Nas was right
Hip-hop is dead. Nas said so. As if the mere existence of MIMS and Fergie weren’t enough evidence of this, now TIME magazine is now acknowledging that hip-hop sales are plummetting, as they outline in this article. I’ll admit it, I’m getting tired of hearing that someone’s “Hot cause’ he’s fly, and I ain’t cause I’m not.” Or R. Kelly thinking that he’s clever rhyming on the same word. Or entire hip-hop songs consisted of words being spelled. Or how it’s raining and I need an umbrella-ella-ella-ella.
But I think TIME is being defeatist. It is trying to reassert white supremacy over the minorities. “[Hip-hop] is collapsing because they can no longer fool the white kids”, says Richard Nickels, manager of the Roots. I guess now that they’re busy not being fooled, they will have more time to spend on oppression and racist activities. But I will not stand for that! Hip-hop is not dead, at least, not for me. There are three pre-conditions that must be met before hip-hop is dead. As long as hip-hop continues to:
- Keep the additions of new words on Urbandictionary.com high
- Give Nate Gulley insight on how to appeal to the minorities
- Keep the standards of music/lyrical quality very, very low
then it is doing its job.
The ability to tour and perform lots of songs live on stage is no guarantee of quality. See: Dave Matthews or any other lame jam band rubbish.
Ah, optimism.
I don’t buy it, I’ll take the lease…
I think the whole music industry is LONG overdue for a makeover..
There was a thread about this on Okayplayer, and one of the replies seemed like an interesting prediction
“by the end of the year record sales are going to reach an all time low and record labels are going to finally realize that they can’t think in physical units any more.. everything is going to go digital..
which will mean that there really won’t be much need for the record label as an entity.. they will turn into what will essentially be artists/event management companies.. making their revenue WITH the artist while they tour..
and then the fall off will occur… if you can’t perform.. or you have a set with one and a half songs… then you just cant tour.. THEN the cream will rise to the top…”
which sounds like a future I want to see for the whole industry!
Link
Gwen Stefani should’ve stuck to barking her way through Madness covers.
Time magazine is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S!
“…That result is a stale product, defined by cable channels like BET, now owned by Viacom, which seems to consist primarily of gun worship and underdressed women.”
That is ridiculous. Gun worship and underdressed women are never the cause of a stale product. The hip hop industry is in need of a makeover — this was obviouse when Fergie joined the Black Eyed Peas — and attempt to seperate from the Pop music world, which it is clinging to right now to stay afloat.
Hey hip hop, you want a tip, try this: Kick, Push Kick, Push Kick, Push Kick, Push Coast