Diggin' Into Hip Hop Suckage (Part 1)

We have talked before about current hip hop suckage.  I know I'm old, but at least one friend 10 years my junior has some of the same thoughts about this.  Classic rap just has more lyricism, better beats, smarter samples, the whole thing.

But, today I ran into this article from the Austin Chronicle and felt like it was time to get deeper into the subject.  I think the author has a great thesis - Hip Hop has suffered because it used to be influenced by pre-rap black culture - the blues, R&B, soul, etc. - but now it is only in a terminal loop of being informed by itself.  New rappers weren't raised on Motown and James Brown, they were raised on Death Row and Bad Boy.

One thing that the author laments is the lack of data to back up the generalized claim that "hip hop sucks nowadays."  Obviously, there is no gauge to actually measure suckage, but I wonder if there aren't at least data points, maybe available in that cool infographic thing I wrote about the other day, that could shed light on the changes over time.

First, no doubt, Spearman is correct that the fear of sampling classic music changed the sound of rap music.  The case cited - Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records Inc. - came out in December 1991.  The case found that Biz Markie illegally infringed on Gilbert O'Sullivan's copyright for his song "Alone Again (Naturally)."

The usage is obvious - this isn't one of those like "Blurred Lines" where the judge just has to get a feeling of the original, you can hear the sample and the copied lyrics right away.  But isn't this is just a fair use of the original?  Seems like a new interpretation of the song.  I dunno copyright law at all, but my personal feeling is that this kind of thing should be allowed in music so that we get cool new music (like Girl Talk, who is kick ass).  But without a doubt, since that ruling, the general underlying sound of rap music has changed.

More to come as I get time to write about it, but I'm going to dive into why hip hop now has suckage. At first blush, there are the data points I think I'll dive into:

1. Sampling/Beats
2. Lyrics
3. Longevity/Impact

I may figure out other ways to look at and measure suckage, but those are the ones I have in mind so far.  Stay tuned.