For everybody who doesn't like modern day rap and thinks it's getting worst....

[R-Tistic]

Well....just to let you know, I realize that most of us are never as happy with music that comes out now compared to the music most of us liked back in the 90s. It's obvious from all the posts, and there are some people who don't like much of anything new. However...I donno if y'all realize it or not, but if you don't, I gotta let it be known. We are all around the same age, and at least grew up on the same era of rap. However, something I realize is that almost everybody who grew up on the eras before ours felt the same way about our era as we do about the era goin on now, but probably not as bad. Thing is, especially with east coast people who grew up on the NY rap in the 80s, they never liked much west coast rap, mainly because it was so much different and the message was so much more negative. And in the 90s, many of them who were heavily into rap ended up feelin just like Common on "I used to love her" and most of them saw 88-89 the same way we see 92-93 and 96. Why do you think Common made the song, and most people around his age loved it to death, but people who were into the west coast era thought it was insult?

So therefore...I feel that this is something that will happen forever, because rap will continue to change, and even tho some of us may really believe it sucks, it's definitely younger people than us who think completely different. Even people who are our age, but are into the whole south movement, will probably be like "man, rap ain't anything like it used to be, especially down here in the south" in 5-8 years, just as we are to the west now. And sad as you may think it is, there is gonna be a era of people in 8-10 years who will be mad that rappers at the time aren't doin anything original and aren't bringin heat like Nelly, 50, Eminem, or whoever they may love most right now.

[bigdogg2001]

yup i agree with this. it's like our parents too. they think rap is garbage, but their parents thought their music was garbage too. so it's always gonna be like this.

[Acgrundy]

YEAH!  OKAY!  WHAT!

if it weren't for GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG-UNIT I would have no reason to live.



BTW:  I'm camping out at Tower Records this Thursday until the Lil Jon/Nelly collabo album drops.  If anyone wants to join me I'll be wearing the pink shirt with a GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG-Unit beanie and have lots of rubberbands around my wrists.  And I will be doing the running man the entire time I'm in line.

[Capo Di Tutti I Capi]

i totally agree

[ABN]

well i do agree to a certain extent. and even tho i wasn´t even listening to hip hop in 88 i still think the music that came out around that time was a lot better then he shit that drops today.

[Like A N!gga Say Do]

Good post and ill say 100% correct. Ive been listening to rap for like 6 years and  never liked the '2000  music. Ive been digging for 90's rap for so long I think there hasnt been enough made. For some reasons i have never been able to adapt to 80's rap just because of how it sound. But I cant deny there was a bunch of classics. But music is seriously getting worse and worse when people consider 5-0 and eminem the greatest there is something wrong. Just look at all the good music that have been made 6-13 years.

[Nutty]

I'm w/ you on this one.

I didn't grow up on Run DMC, Kool Moe Dee etc, etc, bcoz I was into different music in the 80s (Gettem Michael Jackson, lol). I feel early/mid 90s rap/rnb the most out of any time period.

Rap/hiphop is all over the radio nowadays, so yer gonna have more kids into the music than ever before, and because all you hear on the radio is hip pop, thas what they're gonna be into.

[DPG4Life]

hmmm, i dont agree
from my point of view its not about good music anymore, its about what the industry wants and pushes

if everyone acts like a certain artist is hot - even though hes not - then ppl nowadays follow the hype
djs follow the hype and play their shit - and then the end consumer listens to it again and again until he really belives that it's hot
thats what 50 does/did: Pimp the system - and he's good in it

i didnt grew up with the music i love, i didnt hear/watch it in the TV...

i started loving rap music with "Ice T - VI: Return Of the Real", and from there i was digging my way into west coast music, i bought a lotta albums and figured out what i like and what is really quality music
i knew a few facts about tupac, but never loved his music when he was still alive! i think i got "All eyes on me" in 98 or so... and when i've listened to it i was like "that's it - that man is a genius"...
and all the new albums i buy are some rare or at least very non-mainstrem (even though back in the day) music....

so its not like the music i love was played all over the radio, like 50 etc. is nowadays...

