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Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Brand Nubian... In late 80's and early 90's they ruled the hip-hop scene. Then they disappeared. Why did this kind of hip-hop die so suddenly, and why it didn't appear on the surface never again?
Quoting KRS-One: "Lyrical syllables interlock in my voicebox / Yet I'm still unknown like the X on Sadat..."
aint shit killed , the reason u aint findin it no more , is coz muthafuckers stopped takin time to look for it
not only that funky but when u got quazi homosexual emcees "braggin" about their possesions and what they could be doing with their time. rather than making real music, they rather rhyme symplistic words with no actually thought behind it. Music is supposed to have a message, The message now-a-days is 90% of hip-hop is party and bullshit. :'(
it started turning into a business. dudes were saying something in their raps because it needed to be said. then they saw a profit could be made out of it and down sunk the ship.
These lyrics seem perfect for the theme of this thread
"In extra long verses hundred bars the lim’
The percentage of the truth in the rhyme is one tenth
A solid mass of minerals, easily broke down
Hard rock MC’s ya nothin but compound
Sparked by the endless greed of CEO’s
in the videos with those questionable flows"
This is the reason the call HIM THE GENIUS
soceities gettin dumber, no one wants to listen to concious rap its too complex for them. because they want to live the so-called high life with all the bling and chrome they get fooled to listening to the rap we have today. There are too many people dreaming of that life, people who cant face reality. The more they listen to this so-called rap bullshit the dumber they get.
concious rap is finished only a few will listen to it.
the white man (devil) destroyed hiphop because they saw it as a way blacks were becming smarter and spreading knowledge they want to keep people dumb deaf and blind thats why you have to ressurrect theyre minds
Yeah, as those 90% who are blind, deaf, dumb who wanna listen to tha bullshit and the small percent who know its bullshit and still listenQuote:
Originally Posted by HAN88
All of us make up part of that percentage of the enlightened people who listen to the intelligence with a conscious mind
definition of conscious Mentally perceptive or alert; awake:learning:
this has nuttin to do with race dont start that shit...
from my point of view (although im sure there are more reasons) i think that labels wanted artists that would appeal to the public more, so instead of mcs makin one or two commercial songs on their album which is necessary, they create an album completely focused on reachin the pop charts
then nobody took notice of conscious rap except for the true listener
^ yeah very true like Wu Tang, I was readin this interview that they did wit U-God and thats the shit he was sayin hes like they wanted us to be mainstream and thats not who we are, He also said that thats why that didn't play the Clan on the radio because they was using Knowledge in their shit and they was wakin to many people up to real Hip Hop
:mmmyah: it ain't about race
When faggit punk rock music took it over.
and 50 cents "i AM A G FROM THE STREETS (Not the 2pac way{Dear Mama})" image.
Ok, we've established what's wrong with Hip Hop nowadays and why it was better in the Golden Age. Can we please move on and stop making 3 threads a day realizing that Hip Hop isn't how it used to be? Quit focusing on the past and focus on the present ya'll. If you think Hip Hop is dead then leave it alone. You backpackaz need to stop talking about it and just be about it.
People change, and hiphop changes with it. Society became more materialistic, so it was just natural for hiphop to follow along with it.
money.
that's what I was gonna say too.Quote:
Originally Posted by poop one
RZA said something in a 1997 interview about how "the world wants to dance, so they listen to Puffy, but when people want to take a look at themselves, and think, they pop in that Wu-Tang cd." (not a direct quote). So now, since 85% of society are dumb, deaf, and blind, Wu-Tang is waaay over their heads.
the industry killed it.
more people bought shit that involved little to no thought.
so record companies began selling more shit, because they knew we'd buy it.
and they were right, and now we all suffer.
but really, all anyone needs to do, is go out and cut a record.
you want conscious rap back? bring it back.
Conscious rap is very much alive. Y'all just sleeping on the underground.
Underground isn't all conscious rap. It is mostly GOOD rap, but that doesn't make it conscious.
