I’d say check out some Sole, Sage Francis, Eyedea, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Roots, Common, and Outkast.
Jay-Z isn’t a hack. Listen to Reasonable Doubt. He just came down with Snoop syndrome, where you’ve become such a name that you can go multi-platinum without putting any effort into your albums anymore, so your new stuff is crap.
Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Blackstar, A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots.
Then for some gangsta rap: Notorious BIG, Tupac Shakur, Nas, Lost Boyz, Big L, Dr Dre.
Ding, Ding, Ding! Another winner, Freddy!
Here’s a hint: my point had absolutely nothing to do with my “detective work”. Whether or not I read your profile is irrelevant (I didn’t…really, it didn’t take much thought to figure it out).
I was the same way when I was your age. If I thought something sucked, then any opinions otherwise were **WRONG **. And wouldn’t tolerate any other opinions. I had the sneer down and everything. I try to be more tolerant now.
Rap became very boring to me in the early 90s…blame it on Dre’s climb to the top of the pop charts, followed by Puffy and Will Smith’s all out assault on the top 40(in which between them, they produced nary a single original track). The entire hip hop world went downhill from there. It is all so mainstream and geared to sell albums that I can’t stand to listen to any of it. I’m sure there are some groundbreaking acts out there, I just don’t have the patience to trod through the crap to find them.
Having said that, I must admit that Wu-Tang clan, and their entourage, is the one holdover from the early-mid 90s that I’ve always found to be lyrically and musically groundbreaking.
Eminem has wonderful mic ability, and can make things rhyme that have no business being there, but he is too predictable. Lemme predict his next album: one song about whatever new drug is on the streets…one song about his ex…one about his mom…3 about whatever rappers he is battling currently…1 about whatever celebrities he is mad about…blah blah blah
If you want to hear creative, lyrically intense artists, go back to the mid-late 80s…
Eric B+Rakim
EPMD
Digital Underground(with the pre-DeathRow Tupac)
Big Daddy Kane
KRS-ONE
Public Enemy
I still have hopes for rap music…we are in it’s 3rd decade, and if you correlate it to rock’s history
50’s rock= 1975-1985 rap simplistic, but everything is new
60s rock= 1985-1992 rap music evolves to deliver social messages
70s rock= 1993-2003 rap which means that today’s rap is most like disco, and I cannot think of a better way to desribe how non-important it is.
actually in the last 5 years I have moved into listening almost exclusively to house/techno/breakbeat…the beats are the same ones I listened to when I was listening to the earliest rap in the late 70s/early 80s.
Oh please. This has nothing to do w/ anybody’s opinion. You can listen to Nelly til the cows come home for all I care. I’m saying just b/c someone would rather listen to Nelly yack about his Escalade (or whatever kind of car he has), doesn’t mean that NO hip hop music has substance. And it sure as hell doesn’t mean Nelly is any good just b/c teens from the burbs buy his CDs in an effort to feel “down.” I think he sucks and Kweli is infinitely better. Sue me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I just got Common’s new CD for Xmas. I think I’ll listen to it now.
It is all about opinion. And your opinion is not gospel.
Who in the hell in this thread is saying hip hop has no substance? You are the only one insisting that certain artists are “crap” and “cheesy”.
There you go again assuming you know who is listening to what and their motivation for doing so.
Why don’t we let MeanOldLady list the all hip hop artists that she likes and just close the thread. Anybody who disagrees with her is a poseur… Because it’s not about opinion. At least not anyone’s but hers.
This is pretty simple to break down. MeanOldLady, and the folks who back her up just don’t like pop music. Hip Hop makes up a good chunk of popular music today, which is why MTV is full of it. If you’re going to compare Eminem with Talib Kweli, you might as well put Britney Spears on the same list as Joni Mitchell.
Right next to Talib, is Mos Def. These are fellas with rhymes like you’re not going to hear anywhere else. The insight, the heartfelt messages of the power of one are like nothing you’re going to hear anywhere else. And the beats are better than most, too. But perhaps it’s just too deep for the 13-24 year olds who are out buying the Nelly albums.
