Is Hip Hop Dead?
Why is this important?
Hip hop was originally founded by DJs spinning records to make beats and a MC spitting lyrics and freestyles to an audience conveying how they felt. Hip hop then aroused to be solely filled with artists rapping about the struggles of life growing up in underprivileged areas. These eighties and nineties artists soon set the bar for exceptional hip hop music that some argue cannot be recreated. The new generation of hip hop artist, however, are said to have no insight on the foundation of hip hop whatsoever, and in fact, some have even admitted to not knowing some of the industry’s greats. A generation producing music with no meaning? I’m sure you can start to see the complications and questions being formed from old schoolers and outsiders of the industry. But the lyrical content is not the only thing that has changed about the production in hip hop. In fact, it is the first of few.
It is no surprise that within the last ten years alone, the sounds of hip-hop have changed drastically. The newer generation of artists like Travi$ Scott and Young Thug are known for using crazy sound affects, samples, and autotune which has made the music industry reach an entire different level. Taking it back to one of the first hip hop artist to introduce auto tune and a sense of pop into their hip hop music, Kanye West’s “808’s and Heartbreaks” album was simply groundbreaking for changing the sound of hip hop. Jon Caramanica expresses in his New York Times Article that Mr. West delivers “slashes of ecstatic faith” in his music when performs. This change of sound influenced many others and ultimately lead to the birth of other artist like Travi$. Because of the sudden change of sounds in production and lyrical content, older artists like Nas and Face Mob released albums titled “Hip Hop Is Dead,” explaining why exactly they believe the industry is dead, making it hard to pick a side. Ebro Darden, a radio host, also believes that the new school of hip hop isn’t like it once was, and that some of today’s hip-hop stars have “High School bars.” But is it even that broad? Is hip hop not a genre of speaking about real life hardships and obstacles like it once was? Or has hip hop turned into songs amplifying their lives of being rich and living lavishly because that’s all the current artists know?
Why do I care?
Because music is often closely relatable to many lives, people tend to look to music for inspiration in their lives, which is why music is so influence-able. Music has, was, and always will be my escape. I look to music when I’m sad, when I’m happy, when I’m lonely, when I’m with a group of friends. MUSIC IS EVERYWHERE. There is really no escaping music and it is astonishing to see how much a music genre, like hip hop, or artists can change someone’s life.
Works Cited
Caramanica, Jon. “Review: Kanye West, Both Close and Out of Reach at His Tour Opener.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 26 Aug. 2016. Web. 14 Sept. 2016.
@Designntrend. “Lil Yachty Disses Hot 97’s Ebro After He Says He Has ‘High School Bars’” Design Trend RSS. N.p., 20 July 2016. Web. 14 Sept. 2016.
Finley, Taryn. “Hip-Hop Is Changing Whether You Like It or Not.” The Root. N.p., 09 Aug. 2014. Web. 14 Sept. 2016.
