Where is Hiphop going? Any predictions for 08/09?

[afriquedeluxe]

Got inspired to start this thread from Classic's original thread here.

The general atmosphere there was that this rapper was not bringing anything new to the table. While I agree to some point I think it is fair to say there is still a market for it.

There is a fair number of people who are implicitly/explicitly requesting something new, something fresh. What I have noticed though, (and I may be wrong in this) is that most people that want new fresh shit are usually involved in music industry somehow. The majority of music consumers don't seem to care. This mass, as a famous social scientist Marion Hampton once warneded, seem to have a "depressed intelligence". So they will keep consuming music no matter what, whether its innovative or not, they will not actively request fresh ideas. Instead if a new idea does pop up, they will either jump on it or reject it.

Now what I have to ask is, where do you guys feel hiphop is going content wise, lyric wise and perhaps beat wise aswell. People are saying they are tired of the same old gun blasting, show off shit, but where do you want it to now go? If we look at soul/rnb music, the topics have been the same for decades. What makes hiphop any different. What else can one rap about besides love,hate,power,struggle? Give me some ideas here...

So where is hiphop going.

 

[Relic]

More Industry.

 

[Low G]

Prolly more pop still. With the sucess of Kanye's album in these not so booming times there will prolly be a lot of copy cat acts. Other then that there won't be a thing different. Same thing only now I hear it's cool to be packing 2 or 3 guns cuz having only 1 makes you a concious rapper.

Peace.

 

[Sincock]

What makes hip hop different is it's history. It's about a whole lot more than the shallow crap you're hearing on the radio or wherever these days.

I don't think it's the industry at all looking for something new, anything that will sell is more their speed, which is more often the same shit that sold before, (maybe with a new twist but not too different cause that will confuse people. (God can correct me if I'm wrong there).

My prediction is the rise of the Sincock!

 

[2GooD Productions]

I personally feel that the genre hiphop has been used and abused by the music industry to the point that the original messages from hiphop have become tarnished. The credibility of hiphop has been lost to the intelligent masses. There is no message of struggle that hasnt already been heard now. The biggest hiphip tracks from the past used controversy to sell loads and break from being a black artform and start selling to the white peole.
And when it wasnt controversy(Getto Boys/NWA/Ice T - Cop Killer, not even a rap tune) that sold records it was something like a rock/pop crossover track. "Walk This Way - Run DMC/Aerosmith", "I Need Love - LL Cool J".
When these hiphop tracks broke into massive sales worldwide it was then that the industry realised there was a big profit in rap music. We then had the "golden age" of hiphop. Yo MTV Raps followed along with BET, the BOX etc.
Rap music became available for the masses and sales were huge generally without the controversy. There was a strong message in hiphop at that time. KRS 1 talking of edutainment. Using the music to educate and enlighten.
Brand Nubian talking of the Nation Of Islam. As well as loads of stories of a struggle from adversity to find success in music, telling the kids that there is an escape from the slums.

Then to the point we have now, where good hiphop has returned back to the underground from where it came, and all we have in the mainstream is Hip Pop. I think as a genre hiphop is pretty worn out, the intelligence has been lost from Hip Hop, and as such the movement of black empowerment it once was is no more.
I think hiphop will still go on in the same way it does here at illmuzik, the intelligent masses that once enjoyed the message of hiphop will not see it just roll up and die. The struggling people will always have something to say about the system that keeps them down, and that message is always the most powerful. Hiphop will always have its voice, its just a matter of how many people will let it speak or will hear it.

 

[Relic]

Prolly more pop still. With the sucess of Kanye's album in these not so booming times there will prolly be a lot of copy cat acts. Other then that there won't be a thing different. Same thing only now I hear it's cool to be packing 2 or 3 guns cuz having only 1 makes you a concious rapper.

Peace.

hahaha, I gues I better go get one then.

 

[Ash Holmz]

smash brothers album coming soon !!!!

 

[Fury]

down and down and down

 

[Ash Holmz]

i think its gonna get better actually ... music moves in cycles ... this hip pop bubble is about to burst. evrything is incredibly oversaturated and similiar sounding . like there is no diffrence between pop,hip hop, and even most rock anymore. im talking about the radio. It all sounds way too similiar. For example, Like how many times are we gonna hear that same beat beyonce first used for irreplacable? .. ne-yo chaged the chord and basically re-used it. then chris brown changed the chord and used it again, and then the other day i just heard some pop/rock chick use it again.. same beat, same EXACT sounds, just a diffent key. Its pretty ridiclous. If i can find them, i will post the links.. u will see its the exact same thing .. and all these songs can be heard on the radio within an hour of each other!! Pathetic. I gotta hope this can get better cuz im afraid for if it gets worse!

