IS HIP DYING, IF SO WHY?

[kevinsealy]

Rap music is said to be a billion dollar industtry. But if you look at the ratings of New York's two Hip-Hop stations, their numbers are noticeably down from a year ago.

Is has been posted on this and the NYRMB that Rap is dying and being replaced by Rock.

Could Rap go the same way Disco did 25 years ago, or Rap is just in a lull for now? at one time during the early 90's it was in a slump.




Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy

 

[Brooklyndon]

rap will be dying as long as all the mc's from black suburbia continue to rap slowly about stuff happening a couple blocks south of me over underproduced southern beats .

 

[MarcR]

My hope is that it's dying because the better educated fans are recognizing that the genre has been commandeered by sociopaths and the drug dealing and gun running underworld (not quite the sort of people anybody with potential in life would want to emulate).

 

[rageradio]

I read an article in Vibe mag that even some of the "artists" are saying that also. I'm so sick of this hip hop culture. I'm ready for it to go away. It's old. What happened to the days when everyone wanted to be original and unlike everyone else.

 

[Shredder]

That, and rap 'artists' seem to be literally dying. Every month there seems to be a shootout at a rap station, with security by the hundreds every time one of these 'stars' comes to chat about their latest album.

Heh, I was flipping through the channels and came across a rap edition of weakest link. I couldn't watch more than 3 minutes of it.... Lets hope Disco comes back...that at least was fun.

Maybe William Shatner can become the next rap star...... He's already got the stalling talk style.

 

[Ozman]

My answer to this question is:
I have listened to z 100 my whole life, 106.1 Wbli as well,
my reaction to this is they are playing the same krap over, and over again. for two months, the same songs every three hours and these hip hop stations are not playing any tunes that were hot like one or two years ago just mainy focusing on the same stale stuff. I am sick of it. If they mixed in a one to one ratio of old songs from two to five - ten years ago that were played a lot to songs that are played today, I think these stations would continue to do good.
well thats my two cents

 

[radiolover78]

CHR's are supposed to be playing the hits! Today's hottest music. And that's what they're doing.

Pop, rock, and even a country cross over or two seem to be dominant in the CHR format these days.

 

[Element9]

Rap and hip-hop probably aren't dead, but the art form may have hit the same wall that "alternative" hit a few years ago. After a while, it became mainstream and was no longer "alternative." It became just as commercialized as classic rock, urban and CHR.

After a while, any new genre gets consumed by the music industry trying to make it the next big thing. As a result, what once was unique and cutting edge becomes mundane and "same old." I'm not a rap hip-hop afficiando, I grew up on Motown and Memphis soul, Stax and Atlantic stuff. But I pay attention to rap and hip-hop because it's an art form, and "being a white guy in the suburbs," it speaks about a culture and societal condition I probably should be more aware of.

In other words, I'm not on the cutting edge of urban culture. Not even close.

-9-

 

[Shredder]

My answer to this question is:
I have listened to z 100 my whole life, 106.1 Wbli as well,
my reaction to this is they are playing the same krap over, and over again. for two months, the same songs every three hours and these hip hop stations are not playing any tunes that were hot like one or two years ago just mainy focusing on the same stale stuff. I am sick of it. If they mixed in a one to one ratio of old songs from two to five - ten years ago that were played a lot to songs that are played today, I think these stations would continue to do good.
well thats my two cents

It's not just those stations, EVERY station in NY plays the same old crappy songs over and over again.l Although when I drive with my younger sister and have to listen to Z100...it seems like that 'My Humps' song was playing every other hour...sometimes twice in one hour.

If the music industry is wondering why it's in a slump...maybe they need to listen to the public and what we want. not what they pay the radio stations to play over and over again.

Also, notice that the songs with real staying power seem to be dance songs. There are songs from the 60's to 70's that kids know today thanks to movies and Satellite. That song about 'Suicide and Hate' that gets played may get a years worth of airtime and will be gone and forgotten....

 

[lalumia]

CHR's are supposed to be playing the hits! Today's hottest music. And that's what they're doing.

