Outgrowing hip-hop

[Yellosaurus]

I'm gonna be 27 in two months. I've been listening to hip-hop since I was 4. Hip-hop has been the closest thing I've had to a religion. I've been in denial probably for several years now, but I have to just come out and admit it: I've outgrown hip-hop, and honestly, I'm bitter about it...and I damn sure ain't the only one. The reason I'm bitter is because I feel that I would like to still be a fan, but the music did not grow with me. I feel it left me more than I left it.

I started off listening to people like Run DMC and LL Cool J who brought forth this vibrant, energetic, soulful, creative new style of music that enamored me as a young child. I listened up through the "golden age," of the late 80's and watched artists like Eric B & Rakim, BDP, N.W.A., Public Enemy, Ultramagnetic MC's, and De La Soul perfect the rap album, and lay the groundwork for all the different branches of hip-hop that would grow from that period for the next 15 years.

The music continued to expand and improve until around a certain time--I can't quite put my finger on it--somewhere in the mid/late-90's--when it hit a brick wall creatively. The artistic lull correlated with the consolidation of control over music by a handful of corporations that own basically all the radio stations, TV stations, magazines, and record labels, and that is no coincidence. For whatever reason, people stopped trying to be original and lyrically inventive. The media begin to only play a certain simplistic mainstream-friendly type of rap. Gone were the days of watching Rap City and seeing videos by Souls of Mischief, Black Sheep, Leaders of the New School, and Das EFX all in a two and a half hour show.

Around the end of the 90's and turn of the millennium, feeling disconnected from mainstream rap, I got into a lot of mostly west coast independent artists like Aceyalone, Living Legends, and Hieroglypics among many more. I really was captivated by the deep lyrical content, but I eventually grew bored of the genre due primarily to three reasons: 1. I couldn't keep ignoring that most of the beats were WACK, 2. With nothing but the internet as my sole medium of accessing it and having a life, it's difficult to keep up with, and 3. The underground was getting whiter and whiter, and thus cornier and cornier. When I first got into the undergound I was naively optimistic that these artists would eventually break the surface and overtake the "ice age" or rap after people got bored with it...boy, was I wrong.

11 years since The Source named 96 as the "Year of the Big Willie," watered-down materialistic rap is not slowing down, but rather taking up even more of the market share. Three corporations basically govern the rap recording industry. Radio stations play the same 8 songs around the clock, and Viacom owns every major TV channel that shows videos. Lyrics are dumber than ever. Gone are messages of social conscience, or messages of anything, for that matter, other than "drink liquor, bytches and hoes are just sexual objects to men, men are just ATM machines to women, make money either through sellings drugs or rapping, wear name brands clothing designed by some white man who probably doesn't give a shyt about you, and if he does, he probably hates you, be dumb, be ignorant, be violent, having lots of consumer products is your goal in life, phuck education." Rap isn't even valued as art anymore. It's just disposable consumer product of little to no aesthetic value after it's 3 months shelf life is up. KRS-One and Rakim are dissed by 15 year old netnerds. Wack bullshyt like Jeezy and Dipset are what's "hot in da streets."

Don't get me wrong, there's still good music out there. I still enjoy listening to Roots, Outkast, Nas, Murs, Mos Def, Redman, Ghostface Killah, and many more even including some that may fit the description of what I was talking about in the previous paragraph. However, this material is marginalized and damn near not even considered hip-hop anymore, but rather "alternative," whatever that means. Hip-hop of earlier years was something I felt like was movement I was proud to say I was a part of. It had redeeming value, and you could defend it on any level, whether it be lyrically, musically, culturally, or intellectually. Today, it's basically a corporate-run minstrel show.

What doesn't sit well with me is this, why is hip-hop the only form of music that HAS to be kiddie music? What about people age 25 and older that grew up with hip-hop as the soundtrack to their life and would still listen to it if they heard something that spoke to them? Rock n' roll grew with it's audience why doesn't hip-hop? Where are the old school hip-hop radio stations? Why do legends like Public Enemy and KRS-One not get the respect they deserve? I guess it's just a result of the times. This is the corporate age of music.

Sometimes I wonder how did it get like this. Was it primarily the fault of the consumer, the artist, or the industry execs or was it just part of the collective dumbing-down and corporatization of society that seems to be taking place? Then I just say it "phuck it." It's gone and it's never coming back. I'm going to predict that hip-hop will eventually have a Nirvana-like force that brings vitality back to the genre, but it'll probably come from someone white and middle class, and people like me and you, if you relate to what I'm saying, won't be able to vibe with it. People will overrate them and credit them for ressurecting hip-hop, but in actuality they will be the final nail in the coffin of hip-hop, the voice of the streets.
It's been a wonderful ride, but my lifelong romance with hip-hop has come to end. It actually came to an end years ago, I was just in denial. Like they say, it's better to have loved and lost then to never have loved at all. At least I still got the classics.

