Do You Guys Remember the Days...

[James R.]

When selling a million records actually said something for you album past "the single was hot"? As sad as it is I'm almost starting to forget what it was like to have to listen to an entire album before you could really pass judgment on it. For me, Relapse was an album that I really had to listen to before I could fully understand it and I'm so grateful it's retarded. But I'm talking about music as a whole.

We're in this fucked up download/ringtone driven era that is slowly ruining music. Now I'm not saying I don't like some club jams, because I do. I think the rappers like Flo-Rida are necessary. I mean a huge part of the hip-hop culture is dancing, and who wants to go to the club and hear Shook Ones anyways? Who really grinds to some old gangster ass Mobb Deep lol. But I hate the fact that if you're not one of those rappers that emphasizes a catchy hook and a fun beat that you don't sell shit. People like Budden (even though I'm not the biggest fan), Joel Ortiz, and even big timers like Nas are no longer appreciated the way they should be.

I just miss the days when labels were held accountable for their shitty artists. Like when Def Jam was synonymous with quality. Or when you turned on the radio there was a good chance you'd hear Jay's "8th wonder of the world" flow or Nas' street poetic technicality. Shit I miss the old Busta Rhymes. Now this mother fucker is talkin about "Arab Money" and demanding people "Respect My Conglomerate".

I've loved hip-hop for about 14 years now (ever since I heard Snoop and Dre for the first time) and it seems as though I came in just in time to watch the game go from sugar to shit. Pac, Biggie, Pun, and Big L were all taken long before their time and didn't have a chance to give nearly as much as they could have to rap (except pac wit his Cuba hidin out ass...bitch). Now we got Dre hypin up albums to years at a time completely disrespecting his fans. We got Snoop doin some auto-tuned 70's disco soul crap. I mean it's just getting worse and worse.

I miss the days when the love of music outranked the love of money. I don't passion in music anymore. I hear songs and then see artists driving around in poorly built foreign cars and expensive luxury gas hogs that are too heavy to break 100 MPH. Everybody's lying even more than they were back in the day. I mean shit we got cops rappin about selling coke. We got 50 who might have been shot 3 times, might have been shot 9 times, might be made of teflon. Then there's Wayne bragging about getting shot when he fucking shot himself, rapping about lollipops, and convincing me more and more every day that he actually is a fucking martian.

Style doesn't matter anymore. When you think of original styles who do you think of? 90% people that released their first albums prior to 2003. Game's bitch ass sounds exactly like whoever he has featured on his tracks, and when he's alone he sounds like he's doing a poor rendition of a rap mr. potato head. The point is no one is trying anything new. Everybody has the same boring ass 4 count flow. Everyone is richer than rich could possibly begin to describe. So rich they made an SLR McLaren out of 1000 Dollar Bills (yes, thousand), drove it into the studio, and actually recorded their entire album IN the 1000 dollar bill McLaren.

Even the fucking beats are rip offs now. Fucking Kanye sampling every melody conceived since '73. I feel like I've heard Michael Jacksons Thriller about 1087 times with all these samples. I don't know how the mother fucker is broke. As many times as I've heard human nature sampled in various songs. Jay-Z can't decide whether he's active or not. Been working on Blueprint 3 for about 11 years now. And I swear to god if he talks about selling coke or whatever after he's been chillin on the yacht in sandals doing interviews for vanity fair I'm going to drop kick him square in the throat.

I just miss real hip hop. And I don't mean "FUCK CLUB MUSIC!" because that's where it all started. Biggin yourself up, making people dance (just watch house party), and having a good time. I mean I miss when people actually had a passion for music and had fun with it. When people took their time with albums and did everything they could to make masterpieces. When people like Soulja Boy would have been laughed at. When people put themselves out there 100% because they really wanted to do smtn new, not just hide behind technology (Kanye! You wannabe singer, fish stick sucking, son of a [dead] bitch).

I just miss the good ol' days

[Steve Spag]

I love you

[mcZu]

Tell me something new.

Sadly every single word you said is none but the truth.

[James R.]

