Dropkick Murphy

Since Slick made a thread like this a short time ago, I might as well copy him and put a different spin on it.

The State Of Hip-Hop Now

As you may or my not know, I am a Hip-Hop fan. I've been a fan since some time in the 90's. I wasn't really a big fan, just a causal fan. I remember hearing classic stuff like 'Big Poppa', 'Mo Money, Mo Problems', and other classics like those all the time. The music was so good back then, but know I look at the game and I'm thinking "Damn, what happened?"

Half the songs out now are just club songs and stuff. I'm not saying I don't like club songs, in fact, I love club songs, but it's kinda low quality stuff. I mean, there were alot of club songs back in the 90's and if you compare them to the ones today, you'll know what I'm talking about. I mean, there's nothing wrong with making club songs, but it just sounds like most of the artists that make them today aren't really that good at it.

Now, there are a few shining lights in the game that are saving it. Rappers like T.I., NaS, Ludacris, Chamillionaire, Kanye West, and others that are really helping the game out. We just need more rappers like them, instead of rappers like D4L.

Thoughts On Random Rappers

50 Cent

I might be one of the few who actually think 50 is a good rapper. I know he isn't the best, but there's no denying that he has talent. I've listened to both his albums and I wasn't disappointed. It's just his flow that kinda gets me at times. I mean, he could be rippin' it at one point, then he just loses it at the next point. If he just fixed that, he'd be alright.

T.I.

What can I say about one of my favorite rappers? The guy is just a great rapper. Why is he such a great rapper? It's all about his consistency. Go all the way back to I'm Serious and follow his albums. He has stayed consistant throughout his whole career. Not many rappers can stay consistant like that. Now, I'm just counting the days on my calandar for T.I. vs T.I.P.

Ludacris

My favorite rapper. I love this guy's flow and the way he raps. This guy is the King of the South. You want proof? Listen to all his ablums and you'll know.

Now, the only thing that I find wrong with him is the fact that he jokes around alot. But even when he jokes around, he's still cold with it. But he's gonna have to step it up and show everybody that he's still the king when he releases Release Therapy

NaS

Do I even need to say anything about him?

Nelly

My 2nd favorite rapper. What can you say about this guy? He's great. I've been a fan of him since Country Grammar. He's has the uncanny ability to make a simple rhyme sound great. I don't know how he does it. All I know is, he needs to keep doing it because it's working for him.

Chamillionaire

When I first saw this guy, I thought he was just another dude, but then I heard Ridin' and I realized that he is a real talent. He has the voice for rapping. He also has the uncanny ability to switch up his rapping style for any beat given to him. In my opinion, he's apart of the future of Hip-Hop.

The Game

Just like Chamillionaire, when I first this guy, I thought he was just another dude, but then I heard 300 Bars and I realized this guy is good. I can't really say much about him, but he has potential.

Honorable Mentions

Kanye West

What a talent. This kid is gonna go far in the game.

Juelz Santana

After listening to What The Game's Been Missing!, I'm a fan.

Cam'ron

He's decent, but needs to improve.

Eminem

A legend in my books.

DMX

Same as Em.

Jay-Z

Jigga my *****

Yung Joc

If he got his own style, he could get better.

Young Jeezy

I like this guy. His style is very orginal.

Mobb Deep

After Jigga murdered them on Takeover, I lost some respect for them.

Mike Jones

Like everybody's said, if he stops repeating everything, he'd be cold.

Slim Thug

I like his style.

E-40

Not as good as he used to be, but still good.

Paul Wall

He's alright.

Clipse

I'm glad they're back.

I hope I didn't miss anybody.

Thoughts?

TheFreakGuy

Thank fuck somebody cares about hip hop enough to make a thread like this. You genius.

Thing is, at the moment somehow hip hop's entered into being a major mainstream thing...So there are no real lyrical rappers anymore that are going to get bought. Talent, lyricism and real subject matter are being pushed to the back, and club songs are the most important thing, Not only does everyone from the Dirty South have some club songs, but every good rapper seems to have at least one half-arsed club/RnB song (true).

My view on 50 is that he's a great businessman. He knows he doesn't need to be a good rapper, which is a little irritating, cos he ripped it before his Shady/Aftermath days. Yeah, G-Unit is the Bad Boy/No Limit/Death Row of today: a massive pop franchise in the hip hop world, and you gotta admire them for it. He's a businessman on the level of Diddy, but he's ruining the culture by spreading the same, repetitive negative subject matter to the wide audience that he does.

Mind you, if he does step to Dre, and thus Eminem, that'll be it for him. Eminem isn't a Jadakiss who can probably beat him in a lyrical battle but 50 can ignore: Eminem knows how to make someone look plain stupid in a battle.

The thing is, the people you mentioned who are 'helping the game' are the ones making the club songs. Some of the best rappers, no doubt: Nas has probably passed his time, but when he tries he delivers a message and is lyrically great. T.I. is overrated- One of those Dirty South rappers who goes over the same old stuff without switching it up, same with Chamillionaire. Cham's old work with Paul Wall, though. is meant to be pretty good.