Pop, rock, and even a country cross over or two seem to be dominant in the CHR format these days.

yeah but the hits used to be REAL hits based on actual physical sales of singles, 45 RPM records, then cassette singles, then CD singles); the genocide of the actual single put the kibosh on 'hit radio;' people know that their votes are no longer being counted at the (now non existent) record stores, so that 'cred' part of 'hit' radio is dead and buried;
number # 1 now is airplay, not sales, and the public knows it and turns a deaf ear; the excitement of democratic participation is GONE!

 

[JbeJay]

yeah but the hits used to be REAL hits based on actual physical sales ... the genocide of the actual single put the kibosh on 'hit radio;' people know that their votes are no longer being counted at the (now non existent) record stores ....

But if a station can determine the favorite songs of a cross-section of its listeners, using legitimate research methods, that may provide an even better representation than "actual physical sales". Only a fraction of the listeners -- even for a teen-based chr station -- ever purchased even the #1 "hit".

 

[lalumia]

classic breakout hits always evolved from sales, from elvis to vanilla ice,to the early hip hop classics;

elvis, the beatles , vanilla ice and most disco classics all emerged on indie labels at the beginning and then became breakouts(elvis was on Sun before RCA, the Beatles were on Swan, Tollie and Vee Jay until Capitol decided that they MIGHT be a good idea)
and ALL of this came about from 'breakout' record sales'
the bought and paid for payola 'research' 'hits' are a laughing stock for anyone who's been around for a while....

 

[JbeJay]

classic breakout hits always evolved from sales ... the Beatles were on Swan, Tollie and Vee Jay until Capitol decided that they MIGHT be a good idea) and ALL of this came about from 'breakout' record sales'

Sorry, but your example simply doesn't fly. (It's also factually inaccurate. There was no Tollie release by the Beatles until AFTER Capitol picked them up.)

But to your contention that "breakout record sales" of the earlier releases led to a major label picking them up, that is simply false. Neither of their two VeeJay singles nor their one Swan single had measurable sales (much less "breakout" sales) in the US during 1963. Only when the three were re-released in 1964 -- after Capitol put the group on the map in this country -- did they sell.

Can you name a single hit record -- any genre, any era, any format -- which first had "breakout sales" and only later had radio airplay? I think you have the cart before the horse.

 

[lalumia]

many had regional action that led to sales, most of the early disco era hits, for example, 'broke' into sales thanks to club play, and that sales action led to radio re-action...

 

[Willie Jones]

That, and rap 'artists' seem to be literally dying. Every month there seems to be a shootout at a rap station, with security by the hundreds every time one of these 'stars' comes to chat about their latest album.

Heh, I was flipping through the channels and came across a rap edition of weakest link. I couldn't watch more than 3 minutes of it.... Lets hope Disco comes back...that at least was fun.

Maybe William Shatner can become the next rap star...... He's already got the stalling talk style.

the funny thing is your stereotype of ""artists"" is false Not to defend the crap trend the south has influenced but in all reality it does not happen that way. There was a time that hip hop was fun and now there's so much garbage. It's understandable how many that grew up with long hair and listened to grunge, arena, or classic rock in suburbia and are "intimidated" by "others". It is funny to see how a supposedly more enlightened group of people being in the business have the same commonplace mentalities of judging a whole culture by the little they may know about it. If that is the case then hey...maybe those stars and bars in the south aren't out of date!

The unfortunate situation too is that CHR shares what seems to be your sentiment. I work in the format and in a time where "format directors" want to call t-pain a rapper and then drown us with every nickelback song (that just like the way you see rap music - all sound the same) it's really stll about fear of the unknown. Pop music is supposed to stand for popular but no matter how much there is a demand for a song like "Party Like A Rockstar" an untested Kelly Clarkson track will surely be given the benefit of spins...why? You tell me.

Hooks +/- catch phrases = CHR Hit

 

[PuertoRicanSoul]

Anytime a socially stimulating musical genre ventures into areas that contradict its values, it all catches up eventually. There was a time when one was able to tell the difference (both lyrically and rhythmically) between New York-based hip-hop and "everywhere else;" everywhere else almost always meant anywhere south and west of Philadelphia. Those days are long gone, unless you're dedicated enough to commit an hour or so per week to urban college radio stations. And even then, those will complain that "underground" hiphop is too preachy.

