Can an argument be made that todays rappers are more talented than "golden era" rappers??

[CrimsonTider]

It's more intelligent then Molly Percocet.

Ok... but this is entertainment

If future wanted to rap about systematic injustice than he could

You don't get props over here for saying "something" in your music. We don't need rappers for that

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

He didn't disappear and nobody filled his void. There was no void, there was a regional BOOM and expansion.

You were in high school with the 18th letter dropped?

Comparing somebody like Rakim to a Jay Z....who are both top 5 IMO is like comparing Pete Maravich to Curry...Pistol was pulling up from the three point distance before the three point line was even invented/accounted for. Jay's longevity and success in the music industry wasn't available to the rappers at the ground floor, so if you gonna compare them it has to stay grounded in skill for the most part. Just like if you're gonna compare "new rappers" to golden era rappers the discussion has to stay grounded in skill.

That's not to say they all suck or that everybody from 2000 and before were flat out brilliant. Just means the drive is different. BDK didn't master rapping for money...he did it on his own free time to impress himself, others and to compete. I'd be willing to bet there is someone who started rapping a month ago with some tracks up on Itunes for sale

ll cool j says hello

 

[supertrekker]

New rappers got to integrate rock tunes from the 90's just to get people to listen. Where the fukk you getting they're more talented than 90's rappers. Ain't nothing real about today's rappers.

 

[Black Magisterialness]

I had A Convo Wit My Homie The Other Day About This.
he said... today rappers like uzi, & Boat are winning!!! :BigQuint:nobody care about lyrical dudes no more :BrookeDis:



And Then I Said:

Well Bruh, If No One Cared About Lyrics & Bars Why Does J cole Continue to do good without a club record or feature hmmm?
Why Do people continue to call kendrick King and hype over everything he does? hmmm?
Why Did everyone flip out when shia lebof spit that fire on sway? hmmm?

WHY??? Do people say Eminem is the rap God and call him the greatest? Its Simple.
No Matter how much Mubble Rap, Generic Mainstream Pop Trash Gets Pushed People Will Always Know the difference Between Bars & BS

Quality Will always Stand Out It was the Golden Era Cause there was sooo much quality so many dope emcees in one place at one time that all knew how to rhyme rapped about real things and even did epic compilation albums competing with each others skill

I'm a young dude and Some New Rappers I rock wit But as far as I'm concerned the Golden Era >>>> This One.

Rappers then were more technically sound. Literally from a couplet, stanza, verse, meter/measure point of view. The Wu, Nas, Big, Common, Mos, and many more were better rappers not only because they could follow the formula but also because they laced it with turns of phrase, punchlines, coded language and metaphor. Plenty of cats (like Migos even) are technically sound but don't bring the other shyt.

Rappers now are like MMA fighters only trained in boxing. They may have the technical aspects down but when it comes to clinching, ground game submissions (the other facets of rap) they get found wanting. Kendrick is a good example of a new rapper who has not only the technical prowess but also the artistic expression to be great. Part of why people DO play Eminem in the "great" category is because dudes total mastery of the english language and his ability to channel his emotion...which rap nowadays is seemingly devoid of.....emotion.

 

[Black Magisterialness]

what songs out now are going to be considered classics 10 to 20 years down the line

I can see "bytch, Don't Kill My Vibe" being played for years.....

 

[CrimsonTider]

I can see "bytch, Don't Kill My Vibe" being played for years.....

It's not played now

 

[THE MACHINE]

I think they are more talented now but not because the older gen wasnt capable. Your talent ceiling is determined by the atmosphere in which you exist (other than the rare phenoms who push boundaries). This is similar to the thread on dunking, the 80s dunkers could fly high and were athletic. But a lot of those dunks wouldnt get a 45 now, let alone a 50. I think we can all agree that Mike had enough hang time and flexibility to do a between the legs dunk. But at the time, the windmill and free throw line dunks were the limit. For rappers then, the biggest hits required a chick on the hook and rappers rapping or major possee cuts. Now the environment states that the rappers do some crooning with an overly repetitive hook. I think overall lyricism is down but song/hit making is at an all time high for the genre. The top end lyricists are still great enough though.

