Are current rappers less smart than rappers of the past generations? Is that why the music is trash?

[Red Money]

Soon as studio equipment started costing $100 and social media gave every human on earth a voice, the game became saturated.

Back in the day you had to be dope to have a shot in the game. Studio time and equipment was hella expensive so nikkas was taking it serious when they made that investment.

Fast forward to today, now u got nikkas treating rap like the drug game. No barrier to entry.

Jeezy saying, “I am not a rapper” was a major sign of what was happening at the time. Then you have the south’s run of bubble gum, mumble fun, drug, dance clown rap that was all ran off the beat being “the star” coupled with strip club anthems, hooks, and sub par bars.



Rap is no longer treated as an art, its treated as a hustle

But didn't Jay Z start the I'm a hustler not a rapper thing before Jeezy?....hmmm. And then 50cent was talking that shyt too.


Jay persona was a hustler disguised as a rapper...and he was called the GOAT. Then what do you expect the rest of the rappers to do?....

 

[CrushedGroove]

When your face is in a screen all day instead of reading or interacting with people past the surface level, then you tend to be less intelligent and give less than a damn about it

 

[Wildhundreds]

Labels pushin' dumbed down content because they never cared about hip-hop outside of the return on investment.
Since black people the creators and lifeblood of a culture reduced to a genre, dumb rappers make us look bad compared to jazz, R&B, rock n roll...





Although there were dropouts, rappers in the 90s talked to others, exchanged ideas and matched wits because they cared about their culture.
They came from families, communities that put high value on education.
New York history of black intellectualism from the Harlem Renaissance continued to the end of the century.
Cosby renewed HBCU interest, people in the City were educated talking to people who weren't and knowledge was shared.
Militancy was a factor. The City was a powder keg of knowledge and creativity.
All it took was some money and somebody willing to dumb down. Rapping for the Grammy instead of stimulating minds.

NYC brehs had the formula in the 80s.

 

[Wildhundreds]

But didn't Jay Z start the I'm a hustler not a rapper thing before Jeezy?....hmmm. And then 50cent was talking that shyt too.


Jay persona was a hustler disguised as a rapper...and he was called the GOAT. Then what do you expect the rest of the rappers to do?....

Match his lyrical skills at least. We call that "all show, and no go" in the car world. Big stupid rims, pretty paint job with the interior, with a weak motor.

 

[acri1]

Well, I think a higher percentage of rappers now are fiends. Drug addicts.

Not that there weren't always some but rappers now take pride in popping pills everyday that can't be good for lyricism

 

[Wear My Dawg's Hat]

Fletcher Henderson studied chemistry and mathematics.
As soon as black people as a whole stopped valuing education, using it to improve their art, when the big money came, they lost.


Black people let people trick them to thinking trades, degrees and being educated to improve their condition wasn't valuable.

Duke Ellington turned down an art scholarship from Pratt Institute to pursue his music career.

Miles Davis came from a wealthy family, studied at Juilliard but dropped out in his second year.

Nina Simone also studied at Juilliard.

Chuck D has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design from Adelphi University.

"Funkin' For Jamaica" Tom Browne studied at the Manhattan School of Music and Art and is a commercial airline pilot.

 

[KBtheKey]

I think the listeners are less smart. Look at how many people out of nowhere started saying Wayne is trash but the nikka put out the same content as the nikkas out right now, he just had more impressive/varied bars.

Now all the fans want is killing people poppin pills and fukkin bytches in recycled lyrics over some hard production and they calling that shyt the greatest ever. No elaborate rhyme schemes/flows, no uncommon words or phrases, no unvisited metaphors, no shock value type shyt...nothing that separates one artist from the others

I like ignorant music very much, shyt bangs in the whip, but I can't listen to everybody Kuz everybody ain't got even half decent rhyming skill or vocabulary

 

[Amo Husserl]

Duke Ellington turned down an art scholarship from Pratt Institute to pursue his music career.


Miles Davis came from a wealthy family, studied at Juilliard but dropped out in his second year.


Nina Simone also studied at Juilliard.


Chuck D has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design from Adelphi University.


"Funkin' For Jamaica" Tom Brown studies at the Manhattan School of Music and Art and is a commercial airline pilot.

Casual fans and public at large won't know, especially when they already have their assumptions.
I think the only way skill and intellect will come back into black music is when black labels dominate black music and require more out of their artists.
...but you know the story behind this album:

Gaye was a drop out..

 

[lib123]

The corporate structure elevates trash microwave rappers who make catchy songs now more than ever. With the sudden public release of AI tools, seems like they've been doing a test run for AI replacing artists. Also it's interesting because rappers today have more avenues to earn money (eg appearances, social media, etc) but I can't see many of today's stars like Cardi B, Durk, Lil' Baby etc touring 20-30 years from now like Nas, Lauryn Hill.

 

[Turbulent]

Because music production and recording is more accessible, there's less filters between the artist and the public.

 

[Michael's Black Son]

Yes

 

[Dafunkdoc_Unlimited]

​

 

[Won Won]

But didn't Jay Z start the I'm a hustler not a rapper thing before Jeezy?....hmmm. And then 50cent was talking that shyt too.


Jay persona was a hustler disguised as a rapper...and he was called the GOAT. Then what do you expect the rest of the rappers to do?....

Beanie Sigel was on that wave too

 

[ABlackMan]

I think they've found a way to capitalize on their fame better than previous generations so idk about labeling them dumb.

It’s called a team lol

There are some smart cats like the thugs cartis of the game but most folks have a team for brainwork. Then you get into the machine and the machine is doing the manufacturing fabricating. Industry plants at all time highs you think they didn’t study or research how to cultivate a false appearance of come-up?

 

[The Wolf Among You]

No. You’re just getting older.

Rap is a young man/woman’s game.
Every generation has a plethora of bad music, but the exception today is that music execs are no longer selling talent, they’re selling an aesthetic.