[ridgegeneral]

damn n igga.

[Mister Discotheque]

Link?

I outgrew it a while ago too. I still listen to some old shyt but I just can't relate to the game as it is.

[Yellosaurus]

Link?


To what?

If you mean the article, there is none. I wrote that.

[dreggz]

I've outgrown it as well...well especially with much of the crap that's out now. I can't even burn a mix cd of new tracks because I can't find enough tracks that I would want to listen too on repeat.

[Yellosaurus]

I can't even burn a mix cd of new tracks because I can't find enough tracks that I would want to listen too on repeat.


Exactly. It takes me months to find enough listenable songs to burn an 80 minute cd, so I'm like why bother?

[Lineage]

I really thought I was the only one with this problem. It seems now everyone like the crap that's being generated now.

[Nofriends]

I'm nearly the same way, but I'm to the point where the simple stuff is getting hot to me. "Wipe Me Down" is the hottest song to me right now and that's not something a 26-year-old, who is about his business, should be driving around jamming. My faith in Hip-hop gets restored every now and then and I think the new Common CD will be the one to get me back. Hip-hop is definitely in a drought, but the dope dealers got all of the product. It's crazy right now.

[StreetSweeper]

Well hip-hop isnt for you ppl in the late 20's anymore (speakin mainstream)...Its for a younger generation...which is good, that means it will always be fresh and forever changing..Disco faded out becasue it didnt change for and cater too the next generation comin up..and hip-hop and the new type rock was formed..and took its place...But you old folks can still go listen to rappers like Common..

[True Power]

I haven't outgrown hip-hop, but I definitely realize much of it has passed me.
I like it for the dumb shyt, but overall, in my late twenties, it doesnt talk to me like it used to.

[Koolest]

Well hip-hop isnt for you ppl in the late 20's anymore (speakin mainstream)...Its for a younger generation...which is good, that means it will always be fresh and forever changing..Disco faded out becasue it didnt change for and cater too the next generation comin up..and hip-hop and the new type rock was formed..and took its place...But you old folks can still go listen to rappers like Common..


not true.....for me there's cats like Joell Ortiz, immortal Tech etc..... just because the radio pushes weak sh*t in your ear doesn't mean u have to listen.

[Rep_DomCP82]

I'm 25, but I've only been a serious fan of hip-hop for 10 years (I haven't lived in the US my whole life), so there's much that I find is noteworthy. The first hip-hop record I bought was Chronic 2001. More than a fan, I think I've become a researcher of hip-hop. I love the old school stuff, from the famous (Rakim, Public Enemy, etc.) to the relativeley obscure (Dana Dane, MC Shan, etc.)

I think that's why I haven't completely outgrown it. I missed so much good hip-hop as an infant and then living abroad that I'm still discovering much of that. I certainly understand your sentiment in terms outgrowing the music. That hip-hop back in the day was the creative peak, and it was far more interesting than today's stuff. I think rappers today are afraid to be funny... take Slick Rick for example. Is there anyone that's even remotely as funny as that guy was? And I'm not talking about the dumb **** today on the radio, cause that stuff ain't funny.

Rappers can't possibly be pissed off throughout the making of a 20 track album. At some point you need to laugh without being a silly fool.

[mitter]

I feel the same way, man


IMO, the last good year in Hip-Hop was 2001. After that, everything just started to fall. It hit rock bottom around 2003, and since then, I've begun to lose interest. Almost every mainstream emcee seems too ignorant to me nowadays.

For a few years, I tried to maintain my interest in Hip-Hop by continuing to follow the old acts I used to love (Wu-Tang, Nas, Blackstar, etc.). But about 2 years ago, when it was clear that the old artists had fallen off and no new emcees with any real promise were coming onto the scene, I basically stopped following.

Don't get me wrong, I still listen to my old hip-hop (although I don't enjoy some of the more "gangsta" stuff as much as I did when I was a teen...I guess I've grown up too). Without any new stuff coming out that generates excitement though, I think I've lost touch with what's going on.

I recently went to the music store and most of the Hip-Hop section looked unfamiliar to me. (Surprisingly, Redman finally released a new album after 6 years.)


I feel bad about my lack of interest in Hip-Hop, because I'm missing some of the excitement I used to have.

