2019 feels like one of the worst years Hip Hop has had in a while.
Frustratingly, 2020 isn’t shaping up to be much better. So far, we’ve gotten another underwhelming Eminem album, a strong, but not outstanding, Royce Da 5’9 album, a Megan Thee Stallion record that should have sat on the shelf, and a Jay Electronica (heavily featuring JAY-Z) project that’s insanely overhyped.
Oh, and this.
Looking back at the past year-and-a-half of Hip Hop, the problem hasn’t been a lack of lyricism. Freddie Gibbs showcased his mic skills on the HipHopDX Award-winning Madlib collaboration Bandana. It also hasn’t been missing progressive content. Rapsody checked off those boxes on her superb EVE album.
No, the issue with the current state of Hip Hop is a lack of emotional resonance. There’s a sense of what artists are about but not necessarily who they are. In the 1980s, Hip Hop was still finding itself but by the ‘90s, rappers released albums with full-fledged identities. Scarface took us into the pages of his diary in ‘94 for profound sentiments about life and death. And, who wouldn’t feel like they knew Tupac Shakur after listening to him rap about his frustrations, fears and love on Me Against the World? Rappers took us through their day-to-day lives. They let us experience their ups and downs, their joy, anger and sorrow, in an unflinching and poetic manner. Hip Hop is a first-person genre, and artists took full advantage of rap’s nature to lay bare their humanity for the world to feel.
By the 2000s, personal joints on albums — such as the “one for the ladies” cut and the dead homies tributes — had become tropes. Still, rappers such as T.I. and The Game fleshed themselves out as three-dimensional characters on wax by balancing aggro ethos with emo sentiments.
But, now — Tip and JAY-Z notwithstanding — most rappers from the ‘90s and 2000s are either dead, retired or making mediocre music. And with Chance the Rapper going full sugary-sweet soda pop on us, the release dates for Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, and Drake (and Lecrae, for the spiritual crowd) are marked on iPhone calendars as bright spots in otherwise dull years for traditional Hip Hop fans.
Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation
Even the subset of emo rappers like Lil Uzi Vert and Kodak Black are fairly one-dimensional, and their idea of making profound music is to spill their sadness onto tracks. The result is a feeling more aligned with 2000s pop-punk band Good Charlotte than with DMX or Eminem.
Sure, there are displays of lyricism. Skyzoo could teach a class on bars with the Pete Rock collab Retropolitan. There are the hits. Arizona Cervas’ “Roxanne” is ear-candy that can be played on an endless loop. And Griselda is one of the most exciting things to happen to rap in recent memory. However, there are only a handful of current rappers — NF, Boogie, and Aminé amongst them — that have developed fully-formed identities on wax.
It’s hard to pinpoint one reason for this. One thing that comes to mind, though, is Generation Z’s expectations. A few years ago, I was in Pittsburgh talking to students from Carnegie Mellon University. Keep in mind, CMU is home to some of the best and brightest math, science and arts students in the country. So, who did these paragons of academic excellence listen to?
Lil Uzi Vert.
“Nobody cares about lyrics anymore,” one student told me. “It’s all about entertainment.”
If young consumers aren’t concerned about the content and, in fact, are shying away from music that could give them the feels, what incentive do rappers have to be multidimensional? Keep in mind, younger rappers are the same age as their listeners. They may carry the same entertainment-over-emotion attitude.
Regardless, lowered expectations shouldn’t mean a dip in quality. Rappers have a platform to share themselves with the world. One of the most beautiful things about music is that it truly is the universal language. Its emotion transcends different cultures and even languages. That’s why rappers perform overseas and have thousands of people rapping along to every word of their songs.
This is a call to all artists: use your platform for more than surface-level entertainment, or a showcase of your skills, or even an obligatory social message. Use it to deliver your feelings and experiences.
It’s time to bring back originality, authenticity and emotion into rap. Anything less feels like a waste of time. And we know in today’s day and age, you have plenty of time to improve your skills.
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I stopped reading after “strong, but not outstanding Royce Da 5’9 album”
WE HEAR THIS SHIT EVERY YEAR. YOULL BE ALRIGHT.
