The Game Has Changed (And Become Unlistenable)
When I heard about the death of former Gang Starr frontman, rapper Guru I was sad. Not just because he died so young, and not just because I'd enjoyed Gang Starr and Guru's style of rapping so much as a teenager, but it reminded me how different the world of hip hop is from its origins and its creative peeks in the 80s and 90s. I went on a taping of Charles Ellison's radio show on POTUS on XM Radio Thursday and he asked me what I thought of Guru's passing and all I could think was could a rap act like Gang Starr get a record deal today?
I don't think anyone should be surprised that the answer is an emphatic "hell-to-the-naw."
Once upon a time rap music was pretty diverse. There was something for everyone. If you wanted to dance, you had booty shakin' jams. If you wanted to elevate your mind, you had conscious rap. If you wanted to know what was going on in the streets, you had hip hop acting as black people's CNN. There were also these people called "female MCs" who actually put out records that were interesting and worth buying. Many of them actually wore pants and didn't trade their sexuality for a quick hit. There was a time when even non-conscious rappers could be recruited into fighting the good fight against drug and gang violence because the artists still felt responsible for what was going on in the communities they came from. Case in point: Almost everyone who was involved in the recording of "We're All In the Same Gang."
Ice-T and Eazy-E weren't exactly KRS-One and Queen Latifah, but even they came out against gang violence, because, if not them ... then who?
But at this same time (from the late 1970s until the mid-90s), hip hop was still largely ignored by major record labels, was constantly being censored or banned because, goodness! Some white kids might listen to that new Public Enemy joint and that just CANNOT happen. And, as EPMD said at the time, they didn't know "not one rapper living comfortably," because it was still largely a big hustle and the only "rappers" who saw big paydays were the ones who were sanitized and mainstreamed (think MC Hammer before he fell off and signed with Death Row). Then something CRAZY happened. The music industry stopped fighting hip hop and got on the gravy train because there was money to be made. But just like most things that become appropriated to be mass produced for a wide, generic audience, all things different, nuanced and interesting must be destroyed until you can produce nothing but really sad processed meat (I'm envisioning liverwurst or bologna) with the patina Jay-Z's finest Jigga Man party rap.
Occasionally a rapper who's not just a different version of Lil Wayne will break into the mainstream, but more often than not you get the champagne sipping, jewelry flashing, women degrading, generic sex party rap of Lil Somethin' Or Other and 'Em. At least Jay-Z has other songs about other things. There's some variety in his portfolio. But the record industry wasn't looking to recreate that. They just wanted a BILLION different versions of "Big Pimpin'." Sometimes a rapper will get struck by lightning and realize that the celebration of fantasy thug culture is actually dangerous (think T.I. moaning through "Dead and Gone" as he faced jail time), but more often than not ... why change up anything that could affect the cash flow? People want to buy into that dangerous fantasy that "pimping" is cool (rather than the exploitation and denigration of women) and that being an asshole is something finer to aspire to.
There is no longer any real sense of responsibility to the community (at least not on record, some rappers do donate time and money to their communities under the radar). There is no modern day version of a mainstream anti-drug, anti-gang violence, save our communities, pro-unity club jam featuring even the seediest of rappers because what Wu-Tang rapped about is the truism in rap music today -- Cash rules everything around me. You know? Not your personal struggle. Not the struggle of the black community. Not anything of substance.
So it depresses me that the only rap many young people are exposed to is of the party variety. That there is no diversity. That they will never go to a party where someone will throw on "Night of the Living Baseheads" right after playing "Round-A-Way Girl" right after playing "Latifah's Had It Up To Here." That there will never be an exposure to anything resembling the happy, conscious stylings of De La Soul or early Tribe Called Quest. Hell. They won't even have the 1,001 different and conflicting faces of Tupac Shakur. (He's conscious! He's a thug! He's a poet! He loves women! He hates women! OMG, he has issues! ... And now he's dead.)
