I'll never understand the culture gap with this generation
I grew up on Nas, Pac, Jay Z and Big
but I was always excited to go back and listen to folks those guys would name drop in their raps like Rakim, Kool G Rap, Kane, KRS etc...
There was a rich history of classic albums and songs that I was eager to check out and study, cause if u were a fan of hiphop it's simply what you did. I didn't grow up on The Sympathy or Bridge is Over but you'd be a fool to sit there and be proud of the fact that you didn't know the lyrics to it verbatim. If u didn't know the lyrics u kept that sh1t to urself cause u appreciated the culture and was embarrassed to admit u didn't know the rhymes to such a classic track
You could see the bridge and blueprints they left for guys like Nas, Jay Z, Wu Tang, Pun etc and they were continuing on the tradition that those guys established and attempted to push the music further both lyrically and musically
Then........ right after that something happened and I'm not even sure what exactly, I have no clue but ......but sometime between then and now the wacker you were the doper you were in the eyes of many hiphop fans. The lyricism regressed, the music regressed....everything became twilight zone status
Now we're at the point where one of the hottest rappers essentially mumbles through fans on every record.
Rap is crap
Royce feels my pain