Why Do Hip-Hop Artists Like To Limit Themselves?

[C-Swift]

Why do hip-hop artists, some of them if not all, like to limit themselves and put themselves in categories if the media hasn't already done it? Like I recall a Killer Mike interview recently where he said a lot of MC's like to limit themselves to one particular style and sound, I feel that the more artists experiment with different sounds the better off the game will be in the future.

What do you thiink?

[Shallow]

Why do hip-hop artists, some of them if not all, like to limit themselves and put themselves in categories if the media hasn't already done it? Like I recall a Killer Mike interview recently where he said a lot of MC's like to limit themselves to one particular style and sound, I feel that the more artists experiment with different sounds the better off the game will be in the future.

What do you thiink?

Because very few are actualy artists. They are wannabe thugs who still put street cred ahead of art. Most were never that artistic growing up they just learned to rap. They come out o the mainstream and focus more on there hood and way of life and less on their artistc merit. In short, they don't have the artistic talent to branch out or the courage to try it.

Plus the fans take rappers too literally. If a rapper raps about something he hasn't gone through he's called fake. In '93 Bruce Springsteen wrote a song through the perspective of a gay man dying of aids, for the movie Phildelphia starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. He did it with out worry. No one was going to think he was gay and no one would care. In rap, for a guy like 50 or Jada to do that, it would take a lot of courage on their part anda lot of open mindedness on their fans part. In short rappers are stupid and so are most of their fans. (I'm not talking about the posters in this board, but more the fake and real thugs on the street that pretend they know music).

[T-Dub]

Why do hip-hop artists, some of them if not all, like to limit themselves and put themselves in categories if the media hasn't already done it? Like I recall a Killer Mike interview recently where he said a lot of MC's like to limit themselves to one particular style and sound, I feel that the more artists experiment with different sounds the better off the game will be in the future.

What do you thiink?

Because very few are actualy artists. They are wannabe thugs who still put street cred ahead of art. Most were never that artistic growing up they just learned to rap. They come out o the mainstream and focus more on there hood and way of life and less on their artistc merit. In short, they don't have the artistic talent to branch out or the courage to try it.

Plus the fans take rappers too literally. If a rapper raps about something he hasn't gone through he's called fake. In '93 Bruce Springsteen wrote a song through the perspective of a gay man dying of aids, for the movie Phildelphia starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. He did it with out worry. No one was going to think he was gay and no one would care. In rap, for a guy like 50 or Jada to do that, it would take a lot of courage on their part anda lot of open mindedness on their fans part. In short rappers are stupid and so are most of their fans. (I'm not talking about the posters in this board, but more the fake and real thugs on the street that pretend they know music).

I think that is one way to look at it and very true for the most part.

I think another reason why a lot of Hip-Hop artists don't explore other options and limit themselves artistically is how fickle the industry is.  Most rappers follow a formula and when your album is all formulaic, you're not trying new things and you're not growing either.  Many are just content with selling the way they are without the possibility of alienating sales because they tried something different.  Like Chris Rock said "Here today, Gone today" Many of them are afraid of failure or being told they fell off so they try to do what is acceptable/expected.  I've heard artists say that it was a shame that they have to prove themselves with every single new release, well the thing is you should have to prove yourself.  If you have nothing to prove, you're not stepping your game up, you're just being stagnant.

[Don Breezio]

its all for the money

[J @ M @ L]

In short rappers are stupid and so are most of their fans.

If anything is stupid, it's that comment of yours.

[Diabolical]

In short rappers are stupid and so are most of their fans.

If anything is stupid, it's that comment of yours.

No he's right, rap fans are some of the most close minded asses ever.

Most of them are music nazis.

[J @ M @ L]

In short rappers are stupid and so are most of their fans.

If anything is stupid, it's that comment of yours.

No he's right, rap fans are some of the most close minded asses ever.

Most of them are music nazis.

I don't know where the fuck you guys live, but I'm in L.A. and I can tell you that your comments are ignorant and stupid... and that goes for any generalization made about a group of people, especially when talking about a group that's diverse.

edit: I just checked and your ass is from Scotland.... that must mean you're just like Groundkeeper Willy, so I can understand why you're surrounded by other retards such as yourself, and feel inclined to believe that since you and your friends that like rap music are dumbfucks, that all other rapfans must be dumbfucks like yourselves.

[Shallow]

In short rappers are stupid and so are most of their fans.

If anything is stupid, it's that comment of yours.

