Complex: Will You '90s Babies Shut Up and Admit Rap Was 100 Times Better in the '90s?

Zigefresh · February 19

http://m.complex.com/music/2013/02/will-you-90s-babies-shut-up-and-admit-rap-was-100-times-better-in-the-90s/

Wait, you really, actually, seriously think hip-hop is better today?

You don't have to be old to know how that's complete nonsense.

Sure, there's a lot of great technology and a lot of free music. But the signal-to-noise ratio is preposterous, and much of what's made music easy to access and cheaper than ever hasn't made things any more enjoyable. If anything, it's made the task of hunting down the good stuff even more laborious, proliferating some of the worst parts of the culture.

And no, we're not Bitter Old Heads; all of us write about new rap daily, and have no problem finding new rap worth listening to. But there's plenty of other things missing from today's hip-hop that we took for granted back in the day. Now that they're gone, it's become so obvious how much better things used to be. As such, one small request:

Will You '90s Babies Stop It—Just Stop This—Shut Up, and Admit Rap Was 100 Times Better in the '90s?

(You probably won't. But we can still talk at you.)

LIKE COMPLEX MUSIC ON FACEBOOK

Already Home_17 · February 19

as a 90s baby, I have yet to hear my peers say today's music is better than what dropped in the 90s

but there's something to be said about enjoying what we have now, bcuz good music is still out there, than bitch about how it used to be

A1000MILES · February 19

Imma kick Complex ass when I see em in the street...Scrait up...

Oceanic · February 19

90s babies can listen to whatever the fuck they want to. It's their opinion.

DNB1 · February 19

Lol...co-sizzle.

Just looking through my iPod..40 albums/mixtapes...the oldest is Cole album...

I listen to new music...

But I whole heartedly co-sign.

I remember (off the top of my head) sitting listen to Big Pun first album in pure amazement when I first heard it...just don't get that feeling no more.

First example that came to my head but there was many, many more.

Lou Cypher · February 19

Im a 90's baby and i already knew this fact.

PK_TK_187 · February 19

2000s til now music shits on 90s music though

blackrain · February 19

Already Home_17 wrote: »

as a 90s baby, I have yet to hear my peers say today's music is better than what dropped in the 90s

but there's something to be said about enjoying what we have now, bcuz good music is still out there, than bitch about how it used to be

The music that dropped in the 90's overall was better and of more quality. Today's music suffers from the fact that EVERYBODY can put out a record. The old stereotype of everybody wanting to be a rapper in the 90's still existed, but with the internet letting anybody with a mic in their laptop put out a song, the quantity of music started outweighing the quality. In the 90's a nigga like Souljah Boy still existed making songs in his bed room...only thing is those shitty songs would have stayed in his home computer and not put out for the world to hear

unspoken_respect · February 19

Complex is right but they are usually wrong.

idoitforhiphop10 · February 19

Born in 1990, and I c/s this shit.

blackgod813 · February 19

Its just don't got that old feeling I feel myself drifting to Kelly to green to Hamilton to prince to Kem to Maxwell ........they Aint no new fake deathrow that's wat I need..........the most interesting thing in hiphop is zone six dissin niggas an Ross narrowly escaping with his life at every turn...them URL niggas are more interesting then actual musik

MikeydaGawd · February 19

I never met anyone who says this rap better than 90s rap. And I know niggas who don't even listen to rap from the 90s

blackgod813 · February 19

MikeydaGawd wrote: »

I never met anyone who says this rap better than 90s rap. And I know niggas who don't even listen to rap from the 90s

Wat type of niggas don't listen to tupac? Who raising them sukas

Nah Son · February 19

Will those nerdy ass Complex faggots shut the hell up with their smartass articles and weirdo lists

They are right on this though

Makaveli Joker · February 19

Remember when certain albums had you in awe over how much of a masterpiece of music they were?

Todays hip hop fans have no idea what that feeling is like

Bklyn's_OX_KING · February 19

I agree with that article 100%

P. Town · February 19

I really don't care

Bklyn's_OX_KING · February 19

We weren't so quick to call every album a classic

Ever heard of the cognitive bias known as the availability cascade? Basically, it goes: Repeat something simple and superficially insightful, and repeat it long enough, and at some point it'll be accepted as truth. You wanna know what's bad about having a stupid, bombastic opinion early into an album's release? Rushing to judgement urges other people to rush to judgement, which then creates wildly curved and inaccurate consensus, which can then drive the direction of would-be artists. That direction? To create contrived, first-impression classics. Also, it's just a conversation that makes us all stupider.

Availability Cascade, I like that phrase

andre_1024 · February 19

Makaveli Joker wrote: »

Remember when certain albums had you in awe over how much of a masterpiece of music they were?

