Hip-Hop Isnt Dying, It Just Sucks

By: Teh Verdikt
Date: 2007-11-13

Hip hop sales are down. According to Nielsen SoundScan, sales in the Rap category dropped 20.7% compared with sales in 2005. That is the second largest drop behind the New Age category, which fell 22.7%. Right behind in this dismal race is R&B with a drop of 18.4%. Of course record sales are down across the industry, but the average change is only -2.4% with some genres, such as Classical, gaining as many percentage points as Rap lost. Clearly hip hop, which has been the darling of the record industry these last few years, is in trouble.

But why are sales down? Countless articles, including a recent high profile story from the AP, have said the problems with hip hop stem solely from its content. The above article among others argues that hip hop lyrics too degrading towards women and the thug life image is played out. From the article:

"Im not removed from it, but I can really tell the difference between Young Jeezy and Yung Joc. Its the same dumb stuff to me," says [Nicole] Duncan-Smith, 33 [who is married to a hip hop producer]. "I can listen to that nonsense. I can listen to another black man talk about you don come to the hood anymore and ghetto revivals , Im from the hood. How can you tell me you want to revive it? How about you want to change it? Rejuvenate it?

OK. Point taken. The music doesn speak to you. But heres the real deal: If you go out there and just replace all the negatives in rap lyrics with positives, replace every Young Jeezy-type MC with a Common and every call to murder with an exhortation to love your fellow man, hip hop sales would still be down. Why? Because people fail to realize that hip hop first and foremost is a musical art-form. Right now, hip hop just isn living up to musical standards. Its just plain bad.

A Comparison

On one hand youve got what I would call "artistically interesting" hip hop, hip hop that has musical value and makes an artistic statement. One example would be the legendary song "CREAM" by The Wu-Tang Clan off of 1993s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).

On the surface, the lyrical content of this cut is pretty similar to whats popular today. Its about growing up in the ghetto and living the thug life, the same exact themes hit on in about every song on the hip hop charts today. Heres the rundown:

Do we have violence? Sure!

"And running up in gates, and doing hits for high stakes"

Drugs? Yep.

"No question I would speed, for cracks and weed The combination made my eyes bleed"

Money? Thats easy, just look at the title (CREAM = Cash Rules Everything Around Me).

Its all there. So whats the difference? Well to start, lyrically "CREAM" is about more than just drugs and guns. This particular song is also about survival, big dreams, and the mysteries of life:

"Its been twenty-two long hard years of still strugglin Survival got me buggin, but Im alive on arrival I peep at the shape of the streets And stay awake to the ways of the world cause shit is deep A man with a dream with plans to make C.R.E.A.M. Which failed; I went to jail at the age of 15 A young buck sellin drugs and such who never had much Trying to get a clutch at what I could not, could not, The court played me short, now I face incarceration Pacin going up states my destination Handcuffed in back of a bus, forty of us Life as a shorty shouldn be so ruff But as the world turns I learned life is hell Living in the world no different from a cell"

The complexity in the lyrics helps push this song into the artistic realm. Of course, it has musical credentials too, but well get to that later.

Lets contrast the above with Pretty Rickys "Push It Baby", which was as high as #5 on the Billboard hip hop/r&b charts.

Again, on the surface this song references familiar themes. Youve got sex of course. Heres the hook:

"I Wanna See You Push It Baby Oh Just Push That Thang On Me Push It Baby I Wanna See You"

Youve got money:

"Buying Out The Bar Like It Ain No Thang Hot Boy Like Wayne Diamonds In My Chain Blang Blang Blang"

And the ghetto life:

"Urban Legend In The Hood Like T.I."

But lets face it, these lyrics can even begin to touch Raekwon and the rest of The Clan! Heres a bit more if you aren convinced:

"When I Step Up In He Club-Im So Hot Hot Hot Tossing Dollars At These Hoes Like Ah Ah Ah Pretty Woman Up In Here Like Bah Bah Bah Spitting Game In Their Ear Like - Lalalalalalaa Baby Blue I Don Play No Games Head To My Feet So Fresh So Clean Buying Out The Bar Like It Ain No Thang Hot Boy Like Wayne Diamonds In My Chain Blang Blang Blang I got canary diamond Bustas Got the matching Lamborghini same color mustard Baying drinks for these chicks and now they owe me More gin if u wine Im the same ol G"

As far as I can tell, there isn another side to this song. There is no complexity to be found. Theres nothing about the world beyond "the club", nothing about growing up poor, or even much about the classic rags to riches story. I get no indication that the rappers in this song are thinking beyond the next drink or the next diamond or the next girl. Its all bitches and booty and bling (and bullshit if you ask me).

Now, "CREAM" may already be winning this comparison, but I would argue that if you put "CREAMs" excellent lyrics under "Push It Babys" beat, youd still have a dud. Heres why:

Musically these songs are in different leagues. "CREAM" employs (by my count anyway) at least 10 different musical samples to create texture and to demarcate different internal sections. "Push It Baby" uses maybe 5. Sure the songs have the same basic structure of verse/chorus pairs, but "CREAM" adds musical drops, reversed samples, delays and echos to the mix. It all adds up to create an atmospheric track that feels empty, spacious and melancholic, and just like the lyrics.

