Hip-Hop Isn't Dead Yet: There Is Still A Pulse...

Back in 2006, Nas changed his name to The "N" and proclaimed Hip-Hop was dead. It wasn't the first time Hip-Hop was deemed without a lifeline, many don't realize that Andre 3000 said it first back in 2001, long before Nas, and as Stacks remarked the average nigga on the corner asked what the fuck you mean. Maybe Dre foresaw the future of a genre that was once rebellious, political, educating, prideful, innovative, and exciting. Towards the middle of the decade, Hip-Hop took an unprecedented left turn and as it did it downshifted into a gear that slowed the music down. Lyrics became much less prevalent, the focus of the music became catchy, yet, senseless hooks and albeit banging beats. Much of the blame has been placed on Southern rap artists for dumbing down Hip-Hop and Rap, although the Mecca of Hip-Hop, New York didn't live up to its own standards either. Nationwide, the music began to suffer and certain overt stereotypes were pumped through the airwaves and on the tube continuously. Myself, a very prideful Southerner was disappointed in the direction Hip-Hop and Rap music began taking, especially in the South. With the history of the South, I am always inclined to think that we have much more of a story and struggle than other regions. It seemed as though Southern rappers forgot that some of the greatest Hip-Hop artists to grace the mic are from the South and they settled for debauchery, hedonism, blatant lies,  and stereotypical coonery. For a while, it was like Southern artists had forgotten their roots and the fact that they grew up on The Geto Boys, 8Ball & MJG, UGK, The Dungeon Family, No Limit, and Cash Money. I'm speaking from a standpoint of being a Hip-Hop loving Southerner, but I'm sure that my East Coast, Mid-West, and West Coast diehard Hip-Hop fans feel the same about their respective areas and some of the new rappers that have came out of their regions. But alas, the genre is returning from the grave nationwide, and I am welcoming the zombies that are feeding on our brains. Hip-Hop and Rap is getting back to that human music as the young homie Kendrick Lamar calls it. We have the likes of: Jay Elect, Big K.R.I.T. ( King Remembered In Time), J.Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul and the whole TopDawg movement, Drake, Pac-Div, B.O.B., CyHi Da Prince, Blu, Curt@ins, Poe Picasso, Charles Hamilton, Wiz Khalifa, Nipsey Hussle, Laws, Curren$y and the Fly Society, Big Sean, L.E.$., Mickey Factz, Nickelus F, Kid Cudi, Saigon, Skyzoo, Torae, Smoke DZA, Wale, and a few other new artists. Forgive the long list, but I felt the need to make you familiar with some of these names if you are not already.