when you can tell rappers actually proofread their verses or wrote them at all

I miss when I didn’t know where producers got their sounds from

In terms of sound selection the mid-late 00s was one of my favorite eras. The beats were hard but had personality. Was so diverse

Love the drums from back then

The sound/style differences in regions.

It's still there imo, just draped over with trap production.

2016 lit

all good rappers dying

all the bad rapper live and well. s*** makes no sense

nigga said proof read

uoeno

posse cuts

“The emphasis on getting fly, living good and making money”

it still it it’s just displayed and communicated differently. 20+ years ago dudes like jay z, usher, puff daddy, chingy, fabolous, or whoever were real smooth cats. people aren’t really smooth like that any more or at least what they looked like to me in those old videos. back then it was like jeans and a fancy button up not it’s amiris or some crazy designer clothing. just a different version of getting fly

they don’t happen nearly as much. im probably wrong but the most recent one i could think of is this one but before everyone would have one on their album it looks like

When majority of rappers LOVED hip hop and wanted to be the best in their field

Song bridges

What we really need to talk about is how most of the things brought up in this thread were made possible by heavy label micromanagement and gatekeeping

there’s something t be said about artist development. lyor cohen said culture was the one album they made migos really lock in on and curated the best most focused album they can. so much fun was that album for thug. it was obviously self servient when lyor said that about migos but there’s something to be said about making an artist put in time to their music and give them the resources and to do it. i think it did cole a lot of favors when jay did it for cole and he honed his production and songwriting

yeah mixtapes felt like rough drafts and a way for artists to put out whatever they were feeling at that moment or ideas they had and then the album would be the culmination of all of that

that BIG epic anthemic production

Rappers standing out and having character

opium, 4pf, ysl. few years ago we had rich forever and members only but they fell off. there’s still some but they’re not like they used to be

unfortunately the antics by breakfast club, hot97, and vlad kinda killed that

way more balance at the forefront

R&B hooks

rappers being poud of being rappers

rappers not calling themselves rockstars

one producer albums (its become a thing again in the underground)

Yeah so many people rap as if they’re embarrassed that they’re rapping. Effort is considered cringe now.

Yeah this. Maybe throw a hook in there too for Christ sakes.

This thread

Deluxe albums lol such a gimmick now