Da Bodega  

Hip Hop for the most part, in my opinion, SUCKS now-a-days.

Now, I don't mean all of it, but the people that are getting the most exposure from it just don't hit me like that. It's all strictly fast food type of sh**, meaning that it's good for the moment but otherwise that's it. It's hollow.

And I'm talking all over the US (thank God overseas they still rep the form the right way). Now I personally like guys like Kanye and 50 but as I've become an older hip hop head, I find myself digging deeper and deeper into the "underground" and independent level to find stuff that either speaks to me or really hits me.

Hey man, I'm sorry but I don't want to party like a rock star, while I'm ballin, telling my boy to superman that ho cause she f**king with a duffle bag boy cause he so krispy. 
It ain't popping like that over here.

I mean, c'mon now?!? Remember when Hammer and Vanilla Ice had every credible MC calling them out for the bullsh*t Hip Hop image they were selling to the mainstream back in the day. Sorry, but if that same mentality were in full effect today, Soulja would be dead in the water.
It also doesn't help that many of these young cats have no idea about those who came before them unless it's a HUGE artist like OutKast or Dr. Dre. C'mon man.  

It just irks me to be listening to hip-hop that I KNOW under different circumstances would hit were it not for the fact that radio and TV caters to a niche audience now they force feed what THEY want. Don't believe me, Method Man, De La Soul, and the Beatnuts were all told by BET that their music was no longer relevant to their audience. I mean, they never had a shot with new stuff. And rumor has it that there is a list of others as well that are established but ignored based off of that excutive opinion.
What happend when shows like Video Music Box would even give a new video a shot mulitple times before legit sales would dicatate that said artist isn't hot? Anyone remember Missy Elliot's 1st video on there with her old group "Sista"? They flopped but they had a fair shot though. That does not happen today.
Better yet, remember Kurious? Dude was dope, album was solid and I know in NY, many of my people felt that album was a classic to us and he had 3 VIDEOS!!!! His label felt it was a flop but they tried...what happened from then to now????

I know I'm preaching like an Oral Roberts type hater, but I just need to vent.

It's just I'm tired of the lack of originality, the lack of a true effort to put together a hot ALBUM, the lack of  lyrical options being pushed by labels today cause in '95 you had laid back hip hop selling as much as the hardcore stuff as much as just the fun stuff. It was when "SummerTime" had as much spins as any Wu-Tang, unlike now where it feels that unless it some "thug sh*t"... it's a new dance song (and I ain't hating on any coast or area, cause that damn "Chicken Noodle Soup" came from a NY crew).

Check out a song like this, Saigon's "Come On Baby". If this came out 10 years ago, it probably would have been a huge hit in rap circles. Instead it now builds upon a ongoing buzz  for Saigon and it used heavily for mixCd's instead of getting proper treatment of a possible hit single.

Better yet, Ghostface Killah's "Big Doe Rehab" (or even his last album "FishScale"). Those were well put together solid albums of the hardcore variety. They should have went gold if not platinum. Shit, you ask me, they should be ranked up there with the "purple tape"...YEAH I SAID IT, Raekwon's "Only Built for Cuban Links" for those wondering what the hell the "purple tape" is. Raekwon's album is held up as a classic album altogether, and Ghost who has been delivering great material, is not getting the proper respect.  

And for those who claim that time is past, the old sh*t is just that, OLD...well have you heard the burn that Mary J's remix of "Just Fine" was getting lately? It has Swizz Beats lacing up the Chubb Rock "Treat Em' Right" beat and  Lil Wayne killin a verse while he pays respect and props up Chubb in his own respect with the flow & rhyme style. Also, "Treat Em Right" is about 15 years old and people are feeling it. 

Man sh*t just sucks now. I really hope that things do go in circles and that the style I grew up on comes back around soon so the bullsh*t gets pushed up to the side.
Big Ups for cats who I feel still carry that torch and put out dope sh*t to this day:
Black Moon and the Boot Camp Clik
Joel Ortiz
Common
Skillz 
Talib
...sh*t there is too much too mention, they just don't get their proper mainstream shine.

What brought this on you may ask...well I was hanging with some DJ friends while they were doing a gig this past weekend (what up Sid, 'Teef, & Will) and noticed that a mainly white suburban crowd was feeling and rocking to Hip-Hop from the 90's with a whole "You playing MY SH*T!" vibe that you just don't see anymore. SHEET...nigg*s were making requests for cuts like "DWYCK"(Gangstarr w/Nice & Smooth), it don't go down like that with newer sh*t, or am I just not seeing it? 

Let me end this now, cause I can go on for days. Right now I'm back on the hunt for hot sh*t like the radio re-edit of "Sound Bwoy Buriell" and Das Efx "Caught in Da AK" Premo remix...that is when hip hop was dope you young-un's!
 
(Check YouTube for some of these artist, you'll be amazed what is out there. Sh*t, I'll even make recommendations if ya ask right)