it's pretty sad, for those who got into rap during the Puff Daddy Years, so all they see is Puffy and Mase acting a fool. Ice Cube said it right....new hip hop is garbage.
No...what's sad and garbage is that attitude.
I wasn't planning on saying much about that list, but I need to speak up on this. First and foremost, no matter what, a rap artist needs to be about
making music, and every person on that list has succeeded in doing that in one way or another. You can disagree with a given message, get analytical about who is or isn't selling, or whine about whatever image or flash someone has or doesn't has, but if those are your primary barometers for what's good or bad then I have to question your priorities.
those who got into rap during the Puff Daddy YearsI'm insulted by this because I'm one of those people, in a way. I actually got into rap
because of the pop acts, starting in the late '80s and early '90s with MC Hammer, Fresh Prince, Kris Kross, etc. and started taking it more seriously in the late '90s when Puffy was at his most visible. And you know what? I appreciated the path they paved for me, because through them I was able to explore more complex and lesser known artists through guest appearances and associations, and by simply
coming from the same world of funky beats and rhythmic vocals. In the age before the internet there was no way I could've gotten into Nas or 2pac or Wu-Tang without someone setting a foundation for those guys to become big or likeable in the first place. We all have to start somewhere.
Puffy and Mase acting a foolYou're gonna have to define what "acting a fool" actually is. Is it because they dressed a certain way? Chose certain topics and subject matter for their verses? Had big budgets behind their videos? Came up in a way not approved by some old arbitrary standard? Factoring in those elements is one thing, but if you're outright dismissing
any rapper
solely on those elements then you need to delete your MP3s, turn off your CD player, and go do something else, because there's a good chance you might not actually care about music, the very thing any rapper worth their weight should be about.
Seriously, if I copped that mentality I wouldn't even be messing around with rap as much as I do. Throwback jerseys, '70s cars, all the misogyny/homophobia, nightclub suits, drugs, religion...I put up with all of that because I love the musical output, the connection to the flowing sounds and energy, relating not always to the actual topics but to the sense of emotion and vibe and swagger, trying to see where these
performers are coming from. I actually don't like how Kanye West forgoes baggy clothes for Louis Vuitton and shit, yet he's one of my favorite music artists ever. I'm always down to bump the shit out of DMX and Ruff Ryders even if they sometimes come off as too brutish. Twista can rap about a lot of the same shit over and over but he'll still have my ears because of his beat selection and such an impeccable flow at any speed. I care about how rappers connect with their beats, how the sonic elements mesh with each other, how each person involved in a song accomplishes what they're trying to do.
It's music. Methodical purity can still mean something, but intent and execution will and should always be more important.
new hip hop is garbageThis is just a horrible mentality to have. Trust me, I almost went down this path like 10 years ago because I was getting sick of all the imagery and materialism associated with guys like 50 Cent, but if I had gone all the way with it I wouldn't have discovered Kanye, or Lupe Fiasco, or Kendrick Lamar, or MGK, because there was a time when
those guys were "new hip hop". I would've just been stuck in the past, feeding off the nostalgia of whatever was hot during my childhood, blindly dismissing anything that wasn't familiar or was too "trendy". But I made the decision not to go down that path, because in the end I still wanna nod my head and move my shoulders and just explore, no matter if it's mainstream or underground, American or foreign, white or black or any other race. So what if Mase danced/smiled funny? "Lookin' at Me" and "Get Ready" were smooth tracks. So what if someone like Drake started out as an actor and appeals to teenagers? He still killed it with "Forever" and on "Fuckin' Problems".
And if you've never said a line as dope as "Real G's move in silence like lasagna", shut the fuck up about Lil Wayne (yes, Talib Kweli said that).
Plus Puffy's time as the mainstream face of rap was 15 years ago, what the hell does he have to do with anything new?
Now, getting back to the topic of Sean Combs, I too don't think he deserves to be in the top ten of that list, but come on, he still deserves to be on that list somehow. How the hell can you not deny his importance to hip hop, the positive impact he had? I mean, come on, he's the reason Biggie Smalls became as relevant as he has with the production and promotion they got going on...not to mention all the guest appearances and associations that led to arguably more talented rappers rising in prominence in the wake of Biggie's death. Plus even as a producer and artist he still deserves some respect: turning one of the lesser known
Rocky themes into an epic, legendary beat known as "Victory", flipping David Bowie and Led Zeppelin songs into hip hop samples and actually making them work (yes, I loved "Come With Me" when it first dropped)...and even if he's not that great of an actual rapper he still shined on songs like [noembed]
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"Pain" with a sense of storytelling and imagination. Like I said, it's all about making music, and
this guy knew how to make music.
I've been a hip hop fan for more than two decades, and I'm fucking proud of where it is right now. I love that I saw it rise from a niche trend to a worldwide phenomenon and was there for the whole ride. I love that there's so much variety in styles and subgenres, that anyone can rap about anything now. I love that pop music has become more beat/rhythm oriented because of hip hop's influence. Hell, I even love that anyone can pick up a mic and make something--even if it means actual bad rappers like Soulja Boy or Shawty Lo existing, that just shows to me that this truly is a music for any and all people, a genre with both accessibility and depth.
But you know what I don't love? People not treating hip hop as an actual form of music, simply a means to an end--
and this includes purists who only want hip hop to be a certain way in order to be "real".
Topic: The Official Rap Thread (Read 671305 times)