Hip hop...dead or alive?

now im sure u all heard wat Jeezy had to say bout Nas and the whole hip hop is dead thing. i personally think hip hop sux now adays. althou i gota admit Jeezy did make a valid point wen he said its a new generation and its jus a new thing. i understand that hip hop will change over the future...but i think its takin a turn for the worst. how did we go from Rakim, Tupac, Biggie, Nas, and Jay-Z with songs like changes, juice, dont sweat the technique, the world is yours, dead presidents, and Hypnotize to ppl like Hurricane Chris, Huey, Mims and D4L wit songs like laffy taffy, a bay bay, pop lock it drop it, this is y im hot. i dont think hip hop should be goin in this direction. so whos with Jeezy and whos wit Nas?

Hip hop...dead or alive?premade myspace

I dont wanna say hip hop is dead, but it's on life support. Rappers are drifting away from what rap and hip hop are really about. It seems like its all about cars and rims, and who can sell the most ringtones. Its no longer about a rapper drawing you in with a meaningful story like "Brendas Got A Baby" or incredible wordplay in songs like "One Mic". With rappers like Nas, Common, and Jay-Z still in the game, you can never say hip hop is dead. I just think its lost focus in the past few years, and needs some real artists to step up and bring hip hop back to its roots, because Nas and Jay-Z cant carry the torch forever.

Hip hop...dead or alive?myspace.comgraphics myspace.com

Nas tells it all here....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DbBaJ6Ah...
both...gangsta rap is dead and hip-hop is comin back
nas man i cant wait till we get back to the roots of hip hop the real meaningfull ****
i think nas is right about what he said in the song.
well there are rappers that still keep it alive, but all this bullcrap they keep brining is killing hip hop, Ay bay bay and Krispy....what the hell.....
Nas is correct
How about ALL hip-hop is old and tired and should be retired.
ummm...... SOME artist are like Jeezy and ONLY some. there is an amount of life left in hip hop
Thank you! Hip hop, wow. I like rap. i Hate ay bay bay, this is why i'm hot and laffy taffy too :-)

I like naS, jedi mind tricks, common, outerspace...these are all not where they were 5 years ago though, and all underground. Jeezy is alright but "I'm locked up" gets annoying after a while.

naS is awesome. with the exception of a few songs though but most of them are really good. hip hop dead or alive? i can see your point, well other peoples point that its Changing, but the problem is, i don't want it to change
im with nas, i used to listen to hip-hop when it was like that and now i dont listen to it at all i listen to people like chiodos, a skylit drive, dance gavin dance. to name a few.
as an ex blood I got rid of all things ghetto got an education and am now very wealthy making money legally. Hip hop has bad memories for me and I believe it keeps people down it is very negative music
I COMPLETLY AGREE......

HOW CAN WE EXPECT RAP TO EXPAND

WHEN LITERALLY ALL A RAPPER IS SAYING IN A SONG IS A BAY BAY ???

I'M COMPLETLY ON NAS'S SIDE

AND ITZ SAD ITZ COME TO THAT..

B4 RAP WAS REAL...I

IT HAD MEANING

AND TO BE HONEST EVEN AS A YOUNG RAP FAN.....

THINGS HAVE GONE DOWN THE DRAIN =[[
i think we all have to be open minded and not choose sides in this situation. The truth is each side has songs that get old way to fast except for 2pac's of course, but i truly feel its your mood and willing you are to dance.
i follow what Nas said. i wish and truly cant wait til real hip hop comes back!! where someone could listen to a song and understand the message that was to be relayed. i hate these songs that just talk about their cash and women.
yea man im stuck in 1990 - 2003

the good stuff thats comin out is rakims album

primos album

talib

common
Meh. I've already said it once, but it needs saying again.

Hip-hop is dead, it's been dead since Fifty Cent got himself *censored* on MTV for saying "High School" in his "Wanksta" lyric. Right now you bear witness to its Zombie Stage. Honestly....who in their right mind thinks "a Bay Bay..." repeated fifty times in a row is a lyric?

