What happened to real Hip-Hop!?

I'm a HUGE Hip-Hop head, I’m talking The Roots, Common, Mos Def, Dead Prez, Wu-Tang Clan, Talib Kwali, Outkast, De la Soul and Jurassic 5 those are just a few off the top of my head. I feel like as the time goes by a lot of my favorite artists are becoming much underappreciated. For those of you not to hip with the scene, I feel there is a massive difference between “Rap” and “Hip-Hop”. If I had to define it; Rap is what you’d most likely be hearing on the radio, spitting flows about how much money they got and how they spend it. Poppin’ bottles in the club and makin’ it rain on some bitches; it’s all the same in the end, just a different guy behind the mic. But Hip-Hop is a soulful rhythm, poetic lyrics, and really tells a story, it’s very unique in the sense that it strikes chords in your mind body and soul. Don’t get me wrong not all main stream “Rapper’s” are bad in fact I believe quite a few are incredibly talented Emcees, Ludacris, Nas, Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Busta Rhymes, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Drake, Jay-Z and Lil Wayne would be in my handful of emcees that have a special unique flow and bring something different to the table.

Wu-Tang Clan

More to what I was saying earlier. It’s just really disheartening when I over hear conversations about “Who’s better than who.” I once heard someone 

trying to pitch the idea that Rick Ross’s song Everyday I’m hustlin’ as one of the best tracks he’s EVER heard (the song had already been out for a while on the radio, so we’re past that “its new to my ears stage”), I nearly threw up in my mouth! It was 2005 if I’m not mistaken the same year Commons album ‘BE’ came out, which was an absolutely incredible album SERIOUS SKILLS ON THE MIC. 

De La Soul

Besides that, he did mention the word EVER; that’s what really stood out to me. So, you’re saying Hustlin’ is better than… Wu-tangs “Triumph” or Outkast “Spottieottiedopaliscious” or what about The Roots tracks “Web” maybe “The Seed 2.0” and let’s not forget “step into the Realm”. C’mon are you kidding me!? Rick Ross, Hustlin’ better than these? No way sir, it’s just not possible. Hip-Hop isn’t just a genre of music it’s a lifestyle, Graffiti, Break dancing, and street poetry are just a few of the high notes. Rap is just Rap, Club banger music that brings the girls to the dance floor and makes the record labels happy, and I’m not saying that I don’t enjoy these club banger tracks they’re “fun” to listen to but that all. I used to live in Miami (The land of the perpetual 24 party) and ONLY TWICE did we have the PLEASURE of having The “ROCK THE BELLS” concert event come to our town. 

Jurassic 5

I went to both and I must say those were definitely in my top 5 concerts I ever went to. The art, the atmosphere, the HIP-HOP culture alive and KICKING for 12+ hour’s baby!!! My crew and I had a blast both times. But to our disbelief what would have been our third year in a row was CUT OFF!? Why you ask? Because Miami doesn’t have a big enough fan base they said, and it broke all our B-BOY AND B-GIRL HEARTS. Apparently the majority of the Miami “towns folk” are too busy hitting the hottest night clubs and dancing the night away to Pit-bulls ‘Dale huevo’ track, so we lost our taste of the Hip-Hop culture in south Florida. Really blindsided the whole fan-base with that kinda news, and I wasn’t mad at the “committee” that decides where the tour goes; I was actually disappointed in Miami for the 1^st time (NOT INCLUDING SPORTS! ITS NOT EASY TO BE A MIAMI FAN IT TAKES PATIENCE LOL).For those of us that did get to enjoy it while it lasted, it was definitely worth taking the day/night off from work to catch that spectacle and I’m sure we all wish we could do it again.

Common

I think one of the best advocates to the Hip-Hop culture is beyond any shadow of doubt, Dave Chappelle. Not only was his show absolutely hilarious, but he put all the Hip-Hop heads favorite artist front and center as his musical guest. Which I’m sure picked up a lot of fans that had “virgin ears” to what REAL Hip-Hop is. So thank goodness for Chappelle Show and please come back to TV or some premium channel we need you back lol. As for the entire real Hip-Hop artist still out there, I’m patiently waiting for ALL your new albums. Please a new Outkast, Blackstar, Roots, J-5, Pete Rock (Where you at!?), De la Soul, Common, Erika Badu, Jill Scott, album would be absolutely fantastic! As for those handful of main stream artist that are still making hit records with a unique sound and flow MORE POWER TO THEM AND PLEASE KEEP HIP-HOP ALIVE.

Outkast

Tribe Called Quest