How diverse in content was Hip Hop from 1994 to 2003?

[Kane the MOD]

I fell in love with Hip Hop in the 90s. I still listen to many artists of this era.

However, I feel like many people on this forum are romantizing this era (too much).

I have a question and may be it is stupid and obsolete but let me hear your opinion:

How many new artists were popping from 1994 to 2003 which did not fit into the following category:

street smart tough guy

Only very few come into my mind: Outkast, Fugees, Neptunes, Timbaland and Missy Elliot and may be Kweli & Mos Def. The Neptunes and Timbaland got away with being different because they were established producers already. Eminem was approved by Dr. Dre and got away with being a young psychopath (Slim Shady) which is a bit different image.

So, I am probably simplifying too much but I think that for 10 years Hip Hop was pretty damn monothematic. Let me know what you think...

 

[Fade]

Good question.

Just new artists that came out? I was listening to mainly the "street smart tough guy" types mainly but the list you gave is pretty accurate. I remember a lot of the artists started going into more of a Rap / R&B mashup towards the late 90s.

I guess you could add Foxy Brown and Lil Kim to the list. Mase. Black Eyed Peas.... etc.

 

[2GooD Productions]

Tribe Called Quest, EPMD, MC Lyte, De La Soul, Run DMC just some off the top of my head.

 

[Kane the MOD]

Tribe Called Quest, EPMD, MC Lyte, De La Soul, Run DMC just some off the top of my head.

They all came out before 94 imho.

 

[2GooD Productions]

Sorry, dodnt realise you meant 94 on. Souls of Mischief, Alkaholiks, Arrested Development, Busta Rhymes, later Fat Joe

 

[Iron Keys]

I think the point is more that people had their own flows, they had different flows, rapped on different beats, produced different beats.

Now it's the one same triplet flow on the damn same trap beat, with the same pitched hihat rolls using the same samples.

Trap couldn't get more stagnant if you fed it through AI.

Take Lloyd Banks, Fabolous, Jadakiss, Styles P, Meth, Jay, even the whole wu tang clan had different flows. Kool G. Az. Mos. Dogg Pound. Snoop, Luda. Em. Freeway.

Even Grime or uk drill etc people are using all the same patterns and characteristics.

Not saying boombap was so vastly different. At least you'd have to use a different sample or sample it differently.

There was far more diversity. It's incomparable.

 

[Delta Skeltah]

Everyone loves a tough guy.
But nah, ur saying people on this forum is making the Era you said, seem better than what it really is? Romanticizing boombap? It WAS better. Period. This is a matter of opinion ofc, but how is a 30 year old record from nas still being talked about today? The biggies, the pacs? 90s Era (music, fashion) has always been popular for some reason. It would be interesting to see if "trap" will die and gain popularity in 30 years 'cause things do go in cycles..... I'm trailing off.......but yeah, timeless music.
Tough guy shit.
Great question, Kane. Salute.

 

[Kane the MOD]

I think more than anything I challenged my own thoughts. The artists I loved in the 90s are still dope in 2023. Quality stands out.

 

[Dusty B]

I fell in love with Hip Hop in the 90s. I still listen to many artists of this era.

However, I feel like many people on this forum are romantizing this era (too much).

I have a question and may be it is stupid and obsolete but let me hear your opinion:

How many new artists were popping from 1994 to 2003 which did not fit into the following category:

street smart tough guy

Only very few come into my mind: Outkast, Fugees, Neptunes, Timbaland and Missy Elliot and may be Kweli & Mos Def. The Neptunes and Timbaland got away with being different because they were established producers already. Eminem was approved by Dr. Dre and got away with being a young psychopath (Slim Shady) which is a bit different image.

So, I am probably simplifying too much but I think that for 10 years Hip Hop was pretty damn monothematic. Let me know what you think...

I was a child of 2000s hip-hop. Marshall Matters LP was one of the first hip-hop CDs I owned. I had listened to a lot of my uncles NWA and other underground 80s/90s rap, but the 2000s era was when I was a kid so like anything I think we're all bias to the music we grew up with.

I 100% agree that this forum does tend to romanticize 90s boom bap. It was a great time, and helped hip-hop become what it is today, but the reality is that it hip-hop became mainstream as it moved away its underground roots and started to bring in more pop elements. Every genre faces the same challenges and criticizing. I was a big KISS fan growing up, so I remember reading a lot about the hard rock/disco debates, and how they lost fans and created a shit storm by releasing a disco record.