 

[Still Benefited]

Why folks cape so hard for today's generation of hip hop? 90s and 2000s are some triumphed times for hip hop due to the fact that everybody was eating and smart with the craft. Even the lowest common denominator rapper had their place in the game for even trying. The problem with today's rappers is that they are trying so hard to be the GOAT, than be a good rapper. Producers want to be super, than just a talented beat maker. Maybe just MAYBE...humility is missing from the game hence why old heads such as myself hang on the saggy tit of hip hop from the past, and just cherry pick through the bullshyt of today's hip hop.

Just saying

You really think nikkas determination to be the goat is this generations problem?

More like,nikkas like the OP telling these lil wack nikkas they the goat no matter what garbage they put out,simply because it's "different" or "pushing boundaries".....not everybody needs to nor is talented enough to push boundaries.....these nikkas is trying to hard to be different,I don't think they care about being the goat....idiots will put them on pedestals just for the attempt

 

[Slystallion]

You really exposed yourself here.
Rakim just missed one album cycle and one sonic landscape change in 93-97.
When he was on a two year album cycle like any and everyone else as standard.


What are you talembout,...?
Except your exposal to the fact you may not be as well versed as you and everyone else likes to give a headfake like you are and you are not.

Chu tweaked' here breh......
This is as bad as the Hogan stuff.


Art Barr

I was 9 in 93 and in 8th grade and a freshman in high school in 97. My peers weren't playing rakim on the cassette tape radio that was brought to school, we were too young to have heard him in his prime

 

[ndthentherewasx]

It's pop music not rap


Fukkn gott damn lullaby, day care music shyt


Album sales > streams

 

[nieman]

Breh PE were controlled by corporate interests. NWA was controlled by corporate interests. Def Jam was controlled by corporate interests. The idea that commercialized rap in any form was not just isn't true.

And Rakim got left behind because he couldn't advance his sound, period. No disrespect to him. But compare him to rappers who had solid 15-20 year runs. Many of them stayed relevant without going Flo Rida corny. And high key Rakim never had broad appeal to begin with.

Truthfully what it comes down to is rappers today are much better song writers than rappers from back in the day. Its not just bars and cadence and picking beats anymore. It's hooks, it's adlibs, its arrangement, it's harmonics- even without singing, the way rappers choose to layer vocals and vary vocal inflection within those layers, etc rappers use a lot more of the musical tools they can deploy on songs than they used to. Admittedly this has come with a backslide in lyricism and all that, but for most people that's just a piece and not everything.

My only counter is that they all sound the same, so it's not really hard to do. No shot at them, because they understand what works and have perfected it. More than anything, lack of diverse sounds have crippled the game. When this style dries up next year, who will be able to switch up their sound. I mean, look at all of the ring tone rappers from that wave and none of them are around now. This will be more of the same.

In the end, good, introspective, thought provoking, feel good or struggle music will always stand the test of time. There are far more hit-makers of today, which is only redefining one-hit wonder.

 

[Tribal Outkast]

That's not intellect

That's them choosing to talk about that in their songs

I never understood why you guys prop up these rappers that give surface level talking points to these layered and deep topics

But I mean.... don't Kendrick get propped for those same reasons??? It's why twitter had that bullshyt debate about the stretch marks line.

 

[iamstr8fire]

'rappers were ugly'.

I stopped reading there.

 

[mobbinfms]

You want everything to sound like The Infamous. It's 20 years later fam. Rap didn't even sound the same 2 years after the peak of boom bap, and you want kids who weren't even alive for that shyt to feel it the way you do. You need some perspective fam

It's not about everything sounding like The Infamous. As you said rap in 97-98 in NY had already changed drastically by that point to Jiggy and Swizz. I didn't like it as much as "The Infamous" - but at not point did I start to question whether or not I was listening to hip hop. And that held through the Neptunes, Timbaland, Crunk, Snap...you name it.
I agree that hip hop isn't going to stay exactly the same for 20 years. Things are going to change...but isn't there a point where the changes take us to a new genre? That's what I'm thinking about when I listen to mumble singing.

 

[DaKidFromNoWhere]

shut the fukk up

/Thread