The industry has done a spectacular job breaking up hiphop music and culture into subgenres to the point where it is now..hitting a wall, as another poster put it. Thanks to this retooling, (which took at least 15 years to do..no small feat), more so now than ever you have people convinced that hiphop music has always been as ignorant today as they allege it was 20 years ago. Nothing is further from the truth.

But thanks to those who favored one company owning more than 6 stations per market, most will never know nor care to know the truth about hiphop.

 

[ciao99]

Rap and hip-hop probably aren't dead, but the art form may have hit the same wall that "alternative" hit a few years ago. After a while, it became mainstream and was no longer "alternative." It became just as commercialized as classic rock, urban and CHR.

After a while, any new genre gets consumed by the music industry trying to make it the next big thing. As a result, what once was unique and cutting edge becomes mundane and "same old." I'm not a rap hip-hop afficiando, I grew up on Motown and Memphis soul, Stax and Atlantic stuff. But I pay attention to rap and hip-hop because it's an art form, and "being a white guy in the suburbs," it speaks about a culture and societal condition I probably should be more aware of.

In other words, I'm not on the cutting edge of urban culture. Not even close.

-9-

Not every person who listens to hip hop is black and in the inner city. Whites Puerto Ricans, Asians, even the French like it!And not every person who is black and in the inner city likes rap.

 

[Irishfl]

CHR's are supposed to be playing the hits! Today's hottest music. And that's what they're doing.

Pop, rock, and even a country cross over or two seem to be dominant in the CHR format these days.

yeah but the hits used to be REAL hits based on actual physical sales of singles, 45 RPM records, then cassette singles, then CD singles); the genocide of the actual single put the kibosh on 'hit radio;' people know that their votes are no longer being counted at the (now non existent) record stores, so that 'cred' part of 'hit' radio is dead and buried;
number # 1 now is airplay, not sales, and the public knows it and turns a deaf ear; the excitement of democratic participation is GONE!

But couldn't this still be done via legal file downloads? The record stores are now itunes, yahoo, AOL, even the radio stations themselves often have a "buy this song" next to song in there recently played lists.

So why can't they use online singles, the same way they use to use record store singles?

 

[Shredder]

That, and rap 'artists' seem to be literally dying. Every month there seems to be a shootout at a rap station, with security by the hundreds every time one of these 'stars' comes to chat about their latest album.

Heh, I was flipping through the channels and came across a rap edition of weakest link. I couldn't watch more than 3 minutes of it.... Lets hope Disco comes back...that at least was fun.

Maybe William Shatner can become the next rap star...... He's already got the stalling talk style.

the funny thing is your stereotype of ""artists"" is false Not to defend the crap trend the south has influenced but in all reality it does not happen that way. There was a time that hip hop was fun and now there's so much garbage.

The unfortunate situation too is that CHR shares what seems to be your sentiment. I work in the format and in a time where "format directors" want to call t-pain a rapper and then drown us with every nickelback song (that just like the way you see rap music - all sound the same) it's really stll about fear of the unknown. Pop music is supposed to stand for popular but no matter how much there is a demand for a song like "Party Like A Rockstar" an untested Kelly Clarkson track will surely be given the benefit of spins...why? You tell me.

Hooks +/- catch phrases = CHR Hit

Heh, I'm not just talking about Rap being dull here....ALL music on radio stations is dull these days. I could care less about Kelly Clarkson, or any of todays other 'hot' artists. The only real song that came out lately that I liked was '1985' and the one that has a military call off in it and has a beat to it (name escapes me), but I think it's a song by Gwen Steffani.

I don't know if you would call this hip-hop, but that 'Lovley lady lumps' song is so goofy, I'm actually starting to like it. I do like stuff that sounds close to the genre... remember Turtle Power by Partners In Crime? That was a favorite in my youth. Ghostbusters by Run D.M.C. I liked. I don't know if they'd qualify as hip-hop though.

I just generally like stuff that's fun, whether it be country, hip-hop, blues, dance, soul, jazz, oldies etc. But the majority of rap songs that I do hear all just sound the same to me which is why I try to avoid it and heavy metal whenever possible.

 

[KDRadio]

Hip Hop Can Never Really Die, it will probably be relegated to College Radio and internet downloads, But as for Big Mainstream Hip Hop Radio, Well Strike up the band!!!