50 Years Later, Is There Anything Left Of Hip Hop?
- Thread starter Low End Derrick
- Start date
datnigDASTARDLY
catching pigeons
This is kinda my take too.
It really feels like we've finally been mined to our very last drop. There's nothing left....scary as fukk to imagine
it's been well documented. Revenue is down, less album sales, less Hot 100 hits, views are down, increased deaths of stars, increased incarcerations
Is Hip-Hop’s Dominance Slipping? ‘My Concern Is the Magic Is Gone’,
Trapital report explores why hip-hop's market share is declining
Hip-hop has been one of the big genre winners of the streaming era, but recently its share of streams and revenue has declined.
musically.com
Hip-Hop’s No. 1s Shortage: Is It Actually a Crisis or Is It ‘All Cyclical’?
Veteran executives discuss the challenges facing hip-hop — and why chart statistics may not be the best measure of a genre's reach
www.billboard.com
hip hop is just not as lucrative as it was even four or five years ago
Whips-n-Chains
Chi
It'll exist, but on a mainstream level EVERYTHING will sound like some sort of EDM/pop blend of trash.
it's been well documented. Revenue is down, less album sales, less Hot 100 hits, views are down, increased deaths of stars, increased incarcerations
Is Hip-Hop’s Dominance Slipping? ‘My Concern Is the Magic Is Gone’,
Trapital report explores why hip-hop's market share is declining
Hip-hop has been one of the big genre winners of the streaming era, but recently its share of streams and revenue has declined.Hip-Hop’s No. 1s Shortage: Is It Actually a Crisis or Is It ‘All Cyclical’?
Veteran executives discuss the challenges facing hip-hop — and why chart statistics may not be the best measure of a genre's reach
hip hop is just not as lucrative as it was even four or five years ago
From the same billboard articles people keep citing:
Also in the quote, "it is slowly losing its dominance in terms of market share".
its objective that hip hop is declining commercially.
The article pointed out a 1.8% decline in a single year but a gap of 18% between the next closest genre. If you take a statistics class, this 1 year would not be enough data to establish a trend especially when every year prior wasn't a decline. Also, the year is not over.
So if its not viable commercially, what genre is and when is this alleged gap going to be closed and eventually passed? Lets actually quantify this with a time and date which everyone who keeps making predictions should be able to do.
kevlar kohleone
Pro
Da Rhythm Rebel
All Star
Definitely some good points in this BUT it's way too long, and tries to cover too many issues instead of sticking to one coherent theme.
*"ChatGPT white me the most cynical, vapid, nihilistic article on the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop".is almost how this reads
*"ChatGPT white me the most cynical, vapid, nihilistic article on the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop".is almost how this reads
No one said its not commercially viable. I said its in decline. words have meaning.
another source: Morgan Wallen’s ‘One Thing at a Time’ & Miley Cyrus’ ‘Flowers’ Lead Luminate’s 2023 Midyear Charts only 1 hip hop album in the top ten.
decline from three in 2022 Bad Bunny’s ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’ Is Luminate’s Top Album of 2022 in U.S.
only 2 or 3 (depending on what you consider Doja Cat and the Pop Smoke album was posthumous) Dua Lipa’s ‘Levitating’ Is Most-Streamed Song of 2021 In U.S., Morgan Wallen’s ‘Dangerous: The Double Album’ Is MRC Data’s Top Album
decline from 6 (including two posthumous and Post Malone ) Lil Baby's 'My Turn' Named Best Selling U.S. Album For 2020 Over Taylor Swift
CrossBones
Louder than words
I'm pretty sure this is SOHH old schooler Walt. (edit he said it aint) Anyways, focusing on the sales of Hip Hop is missing the point of what happened. This is about his lament of Hip Hop no longer standing on its birthed values and becoming a tamed, universal sound of commercialism. It's now something that's not just safe and fun for outsiders, but a body that learned to be ignored for what it was originally created to be. It's accepted that loss in favor of a nice paycheck and white acceptance. It's more suited today to be a tool for the listener to "feel down" than to promote any thinking which makes you recognize what is really happening in our lives. The blues turned into something that's meant to make you feel bigger than life, or at least numb to it. To get lost in Superthug tales and rags to riches stories where most people will likely fail at. Where the standards of what's accepted in Hip Hop are no longer with those who have context and roots within the culture, as gatekeeping is all but gone, but it's in the hands of those who want to wax about "What's hot" aka the most commercial songs out right now. We even have those who will staunchly support songs aimed at promiscuous women, because somehow letting females lead the culture is a thing now (he did not bring this last part up).
