T.I. has made an interesting observation about today’s Hip Hop landscape acknowledging both the amount of talent and how overcrowded the space has become.
Tip shared his observation during an appearance on Shaquille O’Neal’s podcast, The Big Podcast with Shaq, which dropped on Wednesday (February 28).
“This generation reminds me of every other generation,” he began. “You got some people who are exceptionally dope, and some people who are just alright. You know what I mean?”
He continued: “But it’s a lot more of it to choose from now. I feel that, actually, what they’ve done with music is equivalent to if they were to open up the doors of the arena and say, ‘anybody think you can play basketball? Come on out the stands out here to the floor. Here go you a jersey, man. Get in the game.'”
Elsewhere in the same interview, T.I. revealed that while he appreciated his colleagues — like Nelly and Usher — who were part-owners of basketball teams, he couldn’t see himself investing in a team himself.
“So many of my contemporaries — like Nelly, you know, he got a piece of Charlotte — and Usher’s got a piece of Cleveland,” he began around the 29-minute mark. “You know, people be asking me, ‘would I ever do it?’ And I don’t think I would, you know? Because I just can’t see me taking so much of my money, investing it in something, and I can’t do what the fuck I wanna do.”
He continued: “I just can’t imagine that. I’m gonna put my money into something where I can dictate, and I can determine, the way it’s gonna go.”
He also revealed that he and DMX were planning to collaborate before the legendary rapper’s untimely death.
“X came to my house like two weeks before he died. We were planning to work together,” he said. “He came to the studio and I was recording something else. I think by the time I had finished he had to run to another engagement.”
The Grand Hustle general continued: “And then one time he said he wanted to go to the studio but I was at the house with the kids and I couldn’t get out, so he said, ‘I’ma just pull up on you, man.’”
“He came by and we just sat up all night ’til four, five in the morning, talking loud in the kitchen. I was having margaritas, I think he might have had a beer. Smoking and chilling, just talking like we known each other forever. That was the first time we had ever really [met].”
He added: “We were talking about kids and he left town that day and I left town, I was taking my kids to Orlando. And we was on the phone planning to meet back up and work again. I think maybe two, three days later, he had passed.”
You do wonder how we got here. Everything is going backward in quality despite advances in everything that should have made it better. Production sucks despite it being easier for anyone to do it. Rapping sucks despite there being less restrictions on artists releasing music. It’s not just hip hop though. This applies to all aspects of life.
You give every kid a video camera, suddenly everyone wants to be a youtube star. You take music production from tens of thousands to make an album to only a few hundred, suddenly everyone wants to be a rapper. The access to everything so easily doesn’t mean that everything will be better, it just means there will be more of it, thus you have to sift through the bullshit to find something good.
You give every kid a video camera, suddenly everyone wants to be a youtube star. You take music production from tens of thousands to make an album to only a few hundred, suddenly everyone wants to be a rapper. The access to everything so easily doesn’t mean that everything will be better, it just means there will be more of it, thus you have to sift through the bullshit to find something good.
All these new rappers suck ass and have no originality or skills… period. I’ve heard wet farts that sound better on the mic than most these clowns….smh
When tracks are 2:00 short and repetitive because these kids all has ADD what do you expect? None of these new rappers have staying power. Every hit today is a catchy radio track. Nothing that’s shows raw skill. Its come to the point where all they do is shoot each other over rap beefs now because they can’t really rap to back up the talk.
Diarrhea On The Track toilet 💩 🧻 🪠 🚽
The number one Amateurs are his sons Domani and King! FOH
well they more often than not release THEIR ALBUMS IN A TIMELY MANNER………………..
So why did you give your kid a jersey and tell him he should also be on the court?
Making something easier to achieve usually devalues the thing. Now it is about getting something (music) out to the market fast that is low cost and low effort. If the song pops then it is like hitting the lottery. Rap is now a way to get rich quick. Everything is now driven by social media in some capacity.
Entropy
Rapping is a team sport, you need a crew behind you to really be successful. People promoting, and then you need a circle or other artists to keep you sharp. People also forget guys in the 90’s had 70’s 60’s soul music as basically their backbone so alot of songs you thought were creative were really remixes of classic soul records. Guys today don’t have those Motown records to remix and it sound hot.
You either die a hero or live long enough to say hip hop is dead.