Written by: Rick Sharpe
Rapindustry.com
Bang!!!!!, It’s was all over before he knew it. My friend Ronnie had just been shot and killed after an altercation over a dice game. It all happened so fast, I never got to say goodbye to him, and he never had the opportunity to say the same to his kids, mom, or anyone for that matter. He had dreams of changing and becoming a better man,but this was all taken from him within the blink of an eye.
Most events in life come at you just as quick. He used to ask me all the time do you want to see your death coming?, or do you want it to catch you by surprise?, “would you rather get shot or die of cancer”? I thought, cancer can be a deceptive, painful, drawn out death, often giving you false hope of survival sort of like hip-hop. In my younger days we listened to summertime anthems, self liberating songs, dance grooves, and NWA. The pioneers of hip-hop were innovative risk takers who turned a corner hobby into a billion dollar industry. The versatility of rappers was everpresent.
There were the deepthinkers, like Nas and Common, a different sound in the south with Outkast, Scarface, UGK, Eightball & MJG. 2pac, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Snoop carried the torch for gangsta rappers, the eceletic sound with the Fugees, there was Blackstar and a Tribe Called Quest, and you can’t forget about the Missy’s, Busta Rhymes, and Redman amongst many others. When is the last time you listened to the radio? Its beginning to sound like that annoying friend that just won’t shut up, except you can throw in 35 minutes of corporate commercials every hour, along with a dj who plays garbage for flat screen money, and the rest is washed up rappers and dance songs. So if it was recently you should understand why the the once prosperous industry is quickly approaching its fifteenth minute of a fame. Sales are down all across the board, and the downloading craze isn’t the sole reason for the slow demise. Would you pay twelve dollars for a cd that only has maybe three songs you like, half the album is a collaboration, and the artist probably bought the last few song from some unsigned struggling artist?, probably not, thus the decline in sales.
Where’s the originality? I know everybody’s not a drug dealer or a dancer, its cool to talk about your life, but rappers have a responsibility that they’ve forgot about.There is no substance to the music, which has left our generation the same way, uninformed, unprepared, chasing that right now self-gratification, that will cripple us later.There is almost no education, uplifting, unification, ambition, or inquisitive thinking, basically no challenge.
When I listening to Jeezy’s song with Kanye I noticed that Yeezy (normally one of the most creative artist in the game) used a voice synthesizer, like Snoop before him and most famous for it T-Pain. It reminds me of the bling era, the throwback era, then the change clothes era with Jay-Z, before the newly accepted rock-star look with the snug clothes that would of got you called homo five years ago. One person makes it famous and the rest of the game follows, nothing new, no one dares take a chance at reaching outside of the box, now filled with mass marketed squares.
Millennium music is simply a game of Simon says and if you’re good you can follow the leader to a check almost, but NEVER quite as nice. Should we blame T-Pain for the current craze?, No, I’m not a fan but I’m also not a hater. It’s actually not the first time it’s been done, just the first time it’s been mimicked so much.”The rap game is like the crack game, most rappers are junkies fiending for a hit, and after the high comes down you realize that you have nothing. Anyone listening to albums you bought three years ago?……I’ll wait……,
I’ve threw more cds out the window lately than in my entire life, outside of maybe 15 rappers and that’s being generous– rap is terrible. Maybe we should blame other rappers for not creating their own trends, their own style, but if we’re going to continuously support hit makers instead of musicians maybe we should blame ourselves. The top five rappers fifteen years ago, could easily work their way into the same spots today, but if you look at the top five rappers today, (going by the numbers, not your favorites) they wouldn’t stand a chance ten years ago.
Today it’s all zombie music and the latest addition is the synthesizer. Ever go to the club and try to stand out with the same outfit?, lol It’s the same with the synthesizer, most rappers wear school uniforms, and think rolling up one sleeve makes them different.When I first heard Nas say Hip-Hop is dead I thought he was just hating on the south but after careful review I realized he’s almost right. Where will the game be in five years?, it’s a pretty ugly picture to think about who could possibly carry the torch, seeing many rappers SHOULD retire in the next few years, and give the game a new voice that it desperately needs, but until then lets just pop bottles, murk our haters, get fresh, and kick it, noting more or less. So while the synthesizer may amuse you now it, like hip hop will slowly start to annoy you before it finally dies out like cancer.