[L Seven]

Well hip-hop isnt for you ppl in the late 20's anymore (speakin mainstream)...Its for a younger generation...which is good, that means it will always be fresh and forever changing..Disco faded out becasue it didnt change for and cater too the next generation comin up..and hip-hop and the new type rock was formed..and took its place...But you old folks can still go listen to rappers like Common..

Good point. But isn't the average top tier rapper around the thread starters age. The Hops on its last leg. Its the only culture where the younger heads don't respect its older legends.

[Copper Scroll]

Just turned 30 :weirdo: and the only rap left on my ipod (60gb) is Wu Tang Clan (particularly Ghostface), Common, Game Theory (fukc the other Roots albums), Jay Z, Outkast, Public Enemy, and Beastie Boys. There's too much good music out there outside of hip hop to be bothered with all that other bullshiit.

[Yellosaurus]

Game Theory (fukc the other Roots albums)


Seriously? All of their joints are pretty much bangers to me. Things Fall Apart ain't all that, though.

[Copper Scroll]

Seriously? All of their joints are pretty much bangers to me. Things Fall Apart ain't all that, though.
Nah. I wasn't really feelin the Roots like that until Game Theory.

I also still got Illmatic on my ipod too, but it's hanging by a string. And there's some Eric B & Rakim, some Doom, some Kweli and Mos Def, a little Cam'ron, a little EPMD, De La and Tribe's first three albums, a little this and a little that--but overall I ain't got room in my life for this rap shiit no more.

smh

[Eflex tha Vybe Scientist]

its impossible to outgrow a culture. You have gotten tired of the corporate fashioned crap that permeates on mainstream radio and TV

[Yellosaurus]

its impossible to outgrow a culture. You have gotten tired of the corporate fashioned crap that permeates on mainstream radio and TV

Nah, I've outgrown the whole shyt. I don't relate to the "hip-hop" youth anymore. All they seem to care about is gossip, drama, machismo, album sales, and material things. I know that's partially due to conditioning by mainstream media, but regardless, I don't feel it.

[True Power]

its impossible to outgrow a culture. You have gotten tired of the corporate fashioned crap that permeates on mainstream radio and TV

Corporate Hip-Hop is what we don't like.

[adg87]

There's too much good music out there outside of hip hop to be bothered with all that other bullshiit.

:yes:

Classic Soul
Jazz
Reggae
Classic Rock

[Yellosaurus]

I'm gonna be 26 in two months.


Goddamn, I can't believe I got my own age wrong. I'm gonna be 27. I'm an idiot sometimes. Edit quote.

[rantanamo]

I was on the edge of outgrowing it, but Booty Meat put me over that edge. Shyt is done.

[x2y]

HIP HOP

Long Essay Alert.


I'm pretty much in the same place as you let me explain.

My pops was into Disco back in the day homeboy was a DJ so I always had the turntables around I don't even know who it was that I saw scratching first but there are pictures of me trying to DJ as young as 3-4 years old.

Now I'm Dominican but the music played at my house was usually stuff like MJ, Commodores, Bee Gees, Modona, Roberta Flack, Aretha Flranklin, Gloria Estefan, Celia Cruz and of course some merengue, Salsa. Though I liked some of that stuff as kid I never felt it was ME.

I started coming into my own with Fat Boys, Beastie Boys, LL, Run DMC in the mid 80's but I still didn't know what Hip Hop was but I knew that what they were talking about was what I was seeing on my way to school and in front of my building (159th St and St Nick mid to late 80's) I had no brothers but I started making friends through the music so to speak... It was a common denominator between blacks, dominicans, puerto ricans, indian, asian (didn't know too many white people then) we all got along cuz of hip hop... through the years Started tagging, beat boxing, breaking, DJ, even rap and most of us were terrible at some of these things. I didn't play the air guitar stood in a boy stand in front of the mirror scoping out my Filas, freestyled of the dome for real just for fun even though I knew it was garbage, we used to steal tapes from older brothers, cousins, random joe dub the tapes for friends... Walked to school with the Radio Shack headphones blasting that new flava from east to West to south and north I played it all as long as I thought it was hot it was all to me I was Hip without fully saying to myself damn man you know what I'm hip hop in other words I didn't seek to make money outta of it.


