What is "Real" Hip Hop?

[2GooD Productions]

Question...Would Jay-Z be considered real hip-hop?

What about Mac Miller...? I'm actually impressed by the kid's skills.

Labels want him to be that real hip-pop......

Would he sell if he rapped like this? Even better......if he did....how successful would he be as an artist?
YouTube - ‪Mac Miller Freestyle on Toca‬‏

Ultimately real hip hop is just rapping about what is real life to you, Jay Z rapping about having loads of money and driving expensive cars is real to him, but him rapping now about struggling on the streets isnt, hes beyond that now. I wouldnt consider Jay Z real for a number of reasons, what he did to Def Jam being the biggest.
Success and realness are two different things, often realness sacrifices success. Especially in this day and age. And thats the very same reason we have all the fake artists going for success, because thats what success requires now. Success first passion later, where it should be passion first success later. For the artform to progress, it has to take center stage, success is a byproduct of the passion for the art. This is all just my opinion, from what I heard from the pioneers and digested and understood for myself.

 

[LouBez]

Real hip hop has alot to do with having fun amd entertaining people with the tools you have available...the tools have changed so the vibe is a lil different now...

As far as making it rain? I've been in KOD, Magic City, Clairmont Lounge, and a host of other southern booty clubs when the 1s start falling from the sky and trust me, NOBODY is robbing the guy who just tossed 1000 ones...thats a right you earn.

 

[Sucio]

What Jay-Z did to Def Jam? Lol... It's a HUSTLE... Music is still a hustle to him....... He got in to hustle his own music....

I think we are spending way too much energy on "bringing hip-hop back" and determining what is and isn't hip-hop...

The Golden Era is simply that..... I love the Golden Era and thank the Golden Era for giving me inspiration to make music.... But that time is over...

Hip-hop is here to stay...whether or not you agree on it's current state..... But the music has to evolve as our surroundings evolve.

The internet age has forced labels to sign artists that they can make quick money from. The longevity factor is nearly a non-factor.... Artists that has had their music sampled from a hip-hop act is now really quick to sue for royalties (which they have a right), compared to how it was in the 90s. Hip hop is a HUGE cash cow and probably the most influential of all music genres. This is what we wanted when hip-hop was on the come up......We wanted hip-hop to have this huge voice.....Well...be careful what you wish for. We all asked for this and now we're complaining on what it's become.

Just listen to what you want to listen to...support those artists and keep it movin'. Make the beats you want and that's it.... Rap the way you want.....If you're nice, people will support you.

But if you want to be relevant in this industry and make a few dollars along the way.........well....you have to be relevant...or have money backing you......or be so outlandish that people will jump on the bandwagon (ie Tyler the Creator).

 

[2GooD Productions]

Hip-hop is here to stay...whether or not you agree on it's current state..... But the music has to evolve as our surroundings evolve.

The internet age has forced labels to sign artists that they can make quick money from. The longevity factor is nearly a non-factor.... Artists that has had their music sampled from a hip-hop act is now really quick to sue for royalties (which they have a right), compared to how it was in the 90s. Hip hop is a HUGE cash cow and probably the most influential of all music genres. This is what we wanted when hip-hop was on the come up......We wanted hip-hop to have this huge voice.....Well...be careful what you wish for. We all asked for this and now we're complaining on what it's become.

Just listen to what you want to listen to...support those artists and keep it movin'. Make the beats you want and that's it.... Rap the way you want.....If you're nice, people will support you.

But if you want to be relevant in this industry and make a few dollars along the way.........well....you have to be relevant...or have money backing you......or be so outlandish that people will jump on the bandwagon (ie Tyler the Creator).

I agree 100%. But then Jay Z killed Def Jam, probably the foremost hip hop label of the golden era. Regardless of his reasons, he killed the label. And silenced one of the biggest hip hop voices. Now its an rnb label.

 

[dacalion]

Man hip hop took an ugly turn for the worst, I don't think anyone here wants to hear a 2011 version of rappers delight when we discuss this issue. Thats not the idea, the idea is to put content and meaning back into the art/culture. Hip hop is not what it used to be and it's not because of evolution, it's not because it's no longer the focus of the mainstream. It's because of the garbage that is accepted as Hip Hop that doesn't promote the same values as the original concept.

The "passion" that everybody is talking about is all but completely gone nowadays. History itself has proven that there's no hope where there is no passion. Touching on what skid said... thats just something you have to experience yourself for you to really understand whats happen to hip hop.

 

[skidflow]

Real hip hop is determined by the feel of a song. It depends on if the artist is articulating and delivering his/her lyrics into something believable that the listener can picture in his/her mind. The listener has to relate and identify to the lyricist in order for it to be real. It's just nowadays "rappers" are rapping about how they "wish" there situation "could be" as opposed to how it really is and the youth are feeding into it. These so called rappers of today are spoiled kids from generation Y and have really never had to really struggle like us Gen X'ers so the content is gonna be somewhat watered down so a lot of the content is made up, copied from someone else. I mean we are in days and times where nothing seems "real" anymore. Even the "Struggle" doesnt seem "real" anymore because we all no why things are the way they are but no one wants to put it in song form because it's not lucrative. No one really wants to address the "Real" reason why hip hop does not have that "real" feel to it. Once you get to really breaking it down...people's feelings can get hurt.

 

[dacalion]

hahahahaha!

 

[skidflow]

hahahahaha!

What Dac? Lmao! You a fool sun!

 

[dacalion]

skid, I think I laughed so hard at that one, that my stomach started hurting...youz a fool! hahahaha!

