So, with yesterday’s post I started exploring the comparison between old-school and new-school hip-hop. I concluded that, even though both are guilty of including negative content in their lyrics and being careless with their words, at least the earlier generations of rappers cared about the craft and were dedicated to making the music dope. The wordplay was there, the concise flow, the solid cadence, and the interesting rhymes, even through all the bullshit, beef, and drama. I listen to some of today’s music, on the other hand, and it doesn’t even sound like rap, half the time you can’t even make out what the person is saying because it’s little more than mumbling. To be honest though, I’m only writing about this here now because I haven’t yet mentioned it in this series of posts, but I’m actually super tired of talking about this in real life, because with most hip-hop fans, if I bring it up, they’ll just label me a hater, or an old head afraid of change and therefore criticizing it. The truth is I don’t even mean to hate on pop music, pop rap, or party music, partly because I listen to all of those, but if you’re gonna do that, and you’re gonna call yourself a rapper, then try to throw in a real song every once in a while, something that has to do with real life, something people can really relate to. All the old-school rappers did it, even while they rapped about all the other stereotypical rapper shit. Songs like “This Can’t Be Life” by Jay-Z, where Scarface spits a beautiful verse at the end about the death of his homie’s young son, something I’m pretty sure I read that he just found out about as he was going into the studio to record a pre-written verse. He re-wrote his verse for the track right then and there. Songs like “Pain” or “Brenda’s Got a Baby,” or so many others by 2Pac, songs that represent people’s struggles, whatever their race or culture might be, songs with positive messages like “Dear Mama,” “Unconditional Love” or “Keep Ya Head Up.” This whole writing series started by me describing the eternal questions that bind us together as human beings, and I mentioned that artists, especially well-known ones, have so much power to positively inspire whole generations of people. Artists of the past were never perfect, but respect is due when one could see that they at least tried to make a positive impact with their art. I sometimes listen to albums by newer rappers, since I listen to full albums of all genres possible, whenever possible, and there’s barely ever anything that really stands out or inspires me, whereas old albums are full of gems, albums like “Be” by Common, or Kanye’s “Late Registration.” Even his new stuff has no soul, the opposite of the amazing beats he crafted back in the day, but I guess that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone at this point. There are some independent rappers these days which are growing quickly, rappers who actually spit, yet who everyone seems to label as corny, Dax being one example. I could even see their argument at some level, but to label his music as corny yet not condemn the constant glorification of a life of using or selling hard drugs, which is prevalent in so many popular rappers’ discographies, is just ridiculous. It’s especially ridiculous when you take into account that apart from the lyrics, rappers like Dax are actually still rapping, and getting creative with it as far as the bars go, while so many mainstream rappers are, like I said, simply mumbling like they’re drugged out, which they probably are. I have so much to say on this issue, so we’ll see if I continue with it tomorrow. Thank you for reading. Stay blessed.
If you have 2 minutes, I’d appreciate you listening to my song “Everything Stay In The Past.” All feedback is always appreciated, just like your time.
rebel eye 