I think sometimes we decide to be blind to the fact that our actions are somewhat based on the music we listen to. Society as a whole has changed a lot along with the music changing. The influence of Hip Hop on the general population has becomes more evident as the years pass.
Hip Hop music sales in the 21st century started to drop rapidly, leading many to question if mainstream Hip Hop was dying? Industry experts hail on the thought that maybe the youth is fed up with violence, degrading images, and lyrics. Is Hip Hop really dying? The main question to ask is what is Hip Hop?
Hip Hop is not a bunch of entertaining words
but a poetic language about issues around us, and movement within a culture interconnecting ethnicities. The messages of Rap music told stories of how life was in the streets dealing with drugs, crime, and violence. Most were a reflection of how the youth felt about the system, the police.
Hip Hop is not what it used to be. In this day and age it has become more about money, pleasing society in what they want to hear, conforming to the production of what the music industry wants or what sells. Such things as sex, vulgar language, and living a luxury life are what music is based around, that and violence. Everyone takes away what they want from lyrics, but in music today a lot of lyrics are catch phrases that are easy to repeat with dances that are a watered down and simplified version of what was created back in the day. They have no substance, which make Hip Hop lose its credit for what it really was, a culture, a lifestyle, a movement.
Related: The best South African hip-hop of 2014
There are still a few true artists that hold a very heavy contribution to what some still try to hold on as “Hip Hop.”Most people that are fed up feel that Hip Hop is dead. Many people are just not as educated on what the deeper meaning behind this culture is, and oversee it. What is thrown at them on every TV screen, music now being produced, mixing of genres, has hid a lot of the history of how it all started.
Hip hop is still prevalent but does not hold the value that it used to.
Some of the younger generations, really know the difference between authenticity of music and culture and the truth it really holds. Somehow Hip Hop has gotten lost within society, music production, and the “this is what’s in” based lifestyle, with all areas not just music. We can all adapt to change, but let’s keep what has brought us great music, knowledge and appreciation to self-expression alive without watering down its greatest contribution it had on the world, back then and still today.
Let’s Keep Hip Hop alive.
Pingback: 2Pac and Makaveli | Kyunglin Dong()