Change is the only thing that stays the same. I think radio garbage just keeps getting worse, while the true heads keep bangin out classic material.

eeeeexactly.

I don't know about you guys, but hip hop is not dead because of me. :P

imagehosting.2illegalaliens.com

^^^^^ Thats whats up. Hip hop will never die because of the people who live it every day like us.

ohh good lord what a question.
In my opinion one of the main reasons for Hip-Hop faling is the lack of originality. When i first heard it filtering over from the states, people like Lovebug Starski, Grandmaster Flash, Garry Bird etc, the thing that stood out was the role of the DJ, he was essential to the track, cutting and mixing loops to create new from old, all tracks sounded different, no one would steal loops/styles from other DJ's and crews.

Nowdays it has just got lazy, ohh find a 2 second sample, build a beat in a drum machine and have some person rap about how hard he/she is, how hot they are or how awful another is.

So it went from being an expression of gritty urban life to corporate pap which is churned out from 100 studios in each city, with not much to differntiate one artist from another. If you have noticed now rappers will steal lines and rhymes wholesale from others. I thought the whole point of rapping was to be original in what you say? If someone comes out with a good beat/sample within a week there are another dozen tracks sounding alike out there.

Yes I know underground/Mixtapes are still occasionally good and hark back to the older style, Its just the major stuff that stinks on ice. I personally do not enjoy spinning the majority of the Hip-hop i am asked but we all take the 30 pieces of silver and play what the owners/managers want us to.

Lets face it now Hip-hop is used to sell volvos and target clothing, it has become bloated and corporate, another comodity for the "White" record labels to exploit. They took an expression of Black Urban anxt and diluted it, sold it to middle america and took any positive message out of it. For example "the Crown" by Gary Bird and the GB experience was a well produced track calling on black men and women to be proud of thier heritage and that they could be and achieve just about anything, compare that with say "Its going down" nothing positive there at all.

I am not saying all Hip-Hop should be upbeat and positive, just it needs to get away from telling the urban kids that it is cool to sell drugs, shoot people and treat women like whores.

For the future i hope for its sake it goes back underground, back to its roots and back into the hands of the people who make it. The record labels blame illegal downloading for killing them, but i suggest it is them producing cookie cutter rappers with 1 reasonable track on a $20 cd. You know it is almost like the music factories of the 60's, ohh we have a sound lets get 8 or 9 bands to play these songs that sound the same and hopefully we will have a hit.

Take Rap back to the streets, loose the fake gangsta posing and make it good again.

The backbone of hip hop is the Dj. Not the MC. Maintstream needs to reconize how important the role of the DJ is to hip hop..

^^ HipHop will never die... Rap is dead, but not hiphop. As long as DJ's are cutting up the ill cuts on 1200's, BBoys/Bgirls are still bboying, Graf writers are still doing pieces and bombing and Hardcore MC's are still flipping lyrics, I can honestly say It aint going to die so easily... Fuck the mainstream philosophy!

^^^ and thats Whats up!

I know we all gotta play what we gotta play. Sometimes We'd rather play BDP instead of Gwen Stefani, We'd rather play Lords of The Underground instead of Yung Joc... Were DJ's. We got a job to do and part of it is to somehow educate people. Throwing in some OG Classik hiphop sometimes with the new shit helps. I know it sounds cliche but its the truth. If were able to get away with classic hiphop sets all the time, we would always do it.

then again, at clubs, our job is to rock the crowd. If your DJing and rocking the show, Then how can HipHop be dead?

I saw an interview with Big Daddy Kane & he was asked the same question, his response:

"...as quantity increases, quality decreases..."

--couldn't be more true, although looking back '06 wasn't such a bad year, compared to previous years

--word

I've been thinking about this topic a lot lately and it seems, judging by the number of threads similar to this one, so have a lot of other people.

I gotta few things to say on this one this time around.

