Jekil presents Off The Dome Volume 2: Leaders Of The Fall

[Atone]

This edition of Off The Dome will present my thoughts on the reason for Hip Hop's Plummet, and who i believe can save it....and sorry Wayne fan's, i'm not kissin Young Money's ass in this topic.

To start off i would like to say that Hip Hop might be falling apart but at the same time, it is still more alive than most genre's, it's definitly heard on the radio alot more than Rock and Roll, possibly both genre's have the same ammount of play, which isn't exactly bad either. The main reason for hip hop's fall would be due toi the fact that most of the new artist's are either carbon copy's of the past, or using the same gimmick that's been around for years.

In the 90's we had 2pac, who was pretty much known for his gangsta style and image, although he had a witty tounnge, and could be taken seriously as an artist, he also was apart of rap's biggest issue, and that is taking the gimmick beyond wax, fighting with his peers outside of music, which brought on negitive media attention, which caused some parents to disallow their children to buy such music. and in the end, we all seen the outcome, the biggest rap beef of the 90's took the lives of 2 of the most incredible rap star's of our Generation, which brings me to my 2nd point, Notorious B.I.G who was part of a different style and gimmick, most notably the Hardcore hustler gimmick, although he truly lived his music, and these days, you have artist's who try to mimmick his style, and by doing so, they kill the feeling, some artist's can pull it off, artist's such as Jay-Z were able to back then, but now Jay-Z tries to keep his style, but it's hard to take him so serious being that he has enough money to own white people as slaves (lol), although these days, he has toned it down, but still uses the hustler gimmick, along with political rap, his style is sort of unique and he will be a legend in the future, but at the moment he is part of the reason for rap's downfall.

Another artist i believe that is causing Hip Hop to break apart, is Soulja Boy, some may say he has talent, but truthfully speaking, Soulja Boy is only gaining the attention of childrten who want to dance like hi9m and think it is cool, and his fan base only grows because of the media whore that is 50 Cent, has established himself with Soulja Boy, bringing in the G-Unit, which brings me to G-Unit. now, G-Unit is good for hip hop, but at the same time, very bad for hip hop, you have 50 Cent, who generates buzz with his beef's, thankfully they have stayed on wax, BUT, at the same time, he has helped hip hop by creating challanges, such as his sell off with Kanye West, generating a buzz for hip hop, and brought on some positive media attention, using competition that could almost remind you of the days when Eric B and Rakim would come with a record, it was almost as if Hip Hop was alive again.

Speaking of Kanye west, he to has helped hip hop, b ut at the same time, took it do0wn a few step's with negitive media attention surrounding his spoken mind style, speaking out against bush, and Taylor Swift, making hip hop look bad, but still keep's hip hop alive with his well touched lyrical ability.

so for now, the artist that made hip hop but gave it a bad name all at the same time would be 2pac, Notorious B.I.G, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, and Kanye West, but for those of you who may not understand what i fully mean, i am not saying 2pac was bad, nor am i saying biggie was bad, i am just pointing out that they had some bad qualities that matched up with their good qualities, i respect them for their lyrical abilities and in my mind they truly are legends.

Now, what is killing hip hop, is the sudden rise of Gimmick rap artist's like Soulja Boy, Lil B, and half of the Young Money crew, Soulja Boy makes music that only young children would enjoy, for dance anthems, and annoying ringtones with shit quality beats that only a def man would enjoy, I'v only heard a few Lil B tracks and i could already tell he's almost a carbon copy of Soulja boy, Lil Wayne, he isn't exactly horrible for hip hop, yes, he does annoy the hell out of me at times, but i have to admit, he himself has caused a rejuvination for hip hop, sometimes you may not understand him, and sometimes his songs can be down right awfule, but then he has songs such as Drop The World, and the double edged sword of "A Milli" which is a great catchy song, but at the same time, very annoying, Lollipop was a rip off of a 50 Cent song, but still catchy, i can't say i liked it, but i also don't hate it, Lil Wayne, in my opinion, he can save hip hop, if he gives up the cyrup style raps, and actually puts work into his music and brings something fresh to the table like he did for Renirth, and I Am Not A Human, i can honestly say he will do good for hip hop, the rest of young money, i don't know, ity's hard to take Drake serious, and it's way to hard to take Nicki serious, her music is good, but she seems to have to many different people in her head at once, she's almost hip hop version of Lady Gaga, without the penis though.

Now as i begin to write this Paragraph, it has been a few days since i ended the last paragraph, which gave me a few days to think of what else i wanted to say, as well as listen to some music on the radio at work, and just last night i was at work when a song came on the radio, and i could honestly say, whoever came up with such an idea for the song was either tone def, or just didn't care what listenersd thought of them, i can't remember all of the lyrics to the song but it was laughable, and a great point in why hip hop is falling apart.
I was unable to get the name of the artist, or song, but the chorus was as ignorant as some of the guest on the Jerry Springer show, they shouted drop the hammer repeatidly throughout the chorus, and the verses sounded even worse, how, or why the song weas even played on the radio is beyond me, and one of my co-workers, a lady who is at least 50 years of age, is an fan of hip hop, we even have conversations of hip hop artist's such as Rakim, Run DMC, and Big Pun, i myself, am 23 years of age, so it's actually pretty enjoyable to be able to have somebody much older to speak with that agrees with a certin music style, and she to found that the song on the radio was so unlistenable, and i asked her who her favorite artist's of Then, and Now are, and she told me that she loves LL Cool J, Beastie Boys, and The Roots, so obviously she is a big fan of 90's era Hip Hop of course.

