What Happened to Hip Hop?

[great1]

I don’t know if these questions have been asked before so here they are.

In your Opinion where is Hip Hop going? Is Hip Hop on its last leg with its elementary rhymes and simple beat production? What can we do as a Generation to make sure Hip Hop will be able to feed our kids? Is radio to blame? Who started the decline of Hip Hop?
Was it G-Unit, Cash Money, Aftermath, Universal, Interscope, Murder Inc. South Coast, East Coast, West/ Midwest Coast ? What happen to Underground Hip Hop?

Most of all How has all of this affected your Production?

[veon]

i dont know great. in my country hip-hop is moving in the last 5 years, the last 2 beeing the most consructive.hip-hop hit it like 10 15 years ago but things were moving really slowly. just today i went to a concert and there were at most 50 ppl by the stage.

it's [retty hard to keep track on the states but i try to learn learn and learn. but i dont know af any decline there. i just keep my eyes out for new comings and watch the feedback from atoer guys thru i dont follow it its a good indicative what to cop when im in the money.

peace , veon

[great1]

Well, Veon Hip-hop here in the States has been dry for a while now. Its lost its drive for creativity on both the Production side and the Artist side. Its not as interesting like it was in 1992-1998 era. Alot of it has to do with radio and Major Record Companies dumbing down both music and the raps..I just look for some one the give Hip-Hop a second wind to bounce back for about another good 10-15 years.


Great 1

[substratumsounds]

I think that mainstream Rap music is relatively new (within the last 8 years).

We've had a few crossover hits/artist Rappers Delight being the first, Run-DMC and the Beasties in the 80's and then a cluster of commercial acts (Hammer,Vanilla... etc) in the early 90's, but mass radio play, radio stations changing there programing, and the video explosion are all a rather recent phenomenon in the Big picture.
When I first moved to Philly in 90 the big urban station had a "No-Rap workday" and when they did play it during the week it was like the same 15 crap songs and you had to wait till Late Friday or Sat to get the realness.

I think that underground Hip-Hop is where it always was Underground. I used to think that there would be a time for underground to shine, but if it is ever to come it will be long awhile.
People (fans/listeners) want everything handed to them now and there not going to invest time in diggin up good music.
Especially when they've been brainwashed into excepting that everything on top of the surface is the best there is.

Mainstream Rap as it is right now is nothing, but "Modern Disco" and it will die (the sooner the better), and after that they'll be a new hybrid dance music to take its place.
Meanwhile underground will still be underground, and as sad as it may seem that's probably were it will stay.

I hate to paint such a bleak picture, but as a production artist I make some crap beats to pay the bills (or at least try to) and then I make my music to feed my soul.
Bu$ine$$ never Personal

[j1]

there's still good underground stuff out there, you just have to look pretty hard for it and have patience (maybe some luck too). i believe the future (even the present) of real underground hip hop are the people who incorporate electronic and drum and bass aspects. like el-p, prefuse73, heat sensor (and others on sound-ink), cx kidtronix, beans, saul williams, etc..

alot of people wouldn't consider this stuff pure hip hop, but hip hop has always been a blend of different styles. drum n bass has similar roots in sampling also, so they're really pretty similar in some ways

as far as what ruined hip hop..
obviously it was the money.
hip hop is one of the few music genres where it has become commonplace and often desirable to sell out. as soon as one dude creates a sound that is popular it gets copied by 1000 other dudes tryin to cash in on the new trend.
and now you have these beatmaking crews that appear on everone's album.. everything starts to sound the same
i dont listen to mainstream music if i can avoid it so i'm probably biased, but whatever..

oh, yeah, i agree with the dude above me. underground will and should stay underground. it's much better that way. with commercialism comes stagnation. the underground is where everything's innovated. people just get lazy cuz they've been taught that what's popular is the best that's out there