I don't want to sound like "an old" but there was a time rap that was about something other than money, clothes and "hoes" got radio airplay. And because of that, I'm just going to say it, kiddies, your music sucks. I will be that old person telling you how BACK IN MY DAY rappers at least had the decency to pretend like they gave a shit sometimes. That even profane, pro-freaky times 2 Live Crew recorded "In the Dust" for the New Jack City soundtrack. That LL Cool J actually tried to romance me, telling me how he needed love, rather than just telling me how he wanted to fuck every girl in the world. I am sad that you don't get enough choices or variety in the mainstream and you have to go underground to find something different. I'm sorry that by the time you got around to discovering rap music it had turned into a celebration of self-hate, commercialism and sexism and the greatest debate about women in hip hop would be why all the video "hoes" are light-skinned as if being a video hoe was something special that any child should aspire to be. It's just DEPRESSING. So I'll be in my bunker if you need me with my old Jazzmatazz albums, recalling the exact moment I pretty much completely gave up on mainstream rap.*
Honestly, I think if given more choices and more exposure to different voices young people would listen. After all, it's not like us born in the 1960s and 70s were predisposed to wanting to listen to MC Lyte's "Poor Georgy." We listened to it because it was there, on the radio and on BET and on Yo! MTV Raps. Every video wasn't "Rumpshaker." There was balance. If you wanted to bury your head in the sand and drown yourself in nothing but Oaktown 357 that was your business. It wasn't like everyone else was shackled to the same option. But there's money to made, so just like Lady Gaga's success lead to the creation of whatever the hell Ke$ha is supposed to be, as long as the record industry is looking for the next watered down version of an already watered down version of a facsimile of the music Jay-Z shits out in his sleep, it is what it is.
*I think it was 1998 and it was Masta P. appropriating the "soldier" patina from a dead Tupac. Outraged, I converted to alt rock and indie rap and never really looked back until Kanye's "The College Dropout" came out. Which is why as annoying as I find Ye from time to time I can never truly "hate" the man. He recorded "Jesus Walks" and when will you hear anything close to that in heavy rotation on the radio again?
Guru, black people, gang starr, hip hop, music, pop culture, rappers 
Reader Comments (32)
I think if "Jesus Walks" is the kind of stuff we're supposedly missing, then really we're better off. That song has plenty of its own issues and absurdities, you know.
I know that ranting in this manner makes people feel better because it's cathartic, but I can't really bring myself to put much stock in it. This stuff is too biased toward one time and set of experiences, which obviously makes sense for you, but has no bearing on someone who is 15 right now. People always think the music they grew up with was so much better than the garbage the kids listen to these days. Ta-Nehisi Coates has made some really great posts about this phenomenon, and the price he feels he has paid for this type of cultural arrogance.
I think this is a great time for music of all kinds, and let's be honest here, the "mainstream" has always been an easy target for people to piss on in order to feel better about their particular musical tastes.
RIP gifted unlimited rhymes universal
@ KT:
My point about Jesus Walks was that it was at least different. That's what I get frustrated by. The lack of variety. I enjoy music. I listen to a lot of different kinds of it. I'm obviously biased. My larger point was really how it is hard for music artists who don't fit the mold record labels want to get deals nowadays and if you want to listen to a greater variety of music you have to search harder for it. So, yes, I'm obviously biased and ranty here. But I do miss when there was at least an air of social responsibility in rap music, even at the fringes. It's not that I don't think good music exists anymore among popular music, but that popular music right now is dominated in the mainstream by one particular style of rap music. So in that respect the mainstream is an easy target because it is so watered down and thoughtless.
Lawd have mercy! You hit the nail on the head. My husband and I ALWAYS have this conversation. As much as I dislike most of rap out there now, it would have a place in the world if there was something else to balance it. There is no diversity in rap music -- at least in mainstream rap. Yes, I hear people say, oh you can find underground artists who are doing their thing and I'm sure you can. But they don't get the same exposure as a Lil Wayne, Wocka Flocka Flame (or whatever the heck his name is) or Nicki Minaj.
Unless you want to hear the same thing over and over and over again, you best find another genre (well, it ain't like R&B's that much better, but for all the Ciaras and Cassies howling through songs, I can find a Chrisette Michelle or an Eric Roberson). RIP Guru.
You right Snob about that. After the College Dropout, The rap game has not been the same with the exception of Jay-Z Blueprint 3 (and that was halfway good). I just don't get these artists. They are more like water-down robots adn such. That is why wacky rappers like Asher Roth is getting Grammy Awards instead of your mainstream so-called artist.
