Ant McQueen
Antny's World
deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup said:From skimming thisa thread my 2 cents....
Just because YOU don't like something doesn't make it any less "real hip hop". If Diddy told you your music wasn't "real hip hop", you'd say who the f**k is Diddy to say what is or isn't "real hip hop". So turn that around and ask yourself....who the f**k are you to think you have more say so than the people putting out music on major scales and satisfying consumers?
With that said, I personally believe hip hop music is currently lacking a certain "umph" it used to have. When I make tracks, I try to put that "umph" in it. That's all I can do. Just did tracks for upcoming releases for G.Dep and Mitchy Slick, both have that "umph" I feel is missing. Now who am I to say that "umph" I think is missing wasn't subtracted for the better?
I'll know when I make a record that brings the world to it's knees. Until then, Flo Rida - Low, Yung Berg - The Business, Soulja Boy - Krank Dat, Lil Wayne - Lollipop are bigger than my/your/our opinions.
This biz is now on even playing fields. I can give myself the same exposure labels are giving artists. Same goes for anyone else from Jean Grae to Immortal Tech to Nelly. Even Tech N9ne had a #1 Hip hop album on Billboard this year. Sold more 1st week than Yung Berg, almost twice as much.
Time will reveal the bullsh*t, everything comes to light. Consumers have choices, they're not being brainwashed and fed pitbullsh*t, they're selecting the music they want to hear.
Maybe some of us just have suck azz opinions of "good" and "bad" music?
I definitely agree with this first part. If you don't like something is doesn't make it any less " Hip Hop ", even though I don't think anyone in here said something was less because they didn't like it. Someone needs to tell Big Nose (KRS-ONE) that.
But I don't understand how a song can be bigger than your opinion. You can't put conditions on opinions on some " well this song is huge and I don't like it so my opinion is invalid " sh*t. That's pretty much like saying if a song is big you're opinion has to be similar to everyone else's or it doesn't matter. I personally think that's some bullsh*t.
I don't believe consumers are brainwashed, but I know that consumers don't have many choices laid out on the table for them. A majority of the people I come across aren't like us, they don't search on the web (for alternatives) and read magazines like Remix. They mainly rely on mainstream media (radio, MTV, BET, etc...). When the average fan uses the internet they're most likely going to be...
A. Searching for music from artists that they already know of. Or
B. Searching for music from artists that they just discovered via mainstream media.
Something is always gonna be number 1, that's inevitable, but these days you can sell under 100,000 copies and have a number one album depending on who dropped around the same time as you. Beating out 2 Pistols, Yung Berg, and Ron Artest isn't that much of a feat. Out of the artists that program directors choose to play... someone has to be number 1 on the charts. I don't believe in the whole " that's what people want to hear " saying. If people never heard a certain artist how would they know whether or not they want to hear that artist ? Once there's more diversity on the radio then people will really have more choice.