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

[Wacky D]

people always want to blame gangsta rap.

1.) the quality of conscious rap went down
2.) they stopped jamming and started making the most boring boutique music possible
3.) they became too pretentious & egotistical
4.) they generally weren't kicking as much knowledge & science. the street conscious rappers basically took their place.
5.) to sum it up, they got corny.

Well damn what happen that gangster shyt ain't selling like it use too when Drake, J Cole,Kendrick and Big Sean selling the most now

those guys aren't really selling either. theyre just the rappers getting propped up by the media.

none of them have strong followings in the streets.

 

[Self_Born7]

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...

 

[85 East]

Who was safer for white America? NWA or Public Enemy? Onice you figure that out, you figure out the answer to your question.

 

[TrebleMan]

My theory, females love that 'bad guy' image and the youth in general will mainly be rebellious as a whole. They have even before hip-hop came around. Hip-hop took that to another level and is looked at as rebellious innately, including the conscious material near the start of the art.

Then gangsta rap took it to another level. It also helped that it had those signature g-funk instrumentals to groove to. Females started to flock to that more because it was edgier and in order to impress because cats wanted to eat, they made more of it.

Corporations seeing the money coming in wanted more of it. They're going to push whatever the money is telling them to.

Despite my first statement, I'm not blaming females for the decline of conscious hip-hop (there's always been conscious hip-hop). Both sides and other outside influences (such as cats labelling it 'soft', thus pushing females away) played a part in all of it becoming less mainstream though.

 

[KG1]

 

[Greenhornet]

Million Dollar videos didn't kill the consciousness though. Hype Williams' videos were becoming more cinematic i.e. Nas' "If I Ruled The World".

Nas and Lauryn were both nothing like what they personified in that song though
But I do feel what you're saying thats why Nas is as dope as he is


Imagine how Cash Money (The record label name alone is jokes) videos would have looked if it wasnt for Pdiddy's

 

[Mr. Negative]

watching this De La Soul video on Yo ! Hip Hop mix on MTV Classic is making me think about how conscious rap had a decline in the mid '90s.

De La themselves said in a podcast that Lyor came up to them after a concert and told them that their style of music was about to become "unpopular".

That in itself should tell you all you need to know.

 

[Danie84]

Cuz it couldn't sustain that Iovine Interscope machine

 

[The Ruler 09]

It's true many of the powers that be didn't like the influence. Some felt it made people more "militant".

 

[Raheem95]

people always want to blame gangsta rap.

1.) the quality of conscious rap went down
2.) they stopped jamming and started making the most boring boutique music possible
3.) they became too pretentious & egotistical
4.) they generally weren't kicking as much knowledge & science. the street conscious rappers basically took their place.
5.) to sum it up, they got corny.





those guys aren't really selling either. theyre just the rappers getting propped up by the media.

none of them have strong followings in the streets.

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 ?

 

[Zero]

Because such artists became lowkey haters, and were more worried about the next rappers' message instead of their own.

This definitely plays a part.

Pay close attention at how some of your favorite underground rappers love to rap about rappers

 

[Zero]

people always want to blame gangsta rap.

1.) the quality of conscious rap went down
2.) they stopped jamming and started making the most boring boutique music possible
3.) they became too pretentious & egotistical
4.) they generally weren't kicking as much knowledge & science. the street conscious rappers basically took their place.
5.) to sum it up, they got corny.

Basically. This shyt became glaringly apparent by the mid-00s

 

[boskey]

Because such artists became lowkey haters, and were more worried about the next rappers' message instead of their own.

This definitely plays a part.

Pay close attention at how some of your favorite underground rappers love to rap about rappers

Thats bullshyt. Its just the same battling/bragging that all rappers have done since the beginning. Underground rappers dissing mainstream rappers and bigging themselves up is called "hating" but mainstream rappers dissing haters and broke rappers is just a fun good time..thats a trick bag.

People hold "conscious" rappers to an impossible standard and have literally zero standards for "unconscious" rappers.

 

[Raheem95]

This definitely plays a part.

Pay close attention at how some of your favorite underground rappers love to rap about rappers

But underground rappers might talk about how certain artists who can't rap or how they are trash a'f

 

[Taadow]

Thats bullshyt. Its just the same battling/bragging that all rappers have done since the beginning. Underground rappers dissing mainstream rappers and bigging themselves up is called "hating" but mainstream rappers dissing haters and broke rappers is called what...thats a trick bag.

People hold "conscious" rappers to an impossible standard and have literally zero standards for "unconscious" rappers.

I'm not talmbat the dissing of the "unknown rapper" (as we have dubbed it on here previously)...

I'm talmbat these "conscious" rappers talkin' chit and sneak dissing other rappers instead of saying something novel.
These "conscious" rappers hold themselves to this high standard by acting like they're the ones who truly do "real" rap.
The truth of the matter is that all rappers have moments of "conscience", so when you position yourself as a
"conscious rapper" you're putting yourself in a box. If that's the cross you wanna bear, okay...but

1. ...there's got to be more to your "conscious" album than critiques of other rap you don't like
2. ...just because your songs are "real" doesn't automatically make them good.