I'll join the chorus of those that remember "when rap was real." Most youth today don't even know the basis of rap and they have no reason to learn it. All they're trying to do is sell a single and ringtones. Can you imagine if we had ringtones in the early 90s? Walking around blasting "Fight the Power" on campuses whenever our big, bag phones rang?
I blogged/ranted about this earlier this week after reading Tayannah Lee McQuillar's "When Rap Had A Conscience." http://www.reads4pleasure.com/2010/04/when-rap-music-had-conscience-artists.html
I'm going to have to seriously disagree with KT on this one...
Living Legends, Aceyalone, Immortal Technique, Zion I, Busdriver, Pharoah Monche, Del the Funky Homosapien...all of them amazing lyricists whom the majority of people have never heard outside of a Rock the Bells tour because they don't fit into whatever cookie cutter mold mainstream music is working with this week. Everything these days either sounds like Lil Wayne (who i am not a fan of) or Jay-Z (who has his moments). Both of these guys started out underground as well, but unfortunately, once you hit "the big time", every record label has to find a clone of some sort and then beat radio listeners into submission by putting the same 10 examples of crappy pap in rotation every hour.
If I want to be surprised by a new artist who has something to say and an interesting way of saying it, i don't turn to my local radio station or music video network. I go to pandora or check out what's on satelite. Mainstream music becomes more and more of a waste of time because the listeners aren't really given a choice in what's good and what's not. They like this or that because they're told to like it. Lil So and So is a member of Lil Such and Such's crew so he must be the business. This producer over here made this track over there hot so now everyone's track has to sound like it (Autotune anyone?).
And as far as female MCs, you don't have to go as far back as Latifah and Lyte to feel frustrated. Once upon a time there was Eve, Foxxy Brown, Lil Kim (before she lost her damn mind) and Lauryn (please come back from the crazy) Hill. What do we have now? Nikki Minaj. This broad has been hyped for well over a year and hasn't put out an actual album yet. However, when the thing finally does drop, it'll probably be a hit. Not because she's good at her craft (she's not), but because of all the build-up she getting beforehand.
Variety is supposed to be the spice of life, but mainistream hip hop today is hospital food.
First off, RIP to Guru. To this day "Mass Appeal" and "DWYCK" make my head nod.
I used to think just like you, Snob. In many ways I still do. However, I came to a realization. At 34 years old I know Hip Hop is simply not my music anymore. I was 12 years old when I discovered EPMD's "Strictly Business" back in ‘88. I was 13 when I had NWA, Big Daddy Kane, PE, and the Jungle Brothers in heavy rotation. But I am not a kid anymore. Those rappers are either middle aged now (Chuck D) or dead (Eazy E).
The point is Hip Hop has always been music for, by, and about the youth. With the exception of a couple of acts, old school rappers don't sell out arenas and stadiums like the Rolling Stones or the Eagles. Why? Because the genre itself only cares about right now. It is and always has been largely adolescent music. I had to accept that while Hip Hop had indeed changed, I did too. I got older. My tastes changed. I got married. I had kids. I gained a degree of economic stability I never had while growing up.
For this reason I no longer get mad at the Little Wayne's and Drake's of the world. My mother loved listening to Rick James, but couldn't understand what I saw in Tupac Shakur. I'm talking the 1991, pre-Death Row, 2pacalypsenow Tupac. The "Trapped" and "Brenda's Got a Baby" Tupac. However, Rick James meant one thing to her generation. Tupac meant another to mine. Little Wanye definitely means something to this generation. His level of success and influence is proof of that. What he means to today’s youth? I have no idea. But I realized it may not be for me to understand. It's not my music anymore. I am fine with that.
At some point you just have to let it go, Snob.
@ T. Rogers
My main issue is with the lack of variety. I'm not expecting anyone to exactly clone the music of my youth. That would be absurd. But my point was there was a lot of variety in rap music when I was growing up that you could hear on the radio. And it was common in both our generation, our mother's generation and the generation before that to hear songs that directly reflected the struggle of African American people and debated cultural issues mixed in with the songs that celebrated love, lust and every other issue under the sun. We had our share of questionable rappers when I was growing up that were head scratchers. But they weren't the only ones. What you have is a lot of music that being controlled by a few media companies who want, desperately, to squeeze as much cash out of something that they can get and don't like risk. They want sure bets so they work hard to recreate from an already successful model. I'm complaining about the stagnation and the push to have hip hop fit a vary narrow, but profitable, aesthetic.
