RIP Hip-hop - interesting article.
- Thread starter Casey
- Start date
Well, first of all, Prince used freakiness and sex talk in an original manner on top of groundbreaking barrier-pushing music. Songs he did like "Head", and "Erotic City" in the early 80's were just as revolutionary musically as the lyrics were at that time. Nobody had done it before.
Now, these modern artists with their sex talk songs, it's nothing more than a weak stereotype and cliche backed with un-original, uninspired music.
"Head" and "Erotic City", et al, could have had lyrics about farmer making hay and the MUSIC would still have been original and broke down barriers. As a whole, it was enticing music, and it's lyrical content shocked. Put together, it was explosive.
Please don't try and compare the radical shift in contemporary music that Prince created in the 80's with modern-day garbage disposable pop-hop songs about getting pussy and tappin ass. It's not interesting or revolutionary in the slightest, commercial hiphop has been stuck in a emulative time-warp for a number of years now.
Prince was and is an original artist - if he was completely unoriginal, and just emulated older funk of the years before, and made songs about Head over uninspiring Sly Stone or James Brown imitations, people would cuss him the same way people cuss these modern rappers using sex talk to sell records over boring unoriginal sonic backdrops.
The guy ain't a prude cos he ain't complaining, per say about sexual lyrics. What he is complaining about is these lyrics being written in a dullard, brainless manner and laced with garbage imitation music. Are any of the songs he listed interesting, breaking new ground and doing something that hasn't been done before? No. Are they well written and interesting to listen to? No. Do they sound like they took more than half an hour to write? No.
oh, and your mention of "White Lines" is entirely out of context, Melle Mel was not glorifying drugs in that song, in fact it's the complete opposite. He wasn't doing it to be "cool", he was highlighting a social problem, unlike unintelligent fuckwits like T.I who can only brag about the amount of coke they sell.
Don't be ashamed to admit to yourself hiphop is dying. It's been a slow decline for a while, and will eventually cease to be relevant in it's pure form, as happens with all genres.
Hair metal died in the late 80's when Nirvana came along and introduced grunge to the world. Grunge died with Kurt in 1994 and allowed Rap-Metal to enter the fold with Korn.
Jazz was the hiphop of it's day, but it's time came to fold with Rock N Roll's emergence, people like Chuck Berry and Little Richard.
Obviously hiphop as a genre will never die in the sense that it will not exist, I just mean that as a commercial entity and a driving force of music, it will stop being relevant if it continues it's current trend. I'd love an original artist with fire in his belly to come and prove me wrong, but it hasn't happened and will not happen as long as the commercial artists keep trying to be 'Pac, Big, Nas or Jigga and the underground artists keep fighting to find the most random pseudo-intellectual metaphor possible.
I'm really getting tired of writers doing their own trendy thing and dissing this music. Yeah I'm not really a fan of a lot of shit out but that only makes me dig deeper and find what I like. It's not hard to realize that maybe the music I loved has passed. But I still have the music I love so what is the problem. My generation is gone and I have to accept that. It's not like early rock fans love all of their genre' new releases. My parents still listen to that old Sam Cooke not Jamie Foxx. It's called growing up and growing out of something. I'm still going to listen to hip-hop and appreciate and maybe like something that comes out today but I'm always gonna have what I love to fall back on. Music just like everything else evolves and I have to accept that. A lot of these guys complaining might think this shit is bad but accept it, there are millions of kids loving it, and this is going to be their music 10-20 years down the line and they will probably hate on the new thing. Hopefully I'll like it.
We like to homogenize hip-hop; try to say "hip-hop is going this way, or that way," as if it is some monolith. But it is going in conflicting and opposing directions at times. We impose our categories on some essentially chaotic mixture of artists and it is inevitable that we run into people with some apparently ethical agenda who are caught up in some moral panic that has undoubtedly been going on for years and years.
Issue from The Source, 1991. What is the biggest problem facing rap music as we enter 1991?
"The media and other conservatives making it seem like 2 Live Crew and Geto Boys are representatives of what rap music is all about." - J. Sledge, NYC.
"The negative publicity concerning publicity (2 Live Crew, Geto Boys), violence (Lench Mob, ATL).
Issue from The Source, 1991. What is the biggest problem facing rap music as we enter 1991?
"The media and other conservatives making it seem like 2 Live Crew and Geto Boys are representatives of what rap music is all about." - J. Sledge, NYC.
"The negative publicity concerning publicity (2 Live Crew, Geto Boys), violence (Lench Mob, ATL).
I'm not gonna read that article and i'll tell you why. It's probably the same thing everyone else writes. There was a time where I used to say how I hated the radio and tv music. That was how long ago? There has to be a point where you realize that you don't have to watch tv and you don't have to listen to the radio.
If you're a big enough fan of hip hop and you have a good collection, you should have nothing to compain about. There's plenty of good hip hop around these days, you just have to know where to look. I listen to older albums alot more than I listen to newer ones, so I am not going to complain.
If you're a big enough fan of hip hop and you have a good collection, you should have nothing to compain about. There's plenty of good hip hop around these days, you just have to know where to look. I listen to older albums alot more than I listen to newer ones, so I am not going to complain.
