What killed conscious rap?

[Urban_Journalz]

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

[killahills 714]

2pac and biggie took hip hop to their grave..

[CharlesJones]

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.

[chiba]

"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

[Butter]

because it sucked.

[BrokenWrists]

Unconciousness.

[LORD NOSE]

its not dead - its just not as popular as it once was

[Urban_Journalz]

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

[tical2000]

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..."

GANGSTA rap killed it.....specificaly the CHRONIC album by DR.DRE

shits coming back again though this year with KANYE WEST, COMMON, etc