1. The Degrading of Women
Yes, this has been going on for a long time, but it doesn't make it right. You don't have to erase all braggadocios music or club hits in order to make this happen either. You can still chant to "shake ya ass" or "back that azz up" without calling a woman a bitch or thot in your verses. There's also the current trend of rappers talking about how a woman can't keep their dick hard...which is weird...you should talk to a doctor about that. No other genre has so much concern over calling women (who make up a decent size of their listeners) "b*tches and ho's". I don't think I have to explain why you should respect women, so I won't.
2. Autotune
The last person to use autotune correctly was T-Pain, and even he stepped away from the use of it. Artist today who are considered crooners or duel threat rappers have a major issue...they can't sing! So they use autotune as a crutch to cover the lack of vocal range and also to add a more "trap" sound to their music. Autotune comes off as a cheap cop out, instead of refining your flow or getting a vocal coach...use autotune. If this trend were to end we may see more emerging vocalist on rap records and give us new R&B artist who have received exposure from bigger rap names.
3. Lack of Mainstream Variety
There are a lot of good and bad that comes with the streaming era, but one thing has remained the same, a lot of popular artist find radio as a great source of promo. The only issue with radio is, they typically play the same type of rap by similar types of artist. When this happens it keeps the various aspects of what Rap and Hip Hop has to offer in a small echo chamber. People who have only heard rap on the radio may think it all sounds like the two previous points (degrading to women and filled with autotune), but it's because mainstream hip hop doesn't have the variety that indie and underground rap possess. There's nothing wrong with a slower track that may be about something more serious in tone, just like there's nothing wrong with tuning out and turning up. Variety allows the listener to latch on to the various aspects of Rap as a genre and Hip Hop as a culture.
4. Battle Rap "Gun Bars"
I'm sure only a very small amount of people care about battle rap, and I'm slowly joining the ranks because the bar schemes are slowly becoming the same. "Beam, scope, choppa sing, gun so heavy, kill you and your mans" is literally what most of the bars are based around and IT GETS OLD. The women have gotten way more creative, but in order to catch a wider audience many of the female battle rappers have taken to the trend of gun bars as well. You can only threaten to kill someone with a gun in so many ways...go after their credibility, fashion, or their music. Please!
5. Clout chasing
Thanks to social media and the need to go viral to ensure success, this has now become one of the most problematic issues in rap. Building an organic fan-base is important to the success of an artist, or anyone else in entertainment, but one of the most misleading and manipulative ways of doing so is clout chasing. The latest trends seem to come from making parodies and chasing the current trends even when they aren't related to your actual talent, and this is why A LOT of Instagram famous people aren't making money from their music, or products... You aren't known for it.
6. Trap beats
Trap music has now become one of the most over-saturated sounds in rap music, and though it does sound good and can get the party going, new producers are all beginning to sound the same, and the originators are beginning to reuse templates for beats. Remember when Juicy J came out "Bandz a make her dance" and Rihanna came out with "Pour it Up" the same year? The beat was almost identical. Nowadays, this mix-up is more common and leaves a lot to be desired in the department of creativity, but makes for an easy playlist.
7. Homophobia in Rap
This is another long running trend that needs to come to an end. Most genres have accepted the LBGTQ+ community on a mainstream level, and though Rap has made A LOT of progress there is still room for growth. In diss tracks, commercial singles and some interviews it seems like the worst things you can be in rap is homosexual...or broke. If you look into our previous article about LBGTQ+ artist, there is plenty of talent out there, some are just unable to break through to the masses because of their sexual orientation. The question should be if the artist have passion for the genre and the music they put out, not who they date.
8. Meme rap/ YouTubers Rapping
They're all trash, they make a mockery of rap, and they profit off of it. I'm could go on about this all day, but I'll save you some reading time.
9. Ghostwritten lyrics
I know a lot of people don't care about this, but there's a reason why it holds value to me. The true definition of a ghostwriter is a writer who lends lyrics to another artist without being given credit for their work. This is a problem to me because the credit given on a track for the work done can boost that writers' career. It also can draw fans to the writer as well, if they can do so many great things for other artist, how does this artist sound in their own? That question can't be answered if they remain a ghost. My other reason...integrity. There's no sense of passion or hard work behind having most of your job as a rapper done for you. Rappers don't sing, and even fewer produce or engineer their own music. There's nearly no excuse to not partake in your craft.
10. "I'm not a role model" mentality
When you are propelled into the spotlight you gain new powers, and even more responsibilities. The most important responsibility is understanding your influence. No one cares if you don't want to be a role model...you are. With that comes and opportunity to change the world like others could only dream of. You don't have to donate all the proceeds of your album, but you can put the positive energy you would like to see from the world into the world. People with fame and money always have influence, and the first people to deny themselves of any responsibility are entertainers with a reputation for handling business. It's not much to be a decent human being, and by being one you can spark the change in others to be decent human beings as well.
Hip hop is all about expression and creativity, so I hope that everyone reading understands that it's fine to feel the total opposite way that I do about the current trends in Rap music. I don't want to take away anything from those that have contributed to the culture and the genre, but also understand that some of the changes I would like to see aren't a complete elimination of what is currently popular, but a shift, a shift that takes everything that has been created thus far, and moves us forward with the ability to be more inviting and more creative than before.
Let me know what you think!!!
You can find me on twitter @CallmeLQ or share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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