HIP-POP HOORAY!!!!

The year of Justin Beiber, Lady Gaga, and Rhianna to name a few, has just passed. Pop stars with extremely large fan bases containing large amounts of disposable income. What record label wouldn’t want to find the next mega pop star? Can you afford the creativity to go against the collective radio mainstream grain? Hip-Hop a sub culture built on creativity and providing a voice for the patrons of the culture has morphed into something totally different, something foreign in its mutated appearance.

Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac maybe rolling over in their respective graves at the imagery of what Hip-Hop has become. The most noticeable stars now resemble more of a circus performance then a Hip-Hop talent display. Got Nikki Minaj? Lady of many colorful dresses, wigs, and art displays on her head. Then there’s Drake the charismatic rapper, singer, and former Degrassi High School show actor. Wait…did I just say Degrassi a Disney approved, teeny bop show actor? Another popular rapper today is Wiz Khalifa a non-descript, tattoo filled canvas of a harmonizing rapper. What?

Gone are the days of your momma’s hardcore, lyrical, motivational Hip-Hop artist. Oh, maybe I’m just being nostalgic you may say. There are tons of standard style popular rappers today, but you won’t find any of the them gracing the stages of the Grammy’s as you may have seen in the 90’s until around 2005. There is stillroom for artist such as Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, Slaughterhouse, and Raekwon to stay relevant but nothing like the preceding decades.

I love Hip-Hop, and like Hip-Pop. There is a time and place for each to gain its notoriety. Yet, the line between each is becoming blurred more each day. Leaving even standard Hip-Hop marred in a diluted state. Reminds me of another former titan genre called Rock and Roll. Which has now been saturated into multiple other genres leaving the hardcore fan to search online or in bargain bins to gain the purity of a time passed.

Outside Sources:

Hall, R. (2002). 'Loyalty' Finds Fat Joe Juggling Crossover Success, Credibility. Billboard, 114(50), 10. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Myspace. (1). Russell Simmons Hijacks Myspace with the “Hip-Pop Challenge”. Business Wire (English). Retrieved from EBSCOhost..