Not another 'state of hip-hop today' thread

[anticipation]

Originally Posted by Captain Awesome

are you a ****in retard? i already stated that big l, big pun, big daddy kane ect are/were talented lyricists.

and the **** you hear on the radio now IS gangster rap it's just not what it used to be it has changed into this mindless drivel we hear today. this is my whole ****in point.

i swear people just skim through posts now.

- Captain Awesome is no longer replying to this foolishness.

yeah, and you're wrong. did you not read the post you just quoted? i'm saying to you that gangster rap is essentially dead, and that everything being done by top 40 rappers today cannot in any way, shape, or form be classified as gangster rap. the contemporary rap scene you loathe so deeply is pop rap, and G-Unit, Chingy, Lil Wayne, etc. are about as gangster rap as MC Hammer is.

[Surell]

I think Wayne's kinda gangsta.

[Jester]

I think the only thing anyone needs to understand is that no topic is inapproachable.

[Kirby]

Originally Posted by Kirby

American Mainstream Rappers That Don't Suck:

Black Thought
KiD CuDi
Wale
Shwayze
Beastie Boys
Busta Rhymes (cross him off, because you think he's talentless)
Q-Tip
Chamillionaire
DMX
Jay-Z
Mike Shinoda (Fort Minor)
Method Man
Redman
Kanye West
Lupe Fiasco
Andre 3000
Big Boi
Raekwon
Talib Kweli

Edit: I'll wait.

If you've heard Tech's latest album, you will know that he isn't trying to conform, as much as a lot of people think he is. (Even I thought he was, with Sickology 101)

Reposting this, because you completely ignored it, sir.

[Sparky]

Shwayze not even :P
but the rest of the list is good

[ProggyMan]

"But as with the late-80s "golden age", the late 90s/early 00s surge showed that during rap's heyday phases the most innovative music rises to the top; it's not something you have to seek out, because it dominates radio and music-video channels, booms from passing cars."
Tells you all you need to know about the article.

[Molecules]

Originally Posted by Kirby

American Mainstream Rappers That Don't Suck:

Black Thought
KiD CuDi
Wale
Shwayze
Beastie Boys
Busta Rhymes (cross him off, because you think he's talentless)
Q-Tip
Chamillionaire
DMX
Jay-Z
Mike Shinoda (Fort Minor)
Method Man
Redman
Kanye West
Lupe Fiasco
Andre 3000
Big Boi
Raekwon
Talib Kweli

Edit: I'll wait.



If you've heard Tech's latest album, you will know that he isn't trying to conform, as much as a lot of people think he is. (Even I thought he was, with Sickology 101)

well it's clear that any list with this agenda is going to be highly subjective, but chamillionare and mike f*cking shinoda? each to their own... but that just reinforces the points the article was making IMO

anyway, most of the MCs you've listed (and i'd wholeheartedly agree with you on) began their careers or released their most lauded albums in the mid/late-90s or earlier.
I don't know about Wale or anything, and i know you are more in touch with the current scene Kirby, but if i remember correctly the article addresses the rise of localized scenes (and mixtapes, some going viral) to make up for the deficit in the mainstream? I mean with your knowledge of hip-hop can you honestly say that Kanye West is the best the wider public deserves for lyricism?
Reynolds was having a go at the scum that floats to the top, not the whole damn show, and I seriously doubt that Q-Tip or Raekwon's latest solo albums (as good as they may have been) made a major dent in the charts... Unlike say, 'Enter the 36 Chambers' et al

[Jester]

I guess rock is dead.

[Engine]

Originally Posted by Molecules

I mean with your knowledge of hip-hop can you honestly say that Kanye West is the best the wider public deserves for lyricism?

Maybe I missed something but I thought he only said that K. West "doesn't suck" - to which I agree. That's a far cry from 'best lyricist'. Still, he's got a brain and it shows up sometimes in his rhymes - used to anyway..

[Jester]

Kanye West is a producer first, rapper second. That said, he's not a bad rapper at all.