Rap Music in 2012

In the spring of 1997, the biggest rapper on the East Coast rap music scene, Christopher Wallace (aka. The Notorious B.I.G., Biggie), was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting in LA. Six months earlier the West Coast rapper Tupac Shakur (aka. 2Pac) was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. This outburst of violence, which resulted in a peace between the warring West Coast and East Coast record labels, Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records, respectively. Both groups having lost their superstars. Little did the rap world know what a dark age was about to begin.

With the loss of Biggie and 2Pac, Southern rap groups like the Hot Boy$, Master P and the No Limit Soldiers, both from New Orleans took over the scene. Their songs shifted the subject of rap music from the struggles of growing up poor and the emotional stories found in Biggie and 2Pacs lyrics. Suddenly every song was about getting rich and showing off your jewelry, driving cars with supersized rims, and sleeping with absurd numbers of women. In the East Nas and Jay-Z became dominant forces, as they hoped to fill the void left by Biggie. Nas was truer to hip-hops roots but Jay-Z received more commercial success. In the West it was Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg who stepped up, but they were already established and no new rappers with substance emerged from So Cal or Nor Cal till The Game released his debut album in 2005. In the Midwest Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, a rap group form Cleveland emerged with a unique rapid-fire lyrical flow harmonizing on choruses. While in Chicago, Do or Die and Twista were releasing similar more-staccato les flurid rapid-fire lyrics with smooth vocals and harmonies on choruses. It wasn’t till Eminem came along that raw, controversial rap music returned to the Midwest. When the 2000’s got going Crunk music (from the word cranked) became mainstream with its drum and bass beats mixed with catchy synthesizer melodies. From the San Francisco bay area Hyphy music (from the word hyperactive) attempted to break into mainstream rap music, but quickly fizzled out.

Numerous rappers have taken elements of these different styles and tried to rise to the top. However, current rap music is superficial, focused on money, strippers, and tattoos. I feel like my parents when I turn on the radio and impulsively think, “What is this garbage.” But is this the same rap music that shaped me growing up? It cannot be compared to the Wu-Tang Clan or NWA, Biggie or Pac. Maybe it isn’t rap music anymore?