Ludacris just can't be arsed, he's probably the best apart from Scarface coming out of the south, but he puts his skill into complete crap, usually. Stuff like 'The Potion' off his last album was sick. And don't wanna get this started again but the real king of the south is scarface , get 'The Fix' off Def Jam, got Nas, Kanye, Jay-Z etc on but it's a class album either way.

I never liked Nelly. He crossed over basically when he started, and he's got no skills, but fair play to him. He didn't beat KRS One either.

As goes for Slim Thug, Young Joc, Jeezy , Mike Jones, and Wall, they ain't sayin nothin new. The Dirty South is half the cause of this whole club obsession, and noone with Skills apart from, er, Scarface, Ludacris and Little Brother are there.

Yer, I like Cam'ron too. It's amazing how much he switched his style since he was running with Big L, but as long as he keeps a) talking about nothing and b) fucking with jay-z and getting ignored for it he's goin nowhere.

As for Game, thought he was okay, Documentary was better than what G-Unit's put out (not that I really listen to it anymore) but he's gonna be remembered for beefing with 50, basically. When Dre finishes work on Doctor's Advocate, 50'll turn to him- Turning attention away from the album.

Jay-Z is a little overrated, and I reckon Nas is probably better, but he could do alright as Def Jam president. Hiring the Roots is a good start If he actually puts their album out, giving them some major-label exposure can't hurt the state of hip hop.

As for Kanye, I'm not sure he even cares about hip hop anymore. He can't rap for shit, and should stick to doing hooks like he used to, but his tracks are obviously nice. When he gets on the mic though, he's just annoying- he's nowhere near the level he, or anyone else thinks, and when he releases an average album the mainstream music hacks'll forget about him soon enough.

I've heard rumours of Wu Tang reforming. This'll probably be awful. I love the Wu as much as the next man but it'll probably be embarassing, none of them have released anything good for ages (unless Rae's album turns out to be good- he's sounded alright on other people's albums lately, and Rza and Dre are meant to be doing tracks), and they're losing their passion. Wonder if Method Man's album'll be any good.

So yer. I reckon we're in a slump at the moment- With most of the best rappers coming from the Dirty South and not talking about anything new. For something to change it's going to need some new rapper who don't only have star quality but also skills.

Had to chuck my random thoughts in there.

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Real hip hop since...since...whenever

Generic inspirational signature quote? Yeah, why not eh.

If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything

ONE LOVE CREW: REPPIN' REAL HIP-HOP

Define Hip-Hop...
Hip-Hop is a culture and form of ground breaking music and self expression with elements that consisted of the elements of graffiti art, DJing, MCing, and breaking. Today Hip-Hop is considered to be dead in the mainstream because so-called mainstream Hip-Hop doesn't have the elements of hip-hop and have no meaning.

If you're reppin' real hip-hop, copy and paste the text in this signature into your own signature and show it!

Don't stereotype hip-hop as being negative or, god forbid, 'just talking'.

Rajah

I just cannot get into Hip-Hop. I must admit I don't give it a chance but from what I've heard over the years I don't want to.
Eminem is a smart little bugger. Some of his stuff is good, very good.

TeamX

1999? When you were 8, I bet you were the hippest cat around !

Anyway, I didn't read all of it. My stance on Hip-Hop is this, I RESPECT that it's it's own genre and that the people probably have some talent, but I also am not very fond of it. It really isn't my style. The thing I really don't like is that hip-hop really isn't about music anymore but rather the person behind the music.

Shows such as Cribs demonstrate this perfectly.

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Dropkick Murphy

I agree with you most of your points, especially on 50 Cent and the state of Hip-Hop. You're a pretty smart lad.

As for Nelly, I think he has some skills when it comes to rapping. I mean, he isn't the most lyrical MC in the game, but he can still put it down. The only problem I have with him is the fact that he keeps rapping about the same things over and over. If he'd just tried something new, I know he would start getting more respect than he's getting right now.

I've never really been a Scarface fan. I really don't know why, but I don't like his style. But I'm not gonna into that right now.

As for Chamillionaire, they don't call him "The Mixtape Messiah" for nothing. If you get the chance, listen to some of his mixtapes. He's amazing at times.

As for Cam'ron, his fued with Jigga is killing him. It's really making him look bad. If you've looked at his record sells, when he was friends with Jigga, he was doing pretty well, but when he started fueding with him, he just lost it. I mean, it's not like his albums aren't good, they are, but it's just the fact that he's not on the level of Jigga yet, so when he disses him, it makes him look like garbage.

As for Kanye, he's a little overrated, but he's pretty good on the mic. He isn't the best right now, but he has the right stuff to be big in a few years. I mean, he can produce some good beats and he can can make a good rap. If he just keeps doing what he's been doing, then he'll be big.

I've never really been a Wu fan, so I'm not gonna get into that.

My thoughts on more rappers

Chingy

I like his style, but he's just like Nelly.

Diddy

He's not as good as he used to be, but he's alright.

Ja Rule

As much I love this guy, it's over for him if his new album doesn't sell. He better put all he has in this album or it's lights out for Ja.

