what do you think?

[romeorock]

i read interesting article on the XXL website about vanilla ice's lyrics vs. solja boys, and waka flaka's hit records. it made me think that some of the rappers we considered wack back in the day still had better lyrics than the cats that are hot today. what do you think? who was considered wack prior to 1986? and if they was wack, are their lyrics still better than the solja boys, gucci mane and waka flakas of today?

the name of the article was: Vanilla Ice > Than Your Least Favorite Rapper – Think About It

[DjReadyRed]

I would agree to a point that some Rap acts of the past are better than most of todays artist's. I say that to say a least the 80's rap act's knew there hip hop history and made a decent effort to rep Hip Hop!

[topp32]

Back in our day..Hip Hop wasnt as established as it is now..so the level of creativity and quality of lyrics had more of a range to be filled and utilized. Like Keith Cowboy Wiggins said. "Anything you ever do I already did, shoulda seen me rock tha house when you was a kid" so now a days.. whats being done and said, we've already heard or experienced. I am not saying that all Hip Hop acts are wack these days or the quality and creativity isnt there.. but Hip Hop in our days had more of a pinnacle to reach... I think to a point... Hip Hop has hit a glass ceiling.

[romeorock]

good points.

[5 Grand]

Hip Hop in our days had more of a pinnacle to reach... I think to a point... Hip Hop has hit a glass ceiling.

I agree, I think Hip Hop hit the glass ceiling sometime in the mid-to-late 90s. It was around the time Big and 2Pac were feuding and after Pac died.

In the 80s, there were drum breaks that hadn't been found and samples that hadn't been used. People were making low budget videos and the Grammys and American Music awards didn't acknowledge Rap as a legitimate artform.

By the mid 90s, just about every drum break had been found, every artist and genre had been sampled. The budgets for major label videos were enormous. But most of all, MCs flows got more complex to the point where you had your Canibus's and your Pharoah Monch's with the complex flows but you also had your simple rappers like Dr Dre or Puff Daddy that said simple rhymes and got other people to write them. They made feel good music.

Probably the most signifigant/creative thing that happenned in the mid-to-late 90s was when Big and Pac died and people started releasing and remixing their music posthumously. You started hearing posse jams with dead rappers like The Benjamins or Hail Mary. That Mackevelli album is a masterpiece.

Once you get past Pac's Mackevelli album or Big's Life After Death album rappers really ran out of ideas. The whole thug/gangsta persona had come full circle. You had people rapping about being thugs and gangstas and getting shot and killed and releasing music posthumously. Seriously, where can you go from there? How much more creative can things get after albums like Life After Death and Mackevelli?

You had the No Limit movement and the Cash Money Movement. You had The Fugees and Lauryn Hill. You had Rawkus and Mos Def/Talib Kweli. You had Jay Z and Rocafella. You had 50 Cent and G-Unit. But if you really think about it, all of those mega-platinum artists really couldn't bring anything new to the table.

I'm not sure if there is anything new to bring to the table.

Topp32 says "Hip Hop has hit a glass ceiling" I agree with him. I started to notice that in the late 90s when Mos Def and Talib Kweli came out. They reminded me of the Native Tounges. I used to like the Native Tounges when I was in high school but by the time I was in my 20s I listened to Puff Daddy and Biggy because it was feel good music.

[dj d-lite]

Good points but I don't agree with "By the mid 90s, just about every drum break had been found", It was just harder to sample than before, more expansive.

Personally I think rap-music was perfected in the mid 90's.

[Werner von Wallenrod]

Vanilla Ice didn't write his lyrics for "Ice, Ice Baby," though; so that really wasn't a fair comparison. Take some songs that Ice wrote himself and I don't think he'd compare nearly as favorably.

[romeorock]

thats true. they say that the ghost writer for "ice ice baby" was a dood named "choclit". if thats true i have never heard vanilla ice say he didnt write the song . i have heard him apologize for the haircut and baggy pants but i have never heard him say "i just did the song but i didnt write it".

[romeorock]

also on xxl they did a article about the bottom five wackest rappers. one person gave the following as his list:

the wackest of all times has to be
1.Solidier Boy
2.Gucci Mane
3.oj da juice man (AYE) he’s trash!
4.D4L(the entire group)
5.ANY NBA PLAYER WHO EVER RAPPED!
6.TRU(SILKK .,MASTER P,C MURDER)
7.KID CUDIE (HE”S WACK)
8.LIL FIZZ
9.Freaky zeeky
10.rappin duke

i was surprised to see the rappin duke on the list. i always considered the rappin duke as a novelty rap record. only intended to be funny and thats all. the serious wack rapper is trying to be good but comes off like garbage. in ref to his number five, i thought shaq said some slick stuff in "i know i got skills" with def jeff and the video version of his song "you cant stop the reign".

[Mike Cheque]

I remember when I first heard Ice Ice Baby I thought it was kinda dope (sue me)
After a while, not so much.
Hell, sometimes I'll do it karaoke when I'm out with friends

[KingPivit]

I agree with that list for the most part except for Kid Cudi..I think he's pretty talented compared to a lot of rappers today.

[G.M.M]

My 2 cents: I'm struggeling to find artists who I like to listen to lyrically today, either they are wack as hell as those mentioned or they overdo their flows like some underground mc's where it becomes like a full time job to try and comprehend what they're saying. I've basically stopped checking artists for their lyrical content, I jusst try to seek out whoever sounds good to me as a whole, where my main focus is on the music and the artist's delivery. For example one mc I've been feeling the last couple of years is Freeway; good beats and emotional delivery.

A side note: Has anyone noticed the recent rising trend in sampling/reusing melodies from 90's euro-disco hits? I'm terrifyed. Guilty artists include Flo Rida, Pitbull, Kid Cudie among others...

[romeorock]

yeah i have noticed that. i think they are reaching. i agree with your comments on flow and delivery. i have been listening to the last three cd's by ice cube. good music and i can understand the lyrics without getting exhausted.

[isaac]

you know.....I recently saw a status update on a facebook page wherein the poster asked IS HIPHOP DEAD?

And one commenter said this...
"No....but it sure took a hell of a beating by pop."

I had to laugh. It's somewhat true.