Hip Hop: 2011 vs. 1990

Hip Hop isn’t as good now-a-days as it was in the 1990’s. There were the Biggie’s, the Tupac’s and a whole catalogue of genius lyricists such as Nas, Big L, Rakim, and Big Pun just to name a few. These were the years where hip hop was Champagne music. Today the best rap is either underground or not very popular and the extremely talented rappers such as Kendrick Lamar and Jay Electronica haven’t had as much exposure to music listeners as they should have. There are some great MC’s getting some limelight such as Lupe Fiasco and J Cole, but the ones that are worthy of it are few.

                Hip Hop used to be all about lyrics and storytelling, now it became a genre driven through production, choruses and overly used metaphors; “Life’s a B****”, its like rappers ran out of ideas. They’ve failed to create music of quality and perfection, and most depend on bragging about how amazing they are, and ironically they’re not. Not in their music anyways. The music we hear today is all about swagger, being rich, and women. I remember when it was ‘cool’ to rap about living in the streets and struggling to get money, but now it’s all been reversed. The glass was full and now it’s close to empty, amazing how much things change. Illmatic, Reasonable Doubt, Ready To Die, The Marshall Mathers LP, were all classic albums in their own way. Whether it was their smooth flows, aggressive lyrics or detailed lyricism it made hip hop such a wonder to listen to. All the rappers that were great at least 10 years ago have lost it. Eminem was one of the best up until Encore was released, Jay-Z’s lyrics just aren’t as deep as they used to be and his flow isn’t as up and down anymore. I understand they had to change with time, but it seems it’s not only them that have changed for the worst, it’s all of rap. I can barely name 5 rappers that are great in our modern day, but they are more than rappers at the moment, they are the ones keeping hip hop alive.  Eminem, Kanye West, Drake, and Jay-Z have their flashes of skill, reminding us of why they are where they are, but these moments of pure lyricism are all too few.  Rap today isn’t all that terrible but it is when compared to the genre 10 years ago. Jay Electronica, J cole, Lupe Fiasco, Kendrick Lamar and Slaughterhouse are the few that I know that are keeping rap alive (although Lasers was a bit of a disappointment). Eminem, Jay-Z, Kanye West and Drake are right up behind them. The biggest disappointment is that more people have herd of Soulja boy than Kendrick Lamar. It’s the popular rappers that have the biggest influence on our genre because the music will reach out to more people; unfortunately some terrible music is going through those people’s ears and is representing Hip Hop in an embarrassing manner.