Todays hip hop fans have no idea what that feeling is like

I get what you're trying to say, but I don't agree with it..shit I can name 3 albums that dropped in 2012 that were "masterpieces"

Already Home_17 wrote: »

as a 90s baby, I have yet to hear my peers say today's music is better than what dropped in the 90s

This..

Bklyn's_OX_KING · February 19

We went to music stores to get music.

Tapes rocked 'til tapes popped. CDs scratched and skipped. Richer sounding vinyl required constant attention or it warped like neglected children. And for all these headaches, a tangible music collection could also have your spot looking like an episode of Hoarders. Still, as these technologies went the way of the woolly mammoth, hip-hop lost something important: the music store.

Every community needs a place to gather, share information, and debate. Until the digital revolution, famed shops like Manhattan's Fat Beats, Brooklyn's Beat Street Records, L.A.'s VIP Records, and lesser-known but equally important local fixtures were musical Meccas where rap heads made weekly pilgrimages to cop new releases (when "first" actually meant something), be put up on artists, watch in-store performances, hop in freestyle ciphers, and kick it with people who shared their passion for boom-bap.

The Internet provides the simulacrum of the record shop experience now with social networks and music databases, but connecting (in the loosest sense of the word) to 100 million people in isolation via "likes," RTs, comments sections, and tag-driven links to other artist pages pales in comparison to looking someone in the eye and giving them a pound. Not to mention, it might get you catfished

Makaveli Joker · February 19

andre_1024 wrote: »

Makaveli Joker wrote: »

Remember when certain albums had you in awe over how much of a masterpiece of music they were?

Todays hip hop fans have no idea what that feeling is like

I get what you're trying to say, but I don't agree with it..shit I can name 3 albums that dropped in 2012 that were "masterpieces"

Already Home_17 wrote: »

as a 90s baby, I have yet to hear my peers say today's music is better than what dropped in the 90s

This..

Name em

Lil Loca · February 19

Feelings were caught. As expected. Anyways, this shit was on point.

P. Town · February 19

Lil Loca wrote: »

Feelings were caught. As expected. Anyways, this shit was on point.

Go on somewhere Big Bertha

Bklyn's_OX_KING · February 19

Social media hadn't yet ruined rapper mystique

The more you know, the less you wish you knew. Social media has enabled a level of embarrassing over-sharing and self-promotion from rappers who, in previous eras, were more content to keep their knowledge jewels to tape. And it made them more interesting for it; Rakim wasn't getting into tweet-beef with Big Daddy Kane, and Kool Moe Dee wasn't subtweeting LL Cool J. The mystery that surrounded your favorite rapper made their music all the more interesting, made you focus on the lyrics. They were rappers, not performance artists; today, a Riff Raff fan is more likely to quote his twitter than his music. In hip-hop, less is more; it's just not the same watching Cormega livetweet a basketball game. Actually, on second thought, watching 'Mega livetweeting is one of the rare examples of this working out for the better.

Bklyn's_OX_KING · February 19

Figuring out the meaning to lyrics was a personal process of decoding and discovery.

You know what one of the great thrills of listening to rap is? Decoding it. Picking it apart, bar by bar, going deeper and deeper into a record. Taking the entire sound in, and savoring the work that was put into creating it. It yielded an appreciation for the artistry put into lyricism, an appreciation that's been diluted if not completely endangered via the immediate gratification of lyrics websites (which have also made everyone and their mom a Rap Genius, pun fully intended). Smart rap fans worked to enjoy their rap. Now, you don't have to work for shit: Just Google it. And that will, in the long run, make rap fans stupider. And we get the rap we deserve. In other words: If you think Tumblr Rap is bad now, wait until it has its own Grammy category. And then enjoy Googling its lyrics.

Bklyn's_OX_KING · February 19

Rappers didn't talk about their "brand" or do corporate-sponsored showcases

And corporate sponsorships, much less corporate-sponsored showcases? Sorry, DJ Quik wasn't playing any bar mitzvahs in the '90s, much less Wal-Mart Jam 2013. Aside from Sprite and A Tribe Called Quest and a handful of others (mostly liquor sponsorships), corporations didn't want rappers pushing their product. In fact, in the early '90s, companies ran from hip-hop like it stole something (which it probably did). Reasonable Doubt-era Jay-Z wasn't a businessman (not that kind at least), or a business, man, and he didn't break bread with Warren Buffett, Jimmy Buffett, or any of those other Buffets from middle America.

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Complex: Will You '90s Babies Shut Up and Admit Rap Was 100 Times Better in the '90s?

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