Music At The Moment - The Rap Game

The music industry has changed over the years since the 90s and even more since further back. More specifically with the rap game the sound of music coming out now has changed. Not completely since its conception in the late 70s. It was officially a music genre from the release of Rapper’s Delight by The Sugarhill Gang in 1979. From here on out it was a genre that many gravitated towards from the rhythm and rhymes.

Firstly, what is rap? Rap is slang for rhythm and poetry. From that, you can understand why it is a skillful art that is used to rhyme within the music. Rhyming in music was not something new in 1979, the new thing was the hip-hop beat. Most beats come from different old tracks sampled and run through with bass and percussion emphasis.

Now even though Rapper’s Delight was insanely popular it is far from the hip-hop we know now. Many say the fathers of hip-hop come from all over the states but became big with N.W.A. in the 80s. N.W.A is the beginning chapter where rap is paired with hip-hop from the streets. It became all about sharing the black experience in America. Basically about gangs, drugs, and money. N.W.A. shared with the world in there rhymes the police brutality and the racism that exists in America today. It’s crazy how their music could have came out today and still applied, shows us how far America has to go to change.

After N.W.A. came the gangsta rap golden age in the 90s. Many people from the streets began rapping the same thing they are going through that N.W.A was speaking of which further pushed the message of the lives many pushed aside into the ghettos. Places like Compton, L.A., N.Y.C., and even from the South in Memphis which I will speak on some other time in-depth, as well as S.F. Being that is was about the black experience is became slowly about gangs because that was how it was back then and still how it is now. Songs were about the daily killings and drugs being done.

This is where I want to give my opinion. Many songs speak on about doing drugs, killing people (from other gangs or even cops), is all a narration of their life. It is no invitation but it slowly became that over time. A lot of people from the streets that are black or even Latin look to illegal means to make a living thinking it is the best option for them, and sadly sometimes it is. Some speak on how it is a story not a song to excite you over the problems they had to go through and many are going through. My problem with this is that it slowly became a cool thing to be ghetto, especially right now, people think it is a choice, not a lifestyle people were brought up in. In the 90s it was a time of huge lyricists on the come up, Wutang, Nas, 2Pac, Biggie, and so many more who spoke on the problem with America in there rhymes. Rapping became an outlet to tell the world what was really happening.

From that became the elevation of popularity to how being ghetto is cool. Mainstream is what it became and from that comes the fronters. There is nothing wrong with enjoying the music they release absolutely nothing, the problem is thinking because I listen to this music I can and should become like them. Officially the hip-hop scene became paired with black people when other races began trying their efforts into the rap game, i.e. Eminem. It was scene less about him being a real ghetto man and instead a white boy trying to be something he isn’t.

From that comes the SoundCloud phase. Soundcloud is a music streaming service open to anyone’s music they make, even unsigned artists. This is the rise of a new sound. Mixtapes and records was not a new thing, people tried anything to get noticed by distributing their music themselves locally. With the introduction of a platform online that you can upload for free your own music it became the place for aspiring music artists.\

Mumble rap. Some say it is an evolution of the rap game. Others say it is a lazy act of music that has nothing but rhythm and lost the main act of rhyming. I personally enjoy both lyrical and mumble. All for different reasons. I have to agree with everyone who opposes mumble rap. It is a devolution but not a bad one. It loses the rhyming but it invites rhythm that moves and allows crazy parties and new vibes. There is an enjoyment in mumble rap as it doesn’t have to mean anything, it is a vibe on its own that offers a song that can keep the party movement. For those who don’t know mumble rap is a form of “rap” if you can call it that, where instead of rhyming with say words like hot and stop, instead becomes a simple ayy and yuh. Not all mumble rap songs use this simple formula but a lot do. As well as baby voices with the premise being a song you don’t care for the words but instead the rhythm. Artists like Lil Pump and Playboi Carti making it huge with a ton more behind. That being said it loses its meaning in the way to give insight and almost proves all hip-hop haters saying that it glorifies the gang-related words of previous years.

Lyrical rap is not dead and nor is the sound that was huge in the 90s and 80s. Many rappers still do rhythm but many like to merge mumble rappers with lyrical rappers. They are separate things but not opposites. They are both their own thing that comes from the idea of rap. What many have a problem with is that hip-hop glorifies gang violence, drugs, and sex. In a way it does, I cannot deny, but instead of hating it, many should try understanding why that rapper has these values. Where does it come from? It comes from people who come from the trenches taught that they are worth nothing and are pushed into gangs and violence.

That is rap, hip-hop, whatever you call it don’t forget what it is truly. Hopefully, you have gained something out of this music at the moment on the rap game.