So then please give me examples of open mindedness in rap, as a whole. It';s real easy to call something stupid and give no other info. (for the record, I meant mainstream rappers. If you have a friend around the corner he doesn't count).

So far in rap, I hear about thugging, misogyny, sexism, drugs, rap skill, and whitey must die, and not much else. Give me examples that rap strays from these topics on a large scale. Show me how rap and the hip hop culture accepts the world outside their own, (and not connected to them).

[J @ M @ L]

In short rappers are stupid and so are most of their fans.

If anything is stupid, it's that comment of yours.

So then please give me examples of open mindedness in rap, as a whole. It';s real easy to call something stupid and give no other info. (for the record, I meant mainstream rappers. If you have a friend around the corner he doesn't count).

So far in rap, I hear about thugging, misogyny, sexism, drugs, rap skill, and whitey must die, and not much else. Give me examples that rap strays from these topics on a large scale. Show me how rap and the hip hop culture accepts the world outside their own, (and not connected to them).

1. Your original post stated "rappers are...", and you didn't specify mainstream until now. I agree with the list of concepts heard in rap music, but you can't relate that to stupidity.

2. The main reason why I stated that your comment was stupid is because of the second part of the comment where you stated that most rap fans are stupid. Just because a certain type of music appeals to you, doesn't make you stupid. But then again... you're a rap fan, and rap fans aren't open-minded, so you wouldn't be able to see that, now would you? 

[Kill]

^^ I don´t know if you can label Shallow a rap fan

anyways Shallow, don´t make it too simple for yourself. It doesn´t take a genius to figure out a lot of rap revolves around the subjects you mentioned, yes. But not only is that not where it stops, but also rap artists approach those subjects from different perspectives and use them differently, play with them etc. Eg, Nas´ "I Gave You Power" or "Rewind" are both nothing very new as for content, but Nas wrote both songs in a pretty original way.

Masta Ace raps about drugs and violence too, but it doesn´t sound similar to 50 Cent rapping about drugs and violence. Brotha Lynch Hung created a fictitious character and raps about his evil deeds from a first-person perspective. Eminem exaggerated clichés about violence to the point of parody, etc.

And bands like Little Brother ("Whatever You Say", "The Way You Do", "Love Joint Revisited", "Nighttime Maneuvers".....), The Roots ("You Got Me", "Concerto of the Desperado", "The Next Movement", "The Seed"....) or People Under the Stairs ("Los Angeles Daze", "Mid-City Fiesta", "The Next Step".....) are on some other shit anyways, lyrically. There´s a whole bunch of rappers who don´t base their lyrics mainly on "street shit".

I mean, every music style´s got its cliches and stereotypes, inevitably. Music styles are rooted in the circumstances under which they were created and you´ll always find references to them. The subjects you mentioned don´t make a rapper stupid, only the way in which he approaches them can.

I do kind of understand where you´re coming from though...if I only listened to hiphop these days, I´d be bored to death, and it does tend to be particularly limited, I´m not trying to deny that. But saying "rap and its fans are generally stupid" is inadequate and polemic....and as for the mainstream, mainstream labels always exploited music styles and reduced it to clichés in a way everybody could define a certain style for themselves quickly. Some artists this doesn´t appeal to do have success, but a lot of mainstream music is just like that, no way around it and no point in letting it bother you

[BIG.DADDY]

A lot of it is because fans are closed minded but, you have a few good artist out there whose hands are tied by the record labels. at the end of the day, the label has the say on what gets put out and what gets scrapped.

[Shallow]

In short rappers are stupid and so are most of their fans.

If anything is stupid, it's that comment of yours.

So then please give me examples of open mindedness in rap, as a whole. It';s real easy to call something stupid and give no other info. (for the record, I meant mainstream rappers. If you have a friend around the corner he doesn't count).

So far in rap, I hear about thugging, misogyny, sexism, drugs, rap skill, and whitey must die, and not much else. Give me examples that rap strays from these topics on a large scale. Show me how rap and the hip hop culture accepts the world outside their own, (and not connected to them).

1. Your original post stated "rappers are...", and you didn't specify mainstream until now. I agree with the list of concepts heard in rap music, but you can't relate that to stupidity.

2. The main reason why I stated that your comment was stupid is because of the second part of the comment where you stated that most rap fans are stupid. Just because a certain type of music appeals to you, doesn't make you stupid. But then again... you're a rap fan, and rap fans aren't open-minded, so you wouldn't be able to see that, now would you? 

