i get irritated by the elitist attitude that only conscious rap or underground rap is deemed worthy of being "real" hip hop.. and that the south is killing hip hop and all this kinda nonsense. i believe that hip hop was birthed out of a need to have fun.. in the hood, you dont have many things, so you have to create. whether its a lyrical masterpeice or simply a crunk ass beat is irrelevant; its all "real" hip hop.. as long as it moves you its hip hop. it can move your soul or move your body, it doesnt matter.. the first 1:24 or so of this clip explains it perfectly (Andre 3000 kickin some knowledge..), and is actually the inspiration for this thread.. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWpe6_VgZIg&feature=related"]YouTube - Hip Hop vs. America (The World) V. 8[/ame] lil jon, soulja boy and weezy are just as hip hop as brother ali, atmosphere and mos def.. if you dont like certain artists or a certain sound, i can respect that, but that doesnt give ANYBODY the right to say that its not hip hop. we need more unity and openmindedness in our culture.. and less arrogance as well. too many high horse motherfuckers think they can go to a aesop rock show and know everything about hip hop when they dont even know the history.
I think where peoples dislike of people like lil wayne, soulja boy, etc... comes from the fact that these guys just give off a "poser" kind of vibe. The reason I dislike some of these rappers such as Soulja boy is because some of their songs if not all of them do not have real lyrics or speak to me. They loop the same beat while they loop the same rhymes they spit for 15 seconds. This repeats for 3 minutes and its just noise to me most of the time. To each their own.
I agree, they are hip-hop artists, but they're just so awful I get nose bleeds when their music comes on.
i feel you on that, but soulja boy (and other such rappers) are about having fun and making money.. his music is for the club.. why would you listen to him for "real" lyricism? if you wanna watch the news, would u turn on cartoon network? sometimes you just gotta take music for what it is, instead of tryna make something bigger out of it.. if you dont like a rapper, dont listen to him; find and listen to what you like. keep it moving
diffrent folks, diffrent strokes, sall good. i bet youre a brother ali fan seein youre from minnesota.. dudes a beast
All Hip-Hop is Hip-Hop, this is true. But quality wise, you can't compare a Soulja Boy to a Brother Ali (just using you're examples) Mainstream Hip-Hop isn't killing Hip-Hop, but it's without a doubt dumbing it down... And there are mainstream artists that are as good, or better than, any underground artist like Common, or Lupe for example. But overall, mainstream Hip-Hop is incredibly weak. And really, only current mainstream shit is weak, 10 years ago mainstream Hip-Hop was still great. The quality of mainstream Hip-Hop is just being deluded by talentless assholes who's goal is to to make a quick buck, and not to make Hip-Hop for the love of the music. I'd rather listen to Rakim or Tribe or something than a Yung Joc or Lil' Scrappy kind of deal...
i agree with the OP i like all hip hop from kane to rakim to nas to pac to jay-z to jeezy to wayne and so on theres some rappers i dont like but thats just cuz i dont like them personally, not just because of their new or mainstream or something.
Its all the same to me I dont like Q Tip never did he still do music til this day and its corny as hell you dont here me saying he killing music I just dont listen to him. I'm from the south I dont listen to soulja boy or any of that shit but u gotta respect his hustle
Hmm...interesting. I agree that it's hip hop music, but that doesn't mean that Wayne, Soulja Boy, or Lil Jon deserve to be rich and famous, or deserve to be placed near the top tier of hip hop performers. It's those kind of artists that make it hard for educated people to give hip hop any respect at all. I mean, what you're saying is basically a moot point. A group of 5 overweight white kids from Iowa can't compete against NBA caliber players. They may be passionate about basketball, and for all intents and purposes they may claim to be basketball players, but it's the coaches and scouts who decide whether they are good enough to play in the big leagues, not the fans. Likewise, it's the educated hip hop listeners that get to decide who the best rappers are. Not the masses of idiotic Weezy fans. You may be a big fan of Anne Rice, or Stephen King. They are popular authors. No one would argue that they aren't writers. But educated people would argue they aren't very good writers. So what exactly are you saying? That intelligent people should give as much respect to moronic rappers as they do conscious, underground rappers? That overweight white basketball players deserve the same respect as LeBron James? That Anne Rice should be likened to Shakespeare? There is always a spectrum of talent for any discipline. What you seem to be proposing is that the spectrum shouldn't be elucidated by those capable of passing judgement, and instead everyone should just get along and give equal credit to all artists. Very utopian ideal, but impossible.
Wait....did you just put Soulja Boy and Atmosphere in the same music genre? Ha.Hahaha. I have to disagree.
To me there are 2 versions of real Hip Hop 1. Songs about living a rough life in the hood or whathaveyou 2. Songs about drugs (from hip hop artists)
What about Hip-Hop artists that don't really talk about either of those things? They aren't real Hip-Hop?
To me Hip-hop is a specific, special genre. Hip-Hop is about lyrics first, then beat. To me hip-hop isnt all about the sex, drugs, money, clothes and hoes. Thats called rap in my opinion. Hip hop is pure and about more than just that. Soulja boy is just dance stuff. It's good at what it does, which is making you dance, but still its not hip-hop becuase his lyrics dont match up with lyrics from people like the GZA, Meth, Nas, or Biggie.
This is a common misconception, and you have it a bit backwards, friend. Hip hop refers to the greater culture, which includes breakdancing, djing, graffiti, and rap. Rap is sometimes called hip hop music. A rapper might transcend the traditional limits of hip hop by rapping about things other than urban life, which means conscious or political lyrics fall more under the category of 'rap' than 'hip hop'. I personally don't like the word rap, and choose to call it all hip hop. Wikipedia does a good job of explaining the differences though, you should read about it there.
this. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nVzSr3yDcA"]YouTube - Binary Star - Honest Expression[/ame]