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Yo,
This is a blog I had wanted to make recently but I always delayed it.
As you might know, 90's rap is different compared to nowadays, and it used to be tougher. In other words, this was the time when gangsta rap was the real deal. There were numerous successful rappers such as 2pac, Eazy-E, Notorious B.I.G., Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, etc.
Despite violent nature of rap, this style of music always carried some message.
I'll give you a few examples:
+ Show Spoiler +2pac - Dear Mama Basically, Tupac pays respect to his mother, and is thankful she raised him. + Show Spoiler +2pac - Changes It's a song about struggle, especially the hardship black men had to deal with. + Show Spoiler +2pac - Keep Ya Head Up A song dedicated to women's struggle. + Show Spoiler +Coolio - Gangsta Paradise This is a song about life's hardships. + Show Spoiler +
If you've not got it by now, RAP means Rhythm And Poetry. These people really cared what songs they release.
But nowadays... rap is so commercial that it's disgusting. It's just money and bitches with some goofy lyrics. Of course, there are some exceptions, but I'll give you some songs to get my point:
+ Show Spoiler +
I don't claim all 90's rap songs have some moral meaning, but their flow was also different and cooler (in my opinion). I just don't like the new rap mainstream. 
I think rap kinda died after 2pac, Notorious B.I.G, Eazy-E, etc.
However, Eminem, Dr. Dre and The Game are there to save it! 
TL;DR: 90's rap is much better than rap nowadays. Why is the mainstream so bad?
  
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the same reason the mainstream of anything is bad i guess
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Yeah I think we all know that mainstream culture is a steaming pile of poo by now. All that seems to matter is who can be the biggest sunburnt/ripped tool and who can be the "freshest". I honestly would stop trying to figure out how to understand mainstream culture these days, I fear the movie Idiocracy was correct people are just getting dumber and dumber with technology. Today's culture is all about money and individualism, people have become so self-centered and focused only on money and social reputation that they have begun to ignore things such as morals or common sense.
Meh what are you going to do, I guess the intellectual and progressive are a dying breed, but luckily alternative music forms do exist so it doesn't bother me all too much.
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"Rap" nowadays is more about production values, catchy beats, effects and hooks. There a few artists keeping it legit, but it's clearly not the way it used to be.
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uhh you haven't been looking hard enough than. Go check out all of the mood muzik mixtapes and recent albums from Joe Budden, Copywrite's Life and Times of Peter Nelson, Lush One Music For Dope Runs, almost everything from Sha Stimuli....
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Was going to come here and argue because I thought this would be one of those retarded whiteboy 'rap isn't real music, metal is' POS posts, but actually I completely agree with your sentiment o.O. The fizz really got sucked out of rap, although to be fair you have to call people like the ones you mentioned 'hip hop' and you can still respect people such as a mos def and immortal technique but I'll totally agree with what you say 100%.
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I completely disagree with your post that rap is better in the 90's than today. Sure, mainstream is awful, but there are a LOT of amazing artists out right now. Also the game is terrible, and rap doesn't need "saving" it's never been dead.
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Listen to some Odd Future, dude.
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On May 14 2011 09:49 PanN wrote:
I completely disagree with your post that rap is better in the 90's than today. Sure, mainstream is awful, but there are a LOT of amazing artists out right now. Also the game is terrible, and rap doesn't need "saving" it's never been dead.
Well, can you come up with new and better songs than these:
+ Show Spoiler +
'cuz I can't! :D
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I also disagree with your post.
As much as it was in the 90's there are some good and some bad rappers, you named the ones you found good in the 90's but I'm sure there were many you would've qualified bad. We still see couple great rap tunes every year.
Plus, I prefer that rap is now not only about bitches, crimes, gangs, drugs, with rappers like eminem that spit about many different things.
I'd also like to point out the songs you posted like lollipop and crank dat aren't really rap songs, more like hip hop/pop ish.
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On May 14 2011 10:00 slimshady wrote:Show nested quote +On May 14 2011 09:49 PanN wrote:
I completely disagree with your post that rap is better in the 90's than today. Sure, mainstream is awful, but there are a LOT of amazing artists out right now. Also the game is terrible, and rap doesn't need "saving" it's never been dead. Well, can you come up with more new awesome songs than these: + Show Spoiler +'cuz I can't! :D
Yes I can. I can probably come up with hundreds.
