Rap music is already pretty different from most other forms of music in a lot of ways but do you ever wonder how come rappers don't have much career longevity ? Take pop music,rock and roll, or Soul / Funk for example. You got people like The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Prince, George Clinton who are legends and still perform and sell out venues to this day. They are also greatly remembered and respected for what they have accomplished. Then you come to rap and it's like the total opposite. When was the last time KRS-ONE or Special Ed sold out a concert ? How many people even know who MC Shan is ? With rap it's like whatever's hot RIGHT NOW is the hottest and everything else gets forgotten. I've even heard some young cats say Nelly is the greatest rapper of all time. Wow. I mean I understand the generation gaps and everything has it's "time" but its like rap's older generation just moves on and doesn't care about it when you still have 50 and 60 year olds going to see KISS and Earth Wind and Fire in concert. Jay-Z seems to be an exception to the rule but even he is becoming less relevant hence he keeps aligning himself with people who are currently relevant to keep himself hot (Beyonce', LeBron, etc). I mean you've got LL Cool J who's still around but thats only because he's a body building movie star.
It really begs the question of is rap really a young man sport like many claim ?
2 comments:
The majority of rap is so juvenile that it's really hard to take a 40 year-old man serious when talks about all his b********* and h**s. Back in the day, Too short was a pimp/player. Now he's a dirty old man.
No question, the music companies market rap mostly to the young. Rappers themselves need to stand up and do more as well. Why does rap have to be only about young man's game?
Very little rap that's not youth-centered makes it to the charts. Remember "The Messages"? What's wrong with more of that? Or more recently, Will Smith's "Just the Two of Us". There's proof that you CAN market rap like this, but I guess it's just easier to wrap about bling and ho's.
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