail to provide an outlook which will serve the problems of the Black community. And it must then remain subservient to commercial market forces." Dr. William Banfield

 

[2GooD Productions]

Music, especially hip hop isnt there to serve anything except the bank balances of label execs. Its supposed to be a reflection of the society that creates it. That says everything about the society we find ourselves in.

 

[Iron Keys]

Imagine our names like Lil Fade, Lil Iron Baby, Lil 2Good.

Lil Iron Baby sounds tufff ngl.

Solid title for a Pixar movie.