On the other hand, "Push It Baby" will cut the beat occasionally, but the instrumentation is pretty static throughout the song with samples coming in and out in extremely predictable ways. To me it feels claustrophobic. Where "CREAM" is repetitive in a minimalist way, "Push It Baby" repeats like a bad advertising slogan; its determined to drive that hook into your head whether you like it or not. To me, "CREAM" comes off as well structured and layered where "Push It Baby" with its played out instrumentation and attention-getting riffs, feels cookie-cutter and monotonous. To put it another way, I can listen to "CREAM" over and over again and hear something new each time. With "Push It Baby" all I have to hear is the first verse and the hook and Ive pretty much got the idea. Heres what it comes down to: "CREAM" is art and "Push It Baby" is not.

Even if you take a step back, Wu-Tangs entire album and image are way more interesting than Pretty Rickys. 36 Chambers is an album in the style of Pink Floyd or The Beatles. It is a coherent piece of work. Each of its songs have something to say and it holds together as a complete artistic statement. No wonder it is widely considered one of the greatest hip hop albums ever produced. On top of that, the Wu-Tang clan projects a multifaceted image. Part thug, pimp, philosopher and poet, the Clan isn just a one-note wonder.

Pretty Rickys album Late Night Special isn cohesive. It may be just about sex, but there is no artistic statement to be found. Heres what one reviewer had to say:

"If sex sells, then Pretty Rickys second album will likely be a big hit on the music charts, because songs about sex is about all that this four-man vocal group has to offer."

Certainly this album won stand the test of time like 36 Chambers, and neither will the group. Pretty Rickys image is the slick, blinged-out sex addict and thats where it ends. How can I be expected to stay interested?

But Pop Ain Art

"OK!" you say, "Youve made your point. Pretty Ricky isn art. But popular music isn about art anyway. Since when do the pop charts reflect artistic value?" Well, thats not entirely true. I say the pop charts do reflect art, albeit in a roundabout way.

Good music, music with artistic value, does not necessarily rise to the top of the charts. However, the pop charts aren always the cultural wasteland they have been these past few years. Elvis Presley had #1 hits, so did Stevie Wonder, Santana, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, The Beatles, and Janis Joplin, all artists with significant artistic merit. In the hip hop world, real artists like Kanye West, OutKast, Lauryn Hill, and Biggy Smalls all spent at least a week at #1. Though the pop charts measure sales and not artistic merit, some of the good stuff does hit occasionally.

The real problem with hip hop though, to me anyway, is the lack of an artistically interesting underground from which these hits are spawned. Without a solid underground scene its hard to create hit after hit worth listening to. For example, in 1969 Marvin Gaye, Sly & the Family Stone, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Peter, Paul, and Mary, and Diana Ross & The Supremes all held a #1 song, and each one of these musical entities had something artistic to say. Why were there so many artistically valid #1 songs in 1969? Because the rock, folk and soul underground scenes were booming! With so many bands making so much music at the same time, smart artists had the opportunity to synthesize each genre down to its essential elements and craft songs that were both artistically valid and broadly appealing. I think hip hop right now lacks that critical mass that a vibrant artistic underground scene brings and which is needed to achieve the same effect. Without this kind of foundation the hip hop music that hits on the charts is fated to be nothing more than a fad, a quick flash in the pan with no real thought behind it.

Sure there are a lot of interesting artists in the underground hip hop scene. Immortal Technique, OneBeLo, and Thaione Davis are just a few of the hundreds out there trying to do something good with the music. But for every true artist trying to make it there are two MCs just trying to ride the fad and cash in. As each hip hop "genre" comes and goes (Crunk, Screwed, Reggaeton, and Dancehall to name a sad few), more and more untalented people come out with their own version of the latest sound. This only serves to add more noise to the system and those putting out real music get drowned out. The scene right now is chaotic, without any unity or artistic purpose; its just people trying to get rich.

Without this cohesive scene there is no foundation. More one-hit wonders get thrown up the charts, each making pure pop music with no artistic backing behind it. Without a functioning underground artistic music will make it to the top only rarely because so little artistic music is being made in the first place. It is hard for an artist to synthesize, create, and collaborate if there is no one around worth working with. Honestly, its a wonder weve seen the likes of Kanye and Biggy on the charts at all!

Create Art People!

So whats the answer? Well, Id argue that its deceptively simple. Really, all you have to do is make good music. You can write your lyrics about whatever you want as long as you put some thought into it. And you can derive your musical influences and samples from whatever corner of the world you choose as long as they all come together in a cohesive and interesting way. Now, making art is by no means easy, but it is the only way to ensure hip hop will continue to be relevant in the future.

It takes a lot to "kill" a genre of music. People have been writing about the end of rock and rap since the day they were created. Im not saying hip hop is dying or dead. But I am saying that if hip hop wants to be more than top 40 fluff, if it wants to mean something to people like it did in the 80s and early 90s, if it wants to speak for a generation, then it needs to get out of the money game and start getting back into making real music for real people. It is the only way.

If you think that Im right then don buy the crap out there! Vote with your wallet and do your part to keep bad hip hop out of everyones ears. We will thank you later. On the flip side, support the artists out there who are making something you care about. When America gets over its current obsession with hip hop inspired money and violence, these worthy underground artists will still be there ready to give people something worth enjoying.

What do you think? Am I right or dead wrong? How can we save hip hop, if indeed it is in need of saving? Let us all find it out someday!

-- Teh Verdikt