1. What do you meanby "you can't relate that to stupidity."? I'm not sure what that means.

2. I clearly made a point to say "(I'm not talking about the posters in this board, but more the fake and real thugs on the street that pretend they know music)" in my fist post. I guessed you missed it. The "hardcore" fan of today is not as prominant as it once was. In the early 70s a band like Pink Floyd could make Dark Side of The Moon and a large number of music fans would get into it and enjoy it. If that album was released today it would get no video or radio play and be rejected by the masses. The mainstream fan of today has been too conditioned, in my opinion. Not just in rap, but rap is the music of choice at the moment and the rap scene asa whole has suffered. I don't mean every single rapper or every single fan, but the majority of both to the point where the minority is way too small to make a dent. Did I oversimplify in my first post? I don't don't think I did. I felt I explained who I was talking about and who I wasn't talking about. Obviously people like Common or Mos Def don't fit the mold I was criticzing, but a few rappers breaking out and doing something different on a small scale does nothing for the scene.

[J @ M @ L]

In short rappers are stupid and so are most of their fans.

If anything is stupid, it's that comment of yours.

So then please give me examples of open mindedness in rap, as a whole. It';s real easy to call something stupid and give no other info. (for the record, I meant mainstream rappers. If you have a friend around the corner he doesn't count).

So far in rap, I hear about thugging, misogyny, sexism, drugs, rap skill, and whitey must die, and not much else. Give me examples that rap strays from these topics on a large scale. Show me how rap and the hip hop culture accepts the world outside their own, (and not connected to them).

1. Your original post stated "rappers are...", and you didn't specify mainstream until now. I agree with the list of concepts heard in rap music, but you can't relate that to stupidity.

2. The main reason why I stated that your comment was stupid is because of the second part of the comment where you stated that most rap fans are stupid. Just because a certain type of music appeals to you, doesn't make you stupid. But then again... you're a rap fan, and rap fans aren't open-minded, so you wouldn't be able to see that, now would you? 

1. What do you meanby "you can't relate that to stupidity."? I'm not sure what that means.

2. I clearly made a point to say "(I'm not talking about the posters in this board, but more the fake and real thugs on the street that pretend they know music)" in my fist post. I guessed you missed it. The "hardcore" fan of today is not as prominant as it once was. In the early 70s a band like Pink Floyd could make Dark Side of The Moon and a large number of music fans would get into it and enjoy it. If that album was released today it would get no video or radio play and be rejected by the masses. The mainstream fan of today has been too conditioned, in my opinion. Not just in rap, but rap is the music of choice at the moment and the rap scene asa whole has suffered. I don't mean every single rapper or every single fan, but the majority of both to the point where the minority is way too small to make a dent. Did I oversimplify in my first post? I don't don't think I did. I felt I explained who I was talking about and who I wasn't talking about. Obviously people like Common or Mos Def don't fit the mold I was criticzing, but a few rappers breaking out and doing something different on a small scale does nothing for the scene.

1. What I mean is that those things don't have a correlation to stupidity.

2. Ok, I guess your original post was just a little ambiguous, but this clarifies it.. at first you just said "rappers and most rap fans"...

[Javier]

Hip Hop is still a young genre.  Maybe 30 years from now a rapper will come out with an album that is a story from the eyes of another human being.  It should evolve

[CanadActive]

(IMO) Rap fans are closed minded.  Don't get me wrong I'm a huge rap fan, but most of us (rap fans) are not open to music at all.  Just look at how they treat 2 or 3 of the greatest mcees of all time.  Mos Def, Andre 3000 and Kokane are often hate by rap fans just cause they are diferent from the normal-ass rapper like Cam'ron, 50 cent or The Game (just to name a few). 

To be loved by most of the rap fans there is a "2 do list"
- Being from the ghetto
- Don't play another kind of music then rap
- Using the word bithes instead of woman or just girl
- Don't ever put a featuring unless it's another rapper
- Be Crunk (lmao)
- Being from the USA (international rapper don't get regocgnition at all), and i'm not talking about the racial issue
- Wearing XXXXXXXXXXXXXL shirts and pants
- Having 35000000000 pairs of air force 1
- etc...

If you don't fit this description you ain't a good rapper, at least in the eyes of most of the rap fans.

I love music and I love rappers who ain't affraid of the public opinion.  Mos Def's the perfect example, he put out a CD with rock songs on it (IMO that's gangsta).  B-Real, Sen Dog and Boo Yaa Tribe on the Transplant CD that's gangsta.  Gza making a song with others peoples name that rhymes (Fame) that's gangsta.  Kokane signing like a crooner and putting some dope back vocals that's gangsta...

Fuck all the real music haters out there