What the Game's Been Missing

During a stroll down memory lane with BlackInk we touched on the current crop of new rappers and the relative absence of NY from the hip hop scene. But, I think my thoughts are a bit different from where it seemed like I was going in my comments.

Seems like every time you look up someone is declaring hip hop dead or on life support and going on & on about how good hip hop used to be. While I do miss the variety hip hop used to offer, I'm not sold that it is dead or dieing.

Nah, I don't think the popularity of "Stanky Leg" or "Ice Cream Paint Job" has as much to do with people wanting dumbed down music as it does something way simpler.

I think the kids just want to listen something new.

I thought about that while listening to the radio the other day. Everyone was going on and on about Jay-Z's new album and the apparent "Death of Autotune". The death of autotune came as a shock to me as at least 5 of the previously played songs all featured autotune.

And to be perfectly honest, I'd much rather listen to some of those autotune songs than D.O.A. The track just didn't really move me at all nor has much of the other stuff I've heard pumping from the East Coast these days. Then the DJS hit us with some Drake and Kid Cudi and I was back in a riding mood.

And that's when the thought really hit me. I think I'm just tired of some of these dudes and the kids probably are too.

To the average 15 or 16 year old, D.O.A. is probably the equivalent of some old man on his porch shaking his cane and telling them to knock off all the racket.

I heard a new track by Nas the other day and I couldn't help but think about the fact that I was in high school when I first started bumping Nas. That was like 3 degrees and a bar exam ago. Nothing against him or Jigga or any of the East Coast vets, but the next time one of them decides to jump in there soapbox and complain about the fall of hip hop, maybe they should look in the mirror.

I mean, where are all the new east coast artists? What happened to Saigon, Papoose, Red Cafe, Joel Ortiz, Tru Life, etc, etc, etc. Why did we not get an real album from ANY of those rappers?

Sure, its easy to just jump up and declare that something is wrong with hip hop, but the reality is that there are artists pushing the envelope like Drake, Cudi, Kanye, Wayne, etc. They may not be from NY, but they're cd's have delivered the goods.

If you want to "fix" hip hop, how about you do something really crazy like...I don't know...make really good music? You know like you guys all used to do.

NY had an incredible stretch back in days with everyone from Nas to Biggie to the Wu-Tang dropping cds. Now, promising artists pop up on mixtapes then fade away before they can even release a cd.

That's got to change.

Stop hogging the spotlight and complaining about the state of the music and start developing some of the talent you have out there.