First,



Well, I don't know about that. Hip-hop started out with very similar themes that are heard today--partying and bragging about your skills. Social relevance in the music started (or more precisely, became popular) with "The Message" by Flash and the Furious Five. Most people know that, but what most people don't know is that that song was a total studio concoction put together by Sylvia Robinson (mastermind behind the Sugarhill Gang). The Furious Five were strongly against releasing a song with social relevance--Melle Mel was convinced that it would kill the party vibe and the group's cred would tank. Sylvia knew that it would be a hit and pressed them to make it, and, well, you know the rest. Point? Corporate bullshit comes part and parcel with music industry dealings, and since the industry has always been around (even 1000 years ago, except the industry was called the Roman Catholic Church, sort of), no music is immune to its bullshit--not even embryonic hip-hop.

Second, most of the hip-hop that is made today is mainstream shit--it's processed pop crap just like all the other stuff out there. All these rappers are posturing just like Britney or whoever except instead of posing as sexpots they're posing as "ghetto warriors" or whatever term the execs in the board room came up with. This is the nature of pop music. Hip-hop has become popular--all this comes with the territory.

Listen, do me a favour and click this link: en.wikipedia.org It's a list of the #1 hits on the Billboard R&B charts for 1987. (By the way, this chart is the chart used for hip-hop--it's now called the Hot R&B/Hip-hop Songs and was formerly Top Black Singles, Top Soul Singles, blah blah blah.) I chose this year (1987) because by my estimation it's the first year a hip-hop artist shows up: "I Need Love" by LL Cool J. At the bottom of the page you can click on any year to see its #1 singles--click on any "Hip-Hop Golden Era" year and see what happens. How many Tribe singles? How many Eric B. & Rakim joints? Ultramags? NONE. If you click on 1989 you'll see that for one week (June 10) De La Soul held the #1 position for, you guessed it, "Me, Myself and I." Now, I don't know about you guys, but I can think of about 20 other De La songs that are way better, but hey--these are pop charts, they rarely measure quality because their main concern is quantity. Other than this there are no "Golden Era" artists showing up on the charts. Eventually in the early '90s Dre and Snoop start showing up, by '97 Puffy and Big are ruling it, and if you fast forward to current charts, there are even more hip-hop artists on the charts.

What is my point with all this? Hip-hop is not getting worse, there's just more of it. Ironically, as a result of the artistic successes of the Golden Era, hip-hop began gaining serious steam in the '90s to the point where it merged and became part of pop music. As a result, there's simply more of it--of all quality, good and bad. Pound for pound there is probably more quality hip-hop out now than there was in the Golden Era--the difference is that back then there wasn't a lot of bullshit clogging up the airwaves. What does that mean? You have to dig deeper to get the quality cuts, and if I have to start preaching to DJs about how to dig...

Bottom line: hip-hop isn't shittier (or dead), you just have to dig deeper for it. Don't wanna dig? Then you shouldn't be a DJ. We should be the last people complaining about this situation. Now, I know--we're forced to listen to this shit cuz we have to sling it at our gigs. *sigh* I know, it sucks. But what can you do? Sometimes work is fun, sometimes it's not.

I also think that people look at the past with rosy shades on--there was some bullshit back then too. I remember this duo named MC J and Cool G. They had a song called "Listen" or something like that--it was TOTAL HORSESHIT--but I rarely think about it when I think of those times. I think of "Luck of Lucien" or "Know the Ledge" or "Ain't No Half Steppin'" or whatever, but I'm sure there are a truck load of garbage songs that were around that I can't even remember now. Yes there seems to be more garbage to sift through nowadays, but there's also a lot of good stuff out there too.

I will say this about the current state of hip-hop: I think the state of affairs with the sampling/copyright situation is simply put, sad. Albums like "...A Nation of Millions..." or "3 Feet High..." or "Paul's Boutique" will never be made again if the copyright system keeps going in the direction it's going, and that is a real shame because those albums (and many others like it) are great works of art and now the law is preventing art like that getting made. But that's not hip-hop's fault, that's Disney's fault (en.wikipedia.org).

