The NEW Disco
The Decline of Message in Hip Hop
Hip Hop… These two words when paired together can make people laugh, cry, wince, oblivious, or even aware. There are many sub-genres of Hip Hop including mainstream or Hip “Pop”, underground, club, gangster, conscious, backpack, and horror core. There are many regional specific sub-genres such as Go-Go (Maryland/DC), Crunk (Southern Region), and Hyphy (Bay Area California). The question I ask is this: why would such a vast art form seem to be dying out in the eyes of so many? The answer and my thesis are simple; the message within its lyrics has been literally sold for a product that achieves a higher level of success.
When Hip Hop first began in the early 1980’s in Bronx, NY, the DJ or Disc Jockey primarily orchestrated the music. The DJ would bring an individual along with him to parties to help assist in the crowds enjoyment of this music. This individual would be given the title of the MC (Microphone Controller or Master of Ceremonies). The MC’s purpose was to get the crowd or the party more involved and to further increase the popularity of the DJ. Over time however, the MC began to rhyme the words he was using to involve the crowd. The crowd could relate to the skill of a wordsmith, thus the MC was born and placed in the forefront of this new type of music. As the lyrics began to come into focus, they were quite simple at first and usually still all about “the party”. Very soon new voices would approach the microphone, the “have-nots”. They felt a different side of the inner cities needed to be heard, a more REAL side. This new voice would take the industry to a more intricate and conscious style of “just rhyming words”. MCs would begin to use multiple syllable rhyming, metaphorical phrases or punch lines, and some would craft stories with their words, so vivid you’d swear you were there. Ah… Hip Hop, they called it the “New Disco”, but it’s longevity would prove anything but.
I personally see the ‘90s as the peek of rap music in general, but unfortunately it also led to its decline. I see it boiling down to “the greats” and the fans that mimic them. It began with Tupac, such a passionate artist with a vocal presence that still remains to this day untouched. He brought realism to his words; he had the ability to get evil, but then again the ability to preach positively. After all, contradiction is the way of man. The only problem is, realism was Tupac’s image. Many up and coming artists saw this as a “go ahead” to live out their lyrics. Do you see Martin Scorsese acting out Good Fellas any time soon? No, but Tupac achieved such a level of success that it resonated in young MC’s minds that this is the way I HAVE to be. I have to be “real” to what I say or else I will be seen as weak and deemed not worthy to clutch a microphone.
Then came along Jay Z, the MC that truly embodied the term “swagger”. This was a relatively new breed of emcee such as Notorious BIG that did not write their lyrics but instead free styled them, or just came off of the top of their minds with the rhymes. This is a very good method of rhyming because it relieves your words of the restraints they might have when you just read them. This method has the ability to make your flow seem crisper and your words almost seem fall out naturally! The only problem is it’s hard to get a message across when you aren’t putting too much thought into your lyrics. Sure, they have fly punch lines, and sure they have a nice vocal presence, but at the end of the day they are either talking about how nice they look or how nice they can rhyme. Every now and then a serious emotional song will come along, but for the most part they just talked about living life and live it they did. Fans ate this new type of rhyming up! I mean, who doesn’t want to live large? So now young MCS have to A) Be real to there words, and B) Live it up in their raps, just to please a more vast audience and achieve a higher number of sales.
These icons amongst many others set the blue print for the future. Eventually it got to where the John Q Public did not want to be serious any more. Consumer demand revealed them to be requesting “can we just party again?”
After the “Eminem Era” (whom I see as the last Platinum plus “lyrical” MC), many artists with relevance and lyrical content were phased out entirely or shelved due to lacking sales. The days of the Hip Hop Album were numbered. Ring Tones and Singles became the goal for many labels and they began to only look for artists that fit the bill, thus proving my thesis. Labels began recruiting modern “one hit wonders”, constricting their lyrical content to something even the simplest mind can relate to, pressing it into a shiny package, and injecting it freshly into the minds of our unfortunate youth. |
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