Just a little food for thought on the state of the Hip Hop Industry in the United States.
You know Soulja Boy from his mega hit "Crank Dat". With him for awhile having the hottest song out there, I decided to check out a freestyle of his. I also wanted to compare him to an emcee that's been making music for years, but unless you follow hip hop a little closer than most, you will have no clue who he is. He is Brother Ali, of Rhymesayers Entertainment. Check out each of the freestyles, and see the originality of each of their ideas and the longevity of each. Then ask yourself again, who is the one that was the artist with a megahit.
Soulja Boy Freestyle
Brother Ali Freestyle
Here's a track "The Truth" from Freeway and Brother Ali produced by Jake One, listen closely to Brother Ali's verse(it starts at 1:37), the power and depth of which he can reach to share about himself in his one minute and ten second verse is ridiculous. I'm still wondering why Supermanning a ho is more vital to the music industry than the real life issues Brother Ali is rhyming about.
10 comments:
i remember when i was teaching hip hop at a boys and girls club soulja boy was the only song that would get the kids going. it was actually rather sad that this is the state of contemporary hip hop.
also, it looked like soulja boy ran out of clever things to say in the end of his clip. i think i heard "bitch" used in every other verse.
Legit post man... Totally agree with the words of wisdom
truth!
let's go back to 93!!
It's obvious that soulja boy sucks judging him on that perspective of Hip Hop. His lyrics are pointless, flow is weak, and on and on and on.
However, Soulja Boy represents some positivity of the modern internet age; written and produced his song (using demo version of fruity loops), distributed via YouTube, and made a name for himself. We respect rappers like Nas and such but is Hip Hop really about paying 10s of thousands for beats written by big name producers? Murs is sick and all but damn, how much is he paying for all these spots on MTV?
most def, I'm not gonna sit here and say he doesn't deserve what he's received, definitely more power to him, but I'm talking along the lines of content in mainstream hip hop these days. But a buck is a buck and what execs can market they will til the death of it.
word.
i wonder if Hip Hop will be more conscious in the mainstream in the future. Dumbing down can only be so popular for so long... right?
Sick post dude.
Kanye said this about Soulja Boy when Ice-T was talking shit about the kid awhile ago:
"Soulja boy is fresh as hell and is actually the true meaning of what hip hop is sposed to be. He came from the hood, made his own beats, made up a new saying, new sound and a new dance with one song. He had all of America rapping this summer. If that ain't Hip Hop then what is? A bunch of wannabe keep it real rappers that ain't even relevant, recycling samples trying to act like it's 96 again and all they do is hate on new shit?"
I agree with alot of the points made on here, but I think a good chunk of backpackers forget that hip-hop is first and foremost supposed to be about FUNNNNN.
As an art, hip hop is rooted in "the struggle"-- so all of it, mainstream, underground and everything in between IS social commentary. Making it rain is only cool because you were poor first, you know?
Anyway, good shit man... I love these types of discussions.
Oh.... reason #837 why I love Soulja Boy... he's trying to be a role model:
"Over the past few months, I’ve had a chance to meet a lot of my fans face to face, and it made me realize that I got a large fan base of kids that look up to me,” he said. “I have a greater responsibility to the kids that want to be like Soulja Boy, (and) I need set a positive example for them. …I wouldn’t say a role model because I think parents or a guardian should be a kid’s main role model, but from now on, I’m going to make sure that every kid that looks up to me will get a positive image that the kids and parents can trust.”
(source: http://blogs.bet.com/news/newsyoushouldknow/soulja-boy-says-hes-sorry-for-his-filthy-mouth/)
nice nice, def enjoy all the feedback, and the viewpoints, funny because a lot of this is something that i ask of myself when thinking about where I would be placed in the eyes of others when i share my music, peace...
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