Hip Hop Either Innovates or Die

Times are changing. Back in the days of Grandmaster Flash and Sugarhill Gang, hip-hop was relatively innocent. In the late 80's/early 90-'s, rap was identified by political agendas from groups such as Public Enemy and N.W.A. The early mid-90's the hip-hop community saw a rise in consciousness in the rap messages. However after the mid-90's hip hop began to fall off. True hip-hop that is. The falling off of the once innocent genre has lead to commercial hip-hop. Commercial hip-hop is deteriorating what so many emcees in the 80's tried to build: a culture of music, dance, creativity, and artistry that would five people not only something to bob their head to but to express themselves and deliver a positive message to the people. 

Artists today seem to have forgotten what it was that the Bronx-born genre once stood for. Now, it's all about the Benjamin.  

However this cultivation is what is in essence killing off hip-hop. Because its elements are becoming engrained into most pops songs its becoming harder for hip hop artists to dominate album sales. In fact it is hard for anyone to dominate in album sales due to the fact that music today is pretty much free! Yet without the competitive edge that it use to have, it has become even harder for rappers.

So how does an artist make money if album sales (which once was the prime source of income) is steadily decking? Sync licensing deals, brand sponsorships, selling merchandise and being able to tour nationally. Artist like T.I owns a nightclub and even stars in his own reality TV show- 'The Family Hustle'. Moral of the story, you can no longer put your eggs in one basket.

 Def Jam's A&R Sickamore said it best: We need a lot of mavericks and people fighting to do new sounds. Everyone's caught up to us, and now it's time to evolve. If you don't innovate, you die- that's the fight hip hop is in.

There is a revolution taking place underground. People are dying for authentic hip hop to come back. The audience is there. If money isn't strictly in the album sales than artist can put the innocence back into the genre while putting there eggs in more then one basket to still make a living.

As I stated before hip-hop has not always been about the money. Even though it has grown and is being noticed by people all over the world, can we say the same for the African Community, which hip-hop was initially developed to uplift? Find out my opinion next week! Peace and Love.