My thoughts on the dynamics of hip hop are like this: I think that hip hop is a rapidly changing environment because, like the article alluded to, people are never fully satisfied. There is a constant search for a better beat, a better rhyme, a better song and the competition is extremely fierce. In the early days, before the big labels got wind of the profitibality of hip hop, compeition was out of the love for the music and the abitlity to realease whatever was on an MC's mind. Im talking about the period where you had groups like Poor Righteous Teachers, Brand Nubian, Kool G. Rap and DJ Polo, Instinctive Travels ATCQ, ect. What sticks out most about this period was the difference between each and every act. True, some were along the same lines, but I think that was more a coincidence than a concious effort. This was a period when the unthinkable was imaginable: you could actually buy a record based on the coolness of the cover and there was a good chance that the shit was going to be dope.
Now, im not too sure on when it happened but once big label execs started waving money in peoples faces saying "Hey, can you do what this guy is doing, because if so there is something in it for you." is about the time when the competition switched from making the best music to having the most stuff. This is about the time when I said fuck hiphop, rap or whatever this new garbage is and started listening to other stuff with more heart. I was sure that this was the end of hip hop. But luckily enough for us we stuck around long enough to see the next phase where the big labels are now starting to catch some backlash for copy-cat groups. True, you have to search a little harder now to find some stuff that goes beyond the surface but oh well. So how long will this last, this new phase where the hiphop landscape is pretty much open ended.
Im hoping a lot longer than the "lost years".
