The problem with Hip-Hop isn’t necessarily a lack of talented artists. The real problem with Hip-Hop that no one is talking about is a lack of EMOTIONALLY COMPLEX artists.

If you look at the rappers who most people consider goats like Pac, Hov, Nas, Ye, Kendrick, and even Drake you’ll not only see talent but you’ll see an emotionally complex nuanced human being. The human element is a large part of what makes their art resonate with listeners.

In the modern era, the human element is pretty much gone. Modern Hip-Hop culture is basically a caricature of black youth culture with zero nuance or vulnerability. Everybody is just dressing up in a costume and perpetuating cultural stereotypes with no regard for the emotional impact of the music they are making.

Somebody like Yeat, for example, is actually creative as f*** and actually pretty talented but is pretty much completely lacks emotional complexity so once the novelty of his sound wears off there is nothing left. You don’t feel like listening anymore. It's like that for most street rappers too, they may have a great sound and a good flow but there isn’t a real person there. Just a caricature of what a “street dude” would say or think or act like.

Even a lot of modern NY boom bap rappers are just caricatures of d*** dealers with no real “person” behind it. And the underground rappers who aren’t coke rappers are preaching again with no actual personality behind it.

And don’t get me started on female rap. Again, a lot of them can spit and will surprise you with their skill set every now and then but they are pretty much playing dress up and acting out the thoughts and behavior of the “Bad B****” archetype, instead of showing any individuality of vulnerability.

Modern rappers HIDE behind a stereotypical character they create instead of being vulnerable enough to express their unique personality through their art. This has become the new standard and even older rappers are following suit. This strategy is proving to be a failure though because people see right through it which is the real reason why rap is tanking rn.

Edit: Changed the title because y’all missing the point

all jokes aside, hip hop is more vulnerable today than it has ever been

let's ignore the fact that oldheads named 2016 soundcloud era as emo rap era

The hell how old are u

I don’t agree at all. Just a couple of years ago yall complained that the music niggas made was too emotional and wasn’t good for parties or whatever and used that as a reason for female rappers like Saweetie being on the rise

That's ok brother real ones will read it

No way I like my hip hop being better than you and f***ing your girl and buying expensive things

Street niggas still making good music who cares if the mainstream is tapped in niggas ain’t care before they ain’t gonna care now

But are they being emotionally vulnerable and showing their real human personalities outside of the "street nigga" archetype though?

old enough to know that i said what i said

did everyone forget that rise of therapeutic and healing music in hip hop the past 3 years?

if u kept scrolling you'd see my post right after

Some yes but its irrelevant.
There’s a whole section of hip hop fans that gonna only listen to rap that ain’t listening to drake Travis Kendrick or whoever

These ppl will never not listen to rap and s*** like who got the number ones don’t matter

RAOTY Blue Lips out now!

agreed

nothing too do with this

avi

The bigger guys do understand the assignment, they are students of the genre, that's why they are still around and might still be for longer, the new generation is simply mimicking instead of learning

I feel like acting hard is acceptable too but the new generation misunderstood the purpose of that trope cause when Cole talks about f***ing hoes, he's really not (unless he's Copenhagening idk ). The trope has to revolve around your larger character, what you bring to the table, your emotional complexity as it were

Drill rappers show some emotion but
most of it is so samey, repetitive stuff about growing up poor, killing niggas, its hard to go past that.

I remember a review of It's Almost Dry talked about how pusha Almost moves past the d*** talk and talks about its toll on his life and how he quickly goes back to the same old same old and how he would have liked to hear more of that. I agree, Pusha is getting older now, it's unrealistic for him to keep spitting that s*** without some nuance of maturing and emotional impact.

I don’t know if I agree fully but for sure a llot of artists across all genres could stand to be more emotionally/intellectually vulnerable. Listeners, including myself, could also stand to work on developing the muscle of empathetic curiosity

I mean Travis was criticized for this just last year, he's the one example of coasting off that one note, superficial tone of rap but Idk how my goat Pluto beat these allegations still, he really is a wizard

Something about this exacerbated by the internet that I think is really unique and weird is that we’ve never before been in a position where you have such access to an artist’s (or online stranger) “human element” as you put it. However that human element is often mirrored by, or expressed through, cultural tropes, So we deny their interiority because of that, because don’t know what to do when we see somebody express their authentic self in a way that comes off as caricature to us, for whatever reason

Rod Wave, Youngboy, Lil Durk, and Polo G are pretty damn vulnerable tbh. And I say that as someone who's not a big fan of them.

Durk's biggest song from last year was more vulnerable than the lead singles off FATD and Vultures.

I think it really boils down to catalog and skill.

The newer mainstream rappers just aren't that skilled at rapping/songwriting nor good at making a groundbreaking or unique album that deviates from the "playlist/streambait" norm. So, even when they do try to be emotional or vulnerable, it generally doesn't really stand out much.

off yourself in minecraft