Is it bad I don't care to listen to 97% of the hip hop out there today?

[dat dude chris]

This. I'm 28, I have a fond memory of 90's and early 00's rap, and how anyone can say rap to is awful blows my mind. There are so many great rappers out there making music with substance. Just not what the media and radio push.

2015 was a really good year for hip hop actually.

The music evolved for better or worse. It happened to rock and r&b it is what it is but I'm not about to go knocking these new guys for what they aren't. Take them for what they are. The old heads think if a song isn't super lyrical it's trash but a song that's properly structured/recorded/mixed/engineered and sounds amazing sonically >>>> lyrics. Those traditional notions of lyricism are passé and restrictive b

These guys get it...

 

[al audi]

Da only NEW NY rapper thats good is David East & he's basically a Vado 2.0..

my sister literally told me to listen to him today

just aint get around to it yet, I'm gonna listen for sure now

he was in New Haven CT Mar 23 but i could not make it

 

[lokillo40]

I feel like now theres different genres of rap like trap, hip hop (focus on lyrics), pop rap (drake, iggy, macklemore). Kind of like rock wheres theres classic rock, punk rock, soft rock etc.

These days the "hip hop" genre isnt that mainstream but you can certainly still find people making it.

Do yall agree? Or would you say Future migos etc is hip hop? Drake? Macklemore? Saying Future is hip hop is like saying a band like Sublime is rock music in my opinion. Thoughts?

 

[al audi]

I feel like now theres different genres of rap like trap, hip hop (focus on lyrics), pop rap (drake, iggy, macklemore). Kind of like rock wheres theres classic rock, punk rock, soft rock etc.

These days the "hip hop" genre isnt that mainstream but you can certainly still find people making it.

Do yall agree? Or would you say Future migos etc is hip hop? Drake? Macklemore? Saying Future is hip hop is like saying a band like Sublime is rock music in my opinion. Thoughts?

good point

i do, repped

 

[sea manup]

The music evolved for better or worse. It happened to rock and r&b it is what it is but I'm not about to go knocking these new guys for what they aren't. Take them for what they are. The old heads think if a song isn't super lyrical it's trash but a song that's properly structured/recorded/mixed/engineered and sounds amazing sonically >>>> lyrics. Those traditional notions of lyricism are passé and restrictive b

lyricism is 90% of what makes rap worth listening to though

without good lyrics there are so many other genres of music that sound better than rap 

 

[brendasdeadbaby]

lyricism is 90% of what makes rap worth listening to though

without good lyrics there are so many other genres of music that sound better than rap 

Completely disagree. This is a old passé way of thinking that's blocks people from enjoying anything new. Everything does not have to be super lyrical and sound like dudes trying to squeeze 3 32 bars verses with hooks and bridge on a 4 minute record. I would like more rappers to experiment with sound and recording techniques tho.

 

[Bend_The_Knee]

Hip-Hop is getting or already is bad because of no gatekeepers keeping the crap out.

This.

It's dead.

 

[flesh prince]

I feel like now theres different genres of rap like trap, hip hop (focus on lyrics), pop rap (drake, iggy, macklemore). Kind of like rock wheres theres classic rock, punk rock, soft rock etc.

These days the "hip hop" genre isnt that mainstream but you can certainly still find people making it.

Do yall agree? Or would you say Future migos etc is hip hop? Drake? Macklemore? Saying Future is hip hop is like saying a band like Sublime is rock music in my opinion. Thoughts?

This.

It's broken down into sub-genres now instead of there being only 2-3 types of rappers (street dudes, lyrical dudes, radio rappers).

There also is no 106 and Park to display the varying spectrums of the genre. To place Kodak Black next to Chance The Rapper next to 21 Savage next to J. Cole next to Future and so on. 

Plenty of variety.

A lot of y'all are just washed and consequently have outgrown the genre and what is valued in it.

 

[dat dude chris]

lyricism is 90% of what makes rap worth listening to though

without good lyrics there are so many other genres of music that sound better than rap 

Go back to the NBA Thread fam lol

 

[spacedoodoo]

 

The music evolved for better or worse. It happened to rock and r&b it is what it is but I'm not about to go knocking these new guys for what they aren't. Take them for what they are. The old heads think if a song isn't super lyrical it's trash but a song that's properly structured/recorded/mixed/engineered and sounds amazing sonically >>>> lyrics. Those traditional notions of lyricism are passé and restrictive b

lyricism is 90% of what makes rap worth listening to though

without good lyrics there are so many other genres of music that sound better than rap 

I agree with this. If the rapper you're listening to is saying some dumb **** that you don't agree with but the song is "sonically pleasing" why are you listening?

