There's nothing wrong with hip hop. The problem is...

First of all, these are the views of one person, not the entire blog. 


Okay, so I'm going to keep this brief.

There is NOTHING wrong with the genre of hip hop at ALL.


Not in the least.


Hip hop as a genre encompasses many different styles, and it ALWAYS has.  You have your conscious/backrack emcees, you have your gangster emcees, you have your party emcees.  As a matter of fact, you even have gospel emcees.  There is something in hip hop for everyone, which is why I believe if you're a not of fan of it, you were raised in a white area and/or have been brainwashed into thinking the trash on the radio is what the genre is all about.


Speaking of the trash on the radio, it sucks, but in what context does it suck?  No sane hip hop fan is going to say that "Pretty Boy Swag" by Soulja Boy is a lyrical masterpiece with heartfelt substance and a soulful beat.


But was it ever meant to be that?  Of course not.  It was made to be a party song that is catchy and entices you to move your friggen body.  Int that context, does it suck? No, it does not.  I mean....





^ We gonna act like that don't make you wanna move?  It doesn't make you feel like you're a boss?  Naw?


What about this one below?





None of those getting you hardcore hip hop elitists out there moving?  Okay, one last try...





Okay, if none of those worked, I give up.


BUT


Did you see what I did with the last one?  I put up a song by who many consider to be the best MC to ever walk this earth, Tupac Shakur.  Yes, Tupac Shakur put out a song void of any substance was SPECIFICALLY made to get the club moving.


My point?  HIP HOP PARTY SONGS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THERE!  Throughout the "golden era" of the late 80s and 90s to the "aluminum era" of right now, they have always been around.  From Sir Mix A Lot's "Baby Got Back" to MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This" to Will Smith's "Miami" to Soulja Boy's "Superman" it has never left our side.  Without these songs, I wouldn't like hip hop as much as I do, and that's coming from someone who listens to conscious/deep/lyrical/soulful hip hop 97.9% of the time.


At the end of the day, I don't ALWAYS want to hear meaningful hip hop music.  Yes, I went there.  Sometimes, I like to hear ignorant music void of any purpose outside of making me nod my head like a boss or allowing me to watch some random fat booty dime shake her ass to the beat.  Sometimes, songs like this are what I want...





This song's play count is somewhere in the 100's on my iPod, and I'm the biggest Lupe Fiasco fan you'll ever meet.  I don't care. It's dope for what it's supposed to be.


So, in summary, shallow misogynistic hip hop party songs devoid of any substance have been around since the beginning of time.  Well, the beginning of hip hop at least.  So, if you're one of the people saying these songs are the reason why hip hop is "dead", you are "dead" wrong.


Now, the PROBLEM is not the genre of hip hop at all.  In actuality, hip hop is better than it's ever been, with some of the greatest and most talented MC's putting out music on  a weekly  basis.  Artists such as Joe Budden, Wale, Curren$y, Blu, J.Cole, Lupe Fiasco, Joel Ortiz, Crooked I, Kendrick Lamar, Skyzoo, Black Thought from The Roots, Royce Da 5'9, Big Boi, Jean Grae and Nas are just a FEW "legit" MCs who are presently putting out high caliber music.


The PROBLEM lies in the way the media represents and promotes it.  If you turn your TV to MTV Jams or put the radio on Hot 97(or whatever your local hip hop stations are) you will ONLY hear dumbed down party songs and shallow braggasaurus songs about how much money that person has, how many promiscuous women he has sex with, and why he is better than you and all of your friends.  They are only promoting these songs as if that is all that hip hop has devolved into.  You will never hear the majority of the artists I listed above on the radio or see them on TV, but yet they are widely regarded as being the best MCs currently inhabiting the earth.  Why is that?  There are many possible reasons, but the purpose of this article isn't to solve the problem, but to expose to it.


I argue that the majority of the annoyance that comes from :real hip hop" fans listening to artists such as Soulja Boy, Nelly and Drake is from how they are over-saturating the market with their brand of hip hop.  As I've said before, there is a place in hip hop for everything, but we don't want our favorite genre of music being entirely represented by these people.  I would be open to the idea of hearing a Lupe Fiasco song, a Soulja Boy song, an Outkast Song, a song by The Roots, and then a Drake song all in the same hour.  I'm open-minded enough to find enjoyment out of all sorts of hip hop even if I'm more into the "real" stuff, and I'd be willing to bet a majority of my peers feel the same.


We're just not with this smoke and mirrors game the mass media is playing with our culture.  It's disgusting, misleading and very annoying.  So, the next time you want to complain about how hip hop is dead and that you're no longer hearing the "real stuff", turn off your TV and your radio and go on the internet, because hip hop is better than it's ever been, even if the way it's portrayed is at an all time low.


God bless.