You know I really should repent because it completely escaped my mind that one of the Gods of rap left us some 14 years ago today. But with that reminder came a very abrupt epiphany: When Pac and Biggie died, the proverbial bar of rap music was systematically and dramatically lowered year after year. What’s left is a genre that is just a heartless, gutless, caricature of itself and devoid of creativity and inspiration. The law of the land seems to be record company rule number 4080, which is accepted, tolerated, and aboded by strictly by so many artists who acquiesce to the parameters of the tight suits that have milked the art form for all that’s it worth. Even the respective factions of the aforementioned fallen G.O.A.Ts have tried to recreate the magic that once was only to cash in on the only remaining element of a the true last golden era of rap with recycled content made current with contemporary artists who couldn’t even sit in the same studio let alone lay down a track with these cats. So with that being said, here we are. The contemporary artists of Biggie and Pacs era, the Jay Zs‘, Nas‘, Scarfaces, etc, are aging and, though they can still hold their own amongst the new school quite effortlessly, their style is now dubbed “old school” because it is considered boring and, well, just has to much content to hold anyone’s attention these days which is a shame.
So that’s the past. The present is artists like Lil Wayne and his YMCMB camp and Kanye and his G.O.O.D. Music clan, and honestly I think the latter is more capable of recreating some of that “old-time” magic. Then, *sigh*, there is the future(or the lack thereof) of the genre. I saw the XXL Freshman Class of this year, and all I can say is: Be afraid, be very afraid. The most buzz-garnering artist at this juncture is the Left Coast’s own Lil B, whose rising star is in itself a perplexing enigma to me given the fact I came up during the Pac and Biggie era and really don’t have a clue as to what the f*ck all the fuss is about( No thank you, Based god, I think I’ll pass). So, in summation, I will say this about the state of rap music: If rap music was a human being, it would be the equivalent of a once perfectly healthy star athlete who is now dealing with a potentially fatal cancerous disease with no symptoms. On the surface everything is fine, but eventually the sh*t will hit the fan and before we know it, he’ll be in I.C.U about to flat-line thinking “What the hell happened?” Anyone got any ideas for some preemptive chemotherapy?
- Romano Gold
