What happened to socially/politically concious rappers

Don't want to pollute D's thread with this so going again with it fresh

80s, and 90s hip hop was defined by it's socially conscious artist. Off the top,
KRS,
NWA,
P.E,
Mos,
Talib,
Wu,
Kast,
Pac,
Roots,
Nas,
Dead Prez,
Common,
Tribe,
De La,
KMD,
Brand Nubian,
Furious 5,
Kane,
Tragedy,
Cormega,
The Coup,
Last Poets,
Jungle Bros,
Gil Scott,
Organized Konfusion,
Jeru,
Goodie Mob,
Canibus,
Gang Starr,
Ras,
Little Brother (newer)
Can Ox
Fugees it just goes on on on on on

From most popular artist to underground.....north south east west... socially/political artists were fabric of hip hop identity, you used to have to have some "knowledge" song on your album even if you weren't that type now it's obviously totally gone a different way. Rappers don't want to talk about that anymore. Everything is just weed and trainers and bitch on my dick idk. Corporate rule$$ keep the people dumb...

You're a confused young man.

Can Ox album released 2001 btw

Can Ox album released 2001 btw

― Rallsba✧✧✧@onel✧✧✧.c✧✧ (stevie),

I know (I bought it on release), originally i was asking people to name rappers out in last decade

You're a confused young man.

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

Isn't everyone?

If you've got the answers hit us up.

Plenty of street/gangsta rap regularly touch upon political and social issues. Quite a chunk of those you named above i wouldn't even consider particularly 'conscious' anyway.

they're breathing.

comatose rappers do it better

which ones don't you see as conscious (if we have to use that term)

Plenty of street/gangsta rap regularly touch upon political and social issues. Q

― grant holt (prettylikealaindelon)

rather than this vagueness, can you name them? b/c people see Kendrick as one, probably seen as the most one, and it's really actually minimal from what i can tell, although i don't listen to him so could be wrong.

I presented a list as irrefutable evidence so some shit couldn't say "it's all in your head, nothing has changed in h.h"

Hip Hop was essentially partly founded (Flash's The Message) in socially conscious lyrics, and that stuck for ages. Now it's gone almost completely, Q is why.

trainers

tanUKi

there's not many things more dumb than the recent "sneaker culture" bullshit fad. All these idiots paying £100's for awful Nike trainers worth about $10 made in Indonesia by people paid £3 a day.

Doesn't anybody rap about trains anymore? It always used to be all "engine engine number nine" and "come on ride the train choo choo". Now everybody's just rapping about Maybachs and Lambos.

The gangsta/conscious dichotomy is artificial. And I never really cared for the overtly preachy stuff (some of which is named above) anyway.

It's one thing to make music or art about politics and another to make work politically. You seem really fixated on those who are making music about it and not really considering the context in which the music is made in which is imo a massive oversight.

And if you want rap that is more overtly social and political then listen to some stuff from Akron and Fort Wayne scenes right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJjQptjwyMk

"although i don't listen to him so could be wrong"

Serious answer. Even after The Message hip hop wasn't particularly political until Public Enemy. The politics of the late 80s/early 90s period had a lot to do with the importance of the Nation of Islam.

lot of dodging itt. tanuki's point seems valid in general, much more so, than lex's airy "plus ca change" in the d'angelo thread. why should it be hard to admit that the 90s was a particularly fertile period for explicitly political rap lyrics?

^ strike useless comma "...much more so than lex's..."

Well that simple observation seems unarguable to me but it happened due to a particular set of circumstances and it wasn't the bedrock of hip hop so it's wrong to assume that it was (and should be again) the norm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8aqAgtwqcU

xp agreed, but i understand why, in bleak times, some fans might yearn for it

happened due to a particular set of circumstances

more vagueness. which were?

and it wasn't the bedrock of hip hop

It was one of the bedrocks. I've listed a huge list of most of the most influential acts of the 80s and 90s to avoid this sort of comment. Wasn't enough clearly. I could've just said "Furious 5, BDP, P.E, Wu, Pac" and left it at that ad it would've been enough.

anyways
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKypkj9Ggpo

Jesus man, learn to read. I just mentioned the Nation of Islam upthread, which was a huge factor back in the day.

