The Life and Death of Rap

I have had the opportunity over the past couple of months to watch an ass load of music videos. This includes a wide variety of rap videos dating from the early 80s to present day. I believe we are witnessing the death of rap music.

It seems that hip-hop performers are basically running out of stuff to rap about. Everything has been done. Rappers have always been successful by rapping about what they know, i.e. their surroundings, their neighborhoods, the people they know in these surroundings and neighborhoods. But now, everyone has heard everything about this. There is nothing new to report and they are running out of things to rap about.

I have noticed that the life cycle of rap music is very similar to that of the human life cycle. In the early 80s, rap was in its infancy. It stumbled around and was clumsy as it learned and tried to find its way in the world. As it grew and became more knowledgeable, the work became more artistic, fresh and worthwhile. Now, it is in its later stages of life. It has slowed down, the thought processes are more generic and it doesn’t have that pizzazz that it once did.

Seriously, how many songs can their be about rims? It is getting very dumb. Let me quote one lyric I heard recently, “She made us drinks to drink, we drank them and got drunk.” What the hell does this even mean?

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. There are still some very good rap artists out there, but just a few. The elderly are similar to this as their time approaches. Some are still vibrant, outgoing and contribute to something to world around them, but most of them really don’t do a whole lot.

One more note about rap music…how insecure are these people? No one ever performs by themselves anymore. It is always someone featuring someone else. Nut up…stand on your own like your rapping forefathers.