If you're listening to a hip hop song for the beat, then listen to the instrumental lol. I don't get how dudes can listen to hip-hop, the genre that was essentially created for self expression with words and not care for the lyrics lol. I don't care if that metro dude or kanye makes an amazing beat.. if future or young thug is babbling on the track like an idiot i'm turning the record off. 

 

[$tacy]

Hip hop is so much more than it was back then. Gotta learn to appreciate the evolution. Today's dudes can't do what the 90s dudes did but the 90s dudes can't do what these dudes are doing too. It's not just 1 type of hip hop anymore like dudes above are saying. Crazy enough trap rap has been my favorite sub genre of hip hop ever, can't stand the pop rap scene. But different strokes for different folks, the beauty of it is all the old stuff is still out there so u can still listen to it.

 

[Peep Game]

I feel like now theres different genres of rap like trap, hip hop (focus on lyrics), pop rap (drake, iggy, macklemore). Kind of like rock wheres theres classic rock, punk rock, soft rock etc.


These days the "hip hop" genre isnt that mainstream but you can certainly still find people making it.


Do yall agree? Or would you say Future migos etc is hip hop? Drake? Macklemore? Saying Future is hip hop is like saying a band like Sublime is rock music in my opinion. Thoughts?

This.

It's broken down into sub-genres now instead of there being only 2-3 types of rappers (street dudes, lyrical dudes, radio rappers).

There also is no 106 and Park to display the varying spectrums of the genre. To place Kodak Black next to Chance The Rapper next to 21 Savage next to J. Cole next to Future and so on. 

Plenty of variety.

A lot of y'all are just washed and consequently have outgrown the genre and what is valued in it.

Completely agree with that bolded point. 106 (and other video shows at the time, at least early) showed a natural variety of stuff. You weren't forced to seek it out, it was simply already presented for you, and you weren't bombarded with a lot of mess.

lyricism is 90% of what makes rap worth listening to though

without good lyrics there are so many other genres of music that sound better than rap 

Go back to the NBA Thread fam lol

To do what ?

 

[dathbgboy]

But what kind of evolution is it? I get it, times changes, but how can you be ok with a time where there was clever word play, not even strict lyricism, and now all you hear are the same nuances and adlibs; is that what you consider evolution? I'm not trippin about the different genres, that was inevitable as it was in the early stages w/ gangsta rap, conscious rap, luxurious rap etc.

 

[delete]

alot of the stuff right now isn't gonna be talked about years from now, it's mostly disposable.

 

[captainsneakerhead23]

Da only NEW NY rapper thats good is David East & he's basically a Vado 2.0..

Welcome back.

BUT this comment is wild disrespectful Ninja, Vado tho?

Vado is no where close to East, lyrically, sonically, substance, story telling, etc. it's not even close b.

A better comparison would be Stack Bundles, definitely not Vado, and Vado is my homie

 

[hoosierdaddy317]

 
Growing up to west coast legends/UGK/tribe called quest, etc, I have considered hip hop to be a huge and really enjoyable piece of myself.  Since the early 90's, I've kept up with pretty much every trend, clique, region to put the hottest MCs out.  I don't know if its just myself outgrowing some of the mainstream stuff that doesn't apply to myself anymore, but outside of Kendrick/J Cole/Pusha T, I feel like I've taken a bow from the rap game (similar to Jordans, retro Nike, etc).  It seems that we're in another ringtone era, where its nothing but "here today, gone tomorrow" rappers.  I sure hope Desiigner doesn't think he has a legit chance at a career!  On twitter, I see there's a Yung Thug "Jr" coming out of New Orleans.  How's OT Genesis career holding up after Coco??  Bish u guessed it?  Maybe it's just the TYPE of rappers out these days..  Do you actually like keeping up with the Trap mixtape blogs?  Maybe I'm missing out on something.  I feel like rap really took a nosedive for me in 07-08 when Wayne went strictly Autotune and put out Lollipop as his big C3 single.  After that, we didn't really have any movements, cliques, etc.  And even outside of trap, I just can't get excited for the latest offerings from NY cats like French Montana.  Is anyone else in the same boat??  Am I missing out on good stuff by avoiding what I feel is mainstream garbage??  Listening to DJ Quik in the whip this past week, I have no reason to want to keep up with what's new, with exception of some stuff I listed above.  Maybe this is a good time to explore into stuff like classic rock, jazz, .... etc.  

Thoughts?

To answer your question, we don't really care what you listen to.

 

[tero]

To answer your question, we don't really care what you listen to.

 

[mytmouse76]

To answer your question, we don't really care what you listen to.

