“If Hip-Hop should die before I wake….. Go to every station wreck the DJ”
- Nas
I love Hip Hop, but I must say that it is dying and while everyone is quick to blame a certain group of people, I blame everyone. You cannot put this blame on anyone person and that's because there are so many factors to consider. My hope is just to put out these concerns and get a dialogue going.
“The lyrics ain't nothing if the beat ain't crackin”
- Dj Quik
Who knew that he was dead serious!!!! Listen to most hip-hop on the radio and you hear nothing but garbage spewing out of your speakers. I mean the lyrics; the music production is something fierce. The reason for this, I feel, is the combination of precedent and flooding the market. Once one artist sets a precedent, others tend to follow suit in order to capitalize and make money. The ones who end up making a killing are the producers and label heads. They're the only constant. You could throw me on 85% of the songs out now and it would still sell because of the beat.
“ SNAP YO FINGERS, TO YOURSELF”
- Lil' Jon
This dance craze that is filing the airwaves right now is infectious. I'll admit I like and listen to a lot of these songs, never bought them though. But the amount of these songs is staggering, and trying to put out a whole album of songs like these is preposterous. Eventually this will go away but how much damage it leaves behind is yet to be seen.
“Killing me softly, with his song”
- The Fugees
I like the Fugees and I think The Score was a fantastic album, but Wyclef is a pioneer of some sort. He came up with the idea to release just that song as a single. It became one of the greatest selling singles ever. Now it seems like that's all that sells. It's all about singles and ringtones. If you really love Hip Hop, you'll know that the last great album was Jay-Z's Blueprint. There hasn't been a great hip-hop album since then. It's all about singles. Thank Wyclef for setting that precedent
The only way to revive hip-hop is for artists to care not only about money but also what they are saying and how they potray themselves. Unfortunately I don't see that happening. The days of listening to a hip-hop record and hearing a story has gone the way of the dodo.
