When Did Hip-Hop Stop Making Sense?
Okay, is it just me or has the whole genre of hip-hop and rappers themselves completely gone off the deep end? Let’s be real, the 90's were the golden age. We had rappers like Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. that would not only spin a beat that you could get lost in, but their lyrics actually meant something. Their lyrics were full of allusions and innuendo that really made you think. Pick any song, listen to it and you could hear the story of oppression, growing up with nothing, and — despite everything — beating the odds to become extremely wealthy and famous.
Now, lets flash forward to 2014. A hip-hop group called Rich Gang releases their single “Lifestyle.” It only took a week and the single jumped to the top of the Billboard charts ranking at number 16. I found this to be extremely perplexing mostly because you can not understand a single word they say! Young Thugs verse in particular reminds me of someone attempting to sing through a mouthful of peanut butter. After hearing “Lifestyle” for the first time I actually had to go and google the lyrics! Once I finally understood what they were attempting to rap about, it made me think. What in the world was the purpose of this song? Rich Gang — as your name so cleverly implies — we understand that you are making money faster than you can spend it and you are wealthy now but where is your passion for your music? Spending all your time focusing on the material things you now have and forgetting about the one thing that gave them to you is how rappers end up has beens.
Just for arguments sake, lets compare Notorious B.I.G.’s hit “Juicy” to “Lifestyle.” I have never heard a Biggie song that did not have an extremely deep meaning and discuss his struggles as he clawed his way to the top. In the first verse of the song Biggie dedicates his whole album to those who stood in his way. He first calls out “all the teachers that told me I would never amount to nothin’” and he then goes on to call out all the people that would call the cops on him for hustling drugs when he was just trying to make enough money to feed his little girl. Lets keep in mind, he is making music the whole time during this phase of his life but he is making no money from it. Biggie shows his listeners where he came from and lets them know he is real, unlike Rich Gang who apparently magically became famous.
In all honesty, it is not even fair to compare the wanna be rappers today to someone who is arguably one of the founding fathers of hip-hop. Rich Gang, you get an A for effort but I think we all know whose music is better. We as a society need to make a push back against this garbage the mainstream media is throwing at us and realize what real music with a meaning is again. Music should be an expression of oneself; a way to communicate something bigger than you not just show off all of the expensive things you can buy. We knew this in the 90's, so why not now?
