# So, Rap is on life support? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 9, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435 "2014-06-09T21:41:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/1 "2014-06-09T21:41:20Z")
Quite honestly it’s not before time. The genre became old and stale a long time ago and now it’s simply the same dreary old crap over and over and over again. Yeah, yeah, we know how tough you are, how many ho’s you have, now go write something fresh and original. [Here’s the story.](http://www.showbiz411.com/2014/06/09/charts-rap-is-all-but-dead-as-led-zeppelins-40-year-old-albums-sell-60000-copies) > [@](#): > > What happened to rap? It’s off the charts with two minor exceptions: a sluggish new album from 50 Cent, and an oldish album at the bottom of the charts by SchoolBoyQ. > > What’s in? Pop, Pop R&B, white kids, black kids who sound white. Led Zeppelin reisssued its first three albums from 196-1972. They are all in the new top 40 albums and sold a total more than 60,000 copies total. Yikes. > [@](#): > > But real rap? It’s been on the downslide for a while. Jay Z had a hit only with Justin Timberlake singing around him last winter. No one knows how many copies Jay Z’s “Magna Carta” actually sold because it was given away with Samsung phones. > > Kanye West’s “Yeezus” really yielded no actual hits, but was a loss leader for his tour. > > Missy Elliott’s been missing a long time. Rappers like Lil Wayne have come and gone. > > Maybe the rap audience tired of their stars singing about “Mo Money, Mo Problems” during a recession, no jobs, etc. It’s hard to sympathize with someone who’s complaining about their Bentley. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/2 "2014-06-09T22:01:48Z")
Disclaimer: I hate rap. But I think that might my comment actually valuable. The article sounds like rationalization rather than fact. Someone wants to declare rap dead, so they put together a string of supposition and call it true. If fans haven’t got tired of ‘mo money mo problems’ in the last 20 years, why would they start now? I never got tired of a seemingly endless succession of overpaid, oversexed rock stars singing about how _harrrd_ life is on the road. O, the burden they suffer! 🙂 Maybe rap is under a down turn. But that article’s theme is the same crap I’ve been reading for decades about rock, or about anything for that matter. There’s no substance in the article itself, though. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/3 "2014-06-09T22:07:43Z")
Aw. How adorable. Rap is old enough by now that some music critics are claiming for the new kids to get off their lawn. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/4 "2014-06-09T22:09:00Z")
Middle aged white guy bashes rap. Film at 11. (Somewhat unrelated: Roger Friedman appears to be a total moron.) I think there are two general counterpoints to the story: one is that hip hop and some of its basic elements have been incorporated into a lot of other types of music, so you might find less ‘undiluted’ hip hop than previously but you might also find less music without any of those elements. The other factor is that fewer people are buying music than ever. People who are still buying music rather than streaming it probably skew older, and I’m going to guess that helps explain why the remastered Led Zeppelin albums did fairly well - and even then, 10 or 15 years ago nobody would said ‘three albums combined to sell 60,000 copies’ as if it were a big deal, nor would all three of those albums have landed in the top 40. It’s not like Zep took the country by storm here. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/5 "2014-06-09T22:14:18Z")
I think the initial commercially-exploitable hip hop scene is waning. That said, rap as a genre is certainly vital, and there’s a lot of lower profile artists making extremely good work. A genre’s failure to dominate mainstream pop charts is not a good indicator of “death,” methinks. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/6 "2014-06-09T22:21:47Z")
Actually the biggest songs i can think of recently (gangnam style, single ladies, low) were more than half rap with a sung chorus. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/7 "2014-06-09T22:23:15Z")
It’s cycles. All popular entertainment runs in cycles. How can kids rebel against their parents if they are all listening to the same music? The key is to find the next big thing and get in on the ground floor. What could it be? Maybe we can bring back Big Band? ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/8 "2014-06-09T22:32:00Z")
Rap isn’t the problem. Formulaic, autotuned YOLO crap about clubbin and crunkin …where you can predict the entire song structure within 8 seconds (sigh…lots of repeating the same word followed by inarticulate noises, and a mid-song guest rap. Innovative) is the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/9 "2014-06-09T22:55:46Z")
