When discussing hip hop over the past few years a couple of the favorite words in my vocabulary have been “f*!#” and “you”, but I have been trying to expand my vocab on the matter. Like the other day when this gentleman that I know said that “Rakim was overrated“, I wanted to put my two favorite words into action or just kick him in the chest, something subtle like that, but I took a deep breath and calmly debated him on his particular opinion. I felt I was making progress. So the other day I felt good that I was making a change for the better . . . that was until I had a brief conversation with a younger hip hop fan.

We discussed the wonderful world of two turntables and a microphone, and I went on about the plethora of problems I have with the art-form in its current state. To which he said, “You older guys are always complaining about hip hop, like how your favorite artist fit in with the times, the new artists are just doing the same thing.You can’t deal with the changing trends.” I quickly started to get mad, but tried to desperately calm myself down. Nothing worked until I started laughing after picturing myself standing in my best B-boy stance and telling him those two favorite words of mine.

I’ll tell you why I was pissed, because not only is that logic lazy and basically apologizing for the current state of hip hop, it is basically devoid of any rational thought imaginable. I know the old argument where one says, “Your grandparents didn’t like your parents music, you parents didn’t like your music“, the whole sign of the times argument. The problem with that is that hip hop doesn’t follow along those same guidelines because the art form was founded on LYRICAL SKILL. An MC always had to not only have a fluid flow and a voice to match, but had to construct a solid 16 bars of lyricism that blew people away. So please, please, don’t insult my intelligence by treating the horrible trend of bad hip hop in the same way one would categorize fads of the past like bell-bottom jeans or the stupid pet rock.

Now don’t get me wrong I enjoy the occasional club banger as much as the next person and, in fact, I think we fully need those to fill out those nights spent binge drinking with those strangers that quickly become friends (you know exactly what I’m talking about). But – the notion of music is lost in those “songs” – I mean really, an entire song about “making it rain on them hoes” – it’s entertainment but not necessarily music in the sense of a product resulting from the creative process of an artist.