Our Generation Blindly Worships Untalented Artists.

Recently one evening I was doing what I do most everyday after work; I was surfing iTunes looking for new songs and new artists I haven’t heard before. I previously had no interest in listening to the new song by French Montana and Drake called “No Shopping”, but I decided I’d check it out and see if it was even close to descent. It wasn’t. I continued surfing new music, and saw Lupe Fiasco released a new song called “Pick Up the Phone.” I knew that would be worth listening to. It was a beautiful song, from the synthesizer in the intro, to Lupe flowing over an acoustic guitar and Sebastian Lundberg’s stellar vocals in the chorus. The contrast of these two songs really got me thinking; how and why is Drake so much more popular? Why is the amount of quality music dwindling in the top charts? Hip hop desperately needs more real artists, those who are actually gifted lyrically as well as musically. The landscape of hip hop is looking more and more barren.

The game is littered with guys who insist on talking about the same generic things on top of the same generic style beat, all in hopes of making a “banger.” The music industry needs more artists like Chance the Rapper, Logic, Kendrick Lamar, and J.Cole. And it needs less artists like Young Thug, Lil Yachty, Drake, and Desiigner. Ever since I listened to Drake’s latest album “Views” I’ve began to realize just how uninspired his music is. At what point in hip hop’s history did the artists stop painting pictures using lyrical ability and flow. At what point did it stop being about ranting and letting stresses out over a beat, and writing about past experiences.

Real music in the hip hop industry is going extinct as rappers, such as Drake, put out songs it seems every month just to make money. And all of those songs feature anything but braggadocio. The worst part, however, is that the youth are eating it all up as they simply follow the latest mainstream fads and twitter trends.

The day “Views” was released was celebrated as a holiday in our country. There were snapchat geotags, people were posting about it non-stop, and millions of people were making sure that they dropped $20 on it. Drake sold 852,000 copies of his album in the first week after releasing, thats not counting online purchases. When I listened to the album for the first time, I was left wondering why anybody would spend money to listen to drake do basically the same thing he had done on every other project. He didn’t rap about anything of significance, and even the production was average at best. I understand that these are all mere opinions, but that doesn’t take away from the main issue. The talent level in hip hop is depleting each year, however our generation is continuing to follow, support, and even worship these celebrities who only make music that reveals their own arrogance. That is something I will never understand.