Is rap as fresh as it used to be? Of course not. It’s been around for a couple of decades now. Does this mean rap is dying? Of course not. Rock and country have been around a lot longer than rap and are a lot less fresh but neither of those genres has died. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/10 "2014-06-09T23:06:41Z")
> [@Sr Siete](#): > > Aw. How adorable. Rap is old enough by now that some music critics are claiming for the new kids to get off their lawn. This. There are plenty of fresh new rappers. However, it will be exciting to see what new and scandalous form of music our youth will embrace that makes rap old-fashioned. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/11 "2014-06-09T23:22:05Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > 10 or 15 years ago nobody would said ‘three albums combined to sell 60,000 copies’ as if it were a big deal, nor would all three of those albums have landed in the top 40. The Grateful Dead made #17 on the charts recently with an album that they only pressed 14,000 copies of. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/12 "2014-06-09T23:23:19Z")
Oh, I still love rap music, among many other kinds. What I don’t like is stale, repetitive, unoriginal rap music, and its this bad rap that could stifle the genre among the young, who certainly recognize mediocre when they hear it. And, yes, I admit that the rumors of rap’s death, let us say, have been wildly exaggerated but there is a truth to the story that should not be ignored. Rap music’s popularity has declined of late years and the fault lies with the rappers. Where are the new NWA, Dr Dre, Eminem? I’m not seeing them. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/13 "2014-06-09T23:29:21Z")
You have to wonder if rap is dead because it’s become incorporated into country music now. Florida-Georgia Line uses it in their cross-genre hits. Does Iggy Azalea not count as a rap artist? ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/14 "2014-06-10T01:01:51Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Where are the new NWA, Dr Dre, Eminem? I’m not seeing them. Macklemore had a ton of commercial success recently, Kendrik Lamar is a new guy who is getting a lot of critical acclaim. W.A.L.E. is my personal hope for moderately successful new rapper who might hit it big. ---
**Author:** ![D.E.S.K.Top668](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@D.E.S.K.Top668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D.E.S.K.Top668)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/15 "2014-06-10T01:12:41Z")
Rap is not dead or on life support; it’s been evolving and fragmenting the whole time, like Rock and Roll back in the day. There’s so many genres of Rap now that claiming something is Rap is like saying it’s Rock. Let’s take Led Zeppelin as an example. Are they (now) classic rock, hard rock, heavy metal, blues rock, or rock and roll? So, critic says that Rap is on life support and he name-checks Jay-Z, 50 Cent, and Missy Elliot for their lack of charting or their disappearance. Sorry, but BFD. There are plenty of songs out that have a rap mentality, style, and/or segment that rap is now officially mainstream. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/16 "2014-06-10T01:23:19Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > You have to wonder if rap is dead because it’s become incorporated into country music now. Florida-Georgia Line uses it in their cross-genre hits. Even [country rap](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUPK9z59yUc) has been around over a decade by now. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/17 "2014-06-10T01:27:43Z")
“Rock” as most people think of it grew out of the British Invasion of the '60s and started waning in popularity in the late '90s, so it enjoyed a good 30+ year lifespan. Rap, as a popular genre, started appearing in the late '70s and so has similarly enjoyed a lifespan of 30+ years. I’d say that it’s running out of steam in terms of marketability, and when people like Kanye West lapse into unwitting self-parody, the only thing that will save the genre will be a shake-up similar to what punk did to rock. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/18 "2014-06-10T01:38:40Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Actually the biggest songs i can think of recently (gangnam style, single ladies, low) were more than half rap with a sung chorus. Released 2012, 2008 and 2007, respectively. “Recently” may mean different things to different people. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/19 "2014-06-10T02:16:55Z")
If your standard for “real rap” is 50 Cent, Kanye West, and Jay Z, it’s not rap that’s dead, it’s you. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435/20 "2014-06-10T02:39:06Z")
Hasn’t it just evolved into something new? Hip hop isn’t dead, I don’t think, and rap seems to weave itself pretty tightly in there. Look at me, talking about something I know nothing about and in fact actively dislike. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-rap-is-on-life-support/690435.md?page=2)