To me, that's just being biased.
I'd say ever since the 90s, hip-hop has become an industry filled with 'unreal' and 'manufactured' artists. Are we forgetting that Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer were arguably two of the biggest rappers of their time despite being the very definition of sellouts? Are we forgetting that in the mid-90s, the labels were trying to turn everyone into studio gangsters? Are we forgetting the tail-end of the 90s where we were bombarded by club music, from artists that we would have NEVER expected to see that type of music come from? When Nas literally switched his style up 3 times, from being a street poet, to a mafioso rapper, to a carbon copy Bad Boys artist? When Pac went from a street justice warrior into an all-out thug? When Puffy tried to recreate the success he had from Biggie with Shyne? When Jay-Z switched from Reasonable Doubt to In My Lifetime, which had more glam and polish, and less grit and realism than his previous release?
Hip-hop, more than any music industry on Earth, has always been a victim of manufactured artists. The only difference is that rather than studio gangsters/ballers in baggy jeans and beanies, we've got hipsters with skinny jeans and snapbacks.
As far as the music itself, yes, this generation generally has more 'polished' and 'poppy' artists but you have to wonder just who exactly they picked this up from, because they certainly didn't get this music popping on their own....
---------- Post added at 04:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:34 PM ----------
[I don't get it. Rap is the only fanbase that is this divided. Metal fans, rock fans, country fans can all appreciate a good song regardless of what generation it was created in (unless, of course, you're Taylor Swift) but when it comes to rap, you have people who outright refuse to pay attention to new artists if they don't sound exactly like the ones they grew up with. It's a self-destructive attitude. Rather than put down the new school, why not let them have a different voice and add in some constructive criticism so that they can put out more quality music under their own identity?
And this is coming from a guy who, for several years, thought that the only good rappers were ones from the 90s, 80s, etc. but now I'm seeing guys like Kendrick, Rocky, Drake, Cole, Tyler and Earl who are all dope IMO, but each bring something different to the rap game. I don't wanna hear Nas coming from a new guy's mouth, that's what I have Nas for.
And let's not forget that most of the albums we praise as classics nowadays were by no means mainstream hits when they came out, with a few exceptions like The Blueprint and All Eyez On Me. I'm willing to bet that it's the same case with the current generation.
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