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On May 14 2011 10:01 Sharkified wrote:
I'd also like to point out the songs you posted like lollipop and crank dat aren't really rap songs, more like hip hop/pop ish.
Well, didn't most rappers go to 'hip pop'?
Eminem & Rihanna, Katy Perry & Snoop Dogg, Katy Perry & Kanye West, Lil Wayne & Shakira, etc.
@PanN links?
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Same is true for the Rock of 90s vs the rock of today. I mean especially as far as content, its just no contest.
I'm listening to a lot of Easy-E these days, guy intrigues me for some reason.
The only thing I would say that has gotten better, is the electronica new age stuff- there was nothing super cool like these days has. Maybe Prodigy, but even they are leaps and bounds better in the more recent years.
I'm really glad I went to high school in the 90's for sure- played in a few bands and was really into like Soul Asylum and Bad Religion... just too bad that makes me too old too be any good at Starcraft now 
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On May 14 2011 10:05 slimshady wrote:Show nested quote +On May 14 2011 10:01 Sharkified wrote:
I'd also like to point out the songs you posted like lollipop and crank dat aren't really rap songs, more like hip hop/pop ish. Well, didn't most rappers go to 'hip pop'? Eminem & Rihanna, Katy Perry & Snoop Dogg, Katy Perry & Kanye West, Lil Wayne & Shakira, etc. @PanN links?
Sure
+ Show Spoiler +http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKUt5g1AiJ8
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Yeah, I really don't like what happened with Snoop Dogg but stuff happens. Even Rakim, who is really one of the untouchable canon figures of rap, had a really bad sell-out period at a time. The examples you gave are heavily focused on the Southerners and yeah, if you compare the South scene to the East and the West you are going to get artists that follow a completely different aesthetic. If you look back to the golden ages of the East and the West and consider that aesthetic to be "true hip hop" then the Southerners are not going to impress you at all. I mostly dislike the Southern scene too, with the notable exception of Ludacris, but I don't really think it makes a whole lot of sense to compare the rise of the Southern scene with the old East and West hegemony because they aren't trying to do the same things at all.
So when Nas said hip hop is dead, I can understand why he said that, but I can't fully say that he's right. If the image of rap only encompasses the East/West era, then sure, Nas is correct, but is imposing such an orthodoxy healthy for art at all?
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My first exposure to 'Soulja Boy' was seeing some random youtube video of his (vlogg or something). My immediate assumption was that he was a fan of 'real' hip hop making fun of the new style.
Much like Rebecca Black - when it turned out he wasn't a troll, it wasn't that funny anymore.
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OP, I can tell you're some suburban white kid who started listening to rap probably less than a few years ago. I don't mean any offense, its just that I see this opinion a lot and its always the same kind of people voicing them. And funnily enough, they ALL like Eminem and Dre, despite the fact that Eminem is one of the rappers who has really embraced pop (Did you listen to Recovery? pop-sounding hook on every track). And game is just as bad as lil wayne or drake or anybody out there, he's just less popular. And if you think most modern rap is about money and bitches, you're way off and the only rap you listen to is stuff on the billboard 200. Sorry.
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Listening to some mobb deep right now :D
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On May 14 2011 10:30 iamho wrote:
OP, I can tell you're some suburban white kid who started listening to rap probably less than a few years ago. I don't mean any offense, its just that I see this opinion a lot and its always the same kind of people voicing them. And funnily enough, they ALL like Eminem and Dre, despite the fact that Eminem is one of the rappers who has really embraced pop (Did you listen to Recovery? pop-sounding hook on every track). And game is just as bad as lil wayne or drake or anybody out there, he's just less popular. And if you think most modern rap is about money and bitches, you're way off and the only rap you listen to is stuff on the billboard 200. Sorry.
Not sure why it matters if hes some suburban white kid, that comment was completely unnecessary, ignorant, and based off nothing else other than your cheap assumption.
The rest of what you said I pretty much agree with.
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2pac was pretty bad later on. i guess you could say he went mainstream.
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EPT
