Smooth Sunday. Post your smooth tracks here. - HipHop

So, I know I don't have to recap the whole "mumble rap" movement because it's talked about almost constantly any time an artist from the current wave is brought up, but I will just for the sake of getting all my thoughts out and making a complete post. And note, when I say mumble rap movement I'm talking about the people who use the phrase, not the artists they're disparaging.

Two of the most ubiquitous examples of this so called mumble rap are Lil Uzi Vert and Lil Yachty. Although they've been around longer and have larger musical repertoires, Young Thug and Future are also prime examples.

People usually point to lazy song writing and delivery as ear marks of a diminished quality of music with these artists. They deride them for their shirking of Hip Hop norms (whether in terms of fashion, or song composition, or the sound of their voice), and claim that by making music for the purpose of moving crowds rather than focusing on meaningful lyrics that they are contributing to a supposed deterioration of Hip Hop as a whole.

A lot of the hate I see from people outside the community is the same hate all but the most palatable Hip Hop artists receive, so it's not unprecedented. They talk about Hip Hop being dumb and party music and other than "a few good ones" most rappers are just thugs, etc.

From within the community there's hate from back packers of course, but I also see hate that's tinged with some homophobic overtones. One key factor about this new generation of rappers is they're reflecting the shift in society's concept of masculinity and a decent portion of the Hip Hop community is definitely reacting negatively.

Not that any of this controversy and hate has slowed their success. Lil Uzi Vert and Lil Yachty are immensely popular right now, and more so everyday. In 2016 and 2017 so far, Uzi and Yachty have gone from practically no names outside the most dedicated Hip Hop communities (yes, HHH counts) to easily two of the most prominent rappers of the moment. Now, no one can speak to their longevity of course, but the point remains.

Point:

So, all of that to say, I've been a big fan of Uzi and Yachty for awhile now (huge fan of Hip Hop all my life and I mean all styles and sub genres, sans the more niche shit like horrorcore or grindcore) and all the hate they've been getting has been pissing me off because I've felt like it was unfair for a number of reasons. However, as I said in the title, I've been watching The Get Down and Hip Hop Evolution on Netflix (both highly recommended btw) and something occurred to me.

Most of the arguments people make about Lil Uzi or Lil Yachty (or Young Thug or Future or who ever) destroying Hip Hop by dressing flamboyantly or making music purely for entertainment value fall completely fucking flat in the scope of Hip Hop history.

When Hip Hop started all it was, was a dude behind a turntable making sure the records keep to the breakdown so the crowd can get wild. Then a dude picked up a mic and started using his words to move the crowd. It was all a show. It was all for entertainment. You said whatever the hell you wanted as long as you and the DJ sounded hype as fuck.

Then I see these performances by guys like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and these dudes are getting on stage dressed wild as hell. These dudes looking like the fucking village people or some shit. Melle Mel rocking leather cut outs with chains and shit. But they fucking created the sound man.

But now a days you get somebody like Uzi or Yachty who says they're just having fun moving the crowd, and people wanna demonize them and say they're destroying Hip Hop. Listeners get wrapped up in a dope ass beat and forgive shallow lyrics if they compliment the track and create a dope cohesive piece. And then people get pissed because they're "only here for the beats."

I understand Hip Hop has gone through a lot of changes since the block parties of the '70s, but what I don't understand is acting like these new school guys are the first ones to ever make Hip Hop without taking themselves so god damn seriously.

Just my two cents.

submitted by /u/chrisnesbitt_jr
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[FRESH] Meek Mill - Glow Up

Posted: 21 May 2017 08:30 PM PDT

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/glow-up/id1238781349

submitted by /u/iownyourpublishing
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Danny Brown - Lost

Posted: 21 May 2017 11:56 AM PDT

submitted by /u/JakeShock7
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Lil Uzi Vert smoking to Celine Dion at the BBMAs

Posted: 21 May 2017 08:08 PM PDT

submitted by /u/CamSully
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