OP right in a sense. I wouldnt say these new artist are completely talentless in that field but Hip Hop has become Pop music since its gaining popularity. Hip Hop music is now melody & production based, produced quickly and consumed quicker. This make it more accessible for a wider audience and create fatter checks

rap constantly changing is what keeps it relevant and also why it’s the biggest genre in the world rn. you saw what happened to rock music when they kept asking for another nirvana or beatles or whatever they ended up fading into obscurity and you barely have any rock artists or bands who are as big as kanye west or drake or whoever. great thing about hip hop changing is that there’s a lot of different sounding s*** out there. maybe it’s not all perfect in the mainstream and we might have over saturation of a certain sound but eventually something new will come. even hip hop had crunk running s*** for a bit where it was everywhere regarding hip hop same with trap rn but hip hop changing for the better.

Quit crying about mainstream music that's a battle you will never win

You can listen to griselda without putting down other music other people like

My point isn't about change in rap. Not at all, it is what is keeping it the greatest and most influential music genre of all time. It is more of this tonal shift of messaging it took. It promotes very different values than before.

i mean hip hop originally was just a hip hop hippity hop originally so it’s not exactly we changed and we’ve had rap music about mindless hedonism for some time so i don’t think it’s really changed all that much. also a lot of the conscious stuff isn’t getting airplay anyway

to say the music itself is a product of late stage capitalism is a lazy alley oop in comparison to the way all of music has been devalued via streaming services as a means of reviving the dead corpse of the music industry.

the way the LIFESTYLE of hip hop has changed would be a more accurate representation of late stage capitalism - normalized excessive d*** use, relying on metrics and statistics to fuel clout more than ever (how much does a singular cosign even do nowadays compared to a corporations curated playlist placement?), taking a neoliberal approach to tapping the surface of socio-political issues (WAP), the way that measures of authenticity have distortedly heightened yet vanished, and the way that overall community and unity within the culture has fallen way to the prioritization of the personal brand, are all proof that the culture of hip hop has been streamlined and dulled by corporations to amalgamate to a very farcical idea of pseudo-rebellion.

To wonder whether it was the music scene that has changed because of capitalism or this new way of life that has changed music is asking the wrong question imo. Its very obvious that capitalism as a system works in very dynamic ways and that both statements are not mutually exclusive.

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I do think streaming might’ve changed things for the worse

But you gotta realize people were saying the same s*** you’re saying all through the 2000s too

it has to be mutually exclusive because anyone can make the politically correct case that the artists you mentioned are indeed authentic products of their lifestyle and their environment. to say that they're not authentic because they don't make thought-provoking music is enforcing a threshold of what it takes to make authentic music, which is a reflection of late-stage capitalism in of itself.

Rap has changed but theres just as much artistic merit as the old days imo.

i remember he tweeted this on the same day that something big dropped but i cant remember what it was

Agreed, you can find much artistic merit if you look hard enough for it and even in the mainstream but my point is more about what the "free" market favors nowadays in a hip-hop record.

You're not really wrong in terms of the music getting s***tier.

You gotta look hard to find some decent artists tho because there still out there... Just nobody knows about em lol

I definitely agree that shifting all the blames of problems caused by capitalism on the artist is not the most thoughtful thing ever. Still dont really see the contradictions in my post

It Tupac was still alive, Travis Scott would be working for McDonalds.

Oh wait!

it’s a function of the age we live in:

technology advancements have forced us into this need for instant gratification, and it’s reflective not only in ourselves (forgetting a project a week after it drops), but also in the artists too. the gratification of completing a song is greater than the urge to really sit down and create for days weeks and months

music (and hip hop especially) has always been charged by the youth. and it just so happens we have now reached the generation that is old enough to create music, and also happened to grow up in the “fast food” era, as it’s called

a***ytically, it’s really interesting to dissect because it speaks a lot to how society has progressed (or regressed) since social media/technology advancements

This thread reeks of HHCJ material now

But on a serious note, I sort of see what the OP is saying.

Streaming has kind of hurt the quality control of mainstream hip hop in the charts to the point where Tekashi can literally troll and meme his way into getting a number 1 song. Things are more focused on marketing, Tik Tok memes, and topping charts rather than pushing boundaries.

That said, if you take your focus outside the charts or mainstream, you'll see that quality hip hop is still alive and well. Great hip hop acts are less dependent on major labels or promotion than ever before.

We probably won't get a top dog in the same vein as Kanye, Jay, Em, Wayne, or even 50 ever again due to these changes which is pretty sad but great hip hop is still present if you know where to find it.

Headass