Bang!!!!!, It’s was all over before he knew it. My friend Ronnie had just been shot and killed after an altercation over a dice game. It all happened so fast, I never got to say goodbye to him, and he never had the opportunity to say the same to his kids, mom, or anyone for that matter. He had dreams of changing and becoming a better man,but this was all taken from him within the blink of an eye.
Most events in life come at you just as quick. He used to ask me all the time do you want to see your death coming?, or do you want it to catch you by surprise?, “would you rather get shot or die of cancer”? I thought, cancer can be a deceptive, painful, drawn out death, often giving you false hope of survival sort of like hip-hop. In my younger days we listened to summertime anthems, self liberating songs, dance grooves, and NWA. The pioneers of hip-hop were innovative risk takers who turned a corner hobby into a billion dollar industry. The versatility of rappers was everpresent.
There were the deepthinkers, like Nas and Common, a different sound in the south with Outkast, Scarface, UGK, Eightball & MJG. 2pac, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Snoop carried the torch for gangsta rappers, the eceletic sound with the Fugees, there was Blackstar and a Tribe Called Quest, and you can’t forget about the Missy’s, Busta Rhymes, and Redman amongst many others. When is the last time you listened to the radio? Its beginning to sound like that annoying friend that just won’t shut up, except you can throw in 35 minutes of corporate commercials every hour, along with a dj who plays garbage for flat screen money, and the rest is washed up rappers and dance songs. So if it was recently you should understand why the the once prosperous industry is quickly approaching its fifteenth minute of a fame. Sales are down all across the board, and the downloading craze isn’t the sole reason for the slow demise. Would you pay twelve dollars for a cd that only has maybe three songs you like, half the album is a collaboration, and the artist probably bought the last few song from some unsigned struggling artist?, probably not, thus the decline in sales.
Where’s the originality? I know everybody’s not a drug dealer or a dancer, its cool to talk about your life, but rappers have a responsibility that they’ve forgot about.There is no substance to the music, which has left our generation the same way, uninformed, unprepared, chasing that right now self-gratification, that will cripple us later.There is almost no education, uplifting, unification, ambition, or inquisitive thinking, basically no challenge.
When I listening to Jeezy’s song with Kanye I noticed that Yeezy (normally one of the most creative artist in the game) used a voice synthesizer, like Snoop before him and most famous for it T-Pain. It reminds me of the bling era, the throwback era, then the change clothes era with Jay-Z, before the newly accepted rock-star look with the snug clothes that would of got you called homo five years ago. One person makes it famous and the rest of the game follows, nothing new, no one dares take a chance at reaching outside of the box, now filled with mass marketed squares.
Millennium music is simply a game of Simon says and if you’re good you can follow the leader to a check almost, but NEVER quite as nice. Should we blame T-Pain for the current craze?, No, I’m not a fan but I’m also not a hater. It’s actually not the first time it’s been done, just the first time it’s been mimicked so much.”The rap game is like the crack game, most rappers are junkies fiending for a hit, and after the high comes down you realize that you have nothing. Anyone listening to albums you bought three years ago?……I’ll wait……,
I’ve threw more cds out the window lately than in my entire life, outside of maybe 15 rappers and that’s being generous– rap is terrible. Maybe we should blame other rappers for not creating their own trends, their own style, but if we’re going to continuously support hit makers instead of musicians maybe we should blame ourselves. The top five rappers fifteen years ago, could easily work their way into the same spots today, but if you look at the top five rappers today, (going by the numbers, not your favorites) they wouldn’t stand a chance ten years ago.
Today it’s all zombie music and the latest addition is the synthesizer. Ever go to the club and try to stand out with the same outfit?, lol It’s the same with the synthesizer, most rappers wear school uniforms, and think rolling up one sleeve makes them different.When I first heard Nas say Hip-Hop is dead I thought he was just hating on the south but after careful review I realized he’s almost right. Where will the game be in five years?, it’s a pretty ugly picture to think about who could possibly carry the torch, seeing many rappers SHOULD retire in the next few years, and give the game a new voice that it desperately needs, but until then lets just pop bottles, murk our haters, get fresh, and kick it, noting more or less. So while the synthesizer may amuse you now it, like hip hop will slowly start to annoy you before it finally dies out like cancer.