Music is inherently inventive and creative, but you can't rely on many media outlets to see or hear any of that variety today. It's all part of a slow and steady march where the music industry takes something that is genuinely interesting and inventive, then beats it to death until it just barely resembles its former self. It happens all the time in the entertainment industry (hence Hollywood's fondness for remakes and sequels) and that is what happened to rap music after it was found to be profitable. So my issue is more with how homogenized everything has become as rap has been conformed to reflect one very narrow view of black culture, just as other forms of pop music were appropriated and commercialized to fit the tastes of a mass audience.
It is so sad that T. Rogers is so right. If you're over 30, hell in some cases over 25 hip-hop is not for you anymore. The same way it wasn't for 30 year olds when we were discovering it at 12-15. We've grown up, but hip-hop did not. Luckily for us we do have the choice of listening to a variety of music including rap, neo-soul, and real R&B (and by real I mean not Keysha Cole) that still makes sense for us, Foreign Exchange anyone? Just like Forever 21, Charlotte Rouse and all those other the same-store-with-a-different name places are created specifically for someone 15 years (and in some case 20 years--my God) younger than me, the Music of Young Money was never created with me or our demographic in mind. So I think all of us "old heads" are going to have to join T. Rogers in accepting that hip-hop is for the children (trust me I do know how twisted that sounds) and just let it go.
Game recognize game, I was not born in the 50s or 60s and I can recognize that the music of my parents time is better than my own. I love alot of the music that comes out now, but I know at conception is when music is at it's truest form. Not when it has been bent and twisted and made to sound creative and disguised as Funk. I agree with everything TBS is saying, Hip Hop is not headed for self distruction, Hip Hop is dead and has been for a long time.
RIP G.U.R.U.
You're not going to find any variety in any kind of music on the radio anymore. Most young people download their music so there isn't the same kind of money to be made in selling records and if something doesn't sell records it isn't going to end up on the radio and mtv. The world of music is just different now the radio isn't going to reflect what's really going on.
RIP to Guru...
@TRogers
LMAO! I work at a university (same age by the way!) and my senile self couldn't figure out not so long ago as to why I couldn't stand being around these students at times. My brain finally squirts out an observation: I'm adding years to my age and dealing with kids that weren't even out of day-care when I started at said university will grate anyone's nerves. j/k
Being from what would be deemed a rural area, my exposure to hip-hop was in spurts, starting with the likes of Run-DMC and "Beat Street". Other than that, I was hooked onto the parent's musical tastes with soul, R&B, and funk tracks coupled with whatever was playing on the radio (country, top 40, classic rock). The first tape I ever bought with allowance money was Eric B & Rakim's Follow the Leader and got Kool Moe Dee's How Ya Like Me Now as a X-mas gift. Being without B.E.T. until I got to jr college (again, rural area) left me with "Yo! Mtv Raps" to get my hip-hop kicks in (I'm still catching up on a few tunes!).
I basically quit hip-hop (with casually keeping up with whatever the vets were putting out) in 1999. The death's of Eazy and Tupac, coupled with the ever-changing game to what it is now did the deed. The main culprit: growing up and seeing that while the industry was still partying, I had duties to perform in the real world. Only in recent times have I bothered to tune into my local hip-hop radio feed to get some background noise. Time flies when I recall the closest we had to this as a teen required a SERIOUS radio tuner. I guess as an "old head", I lucked out with my cable subscriber in receiving the digital music package, where I can get most, if not all of the now-deemed old school tracks as well as the other music I grew up on (funk, soul, R&B). Hey, watching these students walk around with iPods and cells, not caring about anything sort of spurred me to seek my own "comfort zone". You can learn a thing or two from these young cats...;)
i guess I'm not as blunt as others in realizing the years adding on, but I do know when to say "exit stage left"!