There will be records that come out today that will be talked about in 30s years. Someone like Drake has had a big enough impact that his music will be passed down to our kids, just like I learned to love a lot of 70s and 80s rock/pop by going through my families CD collections. Eventually, Illmatic, 36 Chambers, will get less and less regular listens. And that's OK. It happens to every artist, except for maybe the Beatles.

And that's why creativity can be hard, because doing something different means a lot of opinions about how/why it's not great because it doesn't sound like what someone believes is the "best" sound.

 

[OGBama]

So, I am probably simplifying too much but I think that for 10 years Hip Hop was pretty damn monothematic. Let me know what you think...

It comes down IMO to the parasitic/incestuous relationship the music industry has: artist(s) get popular from a proven formula, label(s) see(s) social media numbers, mostly and likely “bots,” signs gullible “artist(s)” to a 360, rinse and repeat.

Hip Hop @Fade never recovered from the “sexy and nothing else” side of Foxy and Kim (I give them props as they both could spit and admittedly I’ve been listening to some of their non radio deep cuts from time to time as of late) for the women which is why I feel stripper rap is ass (no pun intended) but at least I can cue up some Che Noir, Armani Caesar, Sampha The Great and another I kinda like, Lola Brooke.

 

[2GooD Productions]

I was a child of 2000s hip-hop. Marshall Matters LP was one of the first hip-hop CDs I owned. I had listened to a lot of my uncles NWA and other underground 80s/90s rap, but the 2000s era was when I was a kid so like anything I think we're all bias to the music we grew up with.

I 100% agree that this forum does tend to romanticize 90s boom bap. It was a great time, and helped hip-hop become what it is today, but the reality is that it hip-hop became mainstream as it moved away its underground roots and started to bring in more pop elements. Every genre faces the same challenges and criticizing. I was a big KISS fan growing up, so I remember reading a lot about the hard rock/disco debates, and how they lost fans and created a shit storm by releasing a disco record.

There will be records that come out today that will be talked about in 30s years. Someone like Drake has had a big enough impact that his music will be passed down to our kids, just like I learned to love a lot of 70s and 80s rock/pop by going through my families CD collections. Eventually, Illmatic, 36 Chambers, will get less and less regular listens. And that's OK. It happens to every artist, except for maybe the Beatles.

And that's why creativity can be hard, because doing something different means a lot of opinions about how/why it's not great because it doesn't sound like what someone believes is the "best" sound.

While I have a love for the music I grew up with I have much more love for music from before I was even born. After many years of sample digging, the motown era of soul and funk music was IMO the best.

 

[Dusty B]

While I have a love for the music I grew up with I have much more love for music from before I was even born. After many years of sample digging, the motown era of soul and funk music was IMO the best.

I hear you there. 2000s hip hop is what I grew up with but if I someone put a gun to my head and asked best era of music ever made... I'd probably say 70s classic rock

 

[OGBama]

I have much more love for music from before I was even born.

This is me.

the motown era of soul and funk music was IMO the best.

My 2 absolute fave genres of many.

 

[Mike Chief]

I really dont think this board romanticizes 90's era. Look at the battles....

90's was full of quality for rap. The explosion of underground MC's and producers during the late 90's and early 2000's was majority quality shit. I mean fuck, we had legitimate artists on the RADIO during the 90's. Dont get me wrong, there was and will always be the fluffy pop shit that drops - however, there is a stark contrast in quality of music from then til now. Regardless of what one prefers, if we are lookin at Hip Hop as a whole, and rap being a part of it - 90's was fuckin peak. The other elements were already starting to kinda lose their momentum with the masses, but fuckin a, rap was on a whole different level during those years. The difference we see is due to societal changes; the ones in power of broadcasting and releasing music from their respective labels had a direct hand in this. A lowkey but not so lowkey psyop. We've been force fed the pop for so long now that we question our own quality and standards.

 

[VVS]

Prodigy of Mobb Deep. Definition of street smart guy and deep thinker. Not really known for being a tough guy but he did go up againgst 2Pac and Death Row Records when the East Vs West beef was popping. Also dropped the classic diss song Shook Ones.