"i wish we could get the 90's back" discussion

[OnlyInCalifornia]

Still had the Heavy D mixded with Onyx vibe.....still quite a few elements of hip-hop in that video.
Hip-Hop has been reduced to simply Rapping these days by essentially all rappers.

Early 90's you still had Heavy D and Hammer Dancing ...Wu tang being gritty.....snoop hitting you with some chillin-out music. All getting radio play.
Rappers just spit verses these days that almost sound the same and don't incorporate any other elements of hip-hop.

Again with the nostalagic present wrapping, how old are you? It sounds like either you were too young to fully remember all this or you are letting nostalgia cloud your memory.

1 Snoop wasn't getting radio play like that initially except in LA. There wasn't even that many Hip Hop stations coast to coast at the time.

2 After gangsta rap blew up almost everyone had those 'gangsta rap' lyrics, this crazy diversity on the radio in each market and mtv (which is why people love the box so much but it was a tri-state thing) just didn't happen the way you are trying to make it sound. It was heavily skewed towards gangsta rap outside of LA/NYC.

3 Hammer and Wu Tang were not popular at the same time....by the time wutang got popular gangsta rap already dominated Hip Hop in the mainstream and Hammer already went broke.

4 I don't really get how you think back in the day rappers were not rapping the same as if gangsta rap and the shiny floss era didn't produce more of the same than any other 'style' you are talking about. Like there was any variance in a Puff Daddy or Mase song or even a Snoop Dogg song.

5. By the mid 90s all the rappers had to be 'gangsta' right now in 2013 one of the top rappers is a guy who sings love songs and came from the middle class as an actor, a 40 year old drug dealer, and a white trash rapper from Detroit. You have Gucci Mane and Macklemore. Murs and French Montana. Kendrick Lamar and Tyga.

It was unheard of to have a person who was correction officer fake his way to be become a drug kingpin rapper and be accepted.

Back then these rappers were coming from the realities they rhymed about. Nas came from QB. Wu tang came from the tough rough part of Staten Island. Dre and Snoop came from Compton. It was a realness in their music that came across because they grew up in those areas. They didn't glorify where they come from, they just told stories about what happen or what might happen any given day growing up there. Today you rappers in videos trying to convince you they move bricks of the yay and clap their guns in broad day.

And as my man said, we did police ourselves. Krs One threw PM dawn off stage because he was wack. nikkas were laughed at and booed off stage for not coming correct. It wasnt this lets co-sign these wack nikkas because if we don't, we will get black balled out the industry. Fans were more open about their opinions.

Tupac was a back up dancer, danced ballet as a kid, and went to an arts school. Ice T was an Army Ranger.

Dr Dre never gang banged a day in his life. Yet he spent two full decades putting out videos trying to convince you that he was and he shot his gun off. The same shyt you are trying to act like only happens now.

KRS One threw PM Dawn off stage because he was wack. The Game beat up a rapper in the bushes because he was wack and running his mouth. Both lost their careers....whats the difference?

I am not sure if people have bad memories, were too young to fully remember, or are just high off nostalgia but your reasons can be applied then too.

 

[Art Barr]

The 80's drug dudes took over Rap in the early to mid 90's. Then eventually Corporate America took over in the early 00's till now..

Kinda crazy Rap's history. But the funny thing is tho, it still has followed the path of other genre..

Which makes it even worse.
As it had a culture that was pre-emptive.
To hold the forces at bay that stole, blues, rnb, and jazz.


Art Barr

 

[Art Barr]

Breh, I respectfully disagree. From a purely nostalgic point of view, based on people whom I've come into contact with, most of their yearning for "The good ol' days" was usually accompanied by them making it clear that "That song ____ was all over the radio, parties, etc". That's what I'm basing my observation off of.

I'm not saying that people don't make new memories with up-to-date, current, music. I'm simply saying, in my opinion, that one of the reasons people want the 90's "back" is because it represents their youthfulness.

i think you have it confused.
the people who want the culture back and the people who want the nineties back.
Are two different contingents of people.