Yet even still there are some great sample-based albums being put out independently. "Beauty and the Beat" by Edan (www.allmusic.com), for example, is fucking great hip-hop and it's got a bunch of samples and even has that dusty old-school feel. Ok, ok, dude's white, but listen for his skills and not his skin.

Furthermore, hip-hop is going through a growing phase--it's changing, as it should. It kind of reminds me of what rock fans must have felt like in the '80s when rock bands turned into hair bands and started wearing spandex and make-up, singin' about "Cherry Pie" and shit--all that went away, and I'm sure hip-hop will change too. Plus, rock in the '80s was hair bands only if you listened to mainstream top 40 rock. All the cool kids were listening to the Pixies anyways (catch my drift?)

This message is getting too long even for me, so I'll say a few more things and that's it.

Like this?:



I couldn't agree more with this. There's a lot of hip-hop I simply do NOT feel comfortable playing around women--shit, I barely feel comfortable listening to it myself--what the fuck is up with that? How about not COMPLETELY disrespecting women? How about not releasing the ten thousandth soft-core porn video? How about something different? How about--shit, it's pretty easy to slip into a rant with this stuff.

Anyways, bottom line is that hip-hop is now part of mainstream culture so if you want quality, you'll have to dig. But even that mainstream sound will evolve and get better. I'd bet there's another Golden Era around the corner. In the meantime, keep your ear to the ground because that's where all the gems are hidden.

I've got no problem with digging, shit, i still buy vinyl,but no matter how much you dig,or how hot a song you've "discovered" is, if its not mainstream or what pounded into peoples heads by media, nobody wanna hear or dance to it. I think thats what frustrates a lot of us. what happened to the days of DJ's breakin songs & playin shit that nobodys heard before, try doin that now and you'll hear crickets.
I see a day eventually where DJing becomes even more genre specific...ex. "golden era nite","east coast nite",west coast note","old school nite","Wu nite"...u get the idea

evreybody sound the same commericile the game..........

Here's a recent quote from David Banner, and his reason(s) as to why he makes/sells such crappy hip-hop:

Yet Banner says there's a reason why acts like KRS-One and Public Enemy don't sell anymore. He recalled that even his own fans rebuffed positive songs he made -- like "Cadillac on 22s," about staying away from street life -- in favor of songs like "Like a Pimp."

"The American public had an opportunity to pick what they wanted from David Banner," he says. "I wish America would just be honest. America is sick. ... America loves violence and sex."

Basically, he blames his audience... :-(

Sick and Dumb...

Dj's have the power to change this but we end up like chicken heads.......Lol

It used to be the backbone of hip hop but was long surpassed by the producer.

Dont get me wrong i love hip hop to encorporate the dj but do you honestly think the DJ is even still more important than a great MC or a dope beat? neither of whihc require the DJ in essence.

Dope cuts may add tot he Feel of a track but won't make a track, an MC can make or break a track as can a Producer.

i remember a song (never really liked it...) that had a line that stated "the radio plays what they want you to hear" as much as i wish DJ's could make a difference, i think a lot of you relate, the songs that people like to hear the most are the ones that we are all sick of hearing on the radio. having been on the radio i know how little freedom you have in what you can play. I'm not so sure that we can change that