Hopefully quarantining doesn’t produce more articles like this…3 months in and we’re ready to abandon ship on potential releases, and albums we’ve already got?
FOH.
The problem here is that you have the wrong expectation for these mumble rappers. Best bet, expect the bare minimum from these guys: party tracks with catchy hooks. No more, no less
This article feels so out of touch it’s crazy. Last year saw DaBaby come out of nowhere. Young Thug made a classic. Denzel Curry, JpegMafia, EarthGang, Dreamville, Rico Nasty. Not to mention Tyler and Solange. This year we’ve already got new Princess Nokia, Stro, new Denzel Curry, and even if Electronica’s album is overrated, it’s not nothing. And put some respect on Pop Smoke. Your dismissal of Uzi’s projects makes me wonder if it’s time to find a new outlet for my hip hop news. Also, “devoid” is an adjective, not a noun.
Young Thug and the word classic in the same sentence. In the words of Florida Evsns, damn, damn, damn. And the other acts that are named, loosely based on hip hop at best. More like emo-pop.
Eminem’s album is tight. Dope shit
We’ve been in this hollow state for years now. there was a small portion of time when lyricism got cool again (beast coast, tde, most dope, wiz when he came with lyrical content). In my opinion 2008-2013 were the most recent years of lyricism and messages in hip hop songs. I wont put the blame solely on “mumble rap” but i do believe there is strong correlation between artists like migos, future, and the soundcloud kids and the vapid and shallow world of mainstream hip hop we live in now. This is not to say lyricism is dead in any way but it definitely isn’t being pushed like it was in the above mentioned era.
HipHop is actually off to a good start this year with Denzel Curry, Mick Jenkins,CJ Fly, Azizi Gibson, Aura da Prophet, Medhane, Chuuwee, Da$h…..
Support quality Hiphop y’all
Jah knows I do
Good article. Interesting that most of the comments reflect the lack of depth found in Hip Hop right now. They didn’t even understand what you meant and thought you were just trashing albums. So, try again. The article is describing a scene, which no longer contains humans but one subject characters.
Wow! What an ignorant article. Hope this isn’t your primary job.
King Iso – “World War Me” is the hip-hip album we all need. Nothing released in 2019 or 2020 compares.
Yes I can agree that hip hop needed some help but I’m here now. Follow me on Spotify and Apple Music. I have some surprises coming that are going to take hip hop back to the top. Tell everyone.
HIP HOP IS GREAT!!!!!!!!! Pop rap is garbage. Hip hop isn’t play on the radio anymore. Beats and rhymes matter in hip hop. In other words, you must have skills to pay the bills. Pop rappers don’t need talent because their a fad in my opinion. Most pop rappers wouldn’t last 10 years because everybody is the same. The rap industry is more about money than art. The golden era was more about the art than cash. These kids don’t care about the music like we did. New records were cherished for the love of the art. Hip hop is an art form that belongs in a museum, in my opinion. Rap music is paint by numbers in kindergarten.
Hip Hop as a genre has been dead long ago. There may be some remnants but as a culture and musical genre it’s over. It’s coming up on 50 years. No genre remains popular after 50 years. Hip Hop is just corny now and it has gone from being run by pimps to being run by prostitutes.
The entire genre was coopted by white supremacists looking to fill their prisons using pauperized caricatures with dark skin to perpetuate images of perceived success to their audience of other pauperized people. As a result we have a genre that went from empowering Africans living in the US to weakening them mind body and soul. Taking their own spiritual concepts and using it against them.
And because the younger generation has been ironically brainwashed by the older generation to embrace fully anything that is perpetuated during their youth as vogue and dope, majority of them fail to see the truth in how empty, lifeless, and boring the music they champion is.
Ultimately what may have been the case was hip hop was always poor mans music which became poor mans music in which the wealthy establishment could then make a fortune from. It’s time to leave it behind. Rock will return, EDM will grow, Dancehall has already surpassed hip hop in artistic freshness.
Just time to leave hip hop as it is and reflect on the classics.