this brings me to the question that i can't really answer on my own yet.
is the youth of today influencing rap? Or is rap influencing the youth?
now when rap was beginning i do think it was influenced by the youth. or rather the culture and struggle of poverty.
but now.... now, i can't say that. i feel rap is influencing the culture. honestly, rims and such were not that big a deal before sprewell came about. at least not round here, and this is the south.
and then crunk wasn't such a sensation till Lil Jon came round. all though we had something similiar called "bounce" music. but that shit was just for women to shake their asses too. it wasn't something a chevy full of knuckles heads would be bucking too on a night out.
and the list goes on....
but the only conclusion i've managed to think up is that the hip hop of different regions is influencing the rap of other region. meaning everybody is basically taking from the west, taking from the east, etc.
and now it's gotten to where everything is just some mixed into each other, that it's all become the same.