 

[Hahahaha]

Like other people said, just avoid it. It's so easy to avoid now too. We all got our smart phones to listen to our own music or podcasts or whatever you want. I think rap is at an all time low. Everyone rapping on the same beats, same sound, same flows. Rappers stealing flows and style, no one calls them out. Everyone is scared of beef and wants to collab. You got a Canadian Jew that's the biggest rapper in rap today. You could have told me that 15 years ago and I would have laughed. You got the biggest names in rap today are cats that can't sing or rap. Future, Young Thug, Travis Scott. These guys are making some really awful music. I don't listen to any of them, I just can't.


And Dave East is no ****** Vado. Hahahaha, come on son. No way. Dave East is nice.


As I'm typing this, G.Dep Child of the Ghetto comes on shuffle. **** is fire. I'll take this album over 99% of the rap BS they play today.

 

[rillo561]

More like de-evolution IMO.

East>vado IMO.

 

[Maximus Meridius]

While I do think older hip hop heads can sound grumpy and closed minded, dudes from this era go to far thinking that there's this big evolution taking place in Hip Hop. There's some good to great rappers out nowadays but as whole lyrics have gotten worse, and production is more updated but it's too many dudes chasing the same sound. So the only thing that's changed over the last 15-20 years is production sounds more updated and that's naturally gonna happen as years go by. That's not a real evolution.


It's a lot of good producers out today but Dr Dre's production from the 90's sounds cleaner than most **** out right now. The Chronic 2 sounds more crisp than any album out right now.


I listen to a lot of new rappers now but saying they have made this big evolution is wrong when there's so many that are rapping over the same beats, using the same flows and really not saying anything.


The mid to late 90's was really when a evolution of the genre took place. With Pac/Deathrow , Big, Outkast, Nas, Jay, UGK, DMX, were all in their primes or coming out. Every coast was represented, diverse production and All were lyrical.


The only thing that's really gotten better is rappers have more business opportunities now and endorsements.

 

[captainsneakerhead23]

Shamless plug, if ya wanna hear some HipHop with some substance and a message behind it, click the link in my signature

 

[str8drop]

I feel like EVERY year this kinda thread is made. Like just get over it yall. Listen to what you like, ignore the nonsense & keep it moving. This complaining dont mean ish if you aint doing anything yourself to fix it...

It is

Y'all gotta learn to adapt and stop being so dependent on the labels and radio man, they don't give a **** about supplying you with good music it's always been about the dollar first I.E. whoever has the best trendy sound/marketability/image/story wins. Fact of the matter is, if the labels don't think you can sell (show tickets, albums, and merch) at a profitable clip they don't want **** to do with you.

We got all kind of _'s out here making good music in all kinds of different genres of hip hop, **** that will NEVER blow up and get radio spins. You just gotta be proactive and not depend on the media, labels, etc to spoon feed you, if you do you just gonna be subjected to whatever the labels think they can make money off of at the time.

Edit: Tbh every generation says **** like this and not just in rap/hip hop either

 

[gentrification]

If it's hot, it's hot. But without thought the last few years I have listened to hip hop less and less. Maybe I just branched off into other ****. If we are talking in the simplest form of just feeling. I don't get the same vibe from the "hip hop" today, but neither do I get the same vibe from people on a daily. I get it every generation says the same thing. But people are different, this isn't just younger cats. This is people as a whole, people have evolved into something else. But one must adapt but still keep da essence.

 

[lokillo40]

When I think of hip hop I think of the 4 elements. Dudes battling each other. Cats rapping in cyphers. Imagine young thug and future in a cypher

Its just different genres of rap now man. And for some reason the most popular genre at the moment is trap. Pretty much what they play in clubs.

Y'all gotta learn to adapt and stop being so dependent on the labels and radio man, they don't give a **** about supplying you with good music it's always been about the dollar first I.E. whoever has the best trendy sound/marketability/image/story wins. Fact of the matter is, if the labels don't think you can sell (show tickets, albums, and merch) at a profitable clip they don't want **** to do with you.

We got all kind of _'s out here making good music in all kinds of different genres of hip hop, **** that will NEVER blow up and get radio spins. You just gotta be proactive and not depend on the media, labels, etc to spoon feed you, if you do you just gonna be subjected to whatever the labels think they can make money off of at the time.

See but what I dont understand is that hip hop fans scream all the time how they want lyricism and more traditional hip hop on mainstream radio so I dont understand why labels dont push those kinds of artists. Is it beacuse hip hop fans dont buy albums?

Basically what Im saying is why do labels push trinidad james or Desiigner type dudes over j cole types if thats what the fans want?

I feel like sooooo many of my friends and people ive talked to agree that mainstream rap is mostly wack. I just dont see why that kind of hip hop wouldnt be profitable if so many damn people are asking for it. Kendrick is mad popular and hes verrrrry lyrical. Label execs really think that hip hop fans are all lean heads who just go to the club i guess.