The night hip-hop died.... - nolan273's Blog

nolan273's Blog

The night hip-hop died....

Posted on February 3, 2010 at 01:22 AM.

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I love music. All genres of music. From George Jones to Metallica to Boyz II Men to Jay-Z and anything in between. If it stirs any kind of emotion, then I can get into it. I guess it comes from listening to whatever radio station I could pick up out in the boondocks as a kid. But hip hop struck chords in my heart that still resonate to this day.

I grew up in a small town about 30 miles or so outside of Greensboro, NC and that's where my love began. There was a college radio station broadcasting out of North Carolina A&T and every Friday and Saturday night from midnight to about 3 a.m. DJ Texas Pete (corny, right?) gave us all the latest in hip-hop.

I can remember staying up late scrounging for any cassette I could find just to tape the show. My brother and I would sometimes record over older cassettes when we didn't have any blanks available. (My mom and sisters probably still wonder what happened to some of their tapes.)

That love has progressed steadily over the past 20 plus years. I've been there from the Fresh Prince era, through the 'gangster' rap era, and into the 'bling-Cristal' era. And the love is still here...

Now that the set-up is out of the way, I'll get to the point. I finally watched Notorious the other night and I started to remember the greatness of Biggie Smalls and Tupac. In my opinion, these were two of the greatest MCs to EVER grip a mic. And I also remembered the night that hip-hop died...

When Tupac died, hip-hop was on life support. One of the lifelines had been cut, but Big was still lurking, so I just knew that hip-hop could make a full recovery. But when he was killed, I knew that it was over.

Don't get me wrong, there were still some strong lyricists around, but not many had that charisma, ability, or commitment to excellence that those guys possessed. With their deaths, it seemed like the end of the golden era. And with that, my hearts still breaks.

There are still some greats around, however. KRS-ONE is still doing his thing and Jay-Z is still holding up the flag. But there's so much garbage out there that calls itself hip-hop, it makes it hard for me to listen to radio these days.

So if you have a moment of peace in your busy lives, sift through some of your 'old school' CDs or MP3s. Remember what it was like when MCs were still hungry. Still trying to gain respect for the genre. And while you're at it, try to remember where you were the night hip-hop died.

Comments

# 1 marcoyk @ Feb 3

I agree with you, I'm only 16 so I haven't heard all of the old music that you have, but I'd agree that it's tough to listen to the radio these days. But, I wouldn't go as far as saying that hip-hop is dead. I still feel like there are good artists out there, like Outkast, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Drake is up and coming, Joe Budden, and some others. Personally my favorite rappers of all time are Outkast. Some of their music from the 90's is absolutely amazing in my opinion. But I'd agree with you that the majority of rap out today is trash. Nice article.

# 2 nolan273 @ Feb 3

Thanks for the comment. I do realize that there are lots of guys out there still doing the hip-hop that I love, but it's just difficult to sift through all the nonsense to find it. But it is really encouraging that a young cat like yourself understands the difference and seems to make it a point to filter the good from the bad. It makes me feel like there's still a pulse...