RHYTHM AND POETRY - by Queensley Okon

What is really happening to Hip-hop? I say this with all sadness and curiosity because I definitely do not understand the situation in music right now, especially among rappers Hip-Hop and Rap used to be about using your words to bring about change. Black Americans used it as an escape from the many travails of what they coined as "the streets". I mean, with pioneers like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, DJ Kool Herc, Kurtis Blow, rap was about more than just boasting about yourself. With the new school which includes Public Enemy, Run DMC, Wu-Tang Clan, you still saw at least some substance, along with entertainment. We also saw Kid N Play, Doug E Fresh, Slick Rick, NWA, and more pushing the frontiers. Another wave hit us when we were introduced to Notorious B.I.G aka Biggie, Tupac, DMX, Jay Z, Nas, Jadakiss, Lol Kim, MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Lauryn Hill, Salt and Pepa, Roxanne Shante, Kanye, Da Brat and more and here, we saw more sexually explicit, as well as boastful lyrics but we were still able to enjoy the verses as you weren't too focused on them as much as the punchlines and deliveries because they really had them. Look at Eminem, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, M.I, Jesse Jagz, Ice Prince, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Kendrick, J Cole, Rapsody, Tierra Whack, Remy Ma, Birdman, Busta Rhymes, even Chris Breezy, Show Dem Camp, Eva and a few more I can't remember at the moment, always keeping the genre exciting and exceeding our expectations. I think the substance ended with this last group because these new school of Lil Pumps, Cardi B, Glorilla, Da Baby, Rod Wave, Migos, etc are killing the genre for us. Sometimes, it feels like I am in a stripper and addict fest if I stumble on their work. What's even funny is the amount of ghostwriters and the audacity of these people to boast about it. You dare not if you had a writer before now. I mean, some are still trying their best like NF, Logic, Russ, Lecrae, Katie Got Bandz, Akbar V, Flo Milli, JT of the city girls, BIA, London Hill, Dreezy, Doechi,Tobe Nwigwe, etc But when is the industry going to bring back real rap again? When is talent going to come back to the scene? Or are we going to keep hyping one-hit wonders (like the Munch lady) ? Artist development is also another missing factor in the music industry. You see one artiste drop one song and gets hype off it and the whole album is a mess. Or did they not see what Lucious Lyon did in Empire(of course I have to quote fiction because they are slowly deviating from reality)? And when would we kick out industry executives who only care about charts and streams and bring those back who actually gave us something to look forward to? This is my question and I want it answered Where are the real musicians?

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