The Road Less Traveled (Hip Hop Edition)

So I was cruising Myspace *Yes Meshia, I’m back on Myspace!* and I came across a blog post from my cousin, Saint Lewis, and it was titled “Hip Hop ain’t dead, these dudes is just scared.” In the post he talks about how real hip hop is still around but is overshadowed by current music played on the radio. *I’m paraphrasing of course, and he put it so much more eloquently.* This got me thinking about a post I did back on Myspace about 2 -3 yrs ago, back when D4L and Franchise Boys first started to pop. It was an open letter to hip hop stating how much I love it but that maybe we needed some time apart to grow together.

I feel like since then there have been some great strides in hip hop but there is still more of that “I got money so girl shake ya ass” type of music overshadowing real MC’s. That’s just my honest opinion. I can’t speak for anyone else but my Zune is filled with artists that don’t even get radio play. I don’t blame it all on ‘the machine’ and I don’t put the full blame of the artists *I use that term loosely* either. it’s a split. I feel that artists should have more integrity and not make certain music just because that’s what’s popular. The popular thing to do isn’t always the right thing to do. I also feel that ‘the machine’ should take responsibility for the image that they are putting out there to the masses.
If I hear one more child singing a song that was made purposely with incorrect grammar I think I’ll scream! *Ahem, T.I.’s ‘Ain’t I’ for example*

Has anyone noticed that the best music in hip hop is not the mainstream stuff? There are a few mainstream artists that are doing real hip hop but artists like Wale *my favorite rapper right now*, Kid Cudi, The Insomniaks, Marky, 88 Keys, Currency & Christian Rich are a few just off the top of my head. These are some of the artists that get heavy rotation from me as of right now.

They talk about how the record industry is in a bad state because of downloading but I think it also has to do with the music that’s been put out as of late. People are not willing to spend the money to buy an album from some of these established artists if they feel they aren’t’ getting their money’s worth. With so much copy cat music going on can you blame them? Why buy an album of someone using autotune like T-pain when I already have the T-pain album, or why buy an album from this artist when it sounds just like this other artist? *just examples, but you get my drift. I hope…* So many artists seem to be putting out music just because. Not really for the love of the culture or for the fans but just to fill some contractual obligation *ahem LL* or because they are about to go away for a while *ahem T.I.* or just for themselves *ahem Kanye*. I have to agree with 50 cent on one thing. If you come out and say I’m making this album for myself than you should keep that to yourself! I’m all for artist expression but you have to remember your audience. For example, right now as I type this I have to think about my audience as well as myself. I could write this post for myself and not care what my audience thinks but what would be the point of me posting it and putting it out there? I might as well just scribble this in my journal with my other personal stuff that will never be read by anyone else. Right? Am I just way off base with that or what?

I keep hearing people saying that hip hop isn’t dead it lives in *insert your local area/coast here*. Does that matter if it all sounds the same?
I was watching ‘Fade to Black’ about a week ago and Jay was in the studio talking to some people and one of the young rappers in the room made a good statement to sum up how I feel. He said *paraphrasing of course* that rappers these days are scared to say what they really feel because they don’t think that it’ll sell records. Sad. What do you do when you’re afraid to express yourself in an art form that is all about self expression? You play follow the leader. If MC killa just sold 1 million records talking about killing, then I guess I better make up some goon stories so I can sell a million too. Instead of creating my own lane I’ll just follow you in yours. We have got to be willing to take the road less traveled.

There’s a lot more I can say on hip hop, *music in general really* but I don’t want to take up too much of your time so I’ll leave it at that.

Peace,
Sincere