February 1, 2010

• So, Eminem, Li'l Wayne, and Drake performed at the Grammys, I was informed:
  
  On the comments of this video, someone had said, "Great moment in hip-hop."

  Is that so?

  For a genre that was founded on pushing boundaries and trying to bring awareness to issues that - quite frankly - the country didn't give a damn about hearing, it's kinda embarrassing as a rapper to hear Wayne censor every two words of his song. Now, of course, he's not (by any means) using cuss words in any purposeful fashion. Jay-Z's immortal "I kept feeding her money until her shit started to make sense(cents)" both utilizes the words for double entendre and are aptly appropriate for the character construction in the song. Further, since cuss words are words of frustration, often enough they can be utilized for the appropriate show of anger.

  But fine, it's not the ideal use of the words and, let's face it, you can't hope to go mainstream if you don't censor yourself a bit. Plus there are ways to subvert this concept through censorship.

  Let's focus on the quality of the verses instead. ...haha. Other than Eminem, they SUCK. And I feel I have to be that blunt, that big, that obnoxious about this, I really do. Because rap is a beautiful genre which really calls on the voice as an instrument and speech as a form of rhythm and delivery in a skilled fashion - yet we are utterly unaware of this.

  Yes, rap became commercial, hit the mainstream, etc. Yay! But at what cost? Alright, the songs are somewhat angsty. Teens like angsty, right? Forget actually knowing what they're talking about, it sounds nice, though. No, seriously, I mean, did you hear Drake's rhyme schemes? Anyone who starts off with "Last name 'Ever'/First name 'Greatest'" should not be allowed to touch a mic again. You call that wordplay?? And then you continue that pace of rhyming for the rest of your short verse??

  I know Wayne got famous for his use of wordplay - but I don't hear any. Honestly, Em puts these two to shame. Intensive rhyme schemes and unique flows, he's the only one pushing himself in this current music industry as an artist (even if his subject matters are treading old ground without the same amount of focus often...).

  Alright, fine, but this is just rap. The commenter said hip hop (as in the culture), right?

  Now, I'll admit - I actually like the polished, computerized beat. I like the harmonized singing which is pure pop. Culturally speaking, these are not hip hop (though they are hip pop). Actually, I wouldn't mind them becoming a further part of hip hip (and, let's face it - computerized beats are pretty much hip hop by now).

  Admittedly, I really like alternative rap. I like lyricism. For me, I like hearing words rhymes. Show me how you move around the beat, give me an impressive flow. That's why Linkin Park's Reanimation is still something I listen to. More of a hybrid between what's emerged as rap these days and old school hip-hop, it's got fantastic lyricism for a lot of its songs, plain and simple. I can't understand most of what Curse is saying - but Hell, the guy knows how to rhyme and that's a pretty damn impressive flow:
  
  And, yes, Flobots doesn't sample (though using live instruments gets a similar result, the point is that it's different from the cultural roots of rap in terms of creation), but they're pretty insane lyricists.
  

  But rap in terms of the culture has changed greatly. As HipHopDX put it about Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique, an album like that can never happen again. The amount of samples used can't be recreated simply because of copyright laws. Whereas beats used to be taken from carefully chosen drum work on different songs, now they must be created on the computer, making them mostly sound the same and not as authentic.

  Nas's New York State of Mind or Jay-Z's Can I Live (it's the song playing on my profile page) or Brooklyn's Finest are very hard to come by again.
  

  Further - well, the subjects just aren't the same that they were. I'm not saying we need to bring back Afro-centric lyrics, though they did bring out the plights of the ghetto and racism, just as the Hip Hop Renaissance brought out the frustrations of the crack generation, poverty, and even larger increasing crime (even if not in as focused a manner as the Golden Age of Hip Hop did).

  And it's there that the notion of this moment being great for hip hop becomes downright ridiculous. Lack of any genuine revolutionary change, a major departure from the roots of the culture, a crowd cheering at these things with (likely) a complete lack of knowledge of the culture and its roots, and reduced and skipable subject matter - this is a great moment for hip hop for you?

  Hell, in terms of rap, even - it's pretty bad. Like I said, Eminem's the only salvageable piece of this. Reasonable Doubt being performed at Radio City by a live orchestra was a great moment for hip hop. This was not.

  Just for a reminder of flawless music:
  

  • 4:07 pm
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