Could having a black president have anything to do with it? Or is that almost a reason as to why there should be more politically/socially concious rap?

https://soundcloud.com/busdriver-of-hellfyre/copbeat-by-bunfumitake-tamura

Nation of Islam upthread, which was a huge factor back in the day.

― Re-Make/Re-Model,

Yes, NOI, that's a big part of mine. You'd never see something like NOI in today's hip hop. Rappers back then were looking for things like that to get into. But many and most of the ones on my list have little or no dealings with NOI or 5%ers directly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i-b6x0-GeM

migos

I am of the opinion that hip-hop by its mere existence was (and often is) a political statement and the statements being made now are still political, even if I personally think many of said statements are frivolous or irrelevant to my life. The best example of this is Watch The Throne, which as an album is an explicit, overt political statement about the challenges and rewards faced by African-Americans breaking into the 1%.

yes otm, there are deeply political statements expressed in even the most inconsequential, shallow and decadent songs out there. unfortunately rockists can only see political statements in 'conscious' music that makes the political nature of the art super obvious and heavy-handed (often laden with clumsy platitudes)

Big Daddy Kane was a 5%er. You couldn't move in Hip Hop back then w/o somone being into some political/social cause.

Can't believe I forgot Slick Rick, too.

here's a young rapper making explicitly political rap for you

https://catchwreckcollective.bandcamp.com/album/fear-itself

I am of the opinion that hip-hop by its mere existence was (and often is) a political statement and the statements being made now are still political, even if I personally think many of said statements are frivolous or irrelevant to my life. The best example of this is Watch The Throne, which as an album is an explicit, overt political statement about the challenges and rewards faced by African-Americans breaking into the 1%.

― the farakhan of gg (DJP),

Again, neither Kanye or Jay Z were out in the last decade. They're both from previous generation. They're both pushing or in their 40s.

Most of the politics in music takes place in the realm of the unconscious mind & the discussions on this messageboard would seem to suggest that there is a lot of potent politics embedded in the symbols/images/memes/tropes/paratexts of pop music (incl. rap). The nature of hip-hop as a counterculture has definitely changed. I can't say say whether it's more or less political though.

valuable new sock

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF7P2PlWdeA

They've been trying to ban hip hop since it's birth. They failed, but won in taking away it's political power.

When does the Tanuki record drop?

anecdotal evidence provided by this or that youtube doesn't mean much. seems to me that mainstream audiences had an appetite for explicitly political rap music in the 80s & 90s. with that in mind, maybe the frame shouldn't be "what happened to socially/politically concious rappers?" but "why don't people want to hear socially/politically conscious rap anymore?"

it's really actually minimal from what i can tell, although i don't listen to him so could be wrong

this is the part where you should know to shut the fuck up

http://calibermag.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/121017074949-voting-booth-story-top-copy.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w8JxuXAlzM

this might tie in to fact that hip hop now seen more as a career move than ever before. even in the 90s a lot of rappers didn't expect to get rich off it. so they could say what they wanted. it still wasn't mainstream so you had more freedom. now people aim at the lowest common denominator on what is going to get them most listens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VInOrw9NHTI

actually why am i bothering

pfft we fought a war so that British racoons couldn't vote in America come on now

xp

might tie into Michael Franti trying to rhyme loophole with poophole.

actually why am i bothering

otm

But many and most of the ones on my list have little or no dealings with NOI or 5%ers directly

even this is wrong

In the Midwest country is pretty default for upper middle/middle class suburban ppl like my sister/bro in law, to say that like Kenny Chesney or McGraw or Underwoods audience is perceived at lower class is wrong

