VERY interesting twist that this whole topic has taken. I had no idea that this thread received more posts, but for quite some time now I've been wanting to discuss hip hop, the south, the mid 00's, the "death of hip hop", and how they all relate (or don't relate) to each other. I also want to throw in the death of the late 90's futuristic Timbaland & Missy style beats after Aaliyah passed and Timbaland took a break, leaving much room for other producers to "take over the game" and bring back the boring, less creative, easy to make beat style patterns. I believe the fact that no one really had anyone to look up to anymore for more creative beat style patterns ever since Timbaland took his break from the music scene also helped to cause hip hop to eventually lose its full power, and although you could argue that The Neptunes and other producers were just as good, I believe that even they (Including the Dungeon Family) also got (at least some of) their late 90's early 00's style influence from Timbaland and would've probably never thought of it without him.
Timbaland taking a break then coming back as a pop/dance style producer really played a larger role on what happened to the sound of hip hop as the 00's rolled on, even more than most people realize. While Timbaland was still "out of the frontlines of the scene", Lil Jon changed the sound of music in 2003 when he hit with the Usher - "yeah" / Petey Pablo - Freak a leek / Ciara - "Goodies" style sound, and this is when people began to abandon the old Timbaland style for a more simpler style. At the same time, you had the newer Dr Dre & 50 Cent sound. In addition to this, the midwest/southern beat style sound that was about to emerge in 2004-2005 with Murphy Lee, Nelly, Dem Franchise Boys...etc. (which all eventually led to a dirty south "snap sound trend" and the birth of the crunk snap sound). It was at this point that the futuristic Timbaland style beats of the late 90's early 00's were officially a thing of the past and the dumbing down of lyrics was beginning to emerge.. (The LAST song with the futuristic Timbaland style beats to become mainstream was "kiss kiss" by Chris Brown).
I believe that in addition to the weakening and dumbing down of lyrics, hip hop production creativity has also taken a fall, and this fall really began to start becoming noticeable shortly after '05 as more and more things in mainstream hip hop started to sound the same. With that being said, I will agree that yes, it was the southern music that pretty much "killed" the best days of hip hop, BUT at the same time, I believe the south was also responsible for helping to perfect and complete hip hop. Unlike the east and west coast, who both were known overall for one particular distinct style of sound, the south (while also being known for its own distinct sound as well) was very versatile and influenced both the west and east coast to change up their styles a bit. As a matter of fact, the south influenced everywhere else to change more than other places influenced the south to change! Not only did the south take the futuristic Timbaland style beats to another level, but with the help of Nelly and the midwest (which pretty much sounded like the south), they both "joined together" and pretty much took over the game in the mid to later 00's. It was just unfortunate that this was around the same time the complex Missy/Timbaland beat styles died and the dumbing down of hip hop lyrics began to occur as the pop/electro sound began to perfect (which leaves the south looking bad).
I believe Timbaland and Missy do not get all the credit they truly deserve. They were responsible for changing the sound of music TWICE!
1. They introduced the futuristic style sound in the later 90's that everyone from pop to r&b to hip hop to even alternative-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qszvK4MZFW4 -jumped on and imitated. NO ONE was using this futuristic style sound until after Timbaland produced and released Aaliyah's "One in a million"...
2. Timbaland bravely put out Justin Timberlake's "sexy back" and Missy bravely dropped "lose control" with Ciara in the mid 00's during a time when no uptempo dance was charting - which is what kicked off and rejumpstarted this whole new generation uptempo dance sound & trend we are currently in! It was only AFTER these two hits that a chain reaction of uptempo dance / electro-pop hits started to resurface (and eventually take over) in the mainstream! (Before that, it was just Britney Spears "toxic" and Rihanna's "S.O.S." and I guess you could include "what you waiting for" by Gwen Stefani that were nationally mainstream uptempo hits).
Lady Gaga may have perfected the electro-pop/dance sound and took it to another level. However,
if it wasn't for Timbaland and Missy to "reintroduce" the uptempo sound in the mid 00's; That door for Lady Gaga to become famous in the U.S. with her current electro style would've never happened as early as it did. Akon would've probably still been trying slower pop or hip hop and all the other artists who quickly jumped on the dance sound probably never would've even dared to go dance. Or who knows... maybe Rihanna (who actually released the uptempo "S.O.S." before Missy, Timbaland, and Black Eyed Peas officially went uptempo) would've been the one to "change the game sound". Either her, or Pitbull. Taio Cruz, Jay Sean...etc. all have Timbaland & Missy to thank because it was they who made the uptempo sound "acceptable" in the mainstream once again.
