Part 1

First and foremost, I wasn't one of the first people to say hip-hop was dying. I didn't believe it myself at first. I mean, c'mon, REALLY? The music of my generation's time is up? This can't be so. So I kept this thought in the back of my head while I'd listen to the latest tunes and you know what? I started hearing what the people were talking about. It now was starting to seem that only a few artists were standing out, in my opinion. Others somehow pulled it together by combining subpar lyrics with superb beats or doing a collaboration with a r&b artist to make the song at least relevant. The point I'm trying to make is only a few are really hot. Meaning, if a different MAJOR LABEL artist were to release a CD every day for the next 30 days, only about 8, maybe 9, of them would actually do well, depending on the artist. About half of that would sell a million copies before their next album. And yeah, I know the economy is a mess, but this decline started way before then.
As a matter of fact, that sort of brings us to today's main topic: The Actual Death(s) Of Hip-Hop: The Murders of Pac and The Notorious B.I.G.

2Pac and Biggie revolutionized the whole east coast-west coast scene. Though this exercise brought alot of people together on one front, the premise of the whole idea was totally bogus. Since I from the same side of the country as one of the artist's, is that supposed to mean that I automatically have to pull for said artist. What if I like the other artist too? What if I like the other artist, but not the one from my side? What if I like both?(I loved both, by the way). There was no endgame in sight for such madness except for the fate that was. I am in no way saying that they got what they desrved, more like saying they predicted what woould happen to them.
But what does this have to do with hip-hop's decimation, you might ask. And I'm glad you asked. The answer is this: The message that they were sending had worked and built sort of a following for both.The untimely deaths of both left a void for these millions of fans, as well as for those enjoy both equally. Both had garnered so much attention while performing that the audiences were left confused as to who to turn to for their musical needs and many east coast reppers still resented the west coast and vice versa. This lead to a short, sad times in hip-hop when record sales slightly declined as way was made for up-and-coming talents and existing stars alike. Some stars shone, some faded, and some were born. After east coast-west coast was over, listeners began to relax again and most became more open-minded. Enter The South. With its hard-thumping bass beats and its laid-back southern drawl, it was destined to take off at some point or another. Fortunately for Southern rap, it's time was now. Unfortunately, the path to rap's decimation has many miles in the South. In my next blog, I will highlight another artist who is considered in my opinion to be one of the drivers of that bus: Master P and No Limit Records.

Tune in next time andd please remember: This is all my opinion. I wrote this for that satisfaction. This blog is not meant to hurt, nor influence anyone to feel anyway contrary to your normal thinking. Thanks for listening and hope to see you again soon.

ROD D