On Wednesday night, I honestly didn’t know what to do with myself considering Empire took a backseat to The World Series. Thankfully, the third GOP debate kept me occupied. Watching conservatives talk about the good-old-days of American society before some imaginary liberal takeover destroyed cultural values always fascinated me. Those who’ve followed the Presidential primary up to this point totally understand Donald Trump’s “Make America Great” slogan. It’s understandable. Some still romanticize a period within the nation where jobs were plentiful, we ranked higher than anyone in the world in everything from education to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and life was reminiscent of a good Leave It To Beaver episode. Fast forward to the present, most of the industrial jobs many relied on in the past have been shipped to other countries, most millennial Americans still deal with everything from a terrible academic system to skyrocketing student loan debt and everything else in between. In their eyes, there was a moment where the nation was the perfect place to live and now it’s almost become an international joke. Of course, the debate came as an interview Vince Staples did with Time Magazine made the internet rounds where the Long Beach emcee made this comment:
“I was born in 1993 in Long Beach, California and I don’t remember any of it because I was a baby,” Staples says in a TIME video entitled “Rapper Vince Staples Explains Why The 90s Are Overrated,” “but I’m pretty sure it was nice… [The] 90s get a lot of credit. I don’t really know why. Biggie and Tupac, those are the staples of the 90s. That’s why they get the golden era credit. There’s not a 50 Cent in the 90s. They don’t even have a Kanye. Jay Z’s biggest song, his only number one happened a couple years ago.”
One of the first artists to respond was Noreaga who felt as if Staples disrespected the era that many feels were a crucial decade for Hip Hop. It’s understandable, the music that came from that era was at its most diverse, innovative and all around dope. However, time moves on and a new generation of artists and fans have emerged both musically and literally. From Staples’s perspective, Bow Wow, Kanye West, 50 Cent and Lil Wayne represented the greatest moments of his childhood. And, if those influences got him to the point of making a great debut such as Summertime 06, then so be it. That’s just his perspective that many in his age group feel. Doesn’t make it right or wrong. Matter of fact, it’s only natural considering Hip Hop’s ongoing battle with ageism and competition. The 90s were great but, had its own share of issues including rampant misogyny prevalent violence that killed two important figures at their peak and incredibly shady record companies. Almost similar to that “perfect time” in American society where blacks had to deal with everything from housing discrimination and Jim Crow to the lack of real employment opportunities for women. That doesn’t make this era any different as there’s some good and outright bad. While being an independent artist is easier than ever thanks to the internet, terrestrial radio has gotten to the point of simply playing the same rotation of Future and Drake every other hour. Every ten years, Hip Hop goes through some shift that features some pros and cons. The huge problem is that, sometimes, the future doesn’t respect the past and the past doesn’t respect the future. Hip Hop’s confrontational nature can sometimes go haywire. Keeping things honest, there are awful albums that can be pinpointed every month, year, decade and century.
This is the reason why despite Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ “Downtown” becoming one of the most sell-out rap moments in 2015, you had to respect him for paying homage to legends Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee or Grandmaster Caz. Even Big Daddy Kane had to comment:
“REAL TALK!!! I don’t see one artist in the game that put Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee or Grandmaster Caz on their new song or let them perform on the VMA’s (Including Me) but people wanna have a problem with @macklemore for paying homage to them?” “We don’t acknowledge our own & get mad when another color does. Now if one of them passes, then we wanna post shit about them, say RIP & get t-shirts with their picture. FOH!!!!!!! Learn about your history & preserve it now. If not, SHUT THE FUCK UP!!! To me, this is about real pioneers getting recognition in today’s society.”
Of course, there are veterans who are great at picking up the future while newbies are respecting the past. Though Snoop made that hilarious video making fun of Atlanta’s popular triplet flow innovated by Three 6 Mafia and made popular by Migos, he still managed to spit a dope verse on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly track “Institutionalized.” Most of Dr. Dre’s Compton album featured a slew of up-and-coming artists like Justus and King Mez. Big Sean’s biggest hit to date, “IDFWU” features Bay Area pioneer E-40 while Big K.R.I.T. has featured Bun B on both Live From The Underground and Cadillactica. Moments like those are great examples of the magic that happens when generations come together. Will Hip Hop’s various generations find mutual respect for one another on a whole? Who knows? Right now, the best thing is for each era to appreciate the good and bad of each. Just appreciate the best every time has to offer and move from there.
nahhh, this is a reach. nah hes wrong. I grew up the same time as him and had the same influences, and even then we knew the quality of those years were undeniable. the presented “issues” of the 90s presented aggressive, raw and sometimes immoral expression, but doesn’t take away from the form. and that hasn’t changed with time. the music from the 2000s gets better with age and nostalgia, but I’m still finding tracks from the 90s that I find more compelling than most other eras. while most things are subjective, itd be more a matter of his taste rather than the 90s being overrated, because thats simply not the case.
