When you look at this picture, can you actually say that this young man will have a future in the next 25 years? I often ask myself this question. because there are so many blackmen in the rap game to the point any man who cant rhyme can pick up a mic and get a record deal.
Now I know this sounds cliche'ish, but Im not going to say Hip-hop is dead! Im not going to say Hip-Hop has become synonomist with wealth and glamore. Im not going to say that Hip-hop promotes Sex and violence; But, Iam going to say HIP-Hop has gone out of style.
It is a burned out culture because those that were in the rap game for the last ten to twenty years are no longer "HOT" and those who are presentely in the game bring the same style to the table, skinny jeans, mohawk fade, and a body full of tattoos. That is Not Hip-Hop! that is Punk Rock!
the same stuff that we see in today's Hip-Hop music is what was already done in the 1970's with clubs like CBGB'S and rock groups the Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious, and Iggy Pop. do your research, and you'll see the similarities. Punk Rock was established to go against the normal establishment of Rock N' Roll. it was an anti-establishment kind of music that was created by white teens who rejected disco music. if you listen to Travis Porter's "All The Way Turned Up" and compare it to a punk rock song, you will see the similarities in the music and style more clearly.
This is not HIP-HOP! people say you can't define hip-hop, but most of us know what Hip-Hop is. Hip-Hop was about the inner city Ghetto; it was about DJ's, Breakers, MC's, and graffiti artist coming together through knowledge, peace, Wisdom, and understanding. Hip-hop was about Afrika BamBaataa and the Zulu Nation, Hip-Hop was about the burned out buildings in the South Bronx, Hip-Hop was about Compton, and Niggas Wit Attitude. Hip-Hop was about the five percenters coming together and forming the Native Tounges Posse, it was about Public Enemy. it was about storytellers like Slick Rick, Dana Dane, and Doug E. Fresh, it was about fat gold chains; it was About "Brooklyn's in the House", it was about Dj Marly Marl and the Juice Crew, it was about Boggie Down Productions (RIP Scott La Rock), it was about Tupac, Hammer and The Bay Area, it was about the Crack Epidemic, it was about Biggie Smalls, it was about Eric B. and Rakim, it was about Big Daddy Kane, it was about GangStarr (RIP GURU) and fusing Jazz with Hip-Hop Music, it was About Teddy Railey and the New Jack Swing. and at times it was about THE SOUTH!
Is the South to blame for killing Hip-Hop Music? NO! are the Artist that are out today to blame for Oversaturating the culture of Hip-Hop Music? Yes! are record companies to blame for desecrating the artistic culture of Hip-Hop Music? YES! The reason why I say these two are to blame is because when you move a culture from one trend to another it causes destruction to the value of the culture and becomes non-existant to a certain point. Artists are to blame because their skill level continues to stay at a shallow and superficial state. when they make a record, they make it simply from a club and party stand point. a record is supposed to be multifaced and provide its listeners with a different point of view on every track to show creativity, intellectual and artistic depth. most of the artist talk about the same subjects in their songs Sex, Violence, dance, or Swag. And the male artists talk about having sex with girls, using girls, and categorizing black females as Redbones and dummies. for example if you listened to Gucci Mane's "I don't Love Her" the song explicitly explains how they run a train on a female in the club " Quick to take ya little Diva and treat that Ho like a Slut, she was suckin on Gucci, i had My Dick in her Butt"! these are the type of lyrics we hear on rap cd's all the time, we know this is nothing new women have been sexually explioted since 2 live crew released "As nasty as they wanna be back in 1989. but the subject of sex has already been explored in other albums from the past. also Hip-Hop Music is promoting sexual Promiscuity and mysoginy of females. Besides Nikki Minaj Why aren't their a decent number of female MCees today like there was back in the 1980's. where are the MC Lytes, Monie Loves, Queen Latifas, and Roxanne shante's? is Hip-Hop promoting the disrespect of females by making them voiceless and turning them into Video Vexins? sometimes I wonder why I dont see more female MC's in the game and maybe it is because record companies want to position the black female as a sexual object rather than an artist. and sometimes the ones who are Mcees have to make their come up through a Male rapper and so they mirror that male rapper. for example Nikki Minaj mirrors lil wayne because her flow is sarcastic and braggadocious if you compare her to wayne you will see the similarities. and rappers like lil kim as we all know mirrors biggie because she has a hardcore flow but she perpetuates herself as a prostitute and biggie as her pimp. and the only female to have her own voice without objectifying herself was missy Elliot and she has disappeared for sometime.
As for the so called gangsta rappers or so called "Trap music" we see these artists have not learned their lesson from the shooting of Tupac and biggie I still hear about Gucci mane, lil boosie, Rick Ross and Dj Kali, brag about being SO HOOD, GOIN HARD IN DA PAINT, and making the Trap say AAAY! these are what I call (besides the exception of 50 Cent),TOY RAPPERS. they are not real gangsters,and the people they claim to have known are all fiction and facetious and even if they knew these people they would say to these rappers to keep their name out of their mouth! Rick Ross or William Leonard Roberts II took the stage name from a Man named Freeway Ricky Ross who was responsible for Starting the Crack Epidemic in Los Angles. and yet we want to be like these guys who say Larry Hoover and Big Meech were there Heros. yet Larry Hoover was a domestic terrorist and the man who started the gangsta Deciples in chicago, and Big Meech was a man who started Black Mafia Family which was responsible for large cocaine distributions in Atlanta and Detriot. if you listen to Rick Ross's B.M.F (Blowin Money Fast) you will hear these two names embedded in his hook "They Think Im BIG MEECH, LARRY HOOVER,"! why would we want to glamorize criminals who destroy other people's lives and break up other peoples families? the songs's title does not mean what it says, it means Black Mafia Family! which could only mean that he is promoting gang life and drug distribution to young black listeners.