If you experienced the culture you want that back.
People who want the nineties back are completely different.
The nineties were not some safe haven.
people were just as ignorant then as they are now, even more so.
The culture provided a safe haven from all that bullshyt.
fakkits did not get to emulate our dress.
regular wack nikkas and bytches did not get to emulate our dress.
wack motherfukkers were not just rapping, every cotdamn where, to try and fool the public to get rich.
If I saw another bboy/bgirl we would kick it and bomb shyt, go find other bboys/bgirls and tag crews.
Go to actual hip hop parties with a real fukking DJ that could mix scratch and play real breaks.
With no house motherfukkers playing dress up.
The culture needs to come back, not no fukking toy filled nineties.
The nineties had the same wack toy ass nikkaz from the early eighties.
before krs came through and eliminated that toy shyt.
In 93, is when the fake wack revenue grab I wanna be down toy shyt started again.
So, nikkas talking all that nineties shyt.
I really wonder, how real they are talking that nineties nostalgia shyt.
As the toy invasion been here since the start and the only window.
where the real bboys got any relief was after the Roxanne wars and krs came through.
In the Roxanne wars everyone wanted to rap from male to female too.
So the revenue grab part is not new.
The part that is new, is the consistent disrespect shown to the culture.
At least, back then you had people who respected the culture.
Nowadays, ny does not even respect the culture.
That is the issue.

The culture not being respected is the issue.


Art Barr

 

[J-Fire]

Again with the nostalagic present wrapping, how old are you? It sounds like either you were too young to fully remember all this or you are letting nostalgia cloud your memory.

1 Snoop wasn't getting radio play like that initially except in LA. There wasn't even that many Hip Hop stations coast to coast at the time.

2 After gangsta rap blew up almost everyone had those 'gangsta rap' lyrics, this crazy diversity on the radio in each market and mtv (which is why people love the box so much but it was a tri-state thing) just didn't happen the way you are trying to make it sound. It was heavily skewed towards gangsta rap outside of LA/NYC.

3 Hammer and Wu Tang were not popular at the same time....by the time wutang got popular gangsta rap already dominated Hip Hop in the mainstream and Hammer already went broke.

4 I don't really get how you think back in the day rappers were not rapping the same as if gangsta rap and the shiny floss era didn't produce more of the same than any other 'style' you are talking about. Like there was any variance in a Puff Daddy or Mase song or even a Snoop Dogg song.

5. By the mid 90s all the rappers had to be 'gangsta' right now in 2013 one of the top rappers is a guy who sings love songs and came from the middle class as an actor, a 40 year old drug dealer, and a white trash rapper from Detroit. You have Gucci Mane and Macklemore. Murs and French Montana. Kendrick Lamar and Tyga.

I'm 27. Snoop was getting radio play when I grew up. B-more had two hip-hop stations back then V103 and 92Q...then went to one station by the late 90's. DC had two stations as well.
Gin and Juice was a hit on the radio and so was Ain't nuthin but a G thing. My momz didn't like me rapping the Gin and Juice lyrics when I was in 2nd grade.

Hammer and Wu Tang had to have co-exsisted in 92-93. I'm sure pumps and a bump and C.R.E.A.M were from the same era.


Who says Drake is a top rapper? He's a Dude that comes up with catch phrases that girls used for Facebook Album titles before he was even relevant 2004-2006 and is essentially a poor man's LL Cool J. Drake makes singles like Flo Rida....ain't checkin' for an entire album like I do a Jay-z, Rick Ross, or even Lil Wayne.

 

[Art Barr]

Its ALL nostalgic. i wasnt even a teen through the 90s and i dont think they made better music that now. but i bet if i lived thru the 90s id think that. underground hip hop today is mindblowing to the open minded and the ones who dont mind doing a lil work to find it.

There is nuffin mindblowing about underground music, now.
there is no evolution in actual skill.
It is either outdated van full of Pakistan weirdness, to atmosphere's overcast.
Or, 2003 biter lyricism of fiddy mixed with twista/bone/fellowship.

None of these nikkas in general rap with any advanced technical skill.
It is the same two-three syllable rap like when fiddy blew up the mixtape scene.
It is a replayed rerun of everyone rapping like melle Mel, except instead of melle mel.
They picked slug, fiddy, twista/bone/fellowship...


Art Barr

 

[nieman]

While we at it, i miss Loud Records. I was listening the Tha Liks albums this weekend, some Xzibit, Big Pun, The Infamous...

 

[DaHNIC82]

Yall are idiots.

Look at all the songs that were big in the 90.


what do you mean by "whoop there it is status"

Soulja boy is not looked at as a rap savant by anyone.

He is looked as someone who makes fun dance hiphop.
Which at its core is what rap is.