Nice assumption there. I probably understand hiphop a lot better than you do, my friend. I understand and love quality hiphop. Which is more and more lacking these days. I own over 500 hiphop records and love all of them for different reasons. And you're trying to tell me I don't like it and don't understand it? That's laughable. If you're going to make an accusation like that, back it up with reason.
And what does Jonathan Davis have to do with anything? I'm assuming you're referring to the singer of KoRn.
And what does Jonathan Davis have to do with anything? I'm assuming you're referring to the singer of KoRn.
Your scorn of "imitations of James Brown" makes me doubt that. If you really understood hip-hop, you'd be cognizant of the fact that a lot of the best records of the late '80s and early '90s were and quite a few records today are based on samples of James Brown and related funk and soul acts.
Nah, homie, I'm talking about the one who also goes by the name Q-Tip and was the front man of one of the groups the writer of this article loves.
It says a lot that you think that.
Since you're into Fort Minor and I've noticed in the the past that you're into rap-rock, have you heard Edan's last album, Beauty and the Beat? I bet you'd like it. One of my favorite albums of 2005.
Nah, homie, I'm talking about the one who also goes by the name Q-Tip and was the front man of one of the groups the writer of this article loves.
It says a lot that you think that.
Since you're into Fort Minor and I've noticed in the the past that you're into rap-rock, have you heard Edan's last album, Beauty and the Beat? I bet you'd like it. One of my favorite albums of 2005.
OK so hip-hop/rap music isn't as raw as it was mabey 15-20 years ago but look at it like this, other genre's of music like rock & roll or even classical music have been around for decades and generations of people have been brought up listening to these types of music for years. Hip-hop/rap music has been around since the early eighties so as a genre it is only twenty years old about the average age of the members of this board prob. The music is changing fo sure mabey not for the better at the moment but who's to say that it's not going to grow and mature and become better than ever, and in years to come people will prob say oh remember when back in 06 when rap music was the shit, just like when we say oh remember back in 94 when that was the shit. Just like pac said at the end of old school. sorry a bit confusing but I hope you get what I mean. peace
Dogg, I love James Brown. And when I referred to "imitations", I mean emulative attempts to sound like someone. I wasn't talking about samples. I have a lot of respect for artists that have sampled James Brown and created hits, and I am perfectly aware of the fact that "Funky Drummer" is the most sampled song of all time. You misunderstood my point there. What I was saying was that if a 80's funk artist like Prince was to come out blatantly trying to sound like James Brown, he would have got laughed at. In 2006, EVERY commercial hiphop figure is trying to imitate a successful rapper of the 90's (Pac, Big, Jigga, Nas, etc), and yet everybody ignores this fact.
I wasn't aware that Q-Tip's real name was Jonathan Davis. Thanks for enlightening me. But, I'd rather not talk about Q-Tip. In fact, you should PM me, I have an interesting story relating to myself and Q-Tip, that you might be interested to hear.
I have heard Edan's album and it is pretty dope. Thanks for the recommendation though. He's a great artist. Hip-Hop Connection magazine regularly big him up and gave that album a rave review.
I wasn't aware that Q-Tip's real name was Jonathan Davis. Thanks for enlightening me. But, I'd rather not talk about Q-Tip. In fact, you should PM me, I have an interesting story relating to myself and Q-Tip, that you might be interested to hear.
I have heard Edan's album and it is pretty dope. Thanks for the recommendation though. He's a great artist. Hip-Hop Connection magazine regularly big him up and gave that album a rave review.
I did. My bad.
I disagree, but I dunno. The south is pretty unique when it comes to who's successful and who isn't.
There is a difference between imitating and being influenced by someone, though.
And a little redundancy doesn't mean hip-hop is dead, and it still doesn't shore up the fact that this article is crap.
I disagree, but I dunno. The south is pretty unique when it comes to who's successful and who isn't.
There is a difference between imitating and being influenced by someone, though.
And a little redundancy doesn't mean hip-hop is dead, and it still doesn't shore up the fact that this article is crap.
When hip-hop fans accuse the current state of hip-hop of being all about sex, drugs, and violence, the so-called heads pull out examples of how hip-hop has always been like that. When non hip-hop fans accuse hip-hop of being all about sex, drugs, and violence, the so-called heads pull out examples of underground albums that prove otherwise. I'm not really certain right now what my point is regarding this, but it's something I've noticed.
i think i get what you're saying. the "so-called hip hop heads" say that the old school is good even though it has sex, drugs, and violence, but the new shit sucks for having those same three things. i guess your point would be that hip hop heads are being hipocritical.
i think what the "hip hop heads" are trying to say is that hip hop did have elements of sex, drugs, and violence back then, but nowadays it seems like hip hop is ALL ABOUT sex, drugs and violence and it's giving a bad message to the youth.
i think what the "hip hop heads" are trying to say is that hip hop did have elements of sex, drugs, and violence back then, but nowadays it seems like hip hop is ALL ABOUT sex, drugs and violence and it's giving a bad message to the youth.
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