Seasons greeting to all my neglected followers. As you all can see, consistency is not a my strong suit but when I do show my face I'm always baring gifts (Yes nigga, I'm Santa Clause). This time I want to focus on a big issue I have with Hip-Hop today.That issue is the lack of forward progression and experimentation from mainstream artist. Some of my favorite MC's seem to be stuck in Hip-Hop limbo and often are having their talents looked over. MC's such as Wale, Big K.R.I.T., and Rick Ross who still haven't ascended to the forefront of hip-hop where they should be based off their talent. All three are gifted MC's as well as many other I could name. Dozens of artist with their own distinctive voices, tend to only be able to go so far. At times it seems like this restriction is generated only by unwillingness for artist to test the waters. It sucks because we all know being gifted is nice but if said gift or talent is not tested or push to the limit, it's hard recognize it's true potential.
Now from the perspective of a general fan, the three mentioned artist are amazing as they are. One would be foolish not to recognize the large amount of dedication and perseverance it takes to create anything that people perceive to be "good". With that being said, while I definitely have no stylistic qualms with their recent projects, they just seem so forgettable. They have no wow factor to them at all. It's hard to feel it necessary to revisit anything that sounds less than quality from an artist you hold in such high regard .
A good example would be "It's better this way" from Big K.R.I.T. sounds a lot like "King Remembered in Time" which honestly wasn't that amazing in comparison to "The Return of 4ever" and "4eva and a Day". K.R.I.T. has mastered southern soul sampling, rapping about slabs, and being country. It seems that as his career has progressed he has stepped away from the introspective lyricism and detail driven production that made him stand out as an artist. It feels more like he has found a comfort zone in surface level topics, about sex and country pride, and 808 rattling beats. Now while his last mainstream album "Cadillactica" have a few experimental sounds, he still doesn't travel far out of his musical or topical range. He's no longer progressing; it's as if he's lost ambition. I think that in itself is crippling his career.
Unfortunately, there are countless artist who are either in stuck mode or who fell off because their sound never evolved. I could go on for days about them but I think pointing out artist who have actually consistently evolved through forward progression would actually strengthen my argument more. I think the best example of the 2010 class would be Kendrick Lamar. I chose Kendrick because lyrically him and Big K.R.I.T. can go tic for tac and they both were XXL 2011 freshmen. Also, I chose Kendrick because none of his projects sound a like. It seems as though from "The Kendrick Lamar EP" to "To Pimp a Butterfly" Kendrick has made it a key thing to challenge himself muscically.
Whether it be through various cadences, different vocal projections or through his vast instrumental selection and subject matter, Kendrick doesn't seem follow a defined sound pattern. "To Pimp a Butterfly" being the pinnacle of this notion, having an aspect of every black genre of music presented on one album. From Trap and Jazz to Funk and Neo Soul, he was able to almost cover the whole spectrum of the black contribution to American music. The project proved Kendrick to be ambitious as an artist and has proven him worthy of his early praise and comparisons.
That type of ambition can also be seen in Veterans like Kanye West. Kanye, like Kendrick, has yet to release a project that resembles his previous works. From College Drop Out to 808's and Heartbreaks to Yeezus, Kanye has always given us something fresh. His ability to reinvent himself over and over again is unrivaled within the realm of Hip-Hop. IT has also gained him one of the largest and most loyal fanbase within Hip-Hop as well. People come back to Kendrick and Kanye because they present something unexpected with every project.
Now while I speak as though experimentation will be the savior of Hip-Hop, we do have to take into consideration how some artist have failed with experimentation. Snoop Doggs conversion to Snopp Lion was just bad........ the music was bad...... the image was bad.... the reception was bad..... All in all, it was a painful experience. It was hard to watch a Hip-Hop legend move about as if he were a local open mic night regular who had no friends with the balls to tell him "this shit is not hot."
Also remember there was the group Diddy-Dirty Money. I don't know particularly what Diddy's goal was with that movement but I'm pretty sure it failed. When you take into consideration how much preparation and promotion was put into that group and how it just fizzled out, it also makes stepping outside the box seem scary. But even in such cases ,I think it should more so be used as a lesson to still be true to yourself and let the evolution and progression come natural.
Regardless of the bumps that may come, we all understand to move forward in general we have to understand the risk of the down falls and keep our eyes on the glory of the goal. Comfort-ability was once said to be the opposite of courage. If these artist have chose to make comfortable music, why do argue on social media; complain about their bad reviews; and swear they're underrated when they won't even put in the work to be recognized? Honestly all I want to know is why can't Wale put out a fucking fire album that displays him at the caliber he views himself. I wrote this whole post with that in mind, and I leave you here. Bye.
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