Piggybacking off @user thread and a convo me and pops had the other day. We been ragging on the rapper + the environment all week, let’s put a mirror on the consumers.

When bringing it up in that thread about 21/hip hop being negative, all I kept getting was replies that conscious rap just isn’t as good as that other kind of rap. It’s not as “exciting” which is odd considering we condemning black murder rap while in the same sentence saying it’s more exciting. Hell niggas told me they don’t even make it for black people, which to me is wild. (If it don’t apply let it fly, i know ppl like user and others are vehemently against s*** like modern drill)

But Pepperidge Farms remembers when ktt1 called F&L2 and TPAB “preachy” albums but not the same for fewtch or durk or any of these “street artists” that made albums about the same damn topics for 5+ albums straight.

Cause the ironic thing about s*** like that being called boring is to a nigga like pops (who actually was raised and seen s*** in the hood), raps about black murder to him is boring. He was very much not a fan of that Foolio ‘beatbox’ remix that got trending cause to him all those name drops just reminded him of friends he lost.

Why is it preachy to wanna talk conscious but it’s not preachy to wanna talk about pill addiction, smoking a nigga, or how richer you are than another nigga?

Why is it Mr Morale caught mad flack here after DAMN in spite of the fact that the subject matter actually was pretty thought-provoking AND the production was varied and exciting?

Why do black artists that spit things about black people that dont involve murder or d*** addictions get slept on here? (Few Good Things by Saba still my top choice for raoty and Topaz Jones dropped a classic)

Basically, why is black trauma more exciting to yall than black uplifting?

My two cents is that its usually ham fisted and not graceful. Me personally id be more receptive to a song with a message if they were more… artistic? about it.

That whole “he is not your savior” s*** was so ass but i still like mr morale

Also usually when niggas make preachy albums it comes across as fake cuz the artist life is f***ed look at kanye and Jesus is King you are the last person to be talkin about that s***.

Its a balance between humility and growth and most rappers only hit the growth part

GTA, Mafia films, Crime docs and series, Wrestling, Scarface, Cowboys & Outlaws etc.

America loves the bad guy. Its a American thing. Not just a African American thing.

the mr morale hate is agenda driven and reactionary, kendrick is the rare sort of conscious artist that can strike the middle ground of instilling messages + unique concepts in his music, while making them still musically interesting and enjoyable

other conscious artists on the other hand, they might have fantastic technical ability, or have great messages in their music etc. but it's usually not something that you really want to go out of your way to listen to (e.g Aesop Rock, Immortal Technique, Rapsody etc.)

I guess my reply to this is why is this ham-fisted and not graceful but not the constant name dropping of young teenagers “rolled up in a spliff?”

What you think of Gucci’s song about disrespecting the dead?

I thought it was self reflective and pretty mature of him to even admit he played a part in that.

Conscious artists are more than just those artists that niggas constantly name. Aesop Rock just isnt good.

Mick Jenkins been dropping fire back to back with Pieces of a Man & Elephant In The Room.

it's also important to note that lots of people like to garnish their taste too, it's not "cool" to listen to conscious s*** and people don't want to admit that they're into certain things to appear "in tune with the culture" or a "modern" nigga, but i have my reservations

I listen to concious rap sometimes but I have to connect to it in some way

When it hits it hits

I like Mr Morale and the Big Steppers much more than DAMN. But I like To Pimp a Butterfly and Untitled Unmastered much more than both of those other albums.

dont think lyrics have much to do with wether people like the music or not these days, if conscious rappers were rapping about ignorant stuff on the same beats with the same flows they wouldn't move more units

This for example

lots of conscious rappers don't write songs that are fun to listen to, so they don't get listens. its not that complex. I like Saba's music especially the Few Good Things album because its a good sounding project not just bc of the lyrics and themes

the establishment of the arts adversely affected man's simple virtue

Elaborate on this

I liked maybe 5 songs off of Mr. Morale

it’s an embarrassing album

I have no issue with conscious rap as long as it's not corny and the production is good

S/o the underachievers

dawg its not even 9am its too early for you to be hating this much

Anti intellectualism aka " look at them big words you nerd"

well besides what i put out in that post, it's just not something im particularly interested in, i also don't like modern drill and trap because it's boring as s*** to me

i appreciate hip hop with great wordplay and interesting production, so that usually puts me in the sphere of like Danny Brown, Quelle Chris, Navy Blue, MAVI, Wayne, JAY-Z, Earl Sweatshirt, Billy Woods, Jay Electronica, Ugly Mane, Ab-Soul etc. so i guess that would make me a dust head or whatever would be the term, i like some of the newish niggas like Uzi, Carti Yeat etc. but a good bit of it just isn't really for me

to underpin the point you made in OP, with all of the white people and foreigners on this site, i'd make an argument that lots of them are fascinated with black trauma and are genuinely entertained by these street beefs and murdering no different from watching animals in a zoo if you encourage conscious rap or a move away from the circus show, they lose their freak show in the comfort of their suburbia

Mostly cause their vocals don’t appeal to me. It’s easier to have better vocal delivery on non conscious subject matter.

I only need you to sound good while telling your story whatever it is. I feed my brain outside of music instead of listening to conscious rap

Mr morale is just a boring album full stop

Nothing to do with it not being about killing people

Do you like clppng. ?

Also conscious rap sticks to boring production styles as opposed to anything new and exciting

And when dudes try and do conscious rap on popping beats they sound like Eminem

Last time someone did something conscious on a popping beat it was talib kweli