Twon: The state of underground hiphop is fine. The state of mainstream hip hop is in shambles. I am just kinda hoping this is the beginning of the lines being blurred between the two again. All depends on whether or not his album sells any units…which it probably wont, but I will still be first in line on monday to support the brotha...
One person cant save (hip hop) alone, but he sure can inspire the next generation of rappers and radio-only heads to support (or create) something other than bubblicious bubble yum hip-POP. The gap in quality between the two is wider than its ever been. Even Kanye, who introduced cats like Lupe to the radio world, has dumbed it down severely. So thats all (I’m) hoping for. Kendrick has already slayed the underground. Let's see if he can make an impact on the other side of the game.
That pretty much sums it up. The Irish Ninja disagrees concerning the current state of the game, but his thoughts run fairly parallel to ours concerning the hopes we have for the industry. Sure, we’re all mostly anti Wacka Flocka Lame and Future here (Ra’z REALLY dislikes Future), but we do realize that these cats are pushing units because people are buying them. The industry honchos push theses acts on us because they know that we, the listeners, will support it. If we don’t demand more (of what we perceive as) quality, then we won’t get it. Personally, even though I don’t like Gucci Mane and Yo Gotti, I can’t really knock others for listening to them. They don’t know what else is out there. They only listen to the radio, unfortunately. Where’s the intelligent conversations about our music? That’s why this week is so important to the crew at BITM. This is why we’re here. The Irish Ninja summed up the preceding thought perfectly.
Irish Ninja: I'm not the biggest fan of mainstream, but I wouldn't say it's in shambles. I will say a lot of those cats sound the same because that's what was/is selling. If K. does move units, maybe it will be enough for major labels to back something other than strictly ass shaking, super bling, trap rap. In the same breath though, listeners today are mostly straight lazy. Waiting for the radio to keep you up to date or solely waiting for a couple people you watch for to drop something is some (bullshit)...Too many people know the same few names these days and don't bother to see if the status quo is missing something.
Chuuuch.
Please support the release tomorrow. I mean, legally support the release. If you’re not keen on who Kendrick Lamar is, peep this track. He’s first up to bat. The Niftian, out...
Its sad we're having this discussion about this. Kendrick's release is becoming a "Day of Reckoning" for the game. After the lack of love he received at the Hip Hop awards you can see that its come down to a war basically: ignorance vs. consciousness. We at BITM just want to see him and other artists like him do well in the game.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's sad, per se. It's necessary. Hell, some would argue that the "ignorance vs. consciousness" debate is spreading through the entirety of urban culture. I'd agree with that. Like K.Dot himself said, hip-hop cannot be easily defined. I do think, however, it's up to people like us here at BITM to try and keep the process as legit as possible, even if we can't force our own "deluded" thoughts of purity on others. Because I mean, seriously: Wocka Flocka?!?!
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