Is Hip Hop Dead??

Where is Hip Hop going? I must admit that I liked a lot of the performances of last night’s award show but that led to the questions would I buy these albums or let my child (if I had one) listen to this secular music with edited vulgarity? Believe it or not, these performers are looked up to as role models but are many of them worth following?

Today’s music entails the notions of glorifying drug dealers, getting money placing people in the mindset of killers. Is this real music? Not many artists like Common or Nas is actually looked upon for their lyrics detailing real lifeand inspiration. Not saying that Nas or Common don’t rap explicitly but you hear far less B’s or hoes. Much of what I listen to when I hear with Jay-Z is coherent with his reality complex. I hear stories about a ghetto life turned around and the stereotype black rappers get. Even Kanye (before he got his Jesus immortality complex going on) had morals when he rap. It wasn’t only about money or glorified fame. Currently despite the many eye popping acts out there J.Cole happens to be one of my favorite rappers entailing Tupac, Eminem and Biggie. The rapper raps a lot about his homegrown fame, his intelligence and life more or less as a person. Cole World to me was a really great album. Entailed by his sophomore album Born Sinner (which is really good in my opinion) I love J. Cole as a lyricist and sincerely hope he doesn’t have to completely conform to the Music Industry. In a CNN article 37 year old rapper Talib Kweli shares his ideas by quoting some of his lyrics
"I got a Glock in my brain/that baffle weapon inspectors like Saddam Hussein.". not many rappers share the power of intelligence. Hip Hop today has became more corporate in order to gain more listeners but the raps of this decade is far less entertaining than raps of groups like RUN DMC nearly 3 decades ago. Do I listen to rap today?? I listen to some of It but heavily criticize a lot of what I hear. In my opinion rap was better when autotune use was at a minimum and what we listened to actually had a meaning and if not a meaning they were good time songs. . I admit I rather listen to MC Lyte then watch some dude bounce around on stage screaming “I aint worried bout nothing”. Hopefully rappers will regain consciousness and I can bump something in my stereo without worrying about turning it down because I’m secretly trying to screen the vulgarity of the lyrics.  The meaning of rap hasn’t completely changed because some rappers actually send a message. I honestly support rappers who are leaders of positivity in their communities. I haven’t lost faith in Hip Hop. Hip Hop isn’t dead to me….it simply needs to be resurrected.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/29/showbiz/talib-kweli-interview/index.html?hpt=en_c2