Monday, November 29, 2010
"New" Hip Hop: Fun or Tomfoolery?
Are groups/artists like this and Soulja Boy, Cali Swag District, etc. bringing the fun back to hip-hop or is this just modern day minstrel work? Some argue that older artists like Kwame, Kid-n-Play and the Fresh Prince were of the same caliber and this is just history repeating itself with this type of flagrant hip-hop artist. Others might say those who think this music lacks any real material or lyrical content (aka is garbage) are just maturing and fail to realize we listened to much of the same type of basic 'ABC' lyrics and engaged in the catchy dances of the moment so just let these kids have their shine. So do you think dances like the dougie and the jerk equate to what the running man and cabbage patch kid were to us 80s & 90s babies? Can the New Boyz or the Rej3ctz be compared to Kid-n-Play or Kriss Kross? Or is this new era of music giving hip-hop a bad name?
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I guess I'm biased and a hater when it comes to Hip Hop music groups and acts that rap these days. Even punk ass boys like Jerimiah irk me. Trey Songz is turning out to be a type of bitch like Ne-Yo and Drake....Just something about this whole gay movement and metro-sexual, tight clothes, skinny jeans era that is affecting and infecting everybody...(Saggin', showing your ass is just as gay and wack.)
ReplyDeleteNe-Yo, Trey, Drake, and many others have talent but they still bother me, but not like these Dance Crazed groups and songs such as Soulja Boy Tell Em, Rejects, New Boys, and CaliSwag (I grew up off Doug E. Fresh and have seen him live several times....That dance cannot be paying homage to him!)
I break my Hip Hop and rap taste down in eras that moved me, like '79-'83, '84-'89, '90-'96, and '96-2000. Then after 2000, it was a sort of after burn of seasoned artists that still managed to put out hits.
I am extremely diverse and have a gifted ear for good music in all genre. But as far as Hip Hop and rap, I love the Native Tongue, Conscious, Message Music, Neo-Soul, and also straight Underground Sound and that raw East Coast Hip Hop and rap primarily from '86-'96.
I just listened to "The Magnificent DJ Jazzy Jeff" and I put Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince and Kwame against any of these weak wack acts today.
The comical and light-hearted Hip Hop/Rap does provide balance and diversity to the art and culture, but in today's time it just seems like a saturated minstrel show of buffoonery and "Tomfoolery". We tried all of that back in the '80's and '90's with Digital Underground and as you say, Fresh Prince, Kwame, Kid N Play....even George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic...But to me, those acts were raw and fresh and relevant. Even Flav has more talent and Flavor than these fools out here today!
By the way, Lil' Wayne is the biggest clown and gimmick with his long hair, tattoos, stupid voice, vulgar lyrics, going half naked and always drunk and high!