Quote:
Originally Posted by Bane of your existence
Yeah, but not that any of that is concrete.
Most of the "underground" is chock-full of shitty rappers that use the moniker of not wanting to sign, but it's usually just sour grapes. What CA just described are mostly the big underground rappers. Equally, not all the popular shit is just rich jewish guy A's writing rapped by stereotypical black guy B. Lupe, Wu-tang, Mos Def, Pharcyde, Eminem, Jay-Z, Nas, shit loads more great, popular acts.
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Like i said, there is exceptions. Eminem is one of my favourite rappers and arguably the greatest of all time. There is a lot of mainstream rappers i like. It's best not to bother labelling them "mainstream" or "underground". For every great rapper (underground or otherwise) there is around 50 crap rappers.
And of course the underground has more bad rappers than great rappers if you were to put it in a ratio but that's because any one who even attempts rapping and isn't signed to a major label is considered underground. But still, i can name more great "underground" rappers than i can mainstream ones. The underground is more versatile, the mainstream is extremely repetitive. Sure everyone might deliver the song differently or have a different approach to writing it but it's always the same stuff. They've found a formula that works (by works i mean makes them rich) and therefore are sticking with that formula. The underground is filled with people trying new stuff every day. They're not limited by their manager and contract telling them what kind of music they need to make and how many albums they need to sell if they want to keep their deal.
Truth of the matter is you can take pretty much every mainstream rapper you mentioned and look at their entire discography. Chances are it's their underground material and there first big album that are the best. The longer they go on the worse it gets and the more they sell out. Discarding what rap and hip hop is all about in exchange for making millions (eminem being a prime example)
It wasn't so bad in the mid-90's and anytime before that because there wasn't as much money in the rap industry. But now rappers are entertainers and businessmen more than lyricists. They seem to have forgotten what rap is about and just see it as a way to make money and live the high life. I'm not saying it's there fault, it's just the way their mind(our mind) has been conditioned (or attempted to be conditioned) after years of having the glamour and celebrity life style thrown in our face.
"He's lost, in the world of the stars with the girls and the cars. He's lost.
And he wants that dream but he's unable to see he's lost.
Now on the road they map so there's no way back he's lost."