I started changing some time the mid 90's it got too ignorant (so I thought) around the time the whole east West beef I really didn't care either way I liked both coast a lot and was annoyed with Pac but more so seeing guys I respected a lot start acting a fool such as Cube (WSC) and other random little things like everyone was a DJ or a Rapper (I think we're worst of now cuz everybody is a producer rapper thanks to PCs and many suck just as bad or worse but more power to em) ... sometime around late 95 I started looking for other forms of music I liked, besides the random pop song I only found that I liked things derivitive* of HIp Hip such as Trip Ho, Drum & Bass, Jungle and the random Rock song wich all pretty much died to me by 96 I was back to HIP HOP 24/7 again. I thought things had deffinately changed by summer 97 but I conformed to it. I got Jiggy with it since it was all about the Benjis around that same time What I knew as underground started changing like you mentioned.... it got whiter and whinier. The elitest took center stage in my CD player for a minute and I found myself thinking "this Real Hip Hop" like the rest of those suckas. So I retired the backpack before the millinium and through all this I had build up a nice collection of albums but I was starting to buy less and less....

hated the radio so I stopped listening minus college radio and Howard in the morning, eventually got my own PC with a burner and still bought albums but around winter 2002 is when I stopped buying every damn album. I got pickier noticed most album I had bought I didn't listen where all mint condition and started re-selling them to Music store for like $2-$3 each (I lost for that)

To finish this off I was no longer having the fun I used to with it, many of the friends/fam whatever around me was into other music (regaythong, rock, Salsa whatever) but not me I was and am still hip hop.

I just simply stopped supporting a lot of the artist that got complacent, sold out or were just putting out garbage and I didn't buy into the jingle free downloads for tall that. I always find there are a few good albums a year but the days of high quality are long gone and I don't support what in my opinion is garbage. I buy underground, indy, major, north, south , east and west stuff to this day I can't be smething I'm not, I am Hip Hop but the rap game is the one spot of Hip Hop and even Graffiti that it's not quite the same here in the US. I sometimes see Documentries, or clips online of the Hip Hop scene in Europe, Cananda, Japan middle of no mans land and I see that enthusiasm we used to have back in the 80's early 90's makes me want to relive that...but like Dre been there done that always forward I'm moving never backwards stupid I just chill and wait for another anthem waiting to see whats next. In short I just don't take rap serious anymore and enjoy what little there may be to enjoy.

[Priest Skool]

You haven't outgrown Hiphop, dun dun.

You can't throw in "Enta Da Stage" and feel like you're in '93? I capture the essence of the Hiphop I fell in love with everytime I listen to some old Cube, Main Source, or Natural Elements, etc. (been playing "Hemlock" like crazy lately).

That will never leave me. And it's really all I need.

I have already given up the fact that the sound that captivated me in the late 80s/early 90s will not return. Since the year 2000 or so I have expected nothing - I gave up. With that said, you still have to keep your eyes peeled for new acts. I'd say every year there are 3-4 new acts who are bringing some refreshing sounds to the table.

[Yellosaurus]

Long Essay Alert.
I'm pretty much in the same place as you let me explain.
My pops was into Disco back in the day homeboy was a DJ so I always had the turntables around I don't even know who it was that I saw scratching first but there are pictures of me trying to DJ as young as 3-4 years old.
Now I'm Dominican but the music played at my house was usually stuff like MJ, Commodores, Bee Gees, Modona, Roberta Flack, Aretha Flranklin, Gloria Estefan, Celia Cruz and of course some merengue, Salsa. Though I liked some of that stuff as kid I never felt it was ME.
I started coming into my own with Fat Boys, Beastie Boys, LL, Run DMC in the mid 80's but I still didn't know what Hip Hop was but I knew that what they were talking about was what I was seeing on my way to school and in front of my building (159th St and St Nick mid to late 80's) I had no brothers but I started making friends through the music so to speak... It was a common denominator between blacks, dominicans, puerto ricans, indian, asian (didn't know too many white people then) we all got along cuz of hip hop... through the years Started tagging, beat boxing, breaking, DJ, even rap and most of us were terrible at some of these things. I didn't play the air guitar stood in a boy stand in front of the mirror scoping out my Filas, freestyled of the dome for real just for fun even though I knew it was garbage, we used to steal tapes from older brothers, cousins, random joe dub the tapes for friends... Walked to school with the Radio Shack headphones blasting that new flava from east to West to south and north I played it all as long as I thought it was hot it was all to me I was Hip without fully saying to myself damn man you know what I'm hip hop in other words I didn't seek to make money outta of it.
I started changing some time the mid 90's it got too ignorant (so I thought) around the time the whole east West beef I really didn't care either way I liked both coast a lot and was annoyed with Pac but more so seeing guys I respected a lot start acting a fool such as Cube (WSC) and other random little things like everyone was a DJ or a Rapper (I think we're worst of now cuz everybody is a producer rapper thanks to PCs and many suck just as bad or worse but more power to em) ... sometime around late 95 I started looking for other forms of music I liked, besides the random pop song I only found that I liked things derivitive* of HIp Hip such as Trip Ho, Drum & Bass, Jungle and the random Rock song wich all pretty much died to me by 96 I was back to HIP HOP 24/7 again. I thought things had deffinately changed by summer 97 but I conformed to it. I got Jiggy with it since it was all about the Benjis around that same time What I knew as underground started changing like you mentioned.... it got whiter and whinier. The elitest took center stage in my CD player for a minute and I found myself thinking "this Real Hip Hop" like the rest of those suckas. So I retired the backpack before the millinium and through all this I had build up a nice collection of albums but I was starting to buy less and less....
hated the radio so I stopped listening minus college radio and Howard in the morning, eventually got my own PC with a burner and still bought albums but around winter 2002 is when I stopped buying every damn album. I got pickier noticed most album I had bought I didn't listen where all mint condition and started re-selling them to Music store for like $2-$3 each (I lost for that)
To finish this off I was no longer having the fun I used to with it, many of the friends/fam whatever around me was into other music (regaythong, rock, Salsa whatever) but not me I was and am still hip hop.
I just simply stopped supporting a lot of the artist that got complacent, sold out or were just putting out garbage and I didn't buy into the jingle free downloads for tall that. I always find there are a few good albums a year but the days of high quality are long gone and I don't support what in my opinion is garbage. I buy underground, indy, major, north, south , east and west stuff to this day I can't be smething I'm not, I am Hip Hop but the rap game is the one spot of Hip Hop and even Graffiti that it's not quite the same here in the US. I sometimes see Documentries, or clips online of the Hip Hop scene in Europe, Cananda, Japan middle of no mans land and I see that enthusiasm we used to have back in the 80's early 90's makes me want to relive that...but like Dre been there done that always forward I'm moving never backwards stupid I just chill and wait for another anthem waiting to see whats next. In short I just don't take rap serious anymore and enjoy what little there may be to enjoy.
Yeah, I feel you're on the same page as me for the most part. There is the occasional Ghostface or Little Brother album that recaptures the spirit from time to time, but hip-hop no longer feels like a movement. It's no longer something that represents something real and vital to me.