Naw you're right Chet. Underground and even low level commercial rap is still cool. That's why I'm not trying to say that hip-hop is dead. It's not, it's just changing (as you said). I just mean I miss the days when those underground rappers were what was accepted in mainstream music is all.

[pawel]

real hip-hop should be out in the streets, with the b-boys, beatboxers, freestyle mc's and stuff.
I think that's a bigger problem right now then the hip-hop music on the radio and mtv
But I do agree with you, partially

[James R.]

Naw you're right Chet. Underground and even low level commercial rap is still cool. That's why I'm not trying to say that hip-hop is dead. It's not, it's just changing (as you said). I just mean I miss the days when those underground rappers were what was accepted in mainstream music is all.

*Typical chet starr response to a James response*

Yeah man, I see what your saying. I totally agree

Man it's almost like I'm just being fake, but I always say that to you lol...but it's cause it's always true lol

You said it best. Behind every James R there's a Starr in the making

[<Stiiccy>]

Just listen to my new track in the audio stage and it will cure your anger

[yoshi]

James > *

I don't really feel the same passion for hip hop anymore. It's sad, because this music has been with me through a big part of my life, through my ups and downs and I always knew I can bump it and forget about everything. And right now, there's nothing more that'd impress me or make me want more. I surely could go back to the old times, but I've had enough of old-school and I want to move forward. I don't really know what I'm going to do with my music taste, I'm like in the middle of nowhere lol I went back to the polish hip hop music, the good one, because here everything turns around weed and hatred against the police - as sad as it is, people actually enjoy it (see the analogy?). Jeez..

[James R.]

Well Yoshi, all I can suggest doing is trying to keep up with the real artists out there like Talib, Mos Def, and people of that nature. That's assuming Mos gets his ass outta movies and back in the studio lol. But in all seriousness I don't want to go back to the old days, I want consumers to get back into a more mature mentality. If people weren't buying this garbage then artists wouldn't make it because the labels wouldn't let them.

I think rap, as most things, has a cycle sort of effect. Unlike rock music rap doesn't have 1000 subcategories and sub-genres inside of it. When people get sick of death metal they can go to Emo, Pop Rock, Punk Rock, etc. With rap on the other hand it's kinda like regional (North East, South, West Coast, Midwest), so when it goes through a phase where a particular style is in then the other styles are overshadowed and ignored. I mean who was looking in the South when NYC and/or the West Coast were on top of things? And now that the South has the public's ear who gives a shit about LA?

I know for a fact NYC and LA have some sick rappers to offer to the world, they just have to wait for the public's ear. Eminem dropping a good album helped. If The Blueprint 3 is up to Jay's standards then that will help. If Nas can make an album with a title white people (or black people for that matter) are comfortable saying then that would help. Or maybe if some of these "super" producers got off their rich asses and got to the streets trying to promote the next big artist then we'd have a breath of fresh air.

Or I could be seeing things in a way too optimistic light lol.

[SajN]

Damn James, I fucking agree!


Nowadays, I am not really updated when it comes to music. All I know is some rap. The radio is wack now and boring, there's nothing for me there.
Before everyine used to know the newest single, the newest happening in music, but nowadays most of the guys I know don't know anything.
They just download a lot of different albums and put them in their iPod's. When I ask them, why do you have Elvis, they say I don't know, I just have it.
What I mean twith this, is that they have no passion, it's just random songs here and there.



I don't know if this was in line with what you said James, cuz I read your topic some hours ago, and I might remember some things wrong lol.

[Ella]

wow everything you said was so fckn true James...
i dont remember when this whole downloading crap became so big cos i was kinda late with the internet craze.... but for sure 90's-2002 was the best times for music in general... miss those days
& even tho you need artists like Flo Rida... it gets so annoying when you hear the same fckn song over & over... back in 08 anywhere i went all i ever heard was "shorty got low low low low"

[Tornado]

Shit, I miss the 90's, that was the peak for Hip-Hop, it just seems that ONLY club music are hip-hop singles nowadays, everyone just stiks to their own formula to sell so current music is sliding

[DrRapid]

Well I feel like Hip Hop/Rap gives a bad impression to the general public. When I tell someone I like Rap music their replies are usually not Hip Hop friendly and that's when I feel that if the music I love was like how it used to be I wouldn't have to defend it in the commercial aspects.

