Hip Hop: The MCs are getting better, so why is the music getting worse?

[Guest Len B'stard]

With MCs out there like Royce, Eminem, Papoose, Saigon, Crooked I and many others, it's difficult to deny that lyrically the game is really booming...so why is the resultant music so shit?

Is it the pop chart kotowing, the Skylar Grey and Rihanna and Bruno Mars choruses, is it the fuckin' really really dense sounding production, is it the lack of emphasis on the DJ, is it that the rappers etc aren't so street anymore so it lacks the authenticity of the earlier stuff, i mean Joe Budden and Wu Tang have a beef, Joe Budden gets punched in the eye, it's over, i don't think anybody can really look at Joe Budden and his boys and really fear them like one might with the Wu Tang Clan.

And so much drug shit in hip hop now...scummy junkie shit like opiate pills and it's like, hip hop was meant to scoff at that fuckin' shit, where did this come from, this tendency of rappers to make these really emotional fuckin' songs and all this lightweight prescription addiction crap, it's starting to sound very middle class.

I'm listening to Slaughterhouse recently and it's like these are some of the best lyrical songs i've heard in a while, the lyrics are amazing...but everything else seems sort of wayward and dispassionate, new artist, groups used to be fuckin' hungry sounding on their debuts...and monsterous on their sophmore, these guys just come off as a little bloated and lacking in direction, they don't seem to be about anything in particular.

"i wanna see a sky full of lighters", come on man, what this fuck is this, stadium rock?

[Crash Diet]

Good question

[Johnny Drama]

Because hip hop is dead. If your name ain't Jay Z, Eminem or Kanye your probably shit.

[bacardimayne]

[TeeJay410]

The slaughterhouse issue is that Em tried to make them something they're not, a commercial act. These are dudes who just rap better than just about anyone in the game, give em a hard beat and let them go at it. Their first album was a couple filler tracks from being a stone cold classic. Frankly, composing thoughtful songs with four guys rapping for 78 minutes and keeping it interesting is nearly impossible.

But there is an issue with that, to maintain longevity you have to be able to make a song. Something that sticks with people. Jay-z, Kanye, Eminem, have the ability to make songs that continue to connect with people. Saigon and others you listed just have a hard time making songs. They can take a beat and kill it lyrically, but can't make a song.

[Jakey Styley]

While there's only a few rappers who can still make long lasting music, I love all the contemporary rap songs right now for the 2 month period that they inhabit (2chainz, Meek Mill, etc). I listen to rap now more than I ever have.

Edited September 15, 2012 by Jakey Styley

[hudsonsaul]

Blackroc is a good album, shit it would be great even as instrumental, check that out if you havent already.

[The Glow Inc.]

There is still hope :

[bran]

:rofl-lol:

dont know i always thought rap was horrible when it was considered good lol

i like a couple NWA songs and some RUN DMC other than that

Edited September 16, 2012 by bran

[chevelle]

Rick Ross put out an album this summer that was as musically interesting as almost any Hip Hop record I've heard. He's really doing some interesting things. Big Boi put out a classic within the past two years. T.I.'s album, coming out in another couple weeks, will definitely be a burner. I'm not upset with Hip Hop at all.

Yeah, I was going to mention Big Boi's album. That thing is amazing.

[bacardimayne]

Eminem hasn't been good since The Eminem Show.

[Johnny Drama]

Eminem hasn't been mindblowingly amazing since The Eminem Show.

Fixed.

[bacardimayne]

Eminem hasn't been mindblowingly amazing since The Eminem Show.

Fixed.

Encore was shit, Relapse was horrible, honestly the worst rap album I've ever listened through entirely, Recovery was average.

[TeeJay410]

Eminem hasn't been mindblowingly amazing since The Eminem Show.

Fixed.

Encore was shit, Relapse was horrible, honestly the worst rap album I've ever listened through entirely, Recovery was average.

I might be in the minority of loving relapse. Lyrically it might be the most complex work he's ever done, linguistically speaking its breath taking. The first verse in 3 AM is masterful using mosaic rhyming, rhyming multiple syllables multiple times even in one line, all the while maintaining a narrative. It was pure unadulterated slim shady

Recovery was about as good lyrically, but production is what bored me. Some brilliant lyrics are ruined by boring and or odd production choices (WTP, Seduction). But there were some vicious songs, cold wind blows, almost famous, on fire. Space bound might be one of his best album tracks in his career.

However if there's a gun to my head and I had to pick between the two, I go relapse.

I also sort of am not wild about the eminem show. The rhyming wasn't as complicated. There were a lot of good songs but rapping wise it was a step back.

Oh, and sugaraylen, if you like eminem and Royce, have you heard the bad meets evil EP? Save "lighters", that is a great rappers rap album.

[Johnny Drama]

Eminem hasn't been mindblowingly amazing since The Eminem Show.