Ural – i think the real issue here just comes down to the simple rule of “It’s not what you say, its how you say it.” i understand that 90s music doesnt mean anything to him because he was so young. The issue comes from the fact he basically says all the 90s had were biggie and pac. Does he not know who wu tang is? Does he know bone thugs? Then he says he doesnt understand why and that we didnt even have a 50 or kanye west. What do either artist have to do with the 90s being great? Is he implying that your era isnt great until you have an artist like kanye? The funny thing is those artists hes talking about grew up off 90s rap too. I get what hes saying but at the same time he added a lot of bullshit on top of it. Tyler the creator needs to shut his mouth too. Hes a troll who just likes to instigate and has no respect.
You’re absolutely right in regards to how one says something. However, it’s hard for him to probably have an emotional connection to an era he wasn’t apart of. Just like how he brought up “Toy Story” when 80s babies swear by “The Lion King.” It’s interesting to watch this play out.
I don’t see the point of editorials like this. First I’ll say I think Vince is dope and I have been rocking with the kid since his feature on earl sweatshirt’s “hive.” I get why he feels the way he does, but that doesn’t mean he was right. What I really didn’t appreciate was his exchange with Nore. Nore simply stated his opinion from the perspective of a vet who grew up then later participated in the greatest era in hip hop. Vince came off real smug and condescending when it wasn’t necessary. Nore didn’t come at Vince with malicious intent yet Vince felt the need to disrespect Nore with tough talk and calling him an “old ass nigga.” This is a huge reason for the divide between us so called “old heads” and these young, soon to be old before they know it dudes. There is absolutely no respect for the guys who paved the way for them. And no matter how you slice it, without the 90’s icons like Snoop, Dre, Nwa, wu-tang, tribe, mobb deep, outkast, etc, there would be no Kanye, Bow Wow, 50 Cent or any other guys that took over in the 2000s. Yet a majority of young cats, and folks like the guy who wrote this editorial feel the need to disregard how important and great the 90’s era was to hip hop. Yes there was plenty of wack artists, wack albums and all that, but there were way more classic albums and innovative artists that came out from that time. As far as the mysogny and violence in the 90’s, how could you get all self righteous about that when every other song on the radio is about bad bitches and pulling up and shooting people? I don’t get it. I don’t get where Vince is comin from, and I for damn sure don’t get this writer’s agenda.
You seriously should apply at DX. Your write up was better than anything I’ve read on this site for months. Good looks on the great insight my dude.
Thanks for this. the article was shit.
I see nothing Nore did wrong with this incident, yet the article felt the need to rope him in.
The boy staples is just very immature. he was so childish he started talking tough, telling us which silly gang he belongs to.
True a lot of younger cats don’t respect the history & the culture… A lot of my friends dont. But a lot of the time the older generation generalizes shit and makes it seem like everything after 2000 is shit, there may not be such a high influx of classics… We are in a season of talents emcees tho… Vince is dope to
It’s not the same in other genres.
The 60’s, 70’s, upto 90’s rock bands get a shitload of recognition from bands even today, new to the industry today, as ‘influences’.
They’re held I very high esteem.
That’s because Hip Hop by nature is competitive and confrontational. Other genres don’t worry about the cultural influences like Hip Hop.
Another wack overrated artist that you will not listen to in 20 yrs ! Biggie and Pac are like Coke and Pepsi they are names that everybody knows and they are popular but they are not the best soft drinks. There are others that are way better but they didn’t have marketing. To be honest I can name 20 artist that I bumped way more than them. They were good but overrated.
IN THE 90S HIP HOP/ RAP WAS ABOUT THE ONLY MEANS FOR ALOT OF STREET NIGGAS TO SURVIVE AND STAY ALIVE AND GET UP OUT OF THE STREETS/HOODS. IT SAVED ALOT OF LIVES. THE 90S HUNGER WAS AND WILL ALWAYS BE UNMATCHED BY ANY ERA OF HIP HOP. TODAY THERE ARE SO MANY DIFFERENT AVENUES FOR NIGGAS TO GET OUT THE STREET (IF THEY EVEN IN THE STREET) AND TO SURVIVE. NIGGAS FROM THE 90S ERA ARE CUT FROM THE REALEST CLOTH ON EARTH WHEN IT COMES TO HIP HOP. ITS MUCH DEEPER THAN THE DRIVEL THAT FALLS OUT NIGGAS MOUTHS TODAY. EVERYBODY A RAPPER NOWADAYS. THE RAP GAME IS FULL… STAY HUNGRY!!! SURVIVE!