 

[LDB]

Ash....the thing with that is that the average music listener/buyer doesn't look that deep into it. CB fans are going to support and buy his music no matter what. Same for Beyonce etc. etc. People on the production side of things are the only ones that pay attention to that imo. I just read about a beef with artist and producers on Koch Records doing the same thing. There not even changing the chords...lol. They say that the artist that they are placing the same tracks with appeal to deferent demographics. Az and Ray J have the exact same beat on there albums which were released within a few weeks to a month from each other. That was actually another check for the same producer which from a producers point a view wasn't a bad thing!

So many labels have "in house producers" these days and since the industry is in a state of shock, the labels aren't going outside of that circle. Can't say that I blame them. Most are just trying to stay a float until this thing bottoms out.

I actually think the future of hip hop and music in general has the potential to be very bright. Sooner or later these labels are going to be back to ground zero and will be more inclined to take a chance on "new" artist and producers. The last quarter of '08 proved that if you've been away from the game for awhile you have a very slim chance of getting back in let alone getting back on top. Not one formerly established artist that tried to make a triumphant return was successful.

The digital music era is bringing in so many new listeners so fast that if you don't stay on the grind and decide to take a hiatus, you'll lose any potential of gaining a new fan base or holding on to your old one. That's why I think getting an independent distribution/record deal is the way to go. You can damn near drop new material at will which in turn will keep you relevant! The "making money" season for artists is getting shorter and shorter so you have to get in and hit 'em hard while you can.

 

[shadeed]

Good question.

Since the music industry is still trying to adjust and modify its business model to be Digital-era compliant, in the year 2009 and beyond, you will see more of your favorite artists being dropped from the shelf they were sitting on at __________(insert major label here) and attempt to release music either through a major-indie or through an indie branch of a major label.

Actually 50 Cent (once again) started what will be the next wave in the music business, which is leveraging popularity and marketing dollars from major labels to create artist-owned, artist-driven online communities that feature exclusive content from the artist themselves.

Mixtapes will also become free downloadable links instead of physical CD's.

You'll see more bloggers become celebrities and major labels will start to buyout popular music blogs such as Rawkus is doing right now with realtalkny.net, fatlace, and a few others.

Mark my words, at least one blogger will actually get an A&R position or label job due to having their "pulse on the music biz" and the site traffic/following to back them up

I think the All-in-One deal with become more standard with labels getting a chunk of artist touring, digital, and merch bucks. I could go on for days on this subject but those are a few.

Jay-Z will be on his way to becoming the next Russell Simmons on the Internet era -

 

[classic]

I saw a movie called planet b-boy that talks about this.. the movie is basically about break dancing and how its spread all over the world, other cultures( especially Asian cultures) are now doing "real" hip hop way better then we are in the states... over there is still culture driven, here its become a cash cow

Like of most forms of black music(blues, jazz, rock & roll), hip hop is being exploited and marketed to the masses, its become such a fad thing now that most cats don’t have a real knowledge of what they are doing , they just do it because somebody else is doing it..

Jazz became so watered down in the states that most modern American jazz musicians aren’t taken seriously anymore, to get the “real” jazz/be-bop culture you got to head to Europe,(France, gemerany etc).. The same is to be said for blues as well

I have a feeling that hip hop is going to follow this same trend… in 10 to 15 years the masses in America are going to re-discover “real” hip hop from the French, Koreans or Japanese. Right now these three countries are at the fore-front hip hop in its purist form.
The same thing happened when the rolling stones/British invasion re-introduced blues music to the American masses in the 60’s

 

[Low G]

^^^ word isn't the french hip hop industry the biggest and most established next to the US?

 

[Relic]

Im waiting for the Led Zepplin of hiphop to come then.

It kinda sucks that majors are gonna end up controling the way we as indie artists release our music if they take over the net.That will squeeze us out possibly.
BUT one thing about the net that is nice is that its Open to all.

French hiphop is about the only thing french Im into right now.

 

[GRAFIK]

hip hop??? Do we still have a genre called hip hop, that shit has been dead.....except for a hand full of cats that keep it alive

 

[classic]

hip hop??? Do we still have a genre called hip hop, that shit has been dead.....except for a hand full of cats that keep it alive

Hip hop is not just music, its a culture

You gotta make sure your clarify, hip hop is alive and well in pockets in the states, its also VERY ALIVE and well in other countries, here MC;ing is at the forfront of hip hop but remember there are 3 other pillars of hip hop besides MCing.... In korea and japan, MCing takes a back seat to breaking, thats the thing over there, nobody wants to be a rapper in japan or korea, its all about the breakers, they have iconic status in these countries and well distroy any american breaking crew
in other countries like gememany DJ skills are are at the forefront... (I hear germans got the DJing ish on lock). Yet in other places like italy, they are really really heavy into the graph culture....

So when people say hip hop is dead, thats not true at all, the culture is alive and well floushing in its many forms all over the world...

