Hip-Hop Thread Genre • Page 703

Yeah I mean there are exceptions to that, but most people aren't one of them lol

 

People who put token rap albums in an end of year list almost always say "i'm not really a rap fan, but this is really good"

 

I'm working right now and wanna say more on this. Will be back.

 

If that really is the case, you'd figure they start looking into finding more rap albums to check out after a few years of only listening to and listing the obvious choices, but they apparently don't. I personally don't really care anymore either way, it's their loss, I'm just pointing it out to underline my point that we probably won't be able to change that situation on here.

 

One of the reason why I talk about it a lot on this site is because 7 years ago I was one of those people. I didn't like any of the hip hop I heard as a teenager(Tbf I still don't like that stuff now lol) and it wasn't until I found a few albums that I did enjoy that I realised the genre was way more diverse than I previously thought, and then when I started using Spotify I was continually listening to new stuff and finding things that I liked.

Dismissing a genre with as many different styles as hip hop is just ignorant imo

 

Eh I mean they mostly still share the same basics that I guess just don't appeal to some people. I certainly do not like some genres even though I accept or even value their existence. That's not to say that those people wouldn't enjoy some rