Is Hip-Hop Dead?

Everybody sound the same, commercialize the game 
Reminiscin' when it wasn't all business 
If it got where it started 
So we all gather here for the dearly departed 
Hip hopper since a toddler 
One homeboy became a man then a mobster 
If the guys let me get my last swig of Vodka 
R.I.P., we'll donate your lungs to a rasta 
Went from turntables to mp3s 
From "Beat Street" to commercials on Mickey D's 
From gold cables to Jacobs 
From plain facials to Botox and face lifts 
I'm lookin' over my shoulder 
It's about eighty niggaz from my hood that showed up 
And they came to show love 
Sold out concert and the doors are closed shut

-- Nas, Hip Hop is Dead

For the past couple of days, it seems that the news has been talking about how rap is dead at the age of 30, chewed out from within as rap fans start hating the product that they've been given.

Now, I like hip hop and rap, but I don't love it the way I did when I was a kid or the way that my sister loves it. What was originally thought-provoking (aka the CNN of black folks, to quote Chuck D) became increasingly homogenized and watered down as the years went by.

Rap lyrics are now consistently about sex, women, ass, liquor, jewelry, fast cars and guns, all set to a hot beat thanks to some producer who knows how to get the club jumping, but not how to write a good lyric. Jay-Z -- who's a great rapper -- often does shout-outs to products that no one can afford in everyday life, Diddy (aka Shitty)has lyrics that mean nothing ultimately and Lil' John is nothing more than a cartoon character.

Not to mention, the beats are all starting to sound the same -- stripped down, sparse and percusson-filled. It actually makes me long for the days of samples, which is really sad.

I don't blame people for getting disillusioned and unhappy with what's being shoved out there by record companies. But I don't think that hip-hop is dead. There's a lot of good stuff out there that unfortunately record companies don't know how to classify -- for example, Gnarls Barkley: Is it rap, rock, hip-hop or some weird mix of the two? There's also MF Doom (how the hell do you market a rapper who wears a mask?) and the nerdcore rappers like MC Chris and MC Frontalot (WTF is Nerdcore?). Oh, and the Beastie Boys have also left a valuable impact on rap, but that was only really possible when they left the expectations of record companies behind and got more political instead of being a bunch of dumb party boys.

Making the rap stars in the studio also means nothing now. Everyone's got a hot beat and a hot single. It's a matter of sustaining that and growing on it. That's not just a problem hip hop faces, but also rock bands and pop groups now. By making everyone in the studio and then tossing them out on a Pro-Tooled to hell tour, that's not creating a good show or a good band. A band that knows only how to perform in the studio isn't as interesting as a band that's honed their skills with audiences.

I guess that my overall point (long-winded as it may be) is that hip hop isn't dead. Rock isn't dead. The listeners are just getting fed up with the mediocre pablum that's being shoved down our throats by record companies seeking to make a quick buck. We want artistry and something that will leave an impact not only on shaking our asses, but our minds.