Americans are just MC/music driven with there hip hop culture,and right now there arent many good mainstream MC's out.... So that aspect of hip hop may not be doing well, but to say hip hop is dead is pretty silly IMO, whats sad is most cats dont even know that hip hop is more then music over here...

Like i said, just wait, another country is going to re-introduce americans to true hip hop culture and its other aspects are going to become more popular then the music...

class...

 

[GRAFIK]

yeah i know what hip hop is, and yes I know the 4 elements of the hip hop culture. But reading this topic it looks like we are refering the the musical part of hip hop. I also said for a hand full of cats that are still making good hip hop. But what I am hearing people call hip hop "music" is not hip hop at all. It is just a bunch of young get rich gimmicks that they are calling hip hop. Dont get me wrong I do see some good music coming out, but if I go to the store and search through the "hip hop" section, and want to buy a CD I rarely see anything I would call hip hop...... personally that is my opinion

 

[afriquedeluxe]

I saw a movie called planet b-boy that talks about this.. the movie is basically about break dancing and how its spread all over the world, other cultures( especially Asian cultures) are now doing "real" hip hop way better then we are in the states... over there is still culture driven, here its become a cash cow

Like of most forms of black music(blues, jazz, rock & roll), hip hop is being exploited and marketed to the masses, its become such a fad thing now that most cats don’t have a real knowledge of what they are doing , they just do it because somebody else is doing it..

Jazz became so watered down in the states that most modern American jazz musicians aren’t taken seriously anymore, to get the “real” jazz/be-bop culture you got to head to Europe,(France, gemerany etc).. The same is to be said for blues as well

I have a feeling that hip hop is going to follow this same trend… in 10 to 15 years the masses in America are going to re-discover “real” hip hop from the French, Koreans or Japanese. Right now these three countries are at the fore-front hip hop in its purist form.
The same thing happened when the rolling stones/British invasion re-introduced blues music to the American masses in the 60’s

I saw Planet B-boy too. Very inspirational film, and the ideas definitely do crossover. This idea of rebirth is pretty damn convincing as well, considering the past occurrences you mention.

Like Holmz said, seems we are in cycles and perhaps are heading for a big crunch, then another big bang, rinse repeat rinse repeat.

 

[Formant024]

ehr...i dont want to bash anyones views on hiphop outside the us but i live hiphop but dont act like it which goes for a lot of us Europeans...the elements...ive done events that had 6 elements (beatboxing, beatcreators) and there are common people simply living it in the same way its done in other countries across the globe and aside from mc'ing (from a global perspective) i know that all countries arent any more or less hiphop on any element than the US (hmm, for some things i know that some foreign artists are better than the US, take japanese beatcreators or dj's...theyre insane). Germany...i have to say that theyre not much impressive as their hiphop scene is very US influenced in way that its mainstream fashion, which makes it great for revenue but content-wise not very significant. Scandinavia i really like, people like ken ring, looptroop have great taste in hiphop (non-mainstream) and the French have this great sense of drive when they flow and their neverlasting taste for boombap beats or "witty" beats...i dont really noticed that they have been influenced by the US mainstream hiphop in regard to 808'ish crunk style beats. ehr.. dutch...not that impressive but we have great producers already well established in fore front or behind the scenes with each their own signature sound being picked by labels. The uk, ehr...very hard to tell imo, i like the UK sound in general (up to UK sound in chart music) because they have often picked up influences from obvious UK underground genres being implemented to pop music but to give an example, Roots manuva...its not typical hiphop but it is hiphop...far from mainstream but pop. I consider these successes, opposed to US achievements in the charts which are always a bit of the same or UK influenced (toxic - britney spears). All the other elements exist everywhere else up to the same extremes, each country has its national or international champions or hiphop influenced people that manifest themselves in an hiphop-unorthodox way. I have forgotten other countries and even now there are countries discovering hiphop, creating mc's, unknown phenomenons in their culture readily creating artforms within hiphop that will become signature due to the unique event that such re-interpretation of hiphop has not taken place anywhere and even if it does, it would not matter to those just discovering. And...although it might seem i have a lot of opinions, im not really entitled to do so because my efforts to know all about hiphop is limited there i dont seek all of hiphop's globals potentials...there's to many

 

[God]

It will become more "80's" sounding. Think big gated snares and 80's vintage sounds. Think Flock of Seagulls combined with hip-hop. Think gated snares. Think clicky bass kicks. Think Casio.

Hip-pop will go that way. Expect Kanye, 50, etc., to use more 80's sounding beats -- they already are. This is logical, since they are migrating from the lush, techno/gated Pro-Synth sound to a different type of synth sound.

Also, backpacker hip-hop is going to be even more popular than ever. Think labels like Def Jux being the next "hot" thing.

We might see a million-selling artist from the ashes of the backpacker scene. The scene is real and is a genuine movement. It will migrate from the hipster/backpacker scene like punk migrated from its roots to the mainstream in the nineties (think Green Day).