Old School, New School.. Need to learn those..
Last October, XXL Magazine put out a cover featuring who they perceived to be the “Hip Hop Class of ‘09″ featuring, Wale, B.o.B, Asher Roth, Curren$y, Ace Hood, Mickey Factz, Blu, Cory Gunz, Charles Hamilton and Kid Cudi.
I’m down with the idea and I applaud the creativity, but in hindsight, I’m kinda glad that the people on the list made little to no impact on Hip Hop culture as a whole. No disrespect intended, even though I know if the artists themselves were reading this, I’m sure they would get mad.
Anywho, let’s start by stating the painfully obvious: Drake was and still is the only new/young artist with big time buzz and ability to sell records. He did a FREE online mixtape that did over 1million downloads, then re-released it with less songs and it went on to push over 72,000 units during it’s first week in stores. I believe it’s sold over 200,000 to date and for a mixtape re-release in today’s musical climate that is amazing. He was left off the list, because I guess people were still sleeping on him.. Not most of Toronto, though.
Secondly, let’s cross off the artists who have done absolutely nothing in the past year (figuratively speaking) Cory Gunz did a “Gangsta Grillz” with Drama, meh.. That’s cool and Gunz has a ridiculous flow (by far the best of the new class) but doing a Gangsta Grillz at this point in time isn’t really what’s hot in the streets, is it?
Charles Hamilton got squared up by his female assistant. Sadly, that was the most relevant he has been in the past year, unless you count that fake beef he tried to start with Soulja Boy or when he claimed Dilla “executive produced” for him. Is he still banned from Detroit? I hope so.
Ace Hood just did an album didn’t he? The fact that he is not getting spins anywhere nor are people talking about him is not a good look. It’s tougher than I can ever imagine for a struggling new artist, but I still call it like I see it.
Asher did an album, he had a minor buzz with his kegger-whiteboy anthem “I Love College” but, that certainly did not translate into record sales or urban radio spins. Maybe his goal was to make a song/album that was played at Abercrombie & Fitch? I don’t know, but he looks scruffy, has unprofessional/rude things to say about Obama and his Rutgers related joke was in very bad taste. He has none of my respect.. Not to mention, he’s not that good!
I know Blu been making some noise underground with the 90s Hip Hop types alongside Exile, I heard a couple joints here and there, not bad at all. It’s definitely on some boom bap ish, which is really dope, but I know it’s not the “young” sound that these kiddies want to hear. I never really blamed kids for their taste in music, it’s really different for the youngin’s coming up now, as opposed to the 80’s babies taking over for the older heads. When we (80’s babies) took over as majority Hip Hop consumers/listeners/partygoers, it was an almost seemless transition from the older generation.
You had new artists that embodied what the fore fathers did and these (at the time) young cats appealed to both the older and younger audiences.
Jay, Nas, B.I.G, Pac, Wu
You see those names and when you listen to their music, you can hear the old school in them, even at the time when they were new (90’s) you could still understand the transition and where they came from.
Nowadays, the transition is a lot tougher and it’s hard to compare “Charles Hamilton” to anyone dope from the past generation.
And don’t try to give me that “Oh, they are original. They are trailblazers.. Charles Hamilton has his own lane and he’s this & that..”
B, Please! Stop making excuses for these young cats who are either carbon copies or just out in left field..
I refuse to listen to music based solely on the fact that it’s “new” and/or by a “young” artist.. I listen to good music, that’s the only criteria that I base my musical decisions on.
“Is it good or not?”
Why are certain people so fixated on pushing “young” music? If “young” music sucks and/or it’s not creative or it’s not pushing boundaries, then why do people care?
It’s like drinking a new alcohol because it’s new, even though it tastes like garbage.
“Yo, I’m sippin’ on this Urine Goose, it’s a new pee-infused vodka. I know it’s urine, but I don’t care.. It’s new, it’s young and it’s hip!”
See how stupid that sounds?
I want it to be clear that I listen to all genres of music, regardless of if it’s “new” or “old” or “young” or whatever else, I just feel that some of these new cats are not even worth the bandwidth. At the same time, there are a bunch of old geezers that need to hang it up, but that’s a whole other topic.
Wale is dope, I think he real fresh. JCole has some potential, but I need to hear more before I co-sign officially. Nipsey Hu$$le is a breath of fresh air from the left cost, I think he’s what The Game was supposed to be. Drake is self explanatory, it just took the rest of the world (outside of Toronto) some time to catch up. Cudi (despite the skinny jeans) has earned my respect for absolutely killing the hook on ‘Already Home’ and having an overall unique sound, I’m down with his melodies. There is a few others, but I’m just not in the mood to go into this crazy discussion about what newbies I like.
My final words of wisdom are to listen to what’s “good” and not what’s “hot” or “young”…
Afterall, the most talented and consistent rapper of all-time is turning 40 in December
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