The mid-90’s saw 2Pac Shakur and Biggie as the principal actors in the costliest rap beef in history. Well, Hell can’t be worse than this, ‘cause I’m in Hell nowĭon’t make me hurt you, I don’t want to, but I will”ġ997 came at the end of the most costly and representative rap beef of all time: 1997 meant coming to terms with the death of hip-hop’s two biggest voices. I’m bustin’ on these motherfuckers in my madness So I stay thuggin’ with a passion, forever blastin’ Is there a future for a killer? I change my waysīut still that don’t promise me the next day Nowhere to run, I’m in terror, and no one caresĪ closed casket at my funeral and no one’s there I thought I had friends, but in the end a nigga dies lonely Then tell me, am I lost? ‘Cause I’m lonely “I see visions of me dead, Lord, are you there? The answer lies in the three most pivotal years in hip hop’s evolution – each a decade apart. Punch’s tweet forces us to grapple with the way hip-hop has changed, leaving us to try and determine how and why that change has occurred. So, Punch’s tweet leaves us with a question beyond whether he is joking.
And just ten years before that battle, gangsta rap reached its most dominant and tragic peak. In 2007, gangsta rap lost its biggest battle with the entire world watching. In today’s world, many contemporary rappers seem to pride themselves on their ability to deliver emotionally raw and mentally unfiltered projects as opposed to the rugged testimonies represented in hip-hop’s past.Ģ017 was the culmination of this evolution – but understanding hip-hop’s place in the decades prior is crucial to understanding it. We exist in a time when melody seems to have a higher premium than lyricism. Jay-Z is a veteran of G rap, but in 2018 he looks at the streets’ seemingly unproductive and backwards tenants and can only declare them to be “done”. On the album’s track “Talk Up”, Jay-Z raps “Y’all killed X and let Zimmerman live / Streets is done”. The biggest releases in recent years have mostly shed the stories of embattled street lives that hip-hop once relied upon.ĭrake’s Scorpion was just released as a sprawling double album with one half R&B and the other half rap, little of which harkens whatsoever gangsta rap legends like NWA or Ice-T. No matter how innocuous Punch’s tweet intends to be, there is an undeniable trend here. Punch, president of TDE, is joking right? Probably – but there is a grain of truth in every joke. Rock is gonna take it back to the street for a lil while. Hard-edged rap like that just doesn’t sell anymore. Not only would the music seem out of touch, but you probably wouldn’t even hear it – and not just because of the dated production. Now let’s flip the picture: imagine a young group of artists releasing Straight Outta Compton in today’s music scene. Not only would the music would seem totally out of place, but he’d be straight up laughed out of the room. And Mobb Deep’s Prodigy delivers on the threat with his astonishing first verse: “Rock you in your face, stab your brain with your nose bone…” It’s the kind of thing that should get you locked up for life.Imagine if Drake released his record-breaking album Scorpion in 1988, the year Straight Outta Compton hit the airwaves. It’s the sound of a looming threat that could exist in any era. II” so timeless is that it’s also somewhat generic. II,” Mobb Deep’s Havoc combined three equally mercurial jazz samples: Herbie Hancock’s “Jessica,” “Daly-Wilson Big Band’s “Dirty Feet” and Quincy Jones “Kitty With The Bent Frame.” The songs are so obscure (at least to hip hop fans), their presence in the track remained somewhat of a mystery for a decade and a half. II.” That slow drum beat and those sirens seemingly ripped out of a horror film. There’s something immediately terrifying about “Shook Ones, Pt.
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