State Of The Game

Hip Hop has taken many twists and turns since its birth. We have seen many greats: Tupac, Biggie, Nas, Mos Def, Jay-Z, Eminem. At the same time, we've seen huge busts (see: Vanilla Ice). Where does the game stand now on its roller coaster of a life? Call me an optimist, but I see hip hop back on the rise after riding very close to the bottom.

I don't want to dwell on the past, but the glory days of hip hop may be behind us. The likes of Tupac and Biggie, for example, showed the world what hip hop was really about. There were talks about hope and dreams of people living in the hood. Common issues were brought up in an intricate web of rhyme and flow. KRS-One. Rakim. OutKast. All these names come to mind when we think about the past (or at least as far as I can actually remember).

Then we hit a little bit of a speed bump. Yeah, we had Nas, Mos Def, Eminem and Jay-Z among others. But within the past 4-5 years, we've had the emergence of Young Money, Lil B, Soulja Boy and other sub-par hip hop artists. Take another look at the picture above. Is that the future? Quite frankly, yes.

I'd like to point out some key artists missing from the image above, however. Artists like Kendrick Lamar who has, arguably, the album of the year with his stellar Section.80 project. Big K.R.I.T. drops bombs on seemingly every track he lays eyes on. Up and comers like Azad Right, QuESt, and XV provide tons of hope for hip hop fanatics.

Then you have people like Drake, Wiz Khalifa, Tyga and Wale. They're kind of in the middle where they come with some mind-blowing music (ok, maybe not Wiz), but at the same time come out with music that makes you scratch your head and wonder if they were being serious. Kanye West is always a big head scratcher, but he's one of the positives in the game right now. Also add Lupe Fiasco and J.Cole to that list. Lupe Fiasco is always political with his music and is never afraid to say what he feels. J.Cole is the perfect balance between mainstream rap and hip hop mixed with nice beats, balanced flow and clever storytelling ability.

There are still greats in the game as well. People like Jay-Z and Eminem. They may be nearing the end of their respective roads, but they are unquestionably two of the greatest rappers to be in the game. Nas is still with us, almost never failing to disappoint. And of course, there's Weezy F. Baby. Yes, he's a great. Not in the same way as Hov and Nasir, but still a great. Not a great hip hop artist, but a great rapper. I'll explain why in another post. Maybe.

We're starting to see the end of wack rappers (no offense to Soulja...lol) holding the majority in the game. We'll always have a Lil B, but hopefully we'll have more J.Cole's and Big K.R.I.T.'s instead. At the end of the day, it's going to come down to what appeals to people the most. Smart is becoming cool, and therefore I see the game becoming smarter as well. While bangin' beats and hype tracks will always have their place, the general public will be more willing to lay back and appreciate the art that is true hip hop. With cats like Kendrick Lamar and Lupe Fiasco taking the reins of the game, I'd say we're in good shape.