I usually don’t comment but let’s be logical, each generation stands on the back of their predecessors. No George Clinton,Bootsy,no Outkast,no Dr Dre no Snoop Dogg, no Kendrick. No Issac Hayes, no Curtis Mayfield, no rza, no Pete rock ,no 9th wonder,no Kanye, no Vince staples.
Exactly, Klaus D ! And I would expect any hip-hop journalist to be well knowledgeable and understand the history of the music. At this point there’s no damn excuse to NOT be informed. YouTube has the music of nearly every 90s hip-hop artists who came out. This age complex shit has no place in Hip-Hop, period, yet there are those too damn mentally lazy to explore. Why spin an agenda-like opinion on something you don’t know ENOUGH about? That’s inaccurate reporting. It’s as if there’s this motive to place uninformed opinions to counteract any positive and proactive ideas to an ignorant issue. It’s artists like Vince who foster such ignorant and uninformed ideas that influence a false belief that the 90s, artists and music, is irrelevant. Well did Vince suddenly have a lapse of memory and forget that No ID is handling his career, production and grooming? No ID is a direct product of the 90s! So for Vince to even say the lame shit he said just completely turns me off to him. And it ain’t like he’s making groundbreaking music anyway…. average at best. I am so sick of this age complex shit in hip-hop… it dont make sense. What’s the point?! Are the newer artists scared they might have to utilize a lyrical skill most don’t even have if compared to those before them? Are they worried that the 90s was such a great era, that most of the music then can still compete to this day if enough people knew about it?? Is it their way of attempting to eliminate that part of the competition?
I need someone who thinks their vast knowledge of hip-hop to explain this to me, cause as far as I can see the shit with glorifying an insecurity by bringing up age and this “era” shit only shows just that, an insecure muthafucka who isn’t quite talented enough to carry themselves without having to an “eliminate the old rapper” approach because they’re not strong enough artists in their maturity or talent. This whole topic is just fuckin played and dumb.
You think Summertime 06 is a great debut? FOH.. you have garbage taste. Norf Norf and Lift Me Up the only two good tracks. Norf Norf is super dope, Lift me Up is ok… I guess Senorita is decent
Respect the elders. Vince need his ass whipped for being disrespectful towards NORE and the whole culture of 90’s Hip-Hop. Whoever wrote this article the same applies to him. Really only a handful of young cats are making quality music. Vince is not one of them.
amen!
I like Vince but most people aren’t mentally developed until 26. I feel for the youth of today because the elders sold them out to a society more in debt financially ecologically politically an culturally… Be the change you wish to see in the world
I don’t see why people are saying crap about the guy, it’s his opinion and explanation on why. He has done something good with his life, everyone in the comments just prove they have nothing better to do.
Vince Staples seems to know as much about 90’s rap music as my mom. Reducing the 90’s to Biggie and Tupac that’s just plain ignorant.
Shameful to think that those guys are supposed to represent the movement know.
Motherfucker, you said wonky.
LMAO FAM! VINCE CLOWNED THE 90s CHECK HIS INSTA – HipHopDX Editors
LOL I so agree. 90s rap sucked. And I started listening to rap in 89, I was there…
F.uck a Vince Staples.
Im considered the new generation and Vince is tripping! He wants to compare the dumbed down shit from today to the 90s and say the 90s sucked? Todays rappers have no flow no.lyrics and they cant speak english properly.
Its considered the GOLDEN ERA for a reason, this new era is going be cobsidered the DUMB NO TALENT ERA.
Why do u any of yall care. Almost none of u can relate to rap back in the 90s yeah everyone back then had some crazy lyrics but it’s all nostalgia. I don’t think it’s overrated but I think people definitely are jaded to everything else because it’s not biggie, it’s not tupac, it’s not nwa, or nas. If u want real music search for it there’s a shit ton of more sound out there if u look for it. Its not all radio rap or the top 5 artist that only rap.
I like Vince Staples but the ONLY reason why I ever heard him because he was on 2 joints on Common’s last album. Yes, the 90’s rapper Common…Hmmmmmm suspect.
Yeah fuck a Vince staple for disrespectin his elder
I thought the Golden era was like 85 to 87 with Rakim, EPMD, Kool G Rap, Gangstar, and Big Daddy Kane.