― Wu-Tang Clannad (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, January 12, 2015 12:08 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ehh i think that an upper-middle class country fan perceives a bit of 'i'm one of the regular ppl' solidarity in country

yeah of course but at the core that's republicanism too, wealthy ppl acting like they are trv middle class because they aren't fancy pants ppl

but like garth just played 11 nights in minneapolis and it was all people renting limos with groups of people to go and shit, going to nice restaurant before

or just white middle class people pop audience

― Wu-Tang Clannad (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, January 12, 2015 1:10 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

tbf i do kind of think there is a generational thing going on. i grew up in a white midwestern upper class suburb, all the white kids i knew growing up were HUGE into hip hop. they loved classic gangsta rap and were really into the late 90s early 00s pop rap like diddy and ja rule. they are all republicans now, like their parents, and they are lawyers and bankers and shit but they still love rap and hate country.

yeah this is what i'm saying, dont confuse the fans for the artists

i don't know much about charts and sales but for a brief time (late 90s early 00s) rap WAS pop music right? sold way more than other stuff? you guys know more about charts than i do though, but it did seem like all the most popular music when i was in high school - both among the people i grew up with and in a larger cultural sense on MTV and radio - was rap and rap & r&b crossover hits. so for a TON of all kind of people rap was basically the pop music they grew up on. it wasn't public enemy or wu-tang but it was rap

In the UK the race component in anti-rap prejudice >>>>>>> class component in anti-country prejudice

xxxxp i bet they ate fuckin tortellini stuffed with the finest cheeses in their breakfast bowls at brunch the next day, too

what are you xping?

both the fans and the artists scan way more mainstream and way more middle class than they used to

marcos - i don't think it's generational, there are always ppl who liked rap and like country or vice versa, but it's just more mainstream now than it was (country)

also it's ludicrous to say that the racial component in rap criticism and the class component in country criticism are even remotely comparable

american can only work out its racial tensions through talking about sports or rap basically

xxxxp i bet they ate fuckin tortellini stuffed with the finest cheeses in their breakfast bowls at brunch the next day, too

― $80 is absurd and very ridiculous! (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, January 12, 2015 12:24 PM (10 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there are mcmansions filled with ppl that make way more than you and i ever will who eat at chain restaurants and shit all the time

sh@kedown of course. right number of xs and everything.

xp

xxxxp i bet they ate fuckin tortellini stuffed with the finest cheeses in their breakfast bowls at brunch the next day, too

― $80 is absurd and very ridiculous! (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, January 12, 2015 12:24 PM (10 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there are mcmansions filled with ppl that make way more than you and i ever will who eat at chain restaurants and shit all the time

― Wu-Tang Clannad (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, January 12, 2015 1:25 PM (14 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm. a fancy restaurant is a fuckin steakhouse dude

i'd eat a gang of ruth chris right now tbh if someone else was buying

uh you guys are missing the garth brooks breakfast bowl joke in SG's post yo

charl1e w3is, while signed to a multimillion dollar football coaching contract at ND, would eat mcdonald's with his son at the dinner table while the rest of the family ate a more traditional home cooked meal.

he would also order that his Jimmy John's subs have both breads buttered

http://www.redbookmag.com/food-recipes/recipes/a6012/trisha-yearwood-recipes/

Jimmy John is an incredible name btw

tbf i do kind of think there is a generational thing going on. i grew up in a white midwestern upper class suburb, all the white kids i knew growing up were HUGE into hip hop. they loved classic gangsta rap and were really into the late 90s early 00s pop rap like diddy and ja rule. they are all republicans now, like their parents, and they are lawyers and bankers and shit but they still love rap and hate country.

