Respect Authority

First thing’s first. Renaissance is a really weird looking word.

Anyway, onto more slightly more important things. In light of hit or miss Biggie biopic, Notorious, releasing in theaters in this week, I’ve been giving Ready To Die a spin for old times. “Juicy” is a well-known track, to say the least, and its popularity and legendary status at this point is due to the fact that it’s the fucking Huckleberry Finn of mid-nineties hip hop. It’s the coming of age tale of that entire new generation of rappers. As Biggie references his influences, naming Heavy D, Marley Marl, and Mr. Magic among others, he’s actually mentioning the time hip hop was now leaving behind.

Hip hop’s gone through a lot of changes since then as well. The Notorious B.I.G. died over beef with other players in the rap industry. Conversely, in recent years, when rappers are feuding they pose on the cover of Rolling Stone together and make YouTube videos about it. However, hip hop is changing yet again.

Whether your liked it or not, 808s and Heartbreaks was nothing if not innovative. Nonetheless, while it was a bold move, its overall effect could have been achieved a lot more effectively by somebody else. Personally, I think Kanye’s attempts at indie electronica are dull at best, and the auto-tuned vocals are an overtired gimmick and can only take you so far. 2008 may have been the year of T-Pain, but that is not the voice of hip hop’s future.

Regardless, hip hop is due for a reinvention, and it’s coming sometime soon. The thug persona, the Dirty South caricatures, these voices have run out of their few ideas and people are generally tired of the same dude doing the same shit. Struggling to emerge from the primordial muck, we have these early examples of original thought in rap, and hilariously, they’re coming from some of the most cliché characters in the industry: T-Pain and Kanye West.

I’m not convinced hip hop’s new sound will be electronic, I think that’s simply a trend that is ultimately part of the transition period. I don’t know what it’s going to sound like, but 2008 did have some signs of rap moving in a more intelligent and melodic direction, be it through promising new talents like Wale or innovation in the remix/mashup scene — two Jay-Z mashup albums have come out in the past 3 months and both are fantastic and incredibly interesting to listen to. I would hope hip hop is moving towards embracing a greater appreciation for the actual craft of rapping and dropping the overly-produced hypemonster megahit obsession, but only time will tell. Besides, as a notable rapper from an earlier time once said, “you never thought that hip hop would take it this far.”

And check it out, here’s some free shit.

Downloads

The Mixtape About Nothing | Wale | Download

Viva La Hova | Jay-Z x Coldplay | Download

Jaydiohead | Jay-Z x Radiohead | Download