But then, we don't really want Rap music to be like it used to be (referring to the 90s). We need it to change but positively and not negatively like it is now. For skilled rappers to be in the spotlight, that's what I hope for but these hopes just don't seem possible. As James said, Rap has some sort of cycle but to me it feels like it might not well be a cycle, that this genre will go on and on as it is now ahd not change for the good.

[yoshi]

Well Yoshi, all I can suggest doing is trying to keep up with the real artists out there like Talib, Mos Def, and people of that nature. That's assuming Mos gets his ass outta movies and back in the studio lol. But in all seriousness I don't want to go back to the old days, I want consumers to get back into a more mature mentality. If people weren't buying this garbage then artists wouldn't make it because the labels wouldn't let them.

I keep up with the artist I think are worth it, but on the other hand, you gotta move forward. I mean you can't be stuck with like 5 artists and 10 albums you like, I need something fresh. Something that would amaze me and make me say "WHOA!" out loud. Recently, I got into polish hip hop again, the alternative one, the sort of rap with some heavy beats, close to rock. And I honestly admit, I am amazed. There's this guy, he raps and his brother plays the drums and is a producer in general. On Friday night I went to their concert, they entered the scene in Captain America and Iron Man's suits and there was live music and.. shit, it was fucking amazing. AMAZING.

I think rap, as most things, has a cycle sort of effect. Unlike rock music rap doesn't have 1000 subcategories and sub-genres inside of it. When people get sick of death metal they can go to Emo, Pop Rock, Punk Rock, etc. With rap on the other hand it's kinda like regional (North East, South, West Coast, Midwest), so when it goes through a phase where a particular style is in then the other styles are overshadowed and ignored. I mean who was looking in the South when NYC and/or the West Coast were on top of things? And now that the South has the public's ear who gives a shit about LA?

Hmm.. I think rap has subcategories. However stupid it sounds, you got the alternative rap, you got the old school shit, the conscious rap, the party shit, gangsta rap, crunk, g-funk, grime, drity south, the rap/jazz thing.. Of course, you can put a strict border between them all, because they all mix together and that's the beauty of it. But for example me, I really dig the conscious rap - Talib, Mos Def, Common, Roots, I love rap mixed with jazz and I hate crunk.

Although what you said about regional it's true. Right now seems like people turned their back to the West/East Coast and South's on top, which sucks but hopefully the cycle sort of effect will soon bring it back to the Golden Age^^

I know for a fact NYC and LA have some sick rappers to offer to the world, they just have to wait for the public's ear. Eminem dropping a good album helped. If The Blueprint 3 is up to Jay's standards then that will help. If Nas can make an album with a title white people (or black people for that matter) are comfortable saying then that would help. Or maybe if some of these "super" producers got off their rich asses and got to the streets trying to promote the next big artist then we'd have a breath of fresh air.

I bet every city has some sick rappers and producers to offer, but our culture is sooo different from the 80's and 90's one.. There are no more jams in the streets, kids have way 'better' ways to spend their free time. We got iPod's and autotune, so forget turntables and boomboxes. The music nowadays just 'feeds' our needs - we go to the clubs, we want club bangers. We dig grills and throwing money around - we got southern rappers. By the way - grills and all this flashy shit, supposingly so cool and hot - I wish all the idiots wearing grills would rot in pieces in some stinky ditch.

Or I could be seeing things in a way too optimistic light lol.

That's good, cause I see it more pestimistic.

[Xray]

That speech runs through my mind each and every day, we all miss the good old days where rap was at its finest. Some say listen to Underground Hip Hop but even that is slipping, specifically the beats, I mean with all the technology being used, the beats just sound too modern even if it is sampled. I miss those good old days when beats were raw as fuck. I hate the modern mixing, listen to Relapse you'll realize that his songs have a new quality to them, its because of the motherfucking modern mixing. Mixing & Beats is ruining Hip Hop in all sub categories. I'd pay $100 just to get in a club that has shook ones playing. And even more of they have Nas - The Message playing.