DSDeviance: "Hip Hop is Dead" is dead (pt. 1)

I hate this phrase. It annoys me to my core. I am not easily angered, but I want to stomp on anyone that says anything along the lines of this. Some of the more serious offenders would be, "Hip hop is not as good as it used to be and it never will be." or "New Rapper X will never be as good as Old Rapper Y because Old Rapper Y is a legend and nobody can therefore be better than him" or "Rapper X died in the 90's, therefore they are the best ever."




"Hip hop is not as good as it used to be and it never will be."

Really? You mean to tell me all old school drum machine hip hop is better than music now? You mean to tell me that Grandmaster Flash is more talented than Kanye West?

You may argue that hip-hop used to be pure and now all they talk about is drugs and degrading women. I can tell you now, the only reason it was sanitized back then was because it was new and because everything was sanitized back then. Look at how every other genre has changed. Think about pop music back in the day and pop music now. Hell, look at TV and movies. It's everywhere, things change.

And about the degrading women thing. They didn't kidnap these video vixens and force them to have $500 a bottle champagne poured on their titties. They CHOSE to do it and they are getting PAID WELL to do it. So please, please do not say any of that shit to me.

Another argument about this topic that I simply hate would be that we have "Strayed away from the 5 elements of Hip Hop"

Fuck the 4 elements of Hip Hop.

1. MC'ing - That's a given. But I consider artists like T-Pain to be hip hop artists. Not really traditional or particularly great artists, but hip hop artists nonetheless. Things are changing, but this will probably stay.

2. DJing - Pro Tools and FLstudio are in now. Unless you really know what you're doing, the DJ in the hip-hop group is wiggedy wiggedy wack.

3. Breaking - Who the FUCK breakdances anymore. Tell me if you see a nigga with a cardboard dance floor and a ghetto blaster breakdancing in the middle of the sidewalk and I will personally fly out to wherever you are so I can point and laugh at him.

4. Graffiti - As much as I love graffiti(I think it's cool as hell), it's simply not part of hip hop at all anymore. Sorry.


As you can see, 3/4 of what used to be hip hop is now obsolete. If I had to make my own 4 now, I'd say it'd be MCing, Swag, Beats, and Fans.

MCing - You have to have both good lyrics and good delivery to succeed in this category. I personally think Plies is a shitty rapper, but he has good delivery and a unique flow, so he gets my respect. Snoop and Nate Dogg have their own lyrical style and flow that is almost instantly recognizable as theirs. And then you have some rappers like Immortal Technique that don't really have a recognizable flow, but are lyrically just on another level. I think that's alright, too.

Swag and Fan Base - This is a category that I believe can make or break a rapper. I'll use the best example that I can think of: Lil Wayne. I don't care what anyone says, this guy is not the greatest rapper alive. He's not even the greatest rapper in the South. He's pretty amazing though, but I'd have to say a lot of his fame has to do with his swag. I think the nigga looks like a toad, but there are legions of women itching to get in bed with him. Why? Because he carries himself in a way that gets him that kind of attention. Who the hell cares about J'Kwon, Jibbs, Rich Boy, or D4L. They were no different than any other rappers in their genre. No swag at all, period.

And having the right kind of swag will get you a certain type of fan base, which is important because that's who listens to your music.

1. Hipster Rap - Kanye, the Cool Kids, Pharrell(My lord and savior), Kidz in the Hall. These are the hipsters. They attract other hipsters and white people. Artists in this genre have their own sort of retropop swag. Look at the way any of them dresses to kind of get a clue what I'm talking about.

The Cool Kids

2. Educated Rap - Lupe Fiasco, Nas(sometimes), Common, etc. These are rappers that have a message and will beat you over the head with it. You'll almost never see them flashing money or sliding credit cards through a girl's ass cheeks. Their fan base is usually white people and black people who think they're too good for all other hip hop. (These are general statements. Lupe Fiasco is my favorite raper of all time and I definitely don't fall into this category)

3. Dirty South Rap - 3 6 Mafia, Plies, David Banner, Trick Daddy... I hate southern rap. I'll listen to it occasionally, but it seems like most of it is garbage to me. Fortunately for everyone else, my opinion doesn't define what is or is not good music. Southern rap is characterized by a "fuck it, imma party" attitude. Lyrics and behavior exhibited by these rappers are generally about partying, strip clubs, regular clubs, and graphic descriptions of sex. Back in the day, this was sort of a niche type of hip hop, but now the fanbase is anyone that turns on the radio.

4.West Coast Rap - Does not exist anymore.

5. Dance Rap - Souljaboy, Dj Unk, Dem Franchise Boyz, etc. I hate it when people criticize these guys and Dirty South rappers for their non-intellectual lyrics. These niggas aren't trying to be deep and witty, the beat is all important as is the associated dance. Their fanbase is anyone that goes to parties frequently. These rappers don't act or dress a certain way because they fit into other categories. I also hate dance rap, but it is by no means bad music.

Beats - If you have good lyrics and a shitty instrumental, It's very hard to have a good overall song. Kanye is a great artist, but people consider him one of the best because he's a rapper/producer and not just a rapper. His rhymes aren't really all that, but they're better than most. Combined with the beats, he's unstoppable. On the opposite side of the spectrum, we have The Cool Kids, whose beats are awful and all sound the same but have some pretty good lyrics. For me, however, it just doesn't work that way for them.

That's about it.....


As a final note -


This is what R&B used to look like. It was cool then, but would you look like that now?


Things Change




Or do they?