Fixed.

Encore was shit, Relapse was horrible, honestly the worst rap album I've ever listened through entirely, Recovery was average.

I might be in the minority of loving relapse. Lyrically it might be the most complex work he's ever done, linguistically speaking its breath taking. The first verse in 3 AM is masterful using mosaic rhyming, rhyming multiple syllables multiple times even in one line, all the while maintaining a narrative. It was pure unadulterated slim shady

Recovery was about as good lyrically, but production is what bored me. Some brilliant lyrics are ruined by boring and or odd production choices (WTP, Seduction). But there were some vicious songs, cold wind blows, almost famous, on fire. Space bound might be one of his best album tracks in his career.

However if there's a gun to my head and I had to pick between the two, I go relapse.

I also sort of am not wild about the eminem show. The rhyming wasn't as complicated. There were a lot of good songs but rapping wise it was a step back.

Oh, and sugaraylen, if you like eminem and Royce, have you heard the bad meets evil EP? Save "lighters", that is a great rappers rap album.

I like Relapse. But the problem was that it was too Slim Shady. Same with Recovery liked it but too Marshall Mathers. Best of both albums would have made a good old school Eminem album (minus the gay accents) Best song on Relapse for me was Medicine Ball, hands down.

[username]

The main problem rap is facing today is losing it's soul. Rap should essentially be protest music at it's core. That's how it all started. It was literally from the streets and it showed repression and poverty. It was a world nobody was used to being confronted with. Maybe because of that it was usually very simplistic in terms of arrangement and production. I know, some beats were amazing, but the production etc was usually very straight forward. All this made rap amazing.

Then, probably somewhere in the early 90's, rap REALLY blew up. Street thugs became superstars. It really started to be on the radar of mainstream music and mainstream companies. It became more engineered. They became stadium acts. And right now I really don't believe some guy covered in diamonds telling me how street he is. And in his next song I just don't give a crap when he tells me how many women he can fuck, diamonds he can wear and how much of a star he is.

Rap is doing something that hurt rock a lot as well in the late 80's - it started to revolve around self glorification. It became shallow, unbelievable and fake. And to fix that people tried to get pop star collaborations and stadium-sized musical arrangement and production. Making it even more soulless. It also lost it's danger and edge this way.

There's enough poverty, injustice and corruption in the world. There's SO much left to protest. It's all there. But there's just so few people left that can bring it with authenticity and passion. There's a few exceptions to every rule. But for (especially mainstream) rap, this is what's wrong with it.

[Guest Satanisk_Slakt]

It's a God awful genre.

[Death Star]

The rap game is not dead.

Mac Lethal

DoomTree

P.O.S.

Rhymesayers

Atmosphere

MF Doom

Check 'em out. The rap game is definitely not dead. People just need to quit listening to the radio rap bullshit and listen to good hip hop MC's like the ones I listed.

[Dan H.]

The rap game is not dead.

Mac Lethal

DoomTree

P.O.S.

Rhymesayers

Atmosphere

MF Doom

Add El-P, Aesop Rock, Black Star, Mad Lib, and Ghostface Killah to that and you've got a pretty sick rap playlist.

[chevelle]

The rap game is not dead.

Mac Lethal

DoomTree

P.O.S.

Rhymesayers

Atmosphere

MF Doom

Check 'em out. The rap game is definitely not dead. People just need to quit listening to the radio rap bullshit and listen to good hip hop MC's like the ones I listed.

P.O.S. and Doomtree are definitely up there. Check out Astronautilus too, he did a collaboration on a track with P.O.S. and he's pretty damn good in his own right.

[Johnny Drama]

The rap game is not dead.

Mac Lethal

DoomTree

P.O.S.

Rhymesayers

Atmosphere

MF Doom

Add El-P, Aesop Rock, Black Star, Mad Lib, and Ghostface Killah to that and you've got a pretty sick rap playlist.

Good rappers, not good songwriters = boring.

[drtydane]

No mentions of hopsin? Best I've heard in a while. Reminds me of early eminem.

Edited September 17, 2012 by drtydane

[Dan H.]

The rap game is not dead.

Mac Lethal

DoomTree

P.O.S.

Rhymesayers

Atmosphere

MF Doom

Add El-P, Aesop Rock, Black Star, Mad Lib, and Ghostface Killah to that and you've got a pretty sick rap playlist.

Good rappers, not good songwriters = boring.

El-P, Aesop Rock, and Ghostface are all great songwriters. So is Mos Def.

[Johnny Drama]

I'd agree on Mos Def.

[TeeJay410]

MF Doom and Mos Def are good songwriters. El-P and those dudes are "rappers rappers". Complex and interesting beats and rhyme schemes, but really a little too musically masturbatory for general consumption. Some of these guys are the equivalent of Yngwie Malmsteem and those guys, undeniably talented but are generally a bit much.