It's crazy that what was once the essence of hip-hop is now "alternative" or "underground." I guess when you think about it, back in the days, there always were very few hip-hop heads. Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy, BDP, Eric B. & Rakim, EPMD, etc. are all considered greats by critics and hip-hop historians, but in actuality very few people were actually listening to them in the context of America as a whole. I was, but most people i.e. the mainstream had just a passing interest in hip-hop. Most people just liked a few hits they played on the radio and didn't take the time to delve into hip-hop. I remember in elementary school, I was the only cat listening to Kool G. Rap. I was bumping Main Source "Breaking Atoms" when damn near everyone else I knew was playing Hammer. At some point in the 90's, a shift in audience occured in conjunction with the corporatization of hip-hop. Since hip-hop became to popular on a mainstream level, sensibilities dealing with what is good and what is hip-hop are now dictated by the mainstream listener who was or would have been listening to Hammer or Ton Loc and never giving Ultramagnetics MC's two seconds of their time back in the days. Since hip-hop always was underground in the first place, those of us who remain "underground" in our tastes are looked upon as weird now by the majority, even though to us, we are as hip-hop as it gets.

Unfortunately, the underground has been taken over by white mostly former whiggers who realized they were pathetic for being whiggers at some point and angrily rebelled against their own personal shame by overcompensating and becoming "real hip-hoppers" when in reality they are the worst kind of posers. This makes the underground just as corny as the mainstream nowadays. Also, it puts true underground artists in a precarious and alienated position because they're forced to perform for, and thus be linked to this new white pseudounderground. They're labeled "backpack" by the mainstream and can't be related to by the nerdy white underground. Like Common said, "now it's just coffee shop chicks and white dudes." Murs broke it down on the last verse of his song "And This Is For..."

Man, I do the same music they stop coming to shows
it's like they scared of the whiteboys in the front row
first I was like so?...I'mma get my dough
but the numbers kept falling as my fanbase would grow
so now I'm concerned so I gotta speak up
first the money was the only thing shutting me up
but now I don't care, don't support me get mad
why wouldn't you abort me?...my own people have
I feel like I should have the scans white rappers have
it's sad but that's the way it is
what's the reason that my album don't sell like his?
and don't front like you don't know why the hell that is
it's because he's white, you can relate to his face
through the years you've been taught that black is unsafe
and it's only natural for your own to be embraced
conscious or subconscious you can't say that ain't the case
the only reason it took so long to take place
was up until now your only choice was 3rd Bass
but others like Ice wasn't really that tight
now you got some white dudes that can truly rock the mic
you can relate to their stories 'cause you share that past
question is, why would you listen to Murs' black ass?
I asked myself for a while now finally I get it
good music trancends all physical limits
it's more than something that you hear, it's something that you feel
when an author with experience and passion is real
I used to feel I should be silent I was scared to do this song
but I want everyone aware of what is going on
yes it is jazz and yes it is the blues and
yes it is the exact same way they did rock
but I refuse to watch the same thing happen to hip-hop

