Hip-hop today: how young rappers are changing the game
By Bahiri Mattiex September 29th, 2018.
Facetats , designer street wear, skate board apparel , trap beats, unique names, cups of lean and social media antics. All of which are common characteristics of today’s generation of rappers.
I credit lil Wayne as being the fore father for birthing this wave of new rappers. Almost 10 years ago Lil Wayne was labeled as being ‘the best rapper alive’ , ushering in a new look, sound and aesthetic for hip hop that some loved and that some disliked.
if you place lil Wayne’s influence towards young rappers on spectrum, you would see that it spans as wide as Young Thug all the way to Kendrick Lamar.
In the grey area of that Spectrum you have the lil uzi’s , the xxxtentacions , the Gunna’s , the lil baby’s but also the j.i.d.s, the drakes and the juice worlds and so on.
Kanye west, Pharrell, kid cudi , Andre 3000 and a few other acts also get an honorable mention as far as style , Sonics and personality from new rappers go. There some of the founding fathers of new age rap. They were the ones who went against the grain and did there own thing , much similar to the artist of today.
You also have to credit the Gucci manes , the Waka Flockas , three six mafias and more for changing the land scape of hip hop and bring a new sub genre to the fore front.
In my opinion not much has changed since 2008 and not much has change as far as how young rappers are operating In the game.
The only real noticeable change is that there’s arguably more balance.
In the mid90s - early 00s when hip hop was dominated with the roc a fellas, the cash moneys, the badboys and etc you notice that there was materialistic ideologies in the music , there was the mentioning of promiscuous women and a bass heavy beat. The only difference is there wasn’t as much songs that glamorize and promote substance abuse .
Along with all those subject matters there was also conscious , lyrical and technical rappers who brought the balance for the underground and the mainstream.
Flash forward almost 20 years , in 2018 the young rappers today are either Kendrick Lamar’s or young thugs which in theory says that there’s a functioning balance in hip hop currently. I would also like to note that sometime the Kendrick Lamar’s do what the young thugs do and the young thugs also do a great job of doing what the Kendrick’s do.
Today’s rappers are revolutionizing the culture by showing versatility within there sonic abilities and also in style. You have to do everything these days in hip hop.
Some acts can get away with being one trick ponies but a lot of young rappers know that you have to have a balance to be considered for longevity.
The late rapper xxxtentacion did a great job of having that balance . He made trap influences songs , lyrical hip hop, conscious hip hop , rock music , Caribbean influenced music and anything popular under the sun. He’s not the only rapper with that kind of talent . Today’s rappers make sure to bring different styles towards the scene even though it’s been reported as other wise.
Drake also does a great job at balancing traditional hip hop, rnb , Afro-Caribbean , grime, trap influenced rap as well. You almost have to be able to spread out your sonic abilities in order to be amongst the name of an act as great.
What I will say is that besides ushering in an age of versatility and more balance , young rappers are also changing how the artist interacts with the fans. With social media and frequent tour dates , the artist has more time to become more personable instead of a mysterious cult of personality like the acts of the past.
You can mention your favorite rapper on twitter , dm them on instagram or even add them as a friend on Facebook these days where as in the past you just had to catch them at a concert if you were lucky.
Many traditionalist say that the young rappers are changing the culture for worse but that’s not the case. 2010-present shows that we’re moving closer towards a future where there’s balance, versatility , more artist to fan interaction, more ideas and the creation of sub genres that hip hop has longed for since the tribe called quest , OutKast and digable planet days.
New rappers are mastering having vibes that all sound different and pushing he culture forward by disobeying the rules , experimenting and innovating. Just as artist and creative should.
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