@the Snob
You do have points, however. Back then, you had all sorts of options in the hip-hop genre. Even the so-called "gangsta rap" had morals to follow (if you dug deep enough). All I'm hearing on this local hip-hop station is sex, drugs, and money. No all-star ensembles, no super groups or their off-spring, no messages, and I'm get too old to be digging into vast crates.
So if, as many here are saying, hip hop is a reflection of culture and a realm for the youth, then what does the stuff coming out today say about Black culture specifically? What is this saying about how Black youth perceive themselves and their culture, assuming they know they have one?
That's what I have been thinking with all of these summits and conversations on the state of hip hop and all that. I'm not bashing it as a semi-old head (but no, I don't like what is being mass produced today). I'm looking at this as an indication of a larger cultural issue. You can't reflect, produce, or evolve something you don't realize you are connected to and know nothing about.
I'm also in the 30+ year old crowd who grew up w/ hip-hop and has bared witness to its evolution. And while I can agree that mainstream outlets like radio and TV only present one style of hip-hop, I just can't agree that there's a lack of variety. On the contrary, I happen to think that there is a ton of variety, regional/world styles, and different sub-genres (e.g. hardcore, crunk, concious, hyphy, nerdcore, and trip-hop to name a few) of hip-hop for people w/ different tastes to get into. I'll even go as far as to say that the game maybe over-saturated w/ them. However, we can't look at what's mainstream and then judge the rest of hip-hop.
The problem is that the mainstream's game in choosing who the next big thing is hasn't changed. They're lazy (in finding new and different talent) and greedy when it comes to the production and presentation of music. Why take risk a new sound or an artist w/ a different message if the [Insert Whoever's Hot In The Streets]-clone can guarantee some financial returns?
I can also agree that some of us hip-hop loving (and living) veterans are slightly biased in our tastes and I think we've gotten a little lazy in searching for new or different music despite the introduction of a lot new technology to aid in that search. I agree w/ what FunkyHeadHunter said about moving toward Pandora or some other music recommendation service to find new music because in the mainstream the choices are gone. If I have the funds and the time, I'd love to start up a pirate radio station just to give listeners that variety.
BTW, thank you very much for posting that West Coast Rap All-Stars "We're All in the Same Gang" video. That got me reminiscing back to the times when I was in junior high.
In my opinion Lupe Fiasco is the best lyricist out right now, but of course he'll never get the credit he deserves because It's too hard for people to actually think about the words and what they mean when they listen to music. All you have to have is a stupid hook (ie Beamers, Benz, and Bently). That's why I try not to listen to the radio when I ca help it.
Thanks for schooling on rap and hip hop. I really needed a lesson.
Hip-Hop NEEDS to RIP!! It was never my cup of tea, because i wanted to hear men SINGING not YAKKING like a bunch of silly girls who talk and cant shut up. It was INVENTED BECAUSE the unclub owners in NYC didnt want to pay for a group of musicians SO they got a dude who had a bunch of LP's that looked like 78's (i'm old OK?) but the song was a 45. The rest of the song was for mixing and yakking by the DJ. He started making 'scratch' noises on them. but was bored. So, he got on the MIKE like a SINGER and whala. Rap music was born. It was never a womans cup of tea from the BEGINNING even though we rapped also. It just make us look harder and harder, and very unattractive to many good men-cause, you see, you dont need a man to protect you, you protect them. (sigh)
It's me again. Do you think tha the reason most music has VERY FOUL LYRICS today is because of Rap trash? Even though they were for the community and were trying to stop the gang violence, why wasn't it sung? This is why teenagers today cuss worse than sailors in the South Pacific in World War 2: Now, when the're SINGING, the're cussing! i cant believe it! although there editing the stuff on the radio, the kids are getting the uncut versions on their MP3's
I think the music is there but you do have to look. its a confluence of factors. One important one is that radio djs cannot break new songs anymore. they are given a playlist. i recall mc lytes blog on this. music has always been a business unfortunately the balances that enabled the cream to rise through the machine have been destroyed.
I suggest ordering satellite radio or listening to online radio stations. There is a variety of stations in these music sources. Waiting for a decent rap song or contemporary R&B song on FM stations is like waiting for a bus. Takes forever!