Conscious rap is very well defined. It isn't just underground hip-hop, it's a style of MC'ing with emphasis on social commentary, and politically engaged. Examples, as usual: Public Enemy (who's the only group doing that thing till nowdays - Hell No, We Ain't All Right), Boogie Down & KRS, Ice Cube and 2Pac's early phase...
immortal technique
akir
hell razah
i had an arguement with sum friends about rap, these guys are all 50 fans and listen to bow wow stuff and all that crap. (i put up with this shit every day) the arguement is that i always complain about these rapper being shit and them jus being popstar. Almost everytime i get the same response if wu tang were so good why dont we hear about them today, times have changed so you should change stop listening to that crap cause its old.
commercial rap works we must except it, was it a rakim interview about why he split with aftermath, dre wanted rakim to rap about guns, cars and hoes. A conscious rapper making it to the top and impacting the business will never happen with the way commercial rap has embraced the stupid people of this world (theirs a fukin lot of dem) at the end of the day its all about money, conscious rap will never sell as much as commercial rap. record companies dont want it then.
the people who are afraid of it killed it - the MC became too powerful
example
in the 80's when RUNDMC made my addidas, addidas then became extra popular around the world and made the company millions of dollars
then around 87 KRS -1 said this in his rhyme the song is "Dope Beat" on the Criminal Minded album
" ....I don't wear addidas cause my name ain't RUN, got Nikes on my feet and to be complete i can rock an american or reggae beat...."
people took off the addidas and got them some Nikes -
KRS did the same to PUMA when he dissed Shan who was known to wear Pumas -
the corporations saw the power in the words of the MCs and began to dilute the Word and the Drum -
True Story
You need to think about the environment where most people listen to music and also what is most accessible to them.
Conscious Rap has almost no chance of comin back its 85% Of those people who are deaf, dumb, and blind and if the 85% spend all their money on the bullshit rap and the the 10% do the same, because Cash Rules the Industry will never care about the 5% of us who listen to the conscious Rap
Michael Jackson killed it. and raped it first though
what u talkin about Public Enemy is still in the game
rebith of a nation... is siiiick
"Paper money was the death of Christ....."
Everyone knows you can't get bitches by talking conciously. You have to be a thug with a chain and rims. It's not dead, but I would say greed, lust, and envy killed it from being on tv and radio.
Why did Kanye give Common so called good beats but he didnt sell as well despite having a critically acclaimed album...yet Kanye sold millions with his album using the same kind of beats? Yeah Kanye can get conscious on his tracks but he mostly flossing.
Well..like couple dudes said it aint dead, u still got Nas, Common, Mos, Talib and couple others that spit that shit. Wu, despite being gangsta at times, can get real conscious and philosophical on niggas.
What has happend is the whole bling bling shit and since corporate world has got more of a foot in the hip hop culture, you find that the music has been directed at those that can push the coporation's mantra. The truth must be told, white kids buy alot of the so called rap albums now-a-days , how many young impressionable white kids (please note not all are like this) in America really going to buy hip hop that shouts black power and living a righteous life as a muslim or rebelised hip hop chrstian centred artist...yes they want to hear about the struggles...but they want to hear about the sex, drugs, killing and million dollar flossing by fake ass wannabe niggas
Peace,
The reasons why the real hip-hop is getting little to no recognition have been stated i the earlier pages. Lazy and stupid listeners that don't want to do anything but dance for the most part. Not to mention an industry that doesn't welcome the likes of KRS-One, Immortal Technique, Non Phixion etc. The main problem y'all, and don't get mad at me, comes from us. The true school heads that know what this music is, where it came from and it's ultimate purpose to uplift the mind and spirit of it's listeners. Your average whips are always blasting nothing but this tired, watered-down garbage music. So, I suggest mind terrorism. If you got a car, blast your music the same way they do. Put your speakers up to the window in your house, and get mad ignorant with it.
People have to know that there's a serious resistance out there, and we ain't switchin' sides for anybody.
Me, I grew up with The Geto Boyz, Cypress Hill, Run-DMC, etc. But when I hit Jr. High School and heard Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers, that was it. It devastated me, cuz I had never heard anything like it. I know we can all agree that there will never be another Wu-Tang Clan, however, it's still up to us to not only continue to play OUR music as loud as we want, but terorize radio stations and music channels as well. Ask them why they don't play "Rappers Delight" or "The Bridge Is Over". "Bring The Pain" or "Shimmy Shimmy Ya'
If you write lyrics or DJ, then you REALLY need to get on the good foot and start, or continue if you have already began, to market yourself, and do the damn thing. I'm only 21, but hip-hop is in my very bloodcells. It makes me angry every time I turn on the radio, and someone is saying, "your #1 spot for hip-hop" meanwhile, nobody knows what the 4 elemens of the ulture are, no one is delivering a nice verse, and all the DJ does is wave his jersey in the air like a fool.
Bottom line y'all, observe the enemy, and give 'em a taste of their own medicine. The way they diss a culture that they call themselves repesentin' is enough reason for anyone that loves this music and this culture to get mad and complain, but you gotta take some kind of action. If it's doing no more than takin' a spray-can ans taggin' "FAKE" on a 50 Cent billboard, start speakin'.