The culture's foundation is not in focus anymore, it's a mess. Everybody is able to sound like anybody from anywhere, and they mostly do. Part of it is from chasing money and acceptance, and part of it is from new bloods jumping in and making music with no concern over what their message is really saying or what it stands for. How it fits in the modern puzzle of what life is today. It's just hustlers hustling you for their benefit. They don't care how it compares to any predecessors because this is a microwave society hellbent on finding it's next quick fix for a short meal. And they'll open up at the drive thru to reach you.
To segue from the article now, I think that the internet helped craft us to be in that malaise. While Hip Hop's true message was deteriorating before that, we nosedived into a freefall since then. Seeking instant gratification so we can move onto the next video to click. Our next funnel and time sink to lose ourselves to while they get paid off the ad revenue. As a counter culture Hip Hop is not honored on what it stood for; as the voices of a rebellion were silenced in their message because we needed to see our heroes succeed and be validated by mainstream popularity, even if it meant abandoning the original theme of being for the people. We needed our next Superman-like braggadocios theme song to feel better about ourselves for three minutes. Our greats needed to get a bigger house and leave the concerns of the hood behind in order to sit at the big boy's table. To look bigger and more validated. To sit in a car with Tucker Carlson. To finesse their old neighborhood and let gentrification start rolling in that much quicker, with a familiar face to start it. This is a genre that has turned into focusing on making reality a fantasy and nothing more. There has always been talking your shyt as part of the culture, but it's become mostly that and nothing else these days. It's a cartoon that has to live in the real world. That way it's become pseudo-dangerous yet friendlier to digest. Anyone now can feel like a CEO or player mack when everybody else is pretending to be one as well. It's aimed at everybody's daydreams. There is none of balance that it needs, as criticism falls to the wayside so mild cheerleading could take it's place. Make sure you don't seriously critique the latest darling either, as that labels you with the cardinal sin of being a Hater. Let him succeed, no matter what he is saying. No one has any think pieces that regulate or bring any value to us anymore, and shockingly as the 50th birthday carries on it's become about celebrating its ability to cash out and get mainstream (white) attention.
The culture's foundation is not in focus anymore, it's a mess. Everybody is able to sound like anybody from anywhere, and they mostly do. Part of it is from chasing money and acceptance, and part of it is from new bloods jumping in and making music with no concern over what their message is really saying or what it stands for. How it fits in the modern puzzle of what life is today. It's just hustlers hustling you for their benefit. They don't care how it compares to any predecessors because this is a microwave society hellbent on finding it's next quick fix for a short meal. And they'll open up at the drive thru to reach you.
To segue from the article now, I think that the internet helped craft us to be in that malaise. While Hip Hop's true message was deteriorating before that, we nosedived into a freefall since then. Seeking instant gratification so we can move onto the next video to click. Our next funnel and time sink to lose ourselves to while they get paid off the ad revenue. As a counter culture Hip Hop is not honored on what it stood for; as the voices of a rebellion were silenced in their message because we needed to see our heroes succeed and be validated by mainstream popularity, even if it meant abandoning the original theme of being for the people. We needed our next Superman-like braggadocios theme song to feel better about ourselves for three minutes. Our greats needed to get a bigger house and leave the concerns of the hood behind in order to sit at the big boy's table. To look bigger and more validated. To sit in a car with Tucker Carlson. To finesse their old neighborhood and let gentrification start rolling in that much quicker, with a familiar face to start it. This is a genre that has turned into focusing on making reality a fantasy and nothing more. There has always been talking your shyt as part of the culture, but it's become mostly that and nothing else these days. It's a cartoon that has to live in the real world. That way it's become pseudo-dangerous yet friendlier to digest. Anyone now can feel like a CEO or player mack when everybody else is pretending to be one as well. It's aimed at everybody's daydreams. There is none of balance that it needs, as criticism falls to the wayside so mild cheerleading could take it's place. Make sure you don't seriously critique the latest darling either, as that labels you with the cardinal sin of being a Hater. Let him succeed, no matter what he is saying. No one has any think pieces that regulate or bring any value to us anymore, and shockingly as the 50th birthday carries on it's become about celebrating its ability to cash out and get mainstream (white) attention.
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No, its most certainly in a down year but there is a distinction with a slow death. I don't claim to know what the future of rap and music holds in general, but I haven't really seen a convincing argument yet.
whats nihilistic about it?
Not sure why a "top 10 album" is the go to metric and not overall consumption, but even still the Travis album will be included. If you are arguing for a decline then once again its something mild and not the initial "is declining commercially" which would need more than a year (that hasn't finished) data point of a 1.8% decline. No one would argue its been a down year but you guys are making taking liberty with that fact and speculating. Doja, 21, Future, J Cole, Nicki, Drake, Uzi (again), Carti....it will be a down year regardless but this is clearly a year where the backend will be loaded.