so to me this comparsion doesnt work - i just followed my heart with what i liked, no matter what the others said/thought (my environment)

if i'd be into rock i would've probably checked everything from the 80s or so...
just b/c i feel its quality music - compared to garbage nowadays
i dont listen to rap exclusively - there's a lotta shit (even thing i wouldnt listen to) that i consider "quality music" - i can see a concept behind, a message and good music
but all i see behind 50 cent (for example) nowadays is: "how can i make money, what do i have to do that ppl buy my shit, and i dont care if i have to woof on that track - if thats what could be a new trend"

example: ive heard 50 interviews where he stated that he could've done "lean back" waaaaay better than fat joe's terror squad - he could've made a bigger hit out of it
so he's kinda jealous about fat joe gotten the chance to use that beat and do what he did.
so what does he do next? he's telling storch: "make me a beat that sounds exactly like lean back - i want that same vibe etc"
voila: candy shop
and 50 isnt doing anything better on that beat than Terror Squad on lean back - he just promotes it better, and he's on top of the industry anyway
so shit gets played and lil kids including girls from 10-25 all over the world love it
and so hes making money....

lets compare it to... dj quik? the beatles? michael jackson? marvin gaye? uhmmm, maybe even whitney houston - what can we say about the QUALITY of that track
is it even original? or is it just an idea that has been recylced?

i dont have to continue, do i?

nah, i dont agree... i like the beatles and marvin gaye, even michael jackson's old shit
and thats the kind of shit my parents used to listen to!

PS: to me it's not only about rap... same foul things can be found everywhere... the backstreet boys and take that for example made quality music - and it was original - what about the garbage so called boy groups put out nowadays??? it's just about the dollars... and not the music - you got 10-20 boy groups? all same shit - different toilette though =) different faces... so that every girl, 10 years old, can pick their fav. one..... and the music? come one! some remakes that are way worse then the original - bravo!

[Bomb-A®]

i strongly disagree.....u really cant compare rap from early 90s to now
sorry i just dont see your point of view

name 5 albums that came out post 1997 that u can call hip hop classics???....either coasts!!



peace

[Elevz]

I had a long reply ready, and then my computer crashed out 

Let me put it this way. I disagree. I didn't exactly grow up on most the rap music I listen to now. I love rap from the 80s, but I discovered it many years later.

Thing is, we're all pretty much biased. If you sit down and listen to the mainstream radio all day, with 50 Cent and Lil Jon playing all day, I'm sure you will start liking the music some time. It's just that we're not into it, we think it's all trash because we're used to a whole different style of rap music. Maybe the new rap music IS trash, but if you listen to it enough you once will start to like it.

Is it getting worse? I don't know... I'm still waiting for the crunk-hype to calm down. I never got into that and I never will. I do have to say rap is kinda lacking content these days. There's only a few rappers who are really trying to break that.

i strongly disagree.....u really cant compare rap from early 90s to now
sorry i just dont see your point of view

name 5 albums that came out post 1997 that u can call hip hop classics???....either coasts!!

Dr. Dre - 2001: groundbreaking when it comes to production.
Dead Prez - Lets get free: groundbreaking revolutionary theories, some real consciousness there although it may not have been a great influence on the state of rap.
Kanye West - College dropout: No guns, no sex, no violence... Kanye kinda invented a new style of rapping.
Common - Be: everyone calls it a classic, I haven't heard it yet so I really don't know but I'll believe the hype is real

Honorable mentions...
Nas - Gods son
Nas - Stillmatic
Xzibit - 40 dayz 40 nights
Xzibit - Restless
Big Pun - Capital punishment
Wu-Tang Clan - Wu-Tang forever

I probably forgot some other albums that should be listed, too. But as for the real classics... Four, and that's it  People will even disagree with me on some of those.

[Rudki]

I see your point, on how different people depending on when they got into rap, will think "yeah, shit just aint the same"

but as the guys above me said, if you compare the artists and their music from many years ago , to today, there is a big difference in quality...and of course.....how many classics do we get nowadays.

[chronic01]

but when the classics were being released hip hop wasnt so widespread so there were so many more avenues to explore so it made it easier for an artist to be innovative
nowdays its getting harder and harder to be unique in the rap game

[Elevz]

but when the classics were being released hip hop wasnt so widespread so there were so many more avenues to explore so it made it easier for an artist to be innovative
nowdays its getting harder and harder to be unique in the rap game

The least a rapper could try doing to be original, is quit jumping the bandwagon when it comes to sex and violence.

[Bomb-A®]

i think one question should prolly settle this....

