Why has the quality of young artists breaking in deteriorated so much?

[Cliche]

I feel kind of sad for the young heads getting into it in the last few years, because new artists don't have the same quality of performance/music making nowadays...  i mean really, no one has came into hip-hop and flipped it on its ear as a rookie/young artist other than Canibus and Eminem since the early 90s.  There have been dope debuts for sure, but nothing that took hip-hop by storm the way "Illmatic", "The Chronic", "Doggystyle" or "Ready To Die" did.  Personally I think there's a few reasons, most of which are tied to the music industry.  
The industry isn't worried about being groundbreaking, innovative, or establishing credible artists who can have long careers.  They simply want to ride the wave of whats hot, and make some quick loot.  
Artists don't have to pay dues the way they did up until the mid-90s.  They don't have to work hard on their stage shows, or their writing skills.  all they do is toss out some punchlines and drop in some R&B hooks.  There's nothing wrong with singing on a hook, but i'm getting a bit tired of it being done so often... i miss breakbeats and raw rhymed choruses.  Punchlines are great, but when they're your only attribute and you can't hold a candle to the best in that department, you really need to become more versatile...
Common's "I Used To Love H.E.R." rings even more true today... she's been passed around and hit by every two-bit cat to pick up a mic... and frankly im just fed up with newjack artists who don't bring anything new.  Sure they might be able to manufacture a nice single, but what's gonna make me care when your album drops?  certainly not 13 more tracks that are the same shit, or a slew of beats by popular producers where you do the same shit over a different beat...

This is one thing that i feel is missing, especially from major label artists.  Independent/Underground types are also guilty of this, but not quite to the same level.  Although I do dislike Jay-Z for the most part, I give him a lot of credit for his willingness to push the boundaries of commercially acceptable hip-hop.  Ditto for Nelly on his first record.  At least they tried to do some things differently.  I may not have liked "Hard Knock Life" or "Big Pimpin" or "Country Grammar" but at least they gave some sound variety to the airwaves, unlike most of what everyone else was/is doing that's getting a lot of play.


well that's my rant for the day.  

[King-Suge]

Damn..you have no stroke on this board.  You pour ur heart and soul out on a post and nobody gives a shit..lol--Im just replying cos I feel sorry for your corny ass.

[Cliche]

uh... yeah.  thanks for once again displaying that you've got nothing of substance to say. stroke on an internet message board? how sad is your life?  I simply posted this here because I posted it on SOHH, and thought perhaps i'd get a contrast in responses.. and i did.  on SOHH I got some genuine answers, and on here i get you acting like some lame trying to get fame on a message board. This obsession is flattering but c'mon man, get over it and post something, anything about music.

[West Coast Veteran]

Hip hop right now is boring the fuck out of me. The new generation of M.C.'s that are coming out are nothing but copies of each other and established rappers. I 100% agree that there isn't anyone bringing anything new and fresh to rap music. NO ONE STANDS OUT AT ALL. It seems like it's 1997 all over again but much much worse. Since the deaths of Pac and Big no debut rapper has really made me a loyal fan other than DMX, Pun and Eminem. The established rappers are even slipping into this new "commercial" era sacrificing their creativity so they can add a bullshit "club banger", R&B collabo or [put meaningless song here] because they think it will garner them sales when in actuality it becomes the worst song on the album. I think I just repeated what you said but I just needed to release my anger towards today's hip hop.

[infinite59]

Cliche is right.  I got an answer for him though.  The reason why is this.

No creativity.  Everyone is afraid they'll try something new and fail.  I remember back in the day you'd see all different sounds, personalities, styles, it was beautiful.

[teecee]

King Suge looks at this board, the same way he looks at hip hop; if  a poster or rapper doesn't have tons of replies or sales, then they must be garbage.......

Anyway, no time right now CLiche (going to football game !), but i feel what you are saying and i will be back later

[Cliche]

Cliche is right.  I got an answer for him though.  The reason why is this.

No creativity.  Everyone is afraid they'll try something new and fail.  I remember back in the day you'd see all different sounds, personalities, styles, it was beautiful.

exactly man.. and this is being enforced by labels as well, because they encourage artists to do the same shit... and will only promote certain styles... so if you want to experiment your label will put your album on the shelf (i.e. Masta Ace: had an album sitting on the big beat/atlantic shelf for 2 years) or they'll promote you in a half-assed way and bury you...

its rare than any artist on a major is allowed to take a new direction, and when it happens it is usually someone who's name will garner sales no matter what (outkast, jigga, etc)

[teecee]

Ya hiphop is fucked up man, everyone who has been down for years knows that....to quote an artist that has been fucked in this game since the minute he stepped in :"Hiphop is fucked up and everything selling sounds redundant" --RAS KASS

When is the last time someone came out that everyone said WHOA, this guy is amazing?  

You guys are gonna hate me for this, and i hate myself for pointing this out, but the last original cat to come out was NELLY!!! Thats right, as wack as he is, he came in with a fairly original (yet terrible) style and he came in on his own with no big name guests or producers.  I have always admired Nelly for this, at least until he turned bitch and had Destiny's CHild and Neptunes and Timberlake on his new cd....

[=[Euthanasia]=]

The industry isn't worried about being groundbreaking, innovative, or establishing credible artists who can have long careers.  They simply want to ride the wave of whats hot, and make some quick loot.  

Thats bang on point, but this goes for pretty much every genre of music, not just hip-hop. The industry is basically just full of greedy bitches that aren't willing to take any real chances and it's ruining all music, which is sad but it'll probably never change   I know alot of people are saying hip-hop has gone down the drain since the early days but I know there's still tonnes of dope artists out there it's just their not getting enough exposure, and with them not given the right chances it's giving hip-hop a bad name because people are only getting the watered down stuff.