Maybe ‘Rapper’s Delight’ came before. But this is another matter. Not just a gimmick. Not just rhyming. There’s more:
There’s anger and hatred and passion.
Did it get any better? Did rap evolve from this or devolve?
It’s been 22 years since it was released.
I was in my early 20’s when it came out, and I was electrified. This was the beginning of something new. This was not mere posing.
But we got Heavy D and the Boyz, Vanilla Ice, Snoop Dogg and P Diddy.
Where did it all go wrong?
There’s stil tons and tons and tons of high-quality, profoundly moving, fantastic, electrifying rap music out there. Stay away from the commercial stuff.
How funny. I just posted that song a few weeks ago in Biggirl’s LJ. Odd how things come and go across time and space. What made you think of it? I was reminded of it by something that made me very angry. Errr.
Saul Williams’ role in Slam was amazing, and his early Rawkus singles (like “twice the first time”) were incredible. His actual debut album was awful, a rap-rock mess, but I hear he has a new record coming out that gets back to his roots.
Also, Def Jux has released three of the best rap records that have come out in the past 10 years - El-P’s “Fantastic Damage,” Aesop Rock’s “Labor Days”, and Cannibal Ox’s “The Cold Vein.” Check that stuff out.
I love early rap too, including Grandmaster Flash, Newcleus, and Whodini. It’s fun stuff, joyful, yet can have a message.
I thought the gangster attitude of the early 90s was a wrong turn. Early rap never had stuff about killing cops, etc. It didn’t take long for rap to get too hardcore for it’s own good.
But at the same time you had hip-hop coming on line with lots of new grooves and ideas. Bands like Guy and Bel-Biv-Devoe combined rap with singing and so on. That was good.
Although it’s now a little old, the soundtrack of Romeo Must Die has lots of impressive rap with interesting new tonalities and approaches. Good stuff. So I can’t quite agree with the OP.
Please don’t put Snoop with Vanilla Ice. The guy from the surreal life, c’mon.
Snoop gets respect from Underground Hip Hop fans and Mainstream because he is a good emcee not to be put in the same category as Mr. Surreal Life aka Vanilla Ice.
And yes, the same happened to punk, in a much shorter time.
Rap turns 25 this year and has shown remarkable longevity.
But “stay away from the commercial stuff” is no excuse. The Message was thouroughly commercial. I’m too old to hang around record stores and follow the music scene actively. That burning interest just isn’t there anymore. But I shouldn’t have to look for good rap / hip-hop. Now it’s all being drowned in gangsta, bling and awful videos with scantily clad women shaking their butts. I’ve got nothing against scantily clad women, but it’s almost impossible keep one video apart from another.
Yeah, yeah. It’s my own fault. I still wanted to rant a little, though.
It’s not that there’s a shortage of good rap. The genre’s going pretty well, pulling in and throwing out influences along the way. Plenty of good stuff.
But the thing is that The Message wasn’t a good record that made you think that something new with great promise had arrived: it was a great record. Everything about it was right. After hearing it at pretty much the same time I first heard of rap I just expected ten records of that quality a year.
I think you mean “bling -bling”
Chris Rock does a funny bit where he’s saying how much he loves rap but can’t defend it anymore. "In the old days, you could defend Public Enemy and RUN DMC on an intellectual level. They were talking bout the street, man.
“I can’t defend ‘I’ve got hos in every area code’!” There’s no justifying ‘move bitch! get outta da way! Get outta da way bitch!’
Uhhh you see…he’s got this bitch…and he wants her to move out of the way…"
In all fairness, though. Musically, the rap and hip hop sound have come a long way since the 80s even though the message has become somewhat trivialized.
If you think that’s all there is, you’re listening in all the wrong places. There are tons of great bands out there, but as it’s always been, they aren’t played on mainstream radio or shown on MTV.
As for rap/hip hop, the old stuff is great, but there is still innovative music happening all the time. I think Eminem and Dr. Dre are both examples of mainstream artists who have managed to keep a level of creativity in their music that most of the newer “stars” do not have. Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and Jay Z are also doing new and interesting things. And I’ve always liked Wyclef Jean, Erykah Badu, and Common for substance in lieu of the bling bling.