And, so… re: the OP: Em’s got the beats. And Em’s got the lyrical content FOR SURE. He’s angrier, and more full of hate, I think, so his lyrics are bound to reflect that. But the man can rhyme. No question.
And I really enjoy hearing Jay-Z tear Nas up. Pop music or no, Jay-Z buries Nas. Every time. Sorry, MeanOldLady. 
Period end of story.
Biggirl, you have betrayed People of Color Everywhere with your like of popular music. Your willingness to shake your ass is a personal affront to each wanky, music-snob ouroboros who has ever not been invited to a party in middle school. I hope you’re proud of yourself.
To krazy kat: I don’t think Eminem’s the only good thing hip-hop has to offer these days, by a long shot, though I have to say I love the hell out of “Lose Yourself.” I don’t care if I share that love with every high school sports team that needs an anthem to play when it jogs into the gym. By Christ, that song touches the Angry Young Optimist in me like the finger of God.
Here are hip-hop artists who make me happy these days: Nas, Cannibal Ox, The Roots (Phrenology. Sweet Jesus), Dan the Automator (especially the Deltron 3030 album with Del tha Funky Homosapien and Kid Koala), Blackstar, and yes, Eminem. A short list, because I am an old man, and have been betraying my hatred for nostalgia by looking back at the stuff that made me happy when I were a lad: A Tribe Called Quest, Beastie Boys (Paul’s Boutique and Hello Nasty are my two favorite albums by them), Run DMC’s Raising Hell, Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet (Simplistic beats? Not from the Bomb Squad), Cypress Hill, House of Pain, Onyx (yeah, you heard me), and Black Sheep. It’s possible that Black Sheep’s “The Choice Is Yours” is the greatest get-your-ass-on-the-floor jam of all time.
And I don’t dig KRS-One at all. Not that I had any street credibility to begin with.
Wow, looks like I have a fan. All righty, Biggirl, listen up (and then shut up). Am I imagining things or did you say if I’m looking for lyrical content, hip hop is the wrong genre? It’s all about the rhythm and not the lyrics? That was you, yes? Thought so. Moving along, yes, I insist that rapping about “bodacious” ass and fancy cars is cheesy. If you like it, fine. I don’t care about what you’re listening to. Knock yourself out w/ Nelly. I’m not into funky beats as much as I am great lyrics. Btw, Common’s new CD is awesome.
Lux, wherever did you get the idea that Biggirl is colored? I sincerely doubt she is.
By the way those that have not been fluctuated with knowingness: The “H” in Jesus “H” Christ stands for Holy or “hallejia” otherwise annoited one in Hebrew. Anyways, Eminem wouldnt be considered rap, no offense, he would be considered pop cultureistic plausibility, in Lamens terms= hes straight out out da house honest, but the parents see the coarse language, so what, atleast he gets his point out!
She is.
Here you go MeanOldLady, a thread just for you in the proper forum for telling people to shut up.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=152666
Colored? What year is it, 1950?
Personally, I think we all need to calm down and groove to the rythmic stylings of the best hip-hop/rap band ever…
Oh…my…God. There’s an Air Supply website?
I do believe Armageddon is upon us. This is it! Repent, repent!
Not to throw water onto the grease fire here…but, I just have to throw in one comment about solely listening to rap/hip-hop/music solely for its lyrical content. It just seems really sad. If you want just lyrics, listening to spoken word, hit a poetry slam etc. That’s not to say that lyrics don’t have their place. Why I was just listening to Air Supply and thought, why yes, I’m All Out of Love too. (thanks Skip for getting that bastage of a song stuck in my head). I really think lyrics are important, but the beats, melody, and all the other nougaty goodness are what make up a song. This will be the only place I’ll regretfully admit that I like the music to “Hit Me Baby One More Time”, I can denounce the lyrics, packaging, performer et al, but the music I can’t say no to. Then again, sometimes the simplest songs with great lyrics make it through, look at “Jane Says” by Janes Addiction. You got (relatively) two chords over and over throughout the whole song but it still is a fantastic song, one might even say bootilicious.
Just my ol’ school two cents.