User talk:Rapstudy

Is Hip Hop Dead?
Most poetic styles of rapping from Hip Hop's golden age have been discarded. The field of topics in Rap songs has drastically diminished in comparison to its size fifteen years ago. The very word "Rap" has developed a negative connotation that largely overshadows its positive qualities so much so that one can speak the word in the presence of the upscale or of those ignorant concerning the genre and taste a bitter recoil that often calls for compensation (i.e. mention of a genre accepted by the third party) or an explanation of sorts. The subject matter has shifted to self-exaltation, sex, drugs, and the disrespect of women. Hip Hop is dead, because it is no longer the potent, influential, important, valued voice that it once was. With regard to lyrical style, the modern rap is usually a collection of rhyme schemes of few syllables, clever word play that is not to be taken lightly or thought of as easy, and the ubiquitous punchline (cleverly descriptive pun or simile to complete a rhyme). The subject matter is weightless these days; the words are empty. From time to time, someone will write a sociocultural, world-conscious song, but these are rarities. Rapping isn't necessarily easy, but it is still too easy now. It was once and should only be accessible to the greater minds, the intellectuals, or the true poets. It should have evolved from what it once was to something that requires a great deal of skill and a way with words. Now, rappers talk about what is on their minds like they always did. Hip Hop artists used to speak their minds on a regular basis. However, the modern rapper lacks the ability to think with a bigger, broader mindset. Philosophers have the innate ability to broaden their minds; philosophers address things that are "outside the box". Philosophers carried Hip Hop in her prime; Hip Hop artists were originally self-assured, rational, unofficial scholars with deep thoughts. The focus included yet superseded the codes of the streets in order to also establish philosophies, ideologies, religions, and political theories. There was far more weight to the thoughts on the minds of Hip Hop artists then than rappers now. Hip Hop lived as a poetic voice that represented the ideas and values of African-Americans; a voice that, if heard, could change its environment. She was the African-Americans' collective vessel for the expression of "self". She was the "think tank" that found a way to be heard more than any other; now, Hip Hop's voice is being crowded out by the voices of her own children as there are very few Hip Hop artists left. Until her voice can be dynamically and clearly heard as it was before, Hip Hop is dead.

96.61.138.180 (talk) 00:53, 3 March 2009 (UTC)