The dance rappers or Swag rappers are not nessarly negative or positive but they are only biting what has already been done in the past. when i first heard Solja Boy I had to punch myself in the face because this was not music this was POP considered to be RAP! people back then did not consider MC Hammer to be Hip-Hop! because to most people in the rap game he was considered too mainstream to be called a hip-hop artist and gangsta rappers thought he was too soft! what if Hammer and solja Boy switched places? if it wasn't for guys like Kid N Play or Hammer Solja Boy would not have a rap career. and what added insult to injury was Solja boy's mix tape mocked a clult classic called Juice which was way before his time. the point I make here for these group of rappers is that they are not being original! they are recycling old hip-hop dances that have been around since they were born. the dougie is noting more than the tootsie roll, the batman is nothing more than the cabbage patch and the robo cop, and the jerk is nothing more than a condenced form of breaking and poplocking. and so NO! I can't mess with Cali swag because its just fake! todays rap is just biting other peoples styles and it is not original in any way. and in the Hip-Hop Game biting another persons style was considered a cardinal sin and it could get you called out in a mic battle and they could strip you of your crediability if you lose. if you wanted to be an MC you had to follow THE RULES! and one of the most important rules was to be original! what makes you different form the next man thats holding the MIC.
Record Companies are largely responsible for destroying The Hip-Hop culture because they seek to exploit the artist and profit from their royalties and A & R people seek to present a certain image of a rapper to market as a package to the listeners in order to attract the consumers to buy the record. furthermore, if the artist wants to expand his or her creativity on a record the A&R reps will force the artist to go in one perticular direction to keep your audience. and then they find a hit off the record and get the radios to play it in their top twenty rotation and then by that time the song blows up and people have it in their cars and in heavy rotation in the clubs. and then when they make a new music video the artist goes on 106 and park and sucker free sundays to promote the new album and then teens go home and download to their ipods and blast it through their ears until they can remember it. and what the artist is feeding us is not their original words but something that is superficial and unrealistic to promote an image for their listners to follow. if nikki Minaj claims to be a barbie bitch, then women and girls alike would follow this image and start painting their hair green and pink. if wiz kalifa shows his tatoos then every guy would want a body full of tatoos because that is the image people are glamorizing.
Im only 20 years old, I can take master p and no limit records, i can take guys from Cash money records driving around in cars that arn't even theirs. I can even take dipset and Camron sporting diamond jewlery and pink hummers. but I can not take this! I can't stand it! ITS FAKE TO THE EXTREME!
So where are the old school Rappers? Nate Dogg died of a heart attack, GURU died of a stroke, DJ Mr. Magic Died of Heart attack, ODB died of a Heart attack, Apache died of a Heart Attack, Dj Marly Marl had a heart attack but survived and many other rappers that are over the age of forty are either still out on the streets, dead, sick, became preachers, went back to school, or put the mic down because they decided to settle down and have a family. many others are ceo's of record companies while the others are flipping burgers because they forgot to save their money and invest in a home or a secure pension. these guys were the orginal pioneers, but they have no one to speak for them or protect their legacy when their gone from this earth. yea a few got a degree to fall back on but most of them dont have anything to live off of except what they built for themselves through their own music. if they want to protect their legacy scholars in the academic world have to take notice right now at this culture because its fading away year by year and if we continue to allow record companies to destroy hip-hop we may never exist ever agian. and the samething goes for the artist, if they dont start to take notice at how record companies work; the money they make on their records right now they may never see when they retire because they dont have MBA's, Phds or own the publishing titles to their records. the people who own their publishing rights are the people who went to college to study business and contracts and they own the rights to the music they make. do any of these artists know what an ASCAP is? because if most of the old school rappers knew, they would still be making money. notice mainstream radio stations do not play some of the old school rap because if they did, all the old school artists would be making money. the older rappers dont have a social security, or a 401k plan, they dont own stocks, and they dont have AARP membership.
So look Very Closely at that picture again, is this guy going to have a future in 25 years because once his time on the mic is up somebody else is next.
Rap can be considered a hobby but it is definately not a stable career choice. Those who like to rap and respect the art form are underground they are not mainstream! so if you want to hear real rap go to a subway station in NYC, go to the South BRONX, go to Brooklyn, or Queens. and jsut listen to regular guy just spittin a hot bar and jump into a cypher and then after that TAKE your butt to work so you can pay your bills. because rap is a fun sport but its definately not a career.
Today while I was watching 106 and park I said Fuck Roci and Terrence and get REAL! we are in RECESSION! NO MORE PIPEDREAMS! pipedreams are for crackheads, because once you get that high you never come off it. ROCI and Terrence are nothing but drug dealers feeding kids PIPEDREAMS and there distributer BET is paying them to sell it to ditzy black teenagers with no abitions in life and no career goals. I HATE RAP MUSIC! I LOVE HIP-HOP! but today Im giving up on you! no more pipedreams I got bills to pay, because you cant Make it rain with food stamps!
boys in the hood want to be either a Basket ball player, a rapper, or a drug dealer
but I say they can be professors, doctors, lawyers, or politicians like Obama
so today I ask children to give up on hip-hop!
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