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Hip Hop

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Don Breezio:
again i didnt make what i was saying clear...by commerical i meant poppy...not how much play they get. because for every jay-z theres a run dmc, for every eminem theres a vanilla ice, for every ludacris theres a dr. dre and for every 50 cent theres a snoop dogg...all that shit topped the charts 10 years ago.

Juronimo:
I think there's been a steep decline in quality and I think the commercialization of hip hop music is killing the quality. If you go back to the early 90's, there were many albums that came out where you can listen to the album all the way through without hitting fast forward. Whether you were listening to De La Soul's Bahloone Mindstate or Snoop's Doggystyle, those were both albums that you can just put the tape in the deck and let it play without hitting fast forward. There were plenty of other albums that came out during that time period where the focus was on quality and you can hear the love in the music.

Nowadays that seems harder to find. I give Nas mad props for refocusing on lyricism on Stillmatic and to DJ Quik for pushing the envelope musically. There is still innovation musically, just listen to Outkast or even the Neptunes, when they let loose on albums like Nerd or DJ Hitek or the Roots. However, I think the record labels cartel has such a strangehold on hip hop musically that talented artists records never come out while at the same time, the radio monopolies (Clear Channel, Radio One) and video monopoly (Viacom) will only play the bubblegum rap that we are tortured by every time we turn on the radio. Even though there is still talent out there, it is almost impossible to find unlike 10 years ago, when you could hear A Tribe Called Quest on the radio or watch Rap City and see a Black Moon video. It's not like that anymore.

What all this has caused is for artists to focus solely on making money. While this has always been a focus and there's nothing at all wrong with it, when it gets in the way of the art, there's a problem. One of the biggest problems as far as declining record sales is not caused by downloading and bootlegging, but by poor quality product being sold for $21 apiece. When I was in high school, I could buy a tape for $9 but now I have to spend $21 for a cd which may only have 3 good songs on this. Fans know this so they say fuck it and download. Plus, that $9 I spend in high school yielded an album with maybe 3 poor songs and 12 good songs. Now it's the other way around and again, artists, being pressured by the labels, have to make pop music instead of focusing on lyrical and musical creativity.

Don Breezio:

--- Quote from: juronimo on December 28, 2003, 06:13:52 PM ---What all this has caused is for artists to focus solely on making money. While this has always been a focus and there's nothing at all wrong with it, when it gets in the way of the art, there's a problem. One of the biggest problems as far as declining record sales is not caused by downloading and bootlegging, but by poor quality product being sold for $21 apiece. When I was in high school, I could buy a tape for $9 but now I have to spend $21 for a cd which may only have 3 good songs on this. Fans know this so they say fuck it and download. Plus, that $9 I spend in high school yielded an album with maybe 3 poor songs and 12 good songs. Now it's the other way around and again, artists, being pressured by the labels, have to make pop music instead of focusing on lyrical and musical creativity.



--- End quote ---

i agree with that perfectly. thats why i still download shit. i am not going to go pay 20 bucks for a cd and cross my fingers and hope theres 5 good tracks on it. if i download an album, hear it, and feel its good enough to buy i will buy it. there are a few artists who's albums i will pick up without another thought. but not many. nas is one, tq is one, jay-z is one, dmx is one, atmosphere, gangstarr, etc...but if i want this shit on the radio im gonna download the cd first. im not gonna hear one good song and go pay 20 bucks for it. fuck no.

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