DO YOU THINK 5 YRS FROM NOW YOURE GONNA SAY TO YOURSELF, DAMN THE DOCUMENTARY WAS HOT, WHY DONT THEY MAKE THAT KINDA SHIT ANYMORE!!

i dont


peace

[R-Tistic]

hmmm, i dont agree
from my point of view its not about good music anymore, its about what the industry wants and pushes

if everyone acts like a certain artist is hot - even though hes not - then ppl nowadays follow the hype
djs follow the hype and play their shit - and then the end consumer listens to it again and again until he really belives that it's hot
thats what 50 does/did: Pimp the system - and he's good in it

i didnt grew up with the music i love, i didnt hear/watch it in the TV...

i started loving rap music with "Ice T - VI: Return Of the Real", and from there i was digging my way into west coast music, i bought a lotta albums and figured out what i like and what is really quality music
i knew a few facts about tupac, but never loved his music when he was still alive! i think i got "All eyes on me" in 98 or so... and when i've listened to it i was like "that's it - that man is a genius"...
and all the new albums i buy are some rare or at least very non-mainstrem (even though back in the day) music....

so its not like the music i love was played all over the radio, like 50 etc. is nowadays...

so to me this comparsion doesnt work - i just followed my heart with what i liked, no matter what the others said/thought (my environment)

if i'd be into rock i would've probably checked everything from the 80s or so...
just b/c i feel its quality music - compared to garbage nowadays
i dont listen to rap exclusively - there's a lotta shit (even thing i wouldnt listen to) that i consider "quality music" - i can see a concept behind, a message and good music
but all i see behind 50 cent (for example) nowadays is: "how can i make money, what do i have to do that ppl buy my shit, and i dont care if i have to woof on that track - if thats what could be a new trend"

example: ive heard 50 interviews where he stated that he could've done "lean back" waaaaay better than fat joe's terror squad - he could've made a bigger hit out of it
so he's kinda jealous about fat joe gotten the chance to use that beat and do what he did.
so what does he do next? he's telling storch: "make me a beat that sounds exactly like lean back - i want that same vibe etc"
voila: candy shop
and 50 isnt doing anything better on that beat than Terror Squad on lean back - he just promotes it better, and he's on top of the industry anyway
so shit gets played and lil kids including girls from 10-25 all over the world love it
and so hes making money....

lets compare it to... dj quik? the beatles? michael jackson? marvin gaye? uhmmm, maybe even whitney houston - what can we say about the QUALITY of that track
is it even original? or is it just an idea that has been recylced?

i dont have to continue, do i?

nah, i dont agree... i like the beatles and marvin gaye, even michael jackson's old shit
and thats the kind of shit my parents used to listen to!

PS: to me it's not only about rap... same foul things can be found everywhere... the backstreet boys and take that for example made quality music - and it was original - what about the garbage so called boy groups put out nowadays??? it's just about the dollars... and not the music - you got 10-20 boy groups? all same shit - different toilette though =) different faces... so that every girl, 10 years old, can pick their fav. one..... and the music? come one! some remakes that are way worse then the original - bravo!

I see what you mean, and a lot of it makes sense and I agree with a lot of it. But from how I see it, quality is all subjective, and our biases will always make us believe certain music is quality over other music. Some people down south and who are into rap right now will not appreciate what many of us consider to be "quality" because it isn't what makes them move. But yeah, just as people speak about parents and what they like, it has to be all subjective and dependent on what you are raised on. Personally, it's hard for me and most of my friends who are my age to get into some of the rap from the 80s, even though people will repeat over and over how great, influential, and classic a lot of the albums are (Public Enemy, Rakim, KRS) and people who are older than me will argue with great points that these albums were much higher quality than Doggystyle and Chronic.

Also, it seems like you are different because you weren't really raised by radio like most of us. I was DEFINITELY raised by radio, when I started listenin back in 93, it seems like most of what they were playin on radio is what molded me to like what I like today. But you mention that it's about what record companies want to promote and what people are force fed to believe what's hot...you tellin me it wasn't the same in the 90s with many artists??? Look at the Coolios, Vanilla Ice, Nice n Smooth, and a hundred other artists in the 90s who had a few hits but most older people saw them as bein products of hype. Some of them had talent, some of the songs were actually hot, but we can barely tolerate listenin to these songs now. This is how the hyped up songs that are promoted the most right now will end up soundin in 10 years.