Lil Wayne

At times he's good, and some times he's not. He's alright.

Fabolous

Where'd he go?

Chris Brown

Is he even a rapper?

Dem Franchize Boyz

...

D4L

...

Ice Cube

He's past his prime, but he can still produce the goods.

Joe Budden

Underrated.

St. Lunatics

The only guy that should leave is Murphy Lee. He could do well if he left them. They're decent.

Sean Paul

Just because you have an accent, doesn't mean you should rap.

Snoop Dogg

Look at Ice Cube.

Three 6 Mafia

Underrated.

Pharrell

He's a good producer, but he should stay of the mic.

Alot of people can't get into it. Look at Gord and SIG as examples. They have listened to the best of the best and they still don't like it.

Yeah, that's a great point. That's why the quality has gone down alot over the years. Too many artists are going for that quick buck, instead of making quality music.

Pyro™

Believe it or not, some years ago, I was a Rap fan. Sadly, I'm not making that up, it is true.

Now though, I hate every bit of it with a passion and can't get into it. I guess it's true what they say, times change, people change. I just pray to God I don't get put off of Metal.

I can't see that happening though, since it's never worn off me, ever, whereas Rap has. I've loved that stuff since forever, so I don't think I have to worry about that.

It's more of the fact that you can't understand a DAMN word that comes out of his mouth. I don't give a crap if he has an accent, we all do, but shit, stay off the microphone when it's complete jibberish.

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Credit: ADR

Rajah

That's probably why I find it hard to read your "Metal Advice", when you say this is better than that. You're still a Metal n00b.

The good thing is I've been a Metal fan for well over 20 years. Stayed true to the genre, but my listening choices have broadened.

Renegade™

DM, most of what you've said is right on, as the same as TheFreakGuy, you both enjoy your Hip-Hop/Rap lots.

Here's my thoughts on some artists, may differ to yours DM....

Eminem
For me, the best around, ever. Great flow, strong lyrics, untouchable in rap battles, pretty much the complete rap package. While Encore wasn't as good as TES and TMMLP, he still did well enough in my books. Em's next mixtape is sure to be hot, and he can get back on top of the game

Nas
A very close second to Em, this guy has talent pouring from his mouth when it's not open. Can do some hard hitting stuff, and like Em, has done some more Pop orientated tunes, but still very good

Jay Z
Another brilliant alrounder, not as sharp as Em or Nas IMO, but has made countless songs I like. His best song is definately "Renegade" which he performed with Em, he's also one hell of a producer

Ludacris
Plain and simply put shits on every other rapper from the South. Fuck TI, fuck Chamillionaire, Scarface, Ludacris is the number one man from the South. While some of his stuff can be about girls and sex over and over, if he needs to, he can kick one hell of a flow

Xzibit
Dunno why this guy isn't more widely recognized. I feel he's got a good flow and he knows how to hit a hard rap, he's not as sharp as Em, Nas or Jay, but I think he deserves more exposure than he's gotten

Guys not mentioned yet....

MC Ren
The ruthless MC never got a good solo career going after NWA split with the Dre/Eazy feud, I thought "Voyage To Compton" was a good song, but he throws far too much profanity into his tracks and not enough meaning to be classed a good rapper. Decent, though

Talib Kweli
Never really liked the guy, got a song recommended by ShadyV1 last year called "Rush" which was hot. Really liked it, then found his "Nati Streets" performance with Snoop Dogg, Slim Thug & Hi-Tek and loved the song for a bit. Now, he's worn off on me, but I respect him for being one of the best around who hasn't been exposed on a mainstream level yet

Lloyd Banks
By far, better than 50, Yayo, and who the fuck else is in G-Unit these days, "The Hunger For More" is a solid album, "Warriors Pt. II" with Em & 50 is a hot track, really liking it, and while I wouldn't consider him awesome, he's pretty solid and craps on anyone else from G-Unit

arjun14626rko

I have not listened to some guys mentioned, but I have listened to many.

Nelly:

He is probably my favorite rapper. I like his style. Then again, I go for the music more than I go for lyrics. He just has so many songs that I like. The thing with them is that they can get really annoying. "Hot in Herre" is an excellent song, but after a few times, it is no longer listenable.

Ja Rule:

He was good, but where has he gone? I never liked the way he spoke.

Eminem:

Probably the best guy in the past five years. I have not kept tabs on his recent stuff. I really like the sound of his voice too.

D4L:

Only listened to Laffy Taffy, but that is enough. The two words are so catchy, but that is all. The beat is no good and the voice is so bad.

Sean Paul:

Nothing he does, and I mean nothing, should be listened to. He is not speaking English. I cannot understand one thing. They should just remove his voice and release the music. So annoying.

T.I:

I guess he is one of the best current rappers. I will agree. He has a ton of good songs, but that is equalized with some really bad ones. Then again, all rappers have good with bad. My thing with rap is hit or miss. You either make a really good song, or you just screw it. T.I. exemplifies that. Never really understood the Southern Rap concept, but I really do not care.

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The Legend Killer

One Day ... Title Glory Will Come Again

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Pyro™