[Yellosaurus]

You haven't outgrown Hiphop, dun dun.
You can't throw in "Enta Da Stage" and feel like you're in '93? I capture the essence of the Hiphop I fell in love with everytime I listen to some old Cube, Main Source, or Natural Elements, etc. (been playing "Hemlock" like crazy lately).
That will never leave me. And it's really all I need..

Yeah, I'll never stop listening to the classics. I'm just saying I'm accepting that it'll never be remotely like that again. I used to have this shred of optimism that the essence of the good ol' days would return in a new form, but I have now resigned all hope of that happening.

[Copper Scroll]

You haven't outgrown Hiphop, dun dun.
You can't throw in "Enta Da Stage" and feel like you're in '93? I capture the essence of the Hiphop I fell in love with everytime I listen to some old Cube, Main Source, or Natural Elements, etc. (been playing "Hemlock" like crazy lately).
That will never leave me. And it's really all I need.
Speaking for myself, I don't get the same feeling I used to from most of those records.

Certain ones, in my view, have stood the test of time, but most of them haven't.

[Equ Laru]

biggie ready 2 die still bumps and jayz blueprint still bumps to me. maybe the south ruined hip hop with all the watered down bs.

[True Power]

Yeah, I feel you're on the same page as me for the most part. There is the occasional Ghostface or Little Brother album that recaptures the spirit from time to time, but hip-hop no longer feels like a movement. It's no longer something that represents something real and vital to me.
It's crazy that what was once the essence of hip-hop is now "alternative" or "underground." I guess when you think about it, back in the days, there always were very few hip-hop heads. Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy, BDP, Eric B. & Rakim, EPMD, etc. are all considered greats by critics and hip-hop historians, but in actuality very few people were actually listening to them in the context of America as a whole. I was, but most people i.e. the mainstream had just a passing interest in hip-hop. Most people just liked a few hits they played on the radio and didn't take the time to delve into hip-hop. I remember in elementary school, I was the only cat listening to Kool G. Rap. I was bumping Main Source "Breaking Atoms" when damn near everyone else I knew was playing Hammer. At some point in the 90's, a shift in audience occured in conjunction with the corporatization of hip-hop. Since hip-hop became to popular on a mainstream level, sensibilities dealing with what is good and what is hip-hop are now dictated by the mainstream listener who was or would have been listening to Hammer or Ton Loc and never giving Ultramagnetics MC's two seconds of their time back in the days. Since hip-hop always was underground in the first place, those of us who remain "underground" in our tastes are looked upon as weird now by the majority, even though to us, we are as hip-hop as it gets.
Unfortunately, the underground has been taken over by white mostly former whiggers who realized they were pathetic for being whiggers at some point and angrily rebelled against their own personal shame by overcompensating and becoming "real hip-hoppers" when in reality they are the worst kind of posers. This makes the underground just as corny as the mainstream nowadays. Also, it puts true underground artists in a precarious and alienated position because they're forced to perform for, and thus be linked to this new white pseudounderground. They're labeled "backpack" by the mainstream and can't be related to by the nerdy white underground. Like Common said, "now it's just coffee shop chicks and white dudes." Murs broke it down on the last verse of his song "And This Is For..."
Man, I do the same music they stop coming to shows
it's like they scared of the whiteboys in the front row
first I was like so?...I'mma get my dough
but the numbers kept falling as my fanbase would grow
so now I'm concerned so I gotta speak up
first the money was the only thing shutting me up
but now I don't care, don't support me get mad
why wouldn't you abort me?...my own people have
I feel like I should have the scans white rappers have
it's sad but that's the way it is
what's the reason that my album don't sell like his?
and don't front like you don't know why the hell that is
it's because he's white, you can relate to his face
through the years you've been taught that black is unsafe
and it's only natural for your own to be embraced
conscious or subconscious you can't say that ain't the case
the only reason it took so long to take place
was up until now your only choice was 3rd Bass
but others like Ice wasn't really that tight
now you got some white dudes that can truly rock the mic
you can relate to their stories 'cause you share that past
question is, why would you listen to Murs' black ass?
I asked myself for a while now finally I get it
good music trancends all physical limits
it's more than something that you hear, it's something that you feel
when an author with experience and passion is real
I used to feel I should be silent I was scared to do this song
but I want everyone aware of what is going on
yes it is jazz and yes it is the blues and
yes it is the exact same way they did rock
but I refuse to watch the same thing happen to hip-hop

:ohmy:
Thats real.
I hate how when somebody thinks "Backpack" they think of white underground fans.

