Rap Considered “New Wild West”

Rap is likened to the Wild West in Green Label’s “Future, Drake, And Kendrick Prove That Rap Music In 2015 Is The New Wild West” article.

“The online Rap landscape is a lot like the lawless desert in old western films: It’s vast and often more deceitful than a mirage brought on by terrible thirst,” the Green Label story says. “The metaphysical space of the Internet, combined with the dog-eat-dog ethics of the industry, do a fascinating job of throwing artists out into the wild, while also coiling them inward. The Lone Ranger archetype was the Wild West’s strongest survivor, and now it’s playing out like a prophecy in Hip Hop.”

The article cites the recent work of Future and Drake to bolster its argument.

“Rap is very much a lonely art, no matter how many good people you have around,” the story says. “I’d say no LP from this year’s canon feels as remote as Future’s DS2. The album’s only guest is Drake, on ‘Where Ya At,’ a song that’s as much about unwavering loyalty as it is a brooder’s inability to trust.”