Until recently, Eminem was the only hip-hop/rap artist that I really cared to follow. I finally decided to open up my mind and give this generation's hip-hop a chance since that's what I was constantly exposed to at parties and with the people I hang out with. I had heard it before but refused to let myself give it a chance. When I finally did, I realized it was actually catchy and I could understand why it's so popular in this day and age. I liked that it was catchy enough for me to dance to, that was until I watched the film 'Straight Outta Compton' which is the story of the rap group N.W.A. that made me appreciate good rap. I got really into N.W.A. and old school rap so I started listening to other old school rap. I listened to artists like Tupac, Ice Cube (who was a member of the group), more Eminem and the Notorious B.I.G. This was when I realized that I hate this generation of rap music.
I almost feel ashamed of myself for listening to this generation's hip hip. I've realized that I enjoy the music, but I don't appreciate it whatsoever. I think I first realized this when I was listening to the popular hit song 'iSpy' where Lil Yachty says 'all my bitches come in pairs like balls in my nutsack.' Not only does he pronounce 'balls' too long and awkwardly in order to fit the rhythm of the song, but the line itself is just complete trash. He couldn't take more than ten minutes to think of something more clever and lyrical. 'My new bitch yellow, she blow that dick like a cello.' A Cello is a string instrument, songwriting at its finest by Lil Yachty. The very popular song 'XO Tour Life' by Lil Uzi Vert is such a catchy song that I will gladly jam out to any day but I'm glad I've been able to realize that the actual quality of the rap is garbage. The radio even had to clarify his words because the original version of the song was too hard to understand what he was saying. Funny enough, these two 'rappers' come out of the same freshman XXL class which is an American hip-hop magazine that popularizes young and upcoming artists.
Another part that makes a rapper talented is their ability to freestyle. Not all rappers are the best at freestyle, but they at least make it up with the ability to write good music which doesn't seem to apply to most of these rappers either as I stated above. Not to mention that a majority of the song 'XO Tour Life' is about all his friends being dead. This is a great video of the 2016 XXL freshman freestyling that shows their inability to pronounce words and create clever rhymes. This is just a warning to be prepared to feel dumber after listening to it.
This generation of hip hop consists of this new thing known as 'mumble rap'. This 'mumble rap' is the new catchy wave of hip-hop that has nothing to do with actual lyrical ability. Rappers gain fame by how bad and repetitive their lyrics are, how much they mumble, and how much auto tune is needed to make them sound decent. It baffles me how you can become famous by just spewing gibberish. I feel like I can gain fame as long as I mumble garbage with a catchy beat, and if that's not enough then the auto tune can do the rest.
If only we could bring back old rap. It was the good rap when artists rapped with true lyrical intelligence and ability. When rappers could spit quality off the top of their head like Biggie and Tupac once did. When artists rapped about real world issues like racism as N.W.A. did. When artists rapped about more than just drug, sex, and money as Eminem and Tupac did. When rappers used their emotion in song as Eminem has always done. It was a time where we knew what the rappers were saying. A time where autotune wasn't a thing to make rappers sound completely different than they actually do live. To see the comparison for yourself, check out this video of freestyling by Eminem compared to freestyle of today's rappers. Despite the dominance of mumble rap in today's music generation, at least we still have rappers like Kendrick Lamar, Logic, and Chance The Rapper who are the saviors preventing rap from completely going down hill.
