Decline in rap quality is correlated to literacy. These rappers now don't read books,don't write, illiterate. No longer intense path b/w poetry to rap

[IIVI]

Decline in amount of words used but an incline in melody top lines and harmony. Rappers use their voice as an instrument now more than ever (sometimes with some heavy assistance from auto-tune) and trade-off the more wordy aspect.

 

[Amestafuu (Emeritus)]

Vocabulary is one thing but actually knowing what they are saying is another, plenty of 90's rappers were spitting some high tense vocabulary without knowing the shyt they were saying LOL..analysing some of my old mix tapes and underground collection can be bit crazy and upsetting LOL

meh you could tell who those types were. the lyrical miracle empty babble is discernible

they were the least not the most so i wouldn't say plenty. if you delved into that whole lane of underground rappers that's on you. most people even back then avoided empty lyricism

 

[mbewane]

Over half adults in the country read below a 6th grade level.

Rap being inherently subversive, it’s no surprise the industry prioritizes and celebrates retarded shyt.

But hey, the beat knocks

"The dumb are mostly intrigued by the drum" Masta Killa

I mean it's no surprise that in a country that elected Trump as president that the most popular genre of music would reflect that level of ignorance.

 

[Amestafuu (Emeritus)]

New York elitism kept everyone on point

It was the gauge and the standard and why so many other regions were butt hurt when they got checked on that.

The best artists from every region were still spitters it was really when the low standards started being ushered in and excuses made for em that shyt fell. And if we are being honest it happened in the Southern reign of hip hop. people don't like to hear this but it's reality. before the south ran rap even Southern rappers looked up to NY standards and were great.

 

[Piff Perkins]

It's not just rap it's a lot of art today. Think about how often you watch a film or TV show today and hear dialogue or argument that are ripped right from social media. We have writers who don't read, actors who don't watch films, rappers who don't listen to rap, singers who don't listen to pop/r&b, etc. A few months ago I saw an interview where Winona Ryder was depressed talking about how when she works with young actresses, none of them will watch older films (for inspiration, performance tips, etc) because the films are too long. Like...how can you be an actor but not watch movies? For writing we have an army of people who refuse to read old books because they are "too white" or too patriarchal or whatever. I'd imagine most of us read novels like 1984 or Lord Of The Flies in school. Now many schools don't require any reading.

And then you get to rap. I have a little cousin who is a Drake fan but won't listen to his earlier albums. She's never heard Take Care or NWTS because it's "old." Hell she hasn't heard Scorpion either, which came out in 2017. I just don't see how this mentality is sustainable. Younger people have ignored older shyt before...that's not new. But this shyt is on another level, given how much access they have to information.

 

[WIA20XX]

No dog in this fight, Georgia has a higher literacy rate than New York

 

[Bondye Vodou]

Music is too easy to make nowadays, and any old scruff could be a musician.

 

[BK The Great]

Pill head druggies and retards are now at the forefront of Hip Hop, and it reflects on what’s being pushed They can’t even form a proper sentence.

 

[KingDanz]

 

[Chip Skylark]

I don’t believe there’s been a decline in rap quality

I also never believed hip hop is dead or will ever die.

There’s too many rappers who have released great albums this year last year and so on to say this.

The woman who said this and everyone else who believes it in my opinion is a hip hop elitist. I used to be so I can spot it when I see it.

Nas is my goat but even in the 90s he said a lot of big words that he obviously didn’t know the definition of.

 

[Bugzbunny129]

Its because being a social media star is more important than good music. Guys get signed for a popping ig skit and then they wonder why their albums flop.


Then they get a big head snd noone puts enough time into their work. They freestyle songs over a single weekend session and release an album. Then brag about it.

People saying rap is still great lost their ear for understanding what that is. albums now get a week play like a rando mixtape from 2000s. Then the next drops 3 months later. Each with a few good songs and 1-2 great. After each album the coli calls it classic and we NEVER talk abiut the album EVER again.


All the old classics took a lifetime to create those songs beats and verses hence the “sophmore slump” and im supposed to believe today guys can just drop 10x the material and its ALL quality? All on the same level? Ok…..

none of it has been lived in. This shyt is magic. The verses have no power because if that. No skill developed. Most make same song over and over, thus none of their projects sound special. There are dope rappers but skill is way way way down.The og rappers lived this shyt with no guarantee of bread. Today they dress the part and think they gon make money without even making music first to back it up.

Most art today is nepotism n controlled by money not artists. The ones who pop just have money behind them. Songs 10 writers. Beats have 10 producers, guys using premade loops n shyt. Disgusting. Even the mixing is down cause ug shyt aint mixed like pro studio dre stuff n sounds tame. How it sposed to have soul if its made by committee.

But it is across the board because they have to focus on everything BUT the music. Thats why the labels were good for some artists because they couod develop whereas now they cant.

 

[CrimsonTider]

This is the type of thread where people want you to believe Nas is intelligent

 

[DontEemTry]

This is the type of thread where people want you to believe Nas is intelligent

Compared to what these new nikkas is on he might as well be Einstein.

 

[Redwing80]

It makes sense.

Along with these idiots bragging how they "don't write" to sound cool.

Yeah we know you don't write. We'd be amazed if you needed to write down those garbage lyrics

 

[Lord Beasley]

Rap music has always been juvenile and filled with “too cool for school” type brehs.

So has rock, and country is for illiterate hicks I'm tired of our art form always getting blamed