Now when she told me her likes of now, i was shocked when she told me she was into Joe Budden, Royce 5'9, Chamillionair, Outkast, and Tech N9ne, she is in the same style as i am, and she's 20 years older. so obviously, listeners of back then still find soime hip hop of now listenable, but still, there is some that are hard to get into now due to the overplayed annoynce on the radio of rappers such as Soulja Boy, who has nothing important in his lyrics, Gucci Mane, whoi is sometimes hard to understand anbd obviously has nothing important in his music, and there are some songs that i have heard and didn't care to get the name of the artist because they make hip hop sound so uneducated with their strange, sloppy music styles, and then you have artist's like B.o.B, J.Cole, Kid Kudi, who are young, fresh, and bringing life back into hip hop.

Artist's such as T.I, who can make real life situations turn into music to where the listener can get pulled into and actually relate to the lyrics, you have artist's like Kanye West, who actually put work, and creativity in their music, Artist's like Tech N9ne, Eminem, Ludacris, the ones who actually have something to say in their music, we need more artist's like these to bring hip hop back to what it once was.
If we could get rid of the nonsence from artist's like 50 Cent, who only make music to make money and there music is only made to brag about the money they do have, and have no real point or story or creativity, aqrtist's who have no ability to actually put true hard work into the music, if we could just move them out of the way for more hard working creative artist's, hip hop would be in the right place, and hip hop wouldn't have such a bad reputation.

To close this i would just like to point out this is my opinion, you are free to express your thoughts, and i will be glad to read what you have to say if and only IF, you can have a valid reasoning, if you are just going to argue and not have a real point, i will disregard your thoughts.

But to put this in a easy fashion, my list of who is killing hip hop and who can save it goes like this

Leaders of The Fall
Soulja Boy (has no meaning in his music, his style is to generic and is the main reason for hip hop's fail)
Gucci Mane (Annoying, has no meaning and is irrevelevant)
50 Cent (only about the money and losing his creativity)
P-Diddy (really, why does he even try)
Waka Flaka Flame (Has no flow or creativity)
Lil B (Sounds way to much like Soulja Boy)
Rick Ross (At times he can flow, but has no meaning or story behind his music)

Who Can Save Hip Hop
Kanye West (Creativty and ambitious)
J.Cole (Fresh voice with a great style and sound)
Joe Budden (All around sbility to catch the ear)
B.o.B (Fresh voice with a great style)
Tech N9ne (leading the underground)
Lil Wayne (Only if he can be creative and rap about something with a point)
Lloyd Banks (IF and only if he doesn't try to become radio friendly)
Hopsin (Great for a fresh new sound, has great lyrics and a great style)

In The Middle (Can Save it or be part of the problem)
Drake (His lyrics are on point but has no real meaning, if he can find a story for his music he can be helpful to hip hop)
Nicki Minaj (has a great flow, and great lyrics but her music has no real meaning)
T.I (has great music, perfect flow, and meaning, but his reputation makes hip hop look bad)
The Game (at times can have meaning, but is to much into beef, if he stays on subjject he may be helpful)
Dr. Dre (Great producer, can help hip hop if he puts more effort into music)
Eminem (His growth is great for hip hop, but how much longer does he have in him?)

[DƎRDYPK]

Leaders of The Fall
Lil B (Sounds way to much like Soulja Boy)

don't get me started

listen to

Birth Of Rap
Death Of Rap
I'm God
&
I'm The Devil

you might understand Brandon a lil more...but NEVER try to say he sounds like Soulja Boy
cause he's changed Soulja Boy into what he is today...& Soulja...I don't mind his loud ass
but please don't compare him to Lil B

Lil B is poetic & refreshing...
Soulja's what you listen to if you feeling like a young punk
they sound mad different if you ask me...even though Soulja becoming Lil B Jr

[Atone]

Checking those songs now, i heard alot of good things about lil b and when i heard a few of his tracks it gave me a headache so hopefully your recommendations give him the repuation that i'v heard about him

[DƎRDYPK]

he fooled me cause the 1st thing I heard from him was "Hoes On My Dick" I think...
but then I heard stuff like "Freedom" "I Am" "Cold War" & "Beat The Odds"
& that stuff just touched my soul....it may be that I'm mad emotional
but I love Based God...he's proving that you can joke around but still bring out that serious positive side
he's the kinda dude who appreciates whoevers listening & whoever's supporting him
& that shit's real...
apposed to people like Metallica who get pissed cause their hard work ends up somewhere on the web

but...I think the down fall of hip hop is those who believe Hip Hop is dead
Hip Hop is alive & well & it will be forever as long as we got mothafuckas lacing up 16s everyday

im outtie though imma find a dark corner & write

[Atone]

Honestly i m finding some good in Lil B, he's not flawless, but he aint all to bad