I go to Yahoo radio. There are good R&B and HIP HOP stations there--refer these stations to any youth you know.
And warn them against the mainstream music. I think mainstream music has always been less moral than underground music, however, I think mainstream music has become worse.
One of the best posts you've written!
Oh please here we go again with that same old b.s. WHINING spare me!! Neither hip-hop NOR rap can change anything about anyone's communities no matter how bad and your point about white kids why is it that black people only started caring AFTER white kids started listening?! Now everyone and their grandma wants to play 'purity police' and act like polly pureheart when you didn't give a RAT'S ASS before hand and so WHAT if it's all about sex,drugs,and having a good time like what WE can't love those things as for 'corrupting youth' and 'degrading' women give me a damn break THAT stuff has been around for a loooooong time already and most of it from the same Hollyweird you mentioned but I have YET to see anybody let alone you supposedly pious black folks taking THEM to task for all the violence,misogyny,drugs,profanity,nudity,murder,etc. they put out there. And before anyone complains why is it we have to be so damn dogged and determined to not to put those things out there for THEIR kids but they can freely put them out there for ours?! Can you say double standard boys and girls and can we please STOP acting like it's music or Obama's or Beyonce's or anyone's responsibility but our OWN to fix our communities you don't hear poor white Southerners blither blathering about country music non stop. And to black women you all are full of it the ONLY reason why white males in the media bitch about rap 'degrading' women is because they don't want to see Y-O-U out there shaking your ass because they don't think you are good enough and instead of calling them on their b.s. you all join in. That argument might fly if I didn't have to be exposed to white female sexuality being shoved up my nose,down my throat,and in my face on a DAILY basis so until THAT is address 24/7 this whole degrading thing is just racist propoganda BULLCRAP!! So is expecting us to be on our 'best behavior' while the hypocrites[and racist] who criticize are ripping the town to pieces when I start seeing more articles like this damning Hollowood for all the 'Saw' and 'Hostel' and 'Terminator' and 'Freddy' movies then I'll happily be on board but for now you are just dancing to the hypocrite tune.
@Snob,
I hear what you are saying. Just remember the late '70's saw the Ohio Players, P-Funk, and many other foundational funk bands flame out. Disco took over and real, raw, authentically black music seemed to go underground. It was in this context that Hip Hop was born. African Americans have always found new ways to express our art and culture. If Hip Hop is dying (or dead) we will simply create something new. Most likely it will come from the youth and it will embrace our rapidly changing technology. Culture is dynamic. It keeps evolving.
Still I would love to get back the feeling I had when I heard Kane's "Ain't No Half Steppin" for the first time. Classic!
It all boils down to capitalism and monopolies. VIACOM owns everything, pre-programmed top 40 radio, the internet and file-sharing, all these things are to blame. We really only get to hear what the record label decides will sell ther best. Back in the day, record labels were run by people who genuinely were into music and welcomed new sounds and pov's now if the ceo can't book talent that sells x-amount of copies, they are fired and its "on to the next one"
Theres plenty of music out there, you just don't see it or hear it unless you are actively looking for it.
People love to reminisce about the BDP, Public Enemy, Latifa, days but is it just me or didn't that "positive" message fall on deaf ears anyway? If it really had an effect, we wouldn't be where we are today, would we? It was a fad just like the bling-era wasn't it? It was what was popular, conciousness, red-gold-black and green, africa pendants and beads, Malcom X and MLK t-shirts with cross colors...It was really a style and I don't really beleive the public were truly digesting it. We were listening to "Self-Destruction while many of us were destroying ourselves! Making the babies that are (now)running around killing each other with gold teeth in their mouths and pants around their knees. A lot of the messagers back then were just as bad as those of today, they were just more broke.
And despite popular belief, if you really listen to originators of rap music's stuff, its actually more like the rap of today than people are willing to admit. Folks like to jump to the Chuck-D era and bypass the Curtis Blow. It was all bragging about what you have or had, how much better than others you were, and about partying and dancing and having a good time. The difference is the advancement or erosion of taboos(language,content) and an enormous influx in money. They were doing the same things then that they are doing today. Dookie ropes=bling, adidas=air-force ones/jordans jeep=escalade, etc.