Summer is done.
The festivals have sent home their crowds, the air is slowly losing its moisture, nature begins to die and the music industry looks to its fall releases to hype the consumers on the next round of super stars. I point to the intentional mentioning of nature dying because I get a similar feeling in my gut when I ponder what the likes of Drake, Waka Flaka, and Soulja Boy will bless upon our auditory senses. Doubtlessly they will all make ludicrous amounts of money and have countless followers lauding their praises, while the rest of us who seek substance and quality in our music will be left to scour the underground for a new act or to catch up on past favorites. My genuine unenthused feel towards the industry is only greatened when taking a short glance back into the summer and early fall releases.
The releases of the summer and the beginning of fall gave us a wonderful mix of terrible, corny, gimmicky, and redundant acts. These include, but are not limited to, Lil Wayne, Big Sean, Dj Khaled, Waka Flaka Flame, and Gucci Mane.
My! How the Hip-Hop gods have blessed us!
But indeed, as it is frivolous to put all your monetary hopes into the lottery, it is similarly frivolous to place your artistic hopes in the mainstream music industry and big labels. That’s why there are other options. If we look back carefully, and in-between the garbage presented to us, there were some definite rays of light in the dark dismal decay that is the hip hop industry. Bad Meets Evil graced us with ferocious lyricism, Tech N9ne added another album to his already immense and impressive catalog, Kanye and Jay-Z kept true to their personas on top of some of Kanye’s finest work producing, Kendrick Lamar created a beautifully deep and complete project with “Section 80”, and Grieves and Budo threw down their claim as rightful members of the Rhymesayers clan. Of course Bad Meets Evil and Watch the Throne are more mainstream products, but the others are independent from the monster known by the title “The Industry.” So keep in mind, as I do this fall and winter preview of Hip-Hop releases, that my lack of enthusiasm for mainstream releases is only matched by my insatiable intrigue as to what the underground can provide.
As I was perusing many a music site and blog to find out what releases were to be expected in the fall-winter window, I found myself going through comment sections and reading the same sentiment over and over; The general population really feels that this is a defining moment for Hip-Hop music.
A lot of the new millennium superstars are beginning to decline as Lil Wayne has fallen off, Eminem has done just about everything he can do, Jay-Z is more into the business side then the art, and Kanye still refuses to pull his head out of his rear-end. People seem to think we are on the verge of finding the next Hip Hop megastar and they seem to think it will come from a group including the likes of J. Cole, Drake, and Mac Miller. Once again, nature is dying and there is a strong desire within me to facepalm on behalf of the American Hip-Hop music consumer. Considering J Cole’s “Cole World” basically sounded like a repetitive imitation of Kanye West on College Drop Out, the “hopes” of hip hop seem to be very thin. I cannot put stock into an imitator or someone who sacrifices their artistic integrity to appease the masses. Which is why I cannot place much faith or enthusiasm into Drake’s and Mac Miller’s pending releases.
Drake has already cemented his persona and style as Lil Wayne’s protégé. If you spend anytime comparing the two’s music you’ll notice similar flows, delivery, and subject matter. As J Cole is to Kanye, Drake is to Wayne. It seems the industry is merely content with replacing aging artists with younger copies. It also seems that they’ve been able to pull the wool over the general populations eyes and create the guise that these are actual hip-hop artists.
I can at least hold some hope that Mac Miller will be able to stay true to his earlier releases but most of his recent tracks have shown a tendency to fall into the same worn out braggadocio style that the mainstream dictates. The Pittsburgh natives first few releases as an artist with the group Ill Spoken show his ability to make genuine hip hop music with creative flows and lyrics but his most recent tracks like Frick Park Market and Donald Trump do very little for me as a Hip-Hop head. But I will hold back on passing an even harsher judgment because this is Mac’s first album so he has yet to really show the public in which direction he wants to take his music.
There are also a lot of people on the lookout for Yelawolf’s debut release under Shady Records. I myself am very, very interested into what the Alabama rapper can do underneath a label executive, Eminem, who fully understands the importance of allowing an artist to be who they are. I haven’t really been fond of a lot of Yelawolf’s work, but it is different and jarring which are two things Hip-Hop could use.
Another name I saw mentioned a lot and that I am actually looking forward to is Wale’s “Ambition.” Wale has been fading in and out of the mainstream consciousness for the past 2 years. His last album was a mix of his unique, underground suited style and his attempts at mainstream notoriety. It should be very interesting to see what he is able to come up with and what he has learned since then. Once again, I’m hoping he is able to maintain as much of his creative licensing at possible and will be able to present a style of Hip Hop the mainstream so rarely flatters itself with. If the hopes of Hip-Hop were to lie on any of the previous artist, I would hope Wale would distinguish himself as the most viable option.
However, there is an alternative option to merely hoping that good Hip-Hop will sneak its way into the market; Consumers can actually go out and get some good Hip-Hop. There are more than a few REAL Hip-Hop groups and artists dropping albums in the underground in the coming seasons. The Roots, by far the greatest of great Hip-Hop bands, have set early December as the release date for their next project Undun. Without a doubt this will be an album that any true Hip-Hop head will pay attention to. Another album to add to the list of good Hip-Hop music to look out for would be Talib Kweli’s “Prisoner of Conscious.” If there is any need for me to explain Talib Kweli and his music I just suggest that you stop reading this article immediately and check him out. Finally, I’d like to mention that Jedi Mind Tricks are releasing another album on October 25th. I expect this project to be filled to the brim with lyricism, flow, and music to generate brain activity. There are plenty of underground or indie projects to get excited about.
Many other projects are scheduled for release on both sides of the good/bad Hip-Hop spectrum, but to cover them all would take an inane amount of time. There are definitely a number of projects that excite me enough to postpone the execution of my car’s radio but there are way too many gimmicky and plain unappetizing projects in the works that ensure my radio will remain off. Hopefully enough genuine artists can make an impact that consumers and listeners get turned on to the beauty and art of true Hip-Hop. If not? Well we can always hope this techno takeover of American pop music dethrones Hip-Hop in the minds of the greedy money mongering executive heads. And that eventually Hip-Hop will be given back to the people who love it and respect it. Until then, we have many a Hip-Hop album to look forward to in the coming fall and winter window and many an album to continue the status quo. This could well be a very interesting time for Hip-Hop music.