One Love
Peace
Pop Rap and Gangsta Rap destroyed Conscious Rap. Kids nowadays don't give a f*ck about educatin' the listeners, they just want THOSE b*tches or THAT car from 50 Cent's latest video...
neither one of the last 2 posts said anything new or groundbreaking. You're venting. I understand how you feel, but if all you're gonna do is complain, then everything stays the same.
We need to be talking about ways, to qutoe from Gravediggaz 2nd LP, "Eliminate the fake, deaf, dumb and blind niggas. We must, by any means neccessary, annihilate the weak, zombie, ghetto dwellaz."
Keep speakin' your mind, but do it in the streets. Call up radio stations and start requestin' some of the old joints. If they decline, ask why. Keep askin' why. I'm tellin' you, people WILL start to take notice. It's like droppin' an inderground LP, and you sell 100,000 units independently. Somone in the industry is going to notice either by word of mouth, which you know is notorious in Hip-Hop, or by simple numbers. Them seeing that you're making money OFF the books, and wanting a piece of it.
Be smart y'all.
Peace
2pac and biggie took hip hop to their grave..
The majority of black people don't wanna be educated. That's why conscious rap is dead. Conscious rappers are still out there like Dead Prez, Paris, The Coup, KRS One, Public Enemy, Ras Kass, Geto Boys. The reason why conscious rap doesn't sell is because the majority of blacks that are buying rap music don't wanna educate themselves about what's going on in the world. They'd rather dance and listen to a rapper tell them how many bitches they fucked, how much weed they smoked, how many black men they killed. Then we wonder why whites stereotype us and despise us.
"Nigga don’t think these record deals gonna feed your seeds
And pay your bills because they not
Mc’s get a little bit of love and think they hot
Talkin’ bout how much money they got, all y’all records sound the same
I sick of that fake thug, r & b, rap scenario all day on the radio
Same scenes in the video, monotonous material, y’all don’t here me though
These record labels slang our tapes like dope
You can be next in line, and signed, and still be writing rhymes and broke
You would rather have a lexus, some justice, a dream or some substance?
A beamer, a necklace or freedom?" -DEAD PREZ
"You make a mockery of what I represent properly
Yo why you startin me? I take that shit straight to the artery
Intellectual property I got the title and the deed
I pay for rent, with the tears and sweat, and what I bleed
MC's imitate the way we walk, the way we talk
You cats spit lyrical pork with no spiritual thought
Plus your flow a little bit off, you come across soft
Back in the days, niggaz like that on stage got tossed off
Need to get crossed off the guestlist
It's like you gotta be disrespected and thrown out the exit
to get the message" - TALIB KWELI
"either your a soldier from the start,
or an actor with a record deal trying to play the part" - XZIBIT
peace
because it sucked.
Unconciousness.
its not dead - its just not as popular as it once was
Both Charles and Sunny have very good points. There's always a way to do things though. Black People in general don't want to be educated about anything these days, true. At the same time, the Hip-Hop community as a whole is a fairly tight-nit one. If someone sees you not only wearing you're rAwkus shirt and your Yankees cap, but reading something, ANYTHING, they will take notice. Trust me, I know. Musically, again, the best way is to just turn your shit up. Everyone else does, and music was meant to b FELT not HEARD, so break some windows if you must.
Talib Kweli was at one time very conscious, however, he's lost it. If you've heard ANYTHING after Train OF Thought, then you know.
KRS-One will always hold it down, this we know. The masses have to know that the mainstream music sucks y'all. We have to make the verbal destruction of commercial rap as common as graffiti.
Conscious rap isn't dead, like Sunny said, it's just not as popular.
This is something else that's EASILY fixed. Lead by example. Don't say a word. Just act. When that weak ass track comes on, make a nasty face, and put on your headphones. Again, make a habit of reading in public. Especially for us so-called "minorities". It's a common misconception in the world that Black and Hispanic people in general are stupid. Like Immortal Technique said, "Look at the last 4,000 years of our existance. In actual fact, poverty has NOTHING to do with our people."
As for 2Pac and Biggie taking Hip-Hop to their graves, look, I loved both Pac and Biggie, but they weren't hip-hop and they didn't create hip-hop. That's like saying Edison took the Lightbulb with him, or Bell took the telephone with him when they died. And they DID invent these things. One more point to bring the point of emphasising intelligence among us "minorities", Edison only invented the BULB, a black man by the name of Lewis Howard Latimer invented the fillament that gives us light. Run that.
Concious HipHop is only dead if we allow it to die.
Peace
GANGSTA rap killed it.....specificaly the CHRONIC album by DR.DREQuote:
Originally Posted by Slim T
shits coming back again though this year with KANYE WEST, COMMON, etc