Is Rap music dead?

[SaviorX]

Mainstream rap that is on the radio and TV predominantly? Yea that is awful most of the time. Those songs are usually strictly following some type of formula to appeal to the masses. You may find one or two songs every couple months that are actually good which happen to sneak their way onto the charts.

The underground/mixtape scene is a completely different story. There are some impressive rappers out there who simply smartened up and stuck to the more creative independent route. There you can usually find people at their hungriest, with music mostly unaltered by the demands of "Hip-Pop" corporations.

Right now during this recession, Hip-Pop has reverted to this really corny 'Triumph" stage where every popular song is talking about overcoming the odds or something. You can tell because the beats for all these songs sound very similar. The only producer who does this that stands out (who I know by name only) is Alex da Kidd. Examples include:

Eminem- Not Afraid. BoB - Airplanes. Slaughterhouse & Cee-Lo - My Life. Big Sean - My Last

Other themes include corny 'college-geared' sounds like Chiddy Bang or Flo-Rida club songs with minimal rap verses.

Overall though, the sound of rap has changed, and I still love it for the most part. The audio quality has obviously improved with the times, and some rappers have great ears for production. Rappers are still embracing conceptual projects and 'sounds' to their music. By 'sound' I mean something that can be defined and constantly appears in their music.

Jim Jones recently adopted a...gothic sound in his recent mixtapes with the Vampire Life Series. Vado has a real spectral air to his songs (Hands Down is the best example). Kid Cudi pretty much has in own genre of music. Kanye & Good Music are embracing 'Trap-Futuristic' right now to mixed results...Ye's lyrics have faltered quite a bit in the last 12 months. But for some odd reason, I find my self listening to a lot more Pusha T.