Why did Pro Black/Conscious hip hop take a decline in the mid '90s ?

[VertigoKnight]

There was always a balance hence why 90's Hip Hop even the 'gangster' shyt felt as if it had a point.

There was never conscious and gangster some conscious stuff came with a bit of gangsta leaning as well. Brothers were certainly more aware, and intelligent. Not so much now where they purposefully pretend to be dumb. Which is actually more disturbing.

 

[KravenMorehead™]

The problem with concious rap now is that dudes forgot to entertain as well as observe and inform. The result is middling music that gets away with murder simply because people think "they're saying something"

I'll give you a perfect example of who I'm talking about

After Quality, the man put out dud after dud but he doesn't (or didn't at one point) get much heat for it because hes a "conscious emcee with a message".

He's a dude gassed off his own hype with a bad voice and worse flow. And to be brutally honest, these problems were apparent during his prime, he was just a fresh face and Hi-Tek's beats carried him. Mos Def before that (who also fell off).

Dude even recognized he put himself in that box by calling one of his albums "Prisoner of Conciousness". Too bad it was weak just like the one before it with some rather cringeworthy attempts at breaking out of that box.

Joey Bada$$ is the next iteration if he don't get the right nikkas in his corner

 

[Piff Tannen]

Dre and snoop blew up and everybody followed

Everything revolves around money. NWA and gangsta rap started bringing in millions of dollars. Record labels started looking and promoted gangsta rap acts because that's what more and more people were intrigued by and willing to pay for. To paraphrase it.

No medallions, dreadlocks, or black fists it's just
That gangster glare, with gangster raps
That gangster shyt, that makes the gang of snaps,

 

[OnlyInCalifornia]

Entertainment as a whole got more over the top and it takes longer to put out songs with concepts. If you look at movies at the time they also became over the top and very violent to a higher level.

Plus crack babies....not joking......

 

[bdubsblo]

hip hop was the voice for the community,,, when there corporations seen hip hop growing, they wanted in, so now the corporations became the voice of hip hop... b/c they were the ones cutting the check.... we went from black power/pride from wearing X hats, Karl Kani, rocking black pride leather medallions, to wearing Polo, Tommy, and etc...

Wrong. You are referencing a very specific, very narrow genre of hip-hop that had it's heyday from about 87~93, 94. There was hip-hop before the Malcolm X bootleg movie hats, before the goofy medallions, shyt, hip-hop was rocking Dapper Dan's shyt waaay before Karl Kani was even thought of as a merchandiser. And if you were really from the culture, you would know that Polo, Tommy Hilfiger existed alongside the minority owned streetwear. Fashion is fashion, nikkas wore what they thought looked fly, period. Did you have pride in knowing that some of your gear came from the same borough as you did? Sure, but just because some Hotep told me I needed to rock whatever Cross-Colours knockoff he was pushing, did not mean you were neccessarily going to buy it .

 

[The War Report]

It's just good hip hop to me. Being yourself.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Conscious sounding rap didn't die in the mid 90s,.if anything, when you add in ths neo-soul era of the mid 90s to early 2000s.it was amazing great time, all the way up about 2005-06.

What did happen in the mid 90s was the fukkboi radio stations, became consolidated and stop playing conscious rap. There use to be a period where.you could, get your street, conscious, and even dance rap on the radio station all at once. But on the radio station, where you reached the most people, the conscious sound was basically erased, until maybe now with a few songs here and there.

this

 

[Self_Born7]

Wrong. You are referencing a very specific, very narrow genre of hip-hop that had it's heyday from about 87~93, 94. There was hip-hop before the Malcolm X bootleg movie hats, before the goofy medallions, shyt, hip-hop was rocking Dapper Dan's shyt waaay before Karl Kani was even thought of as a merchandiser. And if you were really from the culture, you would know that Polo, Tommy Hilfiger existed alongside the minority owned streetwear. Fashion is fashion, nikkas wore what they thought looked fly, period. Did you have pride in knowing that some of your gear came from the same borough as you did? Sure, but just because some Hotep told me I needed to rock whatever Cross-Colours knockoff he was pushing, did not mean you were neccessarily going to buy it .

doofy medallions

 

[J-Fire]

Kayne & chapelle show saved the movement & got jayz in a consistent conscience state.

2004-2005 even jadakiss made why. Common had a resurgence!

Mainstream artist incorporated conscience music once Kanye dropped college dropout. The Kanye affect/effect is very real. The most talented rappers skill wise added the contents of conscience rappers so lyrics alone without flow was no longer acceptable.

 

[Meowth tote da Uzi]

Do you really have to ask yourself that question ??? Rappers are just ponds in a game now to dumb the majority down. Who run the record labels ??? Who makes the final say on what a rapper can and cant put out ??

 

[daze23]

it was always there, you just had to be checkin for it. the fact some other shyt attracted a larger audience wasn't the end of it

 

[The_Hillsta]

If you was really into hip hop/rap you still had pro black conscious songs and albums still gettin play. And naw it was just limited to African medallions and dashiki's. Pac, Goodie Mob, Kam, even Too Short had some shyt that had us all reflecting in 95/96. These songs cuts got all type of radio/video play. And yeah niiggaz in them streets fukked with these albums also. Cant speak on cats from other regions but out here in the Bay and LA?.....Yeah.









Variety, variety, vareiety...It was all out there if you wasn't one of them nikkaz stuck on just ONE region

 

[Wacky D]

Idk fam the streets lowkey fukk with Cole tbh. And do you mean people like Little Brother as street conscious rappers ? Like somebody who is conscious but people from the streets can still fukk with it even though it ain't gangsta rap ?

its people that mess with him a lil bit cuz he benefits from being one of the only people on the radio that actually try to rap.

but if the streets REALLY f*ck wit you, then theres nothing low-key about it.

and it has nothing to do with gangsta rap. if your chit is really hot like that & people know about it, then its gonna pop off. and hes on the radio all the time so the awareness is there. he just don't have it.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

If you was really into hip hop/rap you still had pro black conscious songs and albums still gettin play. And naw it was just limited to African medallions and dashiki's. Pac, Goodie Mob, Kam, even Too Short had some shyt that had us all reflecting in 95/96. These songs cuts got all type of radio/video play. And yeah niiggaz in them streets fukked with these albums also. Cant speak on cats from other regions but out here in the Bay and LA?.....Yeah.









Variety, variety, vareiety...It was all out there if you wasn't one of them nikkaz stuck on just ONE region

a point that many people miss

 

[OG Talk]

A lot of Westcoast gangsta rap was still conscious.. As well as some of the music Nas, Wu, and AZ was making in the mid 90s..

Bad Boy and the jiggy era killed consciousness..