― marcos, Monday, January 12, 2015 1:19 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

marcos - i don't think it's generational, there are always ppl who liked rap and like country or vice versa, but it's just more mainstream now than it was (country)

― Wu-Tang Clannad (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, January 12, 2015 1:25 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yea that's totally true. and when all those dudes i know get married, the "first dance" songs are all modern country-pop ballads lol

there are mcmansions filled with ppl

this is a horrifying mental image

when all those dudes i know get married, the "first dance" songs are all modern country-pop ballads lol

― marcos, Monday, January 12, 2015 1:32 PM (0 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and then everybody gets down to snoop & dre "the next episode" lol

i danced to garth's 'The River' at my wedding and cried a little

mostly because it's not on spotify, though

lol

i'd love to read more about country's profile in europe, in the english speaking world and out. i know it's big in ireland. and australia.

there are mcmansions filled with ppl that make way more than you and i ever will who eat at chain restaurants and shit all the time

― Wu-Tang Clannad (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, January 12, 2015 1:25 PM (51 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's true the chain restaurants do make you shit more than normal

good thing they have 4.5 bathrooms in that mcmansion

the .5 is whatever room you were in when the other 4 were occupied.

classic realtor scam

the misrepresentation of shitting options in property listings is the untold horror story of the housing market collapse

i know OLD country music has always been pretty popular in Germany, but i don't know about new country pop stuff. they've always been big fans of rockabilly/hillbilly/square dance/50's american stuff there. but that's probably older people too. i doubt young german people give a shit about any of that.

tbf i do kind of think there is a generational thing going on. i grew up in a white midwestern upper class suburb, all the white kids i knew growing up were HUGE into hip hop. they loved classic gangsta rap and were really into the late 90s early 00s pop rap like diddy and ja rule. they are all republicans now, like their parents, and they are lawyers and bankers and shit but they still love rap and hate country.

This is so sad, and if you live and work anywhere outside of some sheltered hipster ghetto, you've probably been exposed to it.

Which is why we should remember when we make our little playlists or our blog posts or whatever, that music these days is something we take to work, the boundaries between work and home life or private life are not as clear as they were when we were kids.

I make a point of working and living in diverse and socially conscious environments, as such, I have to think about what music I am going to take to the office, or what I will play around my neighbors.

It is really important to me that I not send the message that I don't care about someone's community and culture and history. Which is why I'm careful about what hip-hop and r & b I invest my dollars and time into.I'm not going to listen to any old thing "because it's rap."

http://i0.wp.com/www.runwalkrepeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Hill-Street-Blues-Lets-Be-Careful.jpg

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2015/01/young-jeezy-black-lives-matter.php

C/Ping for RT:

Writer Kris Ex told me he believes diminished record sales and hip-hop's changing financial model require many rappers to rely heavily on corporate endorsements, providing a disincentive to rock the boat.

i think starting a new thread to post youtubes for contemporary "socially/politically conscious" hip hop is not a bad idea but since this one's here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dx1gMTn7DQ

Can someone reinstate RT? It was much more entertaining watching him flail around with his never ending stream of challops.

NO.

ppl on my facebook feed seem to like prince ea a lot but his raps make me barf

^^ ya this is like, really bad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRl8EIhrQjQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTYcVdZjSJs

https://twitter.com/noz/status/556740184717287425

well yes

RT where do you live in the UK?

― out here like a flopson (tpp), Thursday, January 8, 2015 1:21 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Realhiphopshire

― Οὖτις, Thursday, January 8, 2015 1:21 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this thread still makes me laugh uncontrollably and I practically have it memorized by now

I hear there are certain neighborhoods in Realhiphopshire that are now No-Go Zones for herbs

one year passes...
RT where do you live in the UK?

― out here like a flopson (tpp), Thursday, January 8, 2015 1:21 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Realhiphopshire

― Οὖτις, Thursday, January 8, 2015 1:21 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

― Neanderthal, Tuesday, June 28, 2016 1:27 AM bookmarkflaglink

great revive of a great revive

ffss

::DD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxCr2bAhwCU