 

[LouBez]

Its as simple as this...no matter who are, what genre you re into, you think that the music tht dropped in the time you were 13 to 21 is the greatest shit ever and everything that came after isnt "real" fill in the blank.

And jay z didnt kill def jam...far from it he signed great emcees like ghost, and the roots...he put out GUTTER albums like method mans 4:21 and kept shit pumping by bolstering the r n b side of the label therefore allowing the roots and redman amd ghost and meth to put out the tunes they wanted to put out...it aint on the execs if the fans aint buying it.

 

[skidflow]

Its as simple as this...no matter who are, what genre you re into, you think that the music tht dropped in the time you were 13 to 21 is the greatest shit ever and everything that came after isnt "real" fill in the blank.

I think the hip hop that came before the golden era was "even more realer" because it was two turntables & a mic rhyming off of just breaks and stuff (think of groups like Funky 4 +1, Cold Crush)...then you have what I call the "electronical hip hop era where jams like "planet rock" and "PAC jam" spawned from (think of groups like Soul sonic force, Twilight 22) Then I think of a lot of music in the late 90's that sounded "real" to me but that's when I also noticed that bullshit rap was starting to flourish also. What new cats need to do is educate themselves on the history of the music first...because if you were 10-12 years old in 1980 and hip hop grabbed you...you pretty much have an idea of what the deal is. This topic of conversation never came up in the 80's...wonder why? Lmao

 

[LouBez]

It never came up in the 80s cause there was no such thing as a purist or nerd rap...hip hop was all about having fun...

And to be clear you guys are calling the 90's the "golden age" cause back then the 80s was the golden age and im sure im 2020, 2000 will be seen as a golden age...

 

[UNORTHODOX]

Define real, somebody, please.

 

[LouBez]

To me real is being excited about the record you are making...That excitement comes from the soul expressing itself...

 

[2GooD Productions]

It never came up in the 80s cause there was no such thing as a purist or nerd rap...hip hop was all about having fun...

no it wasnt, fun was an aspect but thats not what it was all about.
Public enemy wasnt all about having fun, Comptons Most Wanted wasnt all about having fun, neither was Das FX, Keith Murray, EPMD, Redman, DITC, Brand Nubian, NWA, Scarface, Cypress Hill etc etc, I could go on and on. But hip hop was about expressing their lives, the good the bad and the fun. Graffiti, a major cornerstone of hip hop was definitely not about having fun, it was about saying fuck you to the system. Public enemy was all about saying fuck you to the system.
Back in the 90's hip hop had so many faces, so many sides it was very very diverse, with loads of flavours, fun was just one of them. Hip hop doesnt have too many flavours anymore, its a bit bland. And to many hip hop was a way to try and escape the horror of a racist society that kept them in the cages of hoods and projects. With fucked up police, and fucked up neighbourhoods.
At least thats the message I got from the music.

Define real, somebody, please.

Honesty.. Being real is being true to yourself.

 

[dacalion]

This IS REAL mutha&^%$ HIP HOP! We've seen it a thousand times but this is it!



any questions....lol!

 

[LouBez]

2good hip hop still has ALL those flavors...in the last three months Ive been to see Kool Keith, Reakwon, joe budden, and i even peeped lil b cause the local acts opening up...there is plenty of diversity...the cater iv is dropping in the same year smif and wessun droped their disc with pete rock...you guys are just sufferinh from a bad case of the 30's...

 

[2GooD Productions]

2good hip hop still has ALL those flavors...in the last three months Ive been to see Kool Keith, Reakwon, joe budden, and i even peeped lil b cause the local acts opening up...there is plenty of diversity...the cater iv is dropping in the same year smif and wessun droped their disc with pete rock...you guys are just sufferinh from a bad case of the 30's...

No man, it has nothing to do with that, or our era was the best era, cos personally im as hip hop as Ive always been, its just hip hop isnt. Some of the new stuff coming out has given me back some of my faith in hip hop. I could post loads of videos of hip hoppers who have seen it grow and then become what it is today complaining about the commercialisation and raping of the artform for monetary gain and materialistic mentality, not to mention the fakeness of it. Its the fakeness that stops it being real. Keep it real means just that, keep it real. Dont lie or fabricate your life because thats what makes money, thats the complete opposite of what keep it real or dont sell out is all about. There may be diversity in hip hop at the moment but you have to fucking look hard for it. Most beats all sound the same now. How old are you?
I have to ask. Because I think if you were a fan of hip hop and listened to what people were saying back then, then I dont think you would be defending hip hop as it is now. Because you would know better.

 

[UNORTHODOX]

Honesty.. Being real is being true to yourself.

So question, how can you say they ARENT keeping it "real"? I said this earlier, real is a peception of your own experiences. How can you say they arent being real?

Hip Hop wasnt always honest, rappers delight, run dmc, etc. ALL had songs that were exaggerations, they are keeping it as "real"

 

[2GooD Productions]

So question, how can you say they ARENT keeping it "real"? I said this earlier, real is a peception of your own experiences. How can you say they arent being real?

Hip Hop wasnt always honest, rappers delight, run dmc, etc. ALL had songs that were exaggerations, they are keeping it as "real"

There is a difference between exaggerating and "fronting" to all out blatantly lying.
Real has nothing to do with my perception, it has to do with the artist expressing their real life, not some imaginary one they wish they had, or dont wish they had but know thats whats going to make them money. Sacrificing the art for the money aka "Selling out". Hip hop has no integrity now, with many artists portraying themselves as clowns, to be pointed at and laughed at. Personally I find that sad.