Saying it pales in comparison to previous decades is a point of opinion. There are only two previous decades to compare it to...
We are all a little biased to the eras in which we grew up. Some of us more than others. I'll say by comparison, alot of 90s shyt is overrated. I've never tried to do a side by side 90s vs 00s (who got time for that? Lol), but I can also appreciate both eras for what they were. As well as the 80s...
2000s is underrated from the standpoint that when old, bitter haters reference the 00s, they have the tendency to do two things: 1)lump the whole era as "ringtone rap" when that shyt was a 2-3 year stretch within the larger period, and 2)lump in the 2000s with the current era. The sounds and styles and artists that were hot in '15 were completely different than the like in '05. Music and sports eras are defined by the decades, yet with the 00s, everybody acts like 2017 hip hop is the same generation as 2003 hip hop. Only with the 2000s are old, bitter haters so selectively inconsistent...
Nobody says the music in '96 was the same era as '88...
3 decades, if you count the pre-wax era of the '70s.
it has nothing to do with bias. im 33 bro. the 2000s was the prime of my life. but I know how to be objective. and in fairness, I was around music since birth basically, so its impossible for me to look at things like "my era" or "your era". there was great stuff in the 2000s that could shine in any era, but from top-to-bottom, its not touching the '80s or '90s at all. and if you weren't around or havnt done the proper research, you wouldn't understand. the 2000s was dope definitely. I would love it if the quality went back up to that level. but if you think that was the highest level overall, youre either thinking subjectively or just oblivious.
and like I said, its not even about era bias. I realized that hip-hop in particular was on a downward spiral to hell when I was in 11th grade(the greatest time period in life for a lot of people). back when everything became monopolized. all the video stations getting bought out and ending up under Viacom. all the radio stations getting bought out and ending up under 2 umbrellas. same thing with the record labels to where now, everything getting national shine is under 1 or 2 umbrellas. you don't think that's problematic? it affected the music greatly. by the time school was out, the radio was depressing. fast forward to today, and the scene is a complete & utter joke.
at least in the 2000s, the underground & semi-mainstream carried hip-hop on their backs. but we're at the point now where the rappers in those positions, generally aren't that good because they grew up on bullchit.
nobody says '96 & '88 are the same era because back then, things were way more organic and changed rapidly. so of course nobody is grouping those years together. hell, you couldn't even group '88 in the same boat as 86 or 91. nowadays, you can group a whole stretch of the past 12 years together. clearly something aint right.
sports is a different animal because the cream of the crop usually rises to the big leagues 90% of the time. as opposed to the music industry, where they will purposely hamper or completely shut out the true talents, while they force trash to the forefront.