Well Radio is a great medium but clearchannel, cumulus, cbs etc have killed whatever skills the local PD's had and freedoms to play what they want, no wonder terrestrial radio is dying. Between the corporate shit and the FCC, radio no longer speaks to the people it now talks at them. Nowdays more bands are broken on myspace and youtube than on clearchannel, and i am sure this scares them.
In the last 4 years between 11 and 20 million people in the US have moved to pay radio services and this is set to grow with other offerings, such as mobile phone and web streaming. I am one, i have had XM for maybe 5 years now and do not listen to local radio, despite my friends working there, I have a choice and am prepared to pay for it, If i want to listen to music from the UK i can, World music just a button away, reggae, old school etc etc. They are trying to roll out DAB over here now and i think it is dead in the water why would i want to give up my xm to listen to what was once 1 channel of commercials and innane dj's that has now become 4. I would concentrate on making the 1 channel better. When i got XM my PD friends laughed at me and said it would not affect them as people want local content, well keep telling yourselves that as most of the 18-30 age group do not give a crap about local news more about local bands, and it is easier to hear a local band on XM than Clearchannel.

wanna know what i think killed public radio??

one word: PAYOLA

i think its people who turned it into a money pit. diddy, jay-z. the people who have clothing lines, and production companies

"The Problem with hip hop? Shit. Nothing at all. Its an artform, it ranges, it changes, it evolves. It's not always for the better, but be patient with it y'all, our time will come and the wicked will fall."
-Murs/Felt

Hip hop is very corrupted and very immature in my opinion. The future of hip hop isnt going to get any better especially with fake rappers tossing out money and corrupting young children's minds with the materialistic objects we see on MTV, B.E.T. and the fake hip hop radio stations. Ill be at my office bumping some J. Dilla or some real underground hip hop track and people that work with me(they listen to crunk music) give me these weird looks like "I never heard that before" or "Rod, what in the world are you listening to"? Ill be like y'all listen to the damn radio too much listening to that wannabe hip hop junk. I just call the materlistic hip hop/rap "club music". Cats you hear on the radio on a daily basis like Rich Boy, Lil Jon, Young Jeezy, Yung Joc, T.I., Nelly, or whatever comes out that radio station WQ whatever, I dont consider them hip hop. I just say they're just club music. I'am not dogging on southern artists by any means. I'm from the south myself and yes there are good rappers in the south that i can call hip hop like scarface, outkast, goodie mob, ludacris(sometimes) and so forth. With this being said, hip hop needs to grow up bottom line. Whatever happened to "play what makes you happy"? Guess you can't do that nowadays. If what i said about what I wrote offended anyone or any DJ that DJs just only for fame and money then oh well. Im just being very honest.

Hip-Hop is not dead..It's just sleeping. Kids these days are uneducated about hip-hop. I blame the whole music industry. It just got way out of hand.

How is B.E.T. not going to play a De La Soul video, because it's not what people want?
How are rap novelties like Nelly going to call out KRS-One? Without KRS-One or other rappers from the old school he wouldn't be around.

A lot of artist don't care about the roots of Hip-Hop. All they see is money.

At least we still have Common, The Roots, Kweli, Mos Def, and Fergie (just playing). I even give props to Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco.

I could write a whole essay on this..but to keep it short and sweet...

"Pop-Hop" will die out eventually, you can already see ppl getting sick of it. True heads know that pioners such as grandmaster flash, kool herk, melly mel. started this whole thing back in the 70's, with few a simple tunes about streetlife, living in the ghetto, and how to have a good time in the hood ( I still buss the message from time to time). the problems that they were talking about are still hear today. And as long as these problems are still around and ppl can still relate to what being said, thier will always be a place for Hip Hop.

hip hop is not dead... its the listeners that are dead. People keep buying garbage ass shit, therfore MORE garbage-ass shit will be created. I saw Slim Thug and Rich Boy tonight... I was soo tempted to yell at them that they didnt' deserve their beats (Throw Some D's and Still Tippin)... But I kept my mouth shut since they had their 80 man entourages (NO bitches I might add), and didn't feel like gettin my ass beat at my own club.

It's all good people. The market is getting saturated. Soon enough all this will blow over and once again artists with real talents will shine. You can quote me on that.

I just did! And I agree.

what do you think will happen to the artists, will they adapt?

The good artists will adapt. The ones who don't, will get left behind.