No the hell he didn't. He kept getting passes left and right because of his age and the fact that he had a "good hustle" Think of how many times I've heard "Damn Soulja boy is garbage but he getting money and got a good hustle so he deserves to be in the hip hop" That mentality didn't exist in the 90 and that what Ice T was expressing because he came from that era. I'm sure he would have kept his opinion legit before alot of bytchmade fans started crying wolf.

They had wack dudes in the 90s but none of the heavy hitters cosigned that bullshyt like many are cosign these acts of today. They don't cosign them because they respect them but because they trying to stay relevant and get a feature. Its a sad turn of events. That Crank Dat shyt would have been Whoop There it is status. A memorable hit for the time period and the artist would eventually fade out because he has nothing else to really offer. Which is why he's where he's at now.

 

[CrimsonTider]

No the hell he didn't. He kept getting passes left and right because of his age and the fact that he had a "good hustle" Think of how many times I've heard "Damn Soulja boy is garbage but he getting money and got a good hustle so he deserves to be in the hip hop" That mentality didn't exist in the 90 and that what Ice T was expressing because he came from that era. I'm sure he would have kept his opinion legit before alot of bytchmade fans started crying wolf.

They had wack dudes in the 90s but none of the heavy hitters cosigned that bullshyt like many are cosign these acts of today. They don't cosign them because they respect them but because they trying to stay relevant and get a feature. Its a sad turn of events. That Crank Dat shyt would have been Whoop There it is status. A memorable hit for the time period and the artist would eventually fade out because he has nothing else to really offer. Which is why he's where he's at now.

Ice T was hating.

Soulja boy was making party music.
Thats the essense of hiphop.

 

[mobbinfms]

I'm 27. Snoop was getting radio play when I grew up. B-more had two hip-hop stations back then V103 and 92Q...then went to one station by the late 90's. DC had two stations as well.
Gin and Juice was a hit on the radio and so was Ain't nuthin but a G thing. My momz didn't like me rapping the Gin and Juice lyrics when I was in 2nd grade.

Hammer and Wu Tang had to have co-exsisted in 92-93. I'm sure pumps and a bump and C.R.E.A.M were from the same era.


Who says Drake is a top rapper? He's a Dude that comes up with catch phrases that girls used for Facebook Album titles before he was even relevant 2004-2006 and is essentially a poor man's LL Cool J. Drake makes singles like Flo Rida....ain't checkin' for an entire album like I do a Jay-z, Rick Ross, or even Lil Wayne.

Haha! Check out the Drake is 26 thread. People are saying he belongs on the Mt Rushmore of rap.

 

[mobbinfms]

Again with the nostalagic present wrapping, how old are you? It sounds like either you were too young to fully remember all this or you are letting nostalgia cloud your memory.

1 Snoop wasn't getting radio play like that initially except in LA. There wasn't even that many Hip Hop stations coast to coast at the time.

2 After gangsta rap blew up almost everyone had those 'gangsta rap' lyrics, this crazy diversity on the radio in each market and mtv (which is why people love the box so much but it was a tri-state thing) just didn't happen the way you are trying to make it sound. It was heavily skewed towards gangsta rap outside of LA/NYC.

3 Hammer and Wu Tang were not popular at the same time....by the time wutang got popular gangsta rap already dominated Hip Hop in the mainstream and Hammer already went broke.

4 I don't really get how you think back in the day rappers were not rapping the same as if gangsta rap and the shiny floss era didn't produce more of the same than any other 'style' you are talking about. Like there was any variance in a Puff Daddy or Mase song or even a Snoop Dogg song.

5. By the mid 90s all the rappers had to be 'gangsta' right now in 2013 one of the top rappers is a guy who sings love songs and came from the middle class as an actor, a 40 year old drug dealer, and a white trash rapper from Detroit. You have Gucci Mane and Macklemore. Murs and French Montana. Kendrick Lamar and Tyga.



Tupac was a back up dancer, danced ballet as a kid, and went to an arts school. Ice T was an Army Ranger.

Dr Dre never gang banged a day in his life. Yet he spent two full decades putting out videos trying to convince you that he was and he shot his gun off. The same shyt you are trying to act like only happens now.

KRS One threw PM Dawn off stage because he was wack. The Game beat up a rapper in the bushes because he was wack and running his mouth. Both lost their careers....whats the difference?

I am not sure if people have bad memories, were too young to fully remember, or are just high off nostalgia but your reasons can be applied then too.