[Rzarector7]

I've outgrown it as well...well especially with much of the crap that's out now. I can't even burn a mix cd of new tracks because I can't find enough tracks that I would want to listen too on repeat.
Word, even as late as 03 I could make a mixcd of new songs to even listen to and enjoy, I can't even make that kind of CD anymore and thats just 4 years ago. Things steadily decline each year, you will get an album here or there that you can feel and bring back some old times in hip hop but thats about it... They are few and FAAAAAAR in between. I feel the same way the threadstarter does, infact in the whip I can only bump classics usually and no radio b.s. and so on. Hip hop is for the newer generation or geared toward those kids now, it is their genre now and atleast we got what we got and thats great. Every generation hates on the one after it seems or doesn't feel their style and music as much etc., thats just the way it is. Some cat from the 70's or 80's dissing our style of dressing and music and so on why we feel it's the absolute best ever, well we are doing that nowadays to the younger generation and feel ours was just that much better (It is lol) and the younger cats in here even throw jabs at us and diss legends and so on and we can't relate to them at all when they speak it. Thats just the way it is man.

[Dead End]

waaah! waah! shut the **** up you babblin *****es.

[boombche_stum]

:ohmy:
Thats real.
I hate how when somebody thinks "Backpack" they think of white underground fans.

That's cause most of these cats aint ever seen what real backpackers looked like during the golden age of this ****.

Anyway, I'm pretty much in the same boat. I can still bump some classic shyt... and some new shyt makes its way into my rotation, but hip hop has grown stagnent... shyt aint going anywhere now. Nobody is trying anything all that new or fresh anymore, it's formulaic.

[Seven One Three]

only white people "outgrow" hip-hop.

[Rzarector7]

waaah! waah! shut the **** up you babblin *****es.
Man them albums you have listed fukkin sukk....... See why you think hip hop is alive and well. Sh*t is trash now, well most of it outside of Royce, AZ, Devin The Dude and a few others I can still rock to.....

[Dead End]

Man them albums you have listed fukkin sukk....... See why you think hip hop is alive and well. Sh*t is trash now, well most of it outside of Royce, AZ, Devin The Dude and a few others I can still rock to.....

-chemical brothers ain't hip-hop, so that has noting to do with anything

-that dizzee rascal got beats that sh*t on almost everything out now

-your name is "Rzarector' and you don't like Cilvaringz? smh

[Mister Discotheque]

I'm not feelin this era either... everyone takes themselves too seriously, but not enough people take their craft seriously... so you got a lot of ego and not a lot of depth

'i aint gotta rap'

Then don't nicca, stop wasting your time

[DrugMatrix]

Here's some hope... at least I found comfort in it
DJ Jamad's Afromentals
http://www.tastefullicks.com/store/index.cfm?listing=4,16

Rasta Root:
http://www.tastefullicks.com/store/index.cfm?listing=4,23

If u set up a free account, you can listen to everything.
I stopped listening to the radio a few years ago, and even the mixtape game is wack on top of the numerous wack garbage albums people put out. There was a time I would cope mixtapes cause they had so much good music, now... more trash.
There is hope here and there Termanology, Skyzoo, Joell Ortiz, but you won't hear them on the mainstream too much unless your in NYC.

[Geniey2g]

I've outgrown it as well...well especially with much of the crap that's out now. I can't even burn a mix cd of new tracks because I can't find enough tracks that I would want to listen too on repeat.
I'm saying.
I really can't listen to the rubbish that is hip hop nowadays; I don't care about your car or your girl, or your ability to waste money on alcohol. It just seems foolish for me to be listening to this empty, 1-dimensional stuff; I can't relate, so I'm like why bother? And all the beats are recycled (poorly) anyway, so it's not like I'm missing out on anything fresh.

Oh yeah, real talk right here- greatness:
I started off listening to people like Run DMC and LL Cool J who brought forth this vibrant, energetic, soulful, creative new style of music that enamored me as a young child. I listened up through the "golden age," of the late 80's and watched artists like Eric B & Rakim, BDP, N.W.A., Public Enemy, Ultramagnetic MC's, and De La Soul perfect the rap album, and lay the groundwork for all the different branches of hip-hop that would grow from that period for the next 15 years.

[Dead End]

waaah! waah! shut the **** up you babblin *****es.

