Pop Hop;
Hello, My name is Tat Wza, I work at local NYC radio station Hot97, you may have heard of us. I've been at the station for 19, going on 20 years. I started when Hot97 ruled the world in 1997, it was the very first radio station(in the world) to play hip hop full time, and it was heaven!!! Of course I have a ton of stories, and perspective along the years but now fast forward to 2016, and Drake is everyone's favorite artist, a singer...although he makes good music, but he does not hold true to original hip hop standards, like writing his own lyrics, which is ok as an entertainer, but to claim king of lyricist....Biggie, Jay Z, Nas, Rakim....even today's people like J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar, t's really disrecptpful to those are lyricist.
Trap Music;
But the real 'beef' isn't even with Drake, it's with the culture it's self, the people that listen to hip hop now, they have no standards. The last time a genre went through 'no standards' for their culture, aka it went commercialized, was rockNroll, and Punk Rock was born out of it. What hip hop needs is a revolution, it's own punk rock, but what did we get...Trap music 🙄. Look I get it, people want to dance, and still feel 'street', but the reality is, this genre has watered down the essence of the culture. Dope artist, spitting real bars are having a difficult time getting through, take Action Bronson, he's retaredly dope, and has a strong presence, but should he not be bigger? Yes he sounds a little like Ghostface(and yes they've had issue's), but Brooklyn rapper Desiigner has been accused of sounding like future, but because he's closer to the popular trap artist than Bronson sounding like what hip hop once was, Desiigner has broken records(and congrats to him, this is just to make a point).
The Mecca;
New York, the birthplace of Hip Hop, used to be the central station, but is now just a stop on the tracks. Regardless if NYC artists are at the top of the game, should the place where it all began not be respected as THE destination?? Well back to the culture, it won't be because the culture it's self doesn't care about legacy, they only care about 'right now', which in all honesty is a reflection on how technology has changed society and it's learning habits as a whole, I get that as I'm a techie and have been one of the people championing the fast rise of this new tech(last 10 years), but still. Part of me having learned before the digital boom is why I'm able to see what happened, but those learning this behavior from the door won't be able to see it and moving forward it may all be lost!
In Conclusion;
This is actually an important issue that will not be addressed, so what is our hope for 'real hip hop' fans? Well my only theory is, as a 40yr old man that grew up in hip hop and don't look at it as 'right now' thing(especially because I've been into it for nearly most of my life(30+ years), including making a living on it for the last 20, so I know from experience it's NOT a 'right now' thing), I have a 13yr old Son, and my hope is to teach him the difference between the types of hip hop so that his generation has more respect, bring back the standards. But in all honesty, that's a long shot, because I also have to give him his freedom to choose what he wants to listen to. We'll see what happens I guess.....