Snoop was nationwide from day one.
You're right about Gangsta Rap taking everything over post NWA/Ice-T. Remember how gangsta De La and Tribe were on their first albums?
You're right about Hammer and Wu.
Not quite sure what you're getting at with 4. Please rephrase.
You are wrong that everyone had to be gangsta by the Mid 90s. Tribe, Common, De La, Pharcyde, Del, Roots etc.
Are you claiming Macklemore as a hip hop artist now? To your generations credit I had thought he wasn't fully accepted yet. Hip hop is becoming more diverse as of the past few years.

I thought ice-t's street cred was unimpeachable. Tupac grew up in a number of different hoods and was the son of a black panther. He didn't represent the lifestyle of a mafia kingpin.
Dre was studio - but at least grew up in the hood.

The Game situation is nothing like the KRS situation. Game was a personal dispute that had more to do with 40 Glocc trying to get publicity. It really had nothing to do with music. I. The video you didn't hear Game calling out his beat selection, it was just a one way trip to the bushes then concern for the 6s.

I'm 33 btw. How old are you?

 

[OnlyInCalifornia]

I'm 27. Snoop was getting radio play when I grew up. B-more had two hip-hop stations back then V103 and 92Q...then went to one station by the late 90's. DC had two stations as well.
Gin and Juice was a hit on the radio and so was Ain't nuthin but a G thing. My momz didn't like me rapping the Gin and Juice lyrics when I was in 2nd grade.

Hammer and Wu Tang had to have co-exsisted in 92-93. I'm sure pumps and a bump and C.R.E.A.M were from the same era.


Who says Drake is a top rapper? He's a Dude that comes up with catch phrases that girls used for Facebook Album titles before he was even relevant 2004-2006 and is essentially a poor man's LL Cool J. Drake makes singles like Flo Rida....ain't checkin' for an entire album like I do a Jay-z, Rick Ross, or even Lil Wayne.

Snoop most certainly was not getting radio spins when he first came out all over the country. Major city? Sure. Coast to coast? Nope. You wouldn't have remembered any waus considering you were what, 6 or 7 years old when Doggystyle came out?

MC Hammer and Wu Tang did not co exist in 92-93 because Hammer was finito after 91. 36 Chambers didn't even come out till the end of 93 and most of the country did not hear those records until well after that.

Drake is a top rapper whether you want to admit it or not. The extra stuff you are adding I swear makes it sound more like you want to be perceived as an old head for some kind of Hip Hop props than it does who truly just loves the 90s.

 

[OnlyInCalifornia]

Snoop was nationwide from day one.

LOL, no he wasn't. I am from LA and remember when he actually started to get bigger and people started talking about Long Beach.

On top of all that, there wasn't very many urban stations that were playing Hip Hop for the masses then either.

You're right about Gangsta Rap taking everything over post NWA/Ice-T. Remember how gangsta De La and Tribe were on their first albums?
You're right about Hammer and Wu.
Not quite sure what you're getting at with 4. Please rephrase.
You are wrong that everyone had to be gangsta by the Mid 90s. Tribe, Common, De La, Pharcyde, Del, Roots etc.

By the Mid 90s Tribe was barely a group, Common said himself Hip Hop turned to gangsta rap but he himself wasn't popular. Pharcyde were popular and that's the only exception. I can't believe you brought up Del or The Roots when I made it clear in the mainstream. The Roots didn't even make it to the mainstream until they got on tv, they've been an underground favorite for a long time but never popular in the mainstream.

I said in the mainstream and popular. I don't know where you live but Common was never a mainstream popular rapper.

Are you claiming Macklemore as a hip hop artist now? To your generations credit I had thought he wasn't fully accepted yet. Hip hop is becoming more diverse as of the past few years.

He is a Hip Hop artist just the same as Tag Team was or Marky Mark. Why do you think you get to pick and choose? So that way you can pick out shytty 90s music so it is even more golden? That is called being a revisionist.

I thought ice-t's street cred was unimpeachable. Tupac grew up in a number of different hoods and was the son of a black panther. He didn't represent the lifestyle of a mafia kingpin.
Dre was studio - but at least grew up in the hood.

You are making excuses for one set of artists but not another....

Lil Wayne grew up in the hood, are you going to give him a pass?

The Game situation is nothing like the KRS situation. Game was a personal dispute that had more to do with 40 Glocc trying to get publicity. It really had nothing to do with music. I. The video you didn't hear Game calling out his beat selection, it was just a one way trip to the bushes then concern for the 6s.

KRS didn't call out PM Dawn's beat selection either. He was just being an a$$hole and decided that PM Dawn wasn't hardcore enough. It wasn't some magical debate over the sanctity of Hip Hop or the direction is was going.