Oh, that's right, the *record labels* do. The CEOs. The rich guys who aren't in the game anymore *if they ever were*.

But it doesn't matter. That is the problem. Lyrics no longer matter, when both MTV and Wal-Mart enforce censorship policies so strict that people really cannot say *one thing* that looks like Ebonics without being cut to pieces.

--Anything that *could* reference guns or firearms gets cut.

--Anything that *could* reference drugs or getting high gets cut.

--Anything that *could* reference gang activity gets cut.

--Anything that *could* reference a piece of human anatomy gets cut.

--Anything that *could* reference a *name brand* gets cut under MTV's "no free advertising" policies.

And this doesn't even count the stuff that really *should* be cut under regular FCC policies, which get stricter each passing year....at one Super Bowl, everyone *freaks out* over Janet Jackson's naked breast, so badly that the *next* Super Bowl (with the exception of Prince) ends up being the Gay Old Englishman Edition.

Point is. You can't actually *say* anything now on the radio, on MTV, or in a recording studio, because the "could be" clauses in the MTV/Wal-Mart edits amount to censorship based *On Paranoia*. Only the WWE is more heavily edited and staged these days. And that *IS NOT* a compliment.

So yeah, Hip-Hop is dead, it's been dead, and you're seeing the Zombies walk around with bird's nests in their heads. Why? The *brains* got cut out, that's why. The censorship of lyrics did a *Sylar job* on Hip-Hop.

About the only way you're going to keep it real now....is to abandon Black English Vernacular altogether, and go for something that's *even more cryptic*, like the jabberwock from _Alice In Wonderland_ or some such. Basically, make the lyrics gibberish *pre-emptively* so that the censors can't make *any* sense of them and don't know *what* to cut.

Which....amounts to giving up. Sorry.

Thanks for your time. -_- Rest in peace already.
It's as alive as you want it to be. Meaning, if you say it's dead because you (not you personally, you in general) look at the mainstream, see a ringtone rapper have his 15 minutes with a wack song, and accept that hip-hop is dead, then it is for you. Meanwhile, I and others I am sure stay deep in the underground, with quality hip-hop coming out by the day, with new styles and innovative techniques and just flat out creativity, and have enough hip-hop to last us for years from 2007 alone. All I am saying is that you are making a choice, if you want to say hip-hop is dead, keep listening to your two quality albums a year, and take Nas' side because he is one of the last legends in the game, only listen to legendary albums, and leave me alone when I am exploring the legends of tomorrow.
well its like a double edged sword. they both have their points. Nas is right about hip hop being dead from its former glory but jeezy has his point in saying that it evolved to what people like. Its sad though that people trade educated classic lyrics to simple idiot proof junk.
Today's rap sux. All these stupid songs. Mims, and that dude with a bay aby. What? These songs have no meaning. Its jus random stuff like I'm hot and ur not. And now is all about chorus and the hook. They sing the same stuff over and over like this is y I'm hot. no lyrics jus repeats. anyone can do that. It used to be Tupac, Biggie, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, NWA, Too Short, etc. And they had had songs that meant something and were relevant to the struggles of their time like Changes, Juicy, Express urself, and the ghetto. I guess now its Abaybay and laffytaffy and I'm hot and ur not.
listen here buddy, the day 2Pac died is the day gangsta rap offically died and hip hop is just wanna be pimps
well nas is a stupid man he is yesterdays news he is a 40 year old rapper who still wants attention he talking all this mess about all these new cats from the south well let me ask u this...wasnt he fuccing with lil jon a few years ago....quick to back down! punks well i guess lil jon is a lyrical rapper too since thats all nas fucs with
damn wats wit everyone and the longass answers.

im with nas. thats it, im done!
I think hip hop is alive i mean it is a new generation now and they like this music. and the old generation has stopped making music so the new school music has come in.so i dont think that hiphop is offically dead.
hip hop is definitely alive.... you just have to know where to look for it. The hip hop on the radio is not where to look....underground hip hop is where it is.
idk i just want 2 points :]