Over the last ten years the biggest question surrounding hip hop is, is it alive or is it dead? I do not believe hip hop is dead but the game has indeed changed. I think hip hop is more so entertainment more then anything because of content in artist lyrics. Is it real, is it fake? I would say 80% of what artist rap about is fiction leaving the possibility of 20% truth and creativity. Most songs today you will hear the usual, sex,money and murder but everyone has their own twist and delivery which i believe is totally fine.
If you look deep down, sex, money, murder and drugs is what runs our community and what most rappers grew up around so it’s only right they express their feelings through rhymes in that sense. A lot of times us as music lovers we are always looking for something different other then the usual lyrics we hear but, are we really listening? The same things they talked about in the 80’s and 90’s is the same things they are talking about today just with a different delivery. Hip hop will never change, it will always be sex, money, murder and drugs, the flashy cars and expensive jewelry, the partying and the women. What is it that we are looking for?
What I can agree on is the number of one hit wonders that we’ve seen come and go. There are plenty of artist that has come into the industry based off a hit song and could not keep up with the level of expectations by their label. A lot of us wonder if hip hop is dead because of the new southern trend. I think we are still stuck on the “east coast, west coast” trend that actually brought awareness to hip hop or that style of hip hop i should say.
There are a huge amount of underground artist that are extremely talented and could see them om mainstream one day. For now we’ll s stick with what we have. Lots of great music.