I'm 33 btw. How old are you?

Im 30.

 

[Ohene]

all you nikkas need to stfu...the 90s and evenn early 2000s rap is way better than what exists now. From a purely objective standpoint too.

 

[mobbinfms]

LOL, no he wasn't. I am from LA and remember when he actually started to get bigger and people started talking about Long Beach.

On top of all that, there wasn't very many urban stations that were playing Hip Hop for the masses then either.




By the Mid 90s Tribe was barely a group, Common said himself Hip Hop turned to gangsta rap but he himself wasn't popular. Pharcyde were popular and that's the only exception. I can't believe you brought up Del or The Roots when I made it clear in the mainstream. The Roots didn't even make it to the mainstream until they got on tv, they've been an underground favorite for a long time but never popular in the mainstream.

I said in the mainstream and popular. I don't know where you live but Common was never a mainstream popular rapper.



He is a Hip Hop artist just the same as Tag Team was or Marky Mark. Why do you think you get to pick and choose? So that way you can pick out shytty 90s music so it is even more golden? That is called being a revisionist.



You are making excuses for one set of artists but not another....

Lil Wayne grew up in the hood, are you going to give him a pass?




KRS didn't call out PM Dawn's beat selection either. He was just being an @sshole and decided that PM Dawn wasn't hardcore enough. It wasn't some magical debate over the sanctity of Hip Hop or the direction is was going.



Im 30.

I'm not sure what you're getting at about Snoop. I'm not claiming he was getting play on adult contemporary stations in Boise, but any urban station nationwide, and video show nationwide, he was on it from Deep Cover on. If you were following him before he hooked up with Dre that's another thing - but to clarify - I'm talking about. Whatever the extent of the nationwide market was for hip hop at the time, Snoop was there.

Not sure where you said just mainstream, not sure exactly how you're defining mainstream either. All those artists got write ups in the hip hop publications, videos played on BET, and Yo, radio play on the hip hop mix shows. They may not have been going double platinum, but they definitely were recognizable names in the hip hop community. Touring nationwide also.

You are still conflating existence with acceptance. I asked you a few posts back if you thought Marky Mark, Tupac and some other group (Tribe I think) were held in the same regard by the hip hop community. We need an answer for that. It's not about me picki g and choosing either, I think you're one of the few people in here claiming Marky Mark was a legit accepted hip hop artist. That's just how it was. Maybe you were too young to be cognizant of such a nuanced distinction.

Again, it is a nuanced point. I agree that the things rappers rapped about in the 90s weren't 100% accurate, but it did reflect a certain reality and was believable. Rick Ross being BFFs with the real Noriega is just

KRS did what he did because he felt they weren't real and not representing right. He was literally policing the music.

 

[MartyMcFly]

I know this discussion happens a lot around here so there's no point in rehashing certain points but the one thing I do wish was back was just that spirit of competition and dudes feeling like they could go back and forth on records because they felt they were the best. I didn't agree with Big Sean saying last week that he can out rap Jay, Drake, etc. but I appreciated the sentiment. Most dudes now seem so content with making money and making hits that they really don't have that spirit of battling or spirit of competition and that's definitely needed in an art form where not only did rappers used to battle each other at block parties, but DJs used to battle as well.

And I agree with whomever said there is a certain edge missing from the music and I'm not saying strictly a "gangsta rap" type of edge, but just the feeling that even guys like De La and Tribe emitted, that there was a certain rawness and organic feeling to their music and it felt less corporate, less manufactured. Not to say that didn't happen in the 90s because of course you had guys like Vanilla Ice and Hammer who took the music and did what they did with it but you had plenty of guys who tried to pull that off too and they didn't succeed which is how hip hop policed itself. 3rd Bass, Ice Cube, Redman, Tribe, KRS and of course Wu had no problem calling guys out for what they believed was wack hip hop or just not representing the culture in the right way. Whether you agree with their feelings or not, at least the guys did say what they felt and weren't trying to be politically correct. Was the era perfect? Of course not because there was a lot of wack stuff too and a lot of dudes were taking the gangster image too far to the point of being parodies BUT dudes called them out for it and a rapper as big as Ice Cube wasn't above responding to someone as underground as Common.

Also, hip hop just isn't the "cool" music it was then and I'm not saying that to say the music is bad now I'm saying that to say it's not the pop culture du jour as it once was and I'm not sure why that is but that's what it seems like to me.