West Coast Connection Forum

Lifestyle => Train of Thought => Topic started by: T-Dogg on November 16, 2003, 11:57:58 AM

Title: Was it like this before for other trends?
Post by: T-Dogg on November 16, 2003, 11:57:58 AM
Everyday I visit this forum I see posts that say, directly or indirectly, that Hip-Hop today isn't what it used to be. That all the best Hip-Hop music was made earlier and now it's watered down, it's commercialized, it lacks content etc... I also think like this, all the dopest stuff I got in my collection are from quite a few years back (with a few (but VERY few) exceptions). Most of the records that come out today are nothing compared to the good old days. Many artists seemed to have lost their touch, be it behind the boards or behind the mic. Most recently this thought hit me when I looked at the posts on what people thought about the latest WSC album - it's good, but nothing compared to Bow Down. And the whole Bling Bling thing - they didn't use to make songs about how rich a rapper was. Sure they'd mention the fact that rap pays their bills every now and then, but it wasn't all "C'mon y'all, we all know gold is gettin' old/ the ice in my teeth keeps the Cristal cold". Shit, when Doggystyle came out, all you saw of Death Row's richness was Dre's white Testarossa Ferrari for a second or two in Snoop's video.

But what I just was wondering is - was it like this for the previous trend movements? Like for example punk music. It used to be a huge phenomenon. But was it so that the best punk music was made before the music and life style reached its peak? We're the "OG" punks thinking: "This new stuff isn't what the good old stuff used to be..." or "These kids don't have an idea what real punk is like..."?

Or hippies - was it so that when that life style reached its popularity peak, the ones who were with it before that peak thought: "These kids got it wrong, this isn't like it was..."

What I'm getting at is this: are youth culture movements doomed to be watered down, lose their direction, str8 up get ruined as they increase in popularity? Do cultures really gain "power by numbers" or is it so that when popularity rises, the spirit and soul of the culture gets deteriorated?

Just my thoughts...
Title: Re:Was it like this before for other trends?
Post by: Trauma-san on November 16, 2003, 08:40:09 PM
Like anything, Hiphop's time has came and gone.  Take Rock for instance, each generation's youth has claimed their rock was the greatest.  Most people regard the rock from the 50's and 60's as the best, but then the hippies totally rebelled, changed it, and made the folksy 70's stuff, and went a lot harder with it in the 70's at the same time.  The people that liked Elvis thought it was a travesty.  When the 80's came along, people that liked bands like U2 had 0 respect for the beatles, and thought the bands from the 70's were horrible.  When the 90's came along, Rock got 'alternative' and while bands like Nirvana finally showed respect to bands like the Beatles & The Clash, etc., the youth that enjoyed the music generally felt alternative was better than any other rock.  In the meanwhile, the people who grew up in the 50's are sitting back saying Rock has gone to hell.

It happens.  Especially with like you said youth driven culture, because as soon as people get into their twenties and thirties, they start thinking that the best music was when they were younger.  It's probably because we associate melancholy memories of our younger years with the music that was out then, and everybody of course looks back on their life with rose colored glasses.  

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's thought about something that happened two years ago, and said "Man, those were the days", never realizing the days we're living now will be the great memories we have tommorow.  

Peace~