shonenjoe said:

I agree with you there, it is a pop perspective. I do think it's a shame if some people never get the chance to hear some real golden-era hip-hop. You just have to hope that people take the initiative to discover music, the music they enjoy, and never stopping that search. If they happen upon "Blowout Comb" and "3 Feet High and Rising", thank the stars.

(And I like your icon. I've been on a jazz rage lately. Miles, Coleman, Coltrane, Hancock, Hubbard...)

I just pulled out out Blowout Comb 2 days ago. And thanks, Miles is the man. And good to see Hubbard getting some props.

RebirthOfCool said:

shonenjoe said:

I respect people's opinions toward Drake and Lil Wayne, even if I disagree.

Personally, when it comes to lil Wayne, I think he's probably the most talented rapper around right now. To be fair, he puts out an equal amount of lousy material for every gem, (but another popular artist on this site is guilty of that too, *wink wink*). Lil Wayne can rap on just about anything in a style that makes "true" hip-hoppers sound pretty bloodless. Nas, Mos Def, Masta Ace, whoever underground, as you want to go, that's fine. Their music is hardly as exciting to me as Wayne's, even when he puts out total garbage like "Rebirth".

I think the problem is that a lot of "true hip-hop" fans are so unwilling to except the development/bastardization/evolution/commercialization of a genre that they shun all of it. I'm not saying that all this pop rap stuff is good. Hardly. But in many ways, hip-hop is dead. We don't need a clown like Nas telling us it is. It's been dead for years. It's not a good thing, it's not a bad thing. It's what it is. Rock 'n roll, punk, soul, whatever you want to point to as being "not good as it used to be"... it's futile. Music evolves, and genre tags are as useful now as selling your cd at Borders for 14 bucks. Scenes, genres, movements, they come and go.

Wayne and Drake don't really pump themselves as "hip-hop". If anything, they make pop music. If you don't like their music, I can see it. Are we in the "hair-metal" phase of hip-hop? Maybe. Who cares?

The awesome part and frustrating part about music these days is that we can reach back and listen to so much, explore more than ever, and there's more to listen to than ever before, each and every day the internet keeps running. If you don't like something, you've got a lot of options. Songs, albums, scenes, they can't pull a country together like they could when the nation and the world is getting bigger and smaller every day.

When people, such as Prince himself, suggest that "music just ain't what it was like back in the day", I cringe. Of course it isn't. It's different. God forbid if it wasn't.

Now if Prince did a collab with Big Boi or Dam-funk, I'd be a little more interested. Drake doesn't need Prince, I think he's got enough advertising to support himself.

But again, you're coming from a pop point of view, so naturally a lot of average rap fans would deem Weezy "the most talented rapper out there". And therein lies the problem. But that's why there are true hip hop headz and then the casual rap fan. It is what it is.

True hip hop heads recognize Lil Wayne as a top tier rapper, You are not a true hip hop head, great rap is still taking place, so now Lil Wayne is not a pop rapper, and never has been.

Hip Hop is dead, whoever said that is an idiot or an old fucker wishing it was 1995 all over.

Alamine said:

RebirthOfCool said:

But again, you're coming from a pop point of view, so naturally a lot of average rap fans would deem Weezy "the most talented rapper out there". And therein lies the problem. But that's why there are true hip hop headz and then the casual rap fan. It is what it is.

True hip hop heads recognize Lil Wayne as a top tier rapper, You are not a true hip hop head, great rap is still taking place, so now Lil Wayne is not a pop rapper, and never has been.

Hip Hop is dead, whoever said that is an idiot or an old fucker wishing it was 1995 all over.

Yeah, you may wanna sit this discussion out homie. You've exposed yourself as someone that doesn't know hip hop. Take a break.

RebirthOfCool said:

Alamine said:

True hip hop heads recognize Lil Wayne as a top tier rapper, You are not a true hip hop head, great rap is still taking place, so now Lil Wayne is not a pop rapper, and never has been.

Hip Hop is dead, whoever said that is an idiot or an old fucker wishing it was 1995 all over.

Yeah, you may wanna sit this discussion out homie. You've exposed yourself as someone that doesn't know hip hop. Take a break.

Your stuck in 1995, you don't know hip hop.

Alamine said:

RebirthOfCool said:

Yeah, you may wanna sit this discussion out homie. You've exposed yourself as someone that doesn't know hip hop. Take a break.

Your stuck in 1995, you don't know hip hop.

Go get some rest, son.

I think Drake's smug whingeing is probably a thirty-something year low for hip-hop. He's a mediocre rapper and singer, his subject matter (as far as I've heard, i.e. the mixtape and the singles, I think I'm going to skip the album) is either tedious or plain irritating in the way only rich kids moaning about alienation can be.

Lil' Wayne, on the other hand, has plenty talent. Not as much as he thinks, sure, and I think he might be headed for early burn-out, but all three Carter albums are great in their own way.

Can't see Prince collaborating with either of them, to be honest. Though given Drake's taste in beats, he might just surprise me and jump on an instrumental of Purple & Gold.

Alamine said:

*realizes he's surrounded by diduntdidunts and eases out of thread*