["BIGBRUHBRUH"]

Dam G!! I struggle wit this everyday..Its always in the back of my mind. I feel like i have outgrown hip hop as well. Im still hanging on by a thread but in my heart i know i don't love it like i used to. I get bored with albums really quick now and the subject matter is just inexcusable at times. Im with you bro but where do we go from here??

["BIGBRUHBRUH"]

Well hip-hop isnt for you ppl in the late 20's anymore (speakin mainstream)...Its for a younger generation...which is good, that means it will always be fresh and forever changing..Disco faded out becasue it didnt change for and cater too the next generation comin up..and hip-hop and the new type rock was formed..and took its place...But you old folks can still go listen to rappers like Common..



True to a certain point but when you start making music for teenagers on purpose you are alienating the people who grew up with hip hop from the very beginning. What do we get in return for being loyal for all these years and loving it. its stupid for a grown person to make music for kids anyways make music that expands the mind grow wit your audience all of us get older. Its weird we are the only music who is not growing with our age. All other genres of music grow with there fans they don't say dum sh1t like i make music for 25 and younger. Thats a cop out.

[Dead End]

True to a certain point but when you start making music for teenagers on purpose you are alienating the people who grew up with hip hop from the very beginning. What do we get in return for being loyal for all these years and loving it. its stupid for a grown person to make music for kids anyways make music that expands the mind grow wit your audience all of us get older. Its weird we are the only music who is not growing with our age. All other genres of music grow with there fans they don't say dum sh1t like i make music for 25 and younger. Thats a cop out.

bullsh*t.

nas, jay-z, common, rakim, guru, etc etc etc etc etc etc have all talked about things a teenager would no nothing about or could not relate to.

only genre?!

rockers have been making sad-mackin songs about some b*tch that broke up with them since the 50's. now THAT'S some teenage sh*t there.

[Yellosaurus]

Its weird we are the only music who is not growing with our age. All other genres of music grow with there fans they don't say dum sh1t like i make music for 25 and younger .

Exactly!

[Yellosaurus]

bullsh*t.
nas, jay-z, common, rakim, guru, etc etc etc etc etc etc have all talked about things a teenager would no nothing about or could not relate to.
only genre?!
rockers have been making sad-mackin songs about some b*tch that broke up with them since the 50's. now THAT'S some teenage sh*t there.

Jay-Z's singles are still kids stuff for the most part. The casual fan isn't even aware Rakim and Guru are making music anymore, and Rakim has been forcing shyt, trying to relate to the youth. Neither one of them are signed to a major. Nas and Common, I'll give you them. Throw in Outkast too. Wow, three acts.

It's pretty much inarguable that the hip-hop industry caters to nobody but the youth primarily. Where are the hip-hop TV stations/shows that show hip-hop targeted at people over 25? Where are the radio stations? Where are the marketing campaigns for grown hip-hop? The goal the corporations that run hip-hop have in mind is making a kid-friendly hit that will top the 106 and Park charts.

Rock n roll did grow with it's audience. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, all of them did. You had people like U2, R.E.M, and Depeche Mode come out in the 80's. They weren't making songs for kids.

[Dead End]

Jay-Z's singles are still kids stuff for the most part. The casual fan isn't even aware Rakim and Guru are making music anymore, and Rakim has been forcing shyt, trying to relate to the youth. Neither one of them are signed to a major. Nas and Common, I'll give you them. Throw in Outkast too. Wow, three acts.
It's pretty much inarguable that the hip-hop industry caters to nobody but the youth primarily. Where are the hip-hop TV stations/shows that show hip-hop targeted at people over 25? Where are the radio stations? Where are the marketing campaigns for grown hip-hop? The goal the corporations that run hip-hop have in mind is making a kid-friendly hip that will top the 106 and Park charts.
Rock n roll did grow with it's audience. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, all of them did. You had people like U2, R.E.M, and Depeche Mode come out in the 80's. They weren't making songs for kids.

Oh well, i really dont care, i find plenty of hip-hop to relate to, turn off that mothafukkin radio and find some yourself.

[Yellosaurus]

Oh well, i really dont care, i find plenty of hip-hop to relate to, turn off that mothafukkin radio and find some yourself.

Stop assuming shyt. I haven't listened to the radio in years. I find good underground shyt, but it's few and far between and the best of it pales in comparison to yesteryear.

[Neko_804]

To what?
If you mean the article, there is none. I wrote that.
your husband must be proud:thumbsdow

[Neko_804]

To what?
If you mean the article, there is none. I wrote that.
your husband must be proud:thumbsdow

[HIP HOP MUSIC]

i been listening to hip hop since around ... eh, 1991 and i still havent outgrown it