Nas said “hip-hop is dead,” but I don’t think it’s dead. Hip-hop is just … sleeping.
I’ve been thinking about the state of hip-hop for sometime now and with all the different rappers emerging in the rap game, I figured this would be the perfect time to write about hip-hop and her new bad habit of napping.
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After watching a video of J.Cole mentioning that he thinks “hip-hop is unbalanced,” I have to totally agree.
Every rapper is guilty of talking about jewels, hoes and money, the likes of which the average man can’t even fathom, which is understandable, but why has it become the only topic of our “best” rappers?
I know, many rappers have rags to riches stories, which prompts them to create music surrounding everything their heart ever desired, but when will you talk about something else?
Today’s hip-hop is surface and grossly superficial and it’s getting old.
I’m not saying you have to become a “conscious” rapper, because let’s be real, that gets old just as fast as being a surface rapper.
But rappers should have some kind of balance.
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My beef with hip-hop is that the majority of rappers aren’t trying to be creative, they’re just trying to sell records.
And with rapper’s desire to become commercially successful, it’s beginning to ruin the art.
Being a rapper is bittersweet.
It’s a fact that if you don’t create singles or make “cross-over,” then you won’t make money. I get it, but it has to be a balance.
During one of Notorious B.I.G.’s last interviews, Biggie spoke about the pressures of creating “hits” for the masses.
In reference to a conversation with Tupac, Biggie said, “He told me like yo ‘You can be the broke rapper or you can be the rich rapper. You can rap as hard as you want on your album, but make sure the radio got some joints. You know them radio friendly records that the girls are going to like, that the radio is going to like. That’s going to help you sell your album.'”
All of which is true, but Biggie had balance.
He created the “Hypnotize,” “One More Chance,” and “Big Papa,” records to sell albums, but he always remained true to the art.
Nowadays, the majority of rap albums are filled with the “Lollipops,” “My Last,” and “Super Bass” type-pop tracks.
Connecting to the music should be deeper than singing along to “I got money/ on money /on money /on top of more money/on top of my sh*t/like flies.”
I want to laugh. I want to cry. I want to have fun. I want to thoroughly enjoy every aspect of hip-hop, but it’s almost impossible when she’s now the queen of superficial.
I’m not saying only talk about social issues or rap about the hard times 24/7, but when people are hungry and jobless, no one wants to hear about sh*t they’ll never be able to have.
But for now, I guess I’ll wait for hip-hop to awake from her nap and realize that she’s more than the glitz and glam the masses have molded her to be.
