Originally Posted by
bigdicki
Looks like I hit a nerve since nothing I said in the post you reference insinuated you liked "dumbed down" lyrics more than the next man. I was looking to reminisce with those who actually remember a time when more hip-hop had to be hot on at least two levels rather than one. So, not sure how bringing the one hit wonder up, who has nowhere near the sales of some of today's lyrically deficient rappers, plays a role. The point is, outside of a few anomalies, in the late 80's and 90's there were more lyrically proficient, cutting edge rhymers (as a percentage of albums cut) who were successful. There were plenty of hip-hop rhymers from the Golden Age (I wonder why they call the late 80s and 90s that... hmmmm....) named in the best of all time thread just on here and most of them had enormous success for the time. Nowadays, can Rakim go gold? Could KRS-One sell? Hell, some of them can't get a record deal now, because today's market typically would rather listen to Soulja Boy, Gucci Mane, Lil Wayne and yes... the fat man, Rick Ross, who rhymes about pushing weight, with no consequences, to a nation of people who are dying from men pushing weight.
And actually, I have all Roots albums including the most recent, How I Got Over. You see, I'm not saying good hip-hop doesn't exist; I'm saying it isn't as appreciated by the hip-hop nation as it used to be and therefore, many good artists get forced out or never let in. If you look at who's getting most of the sales and who isn't today and look at who was getting the highest percentage of the hip-hop market in the early 90s, you will see it's fact that those with hard-core rhyme skills got more of the pie back then. Some of that is the market and some of that is caused by record executives and A&Rs choosing acts that don't have skills but have perceived marketability. Now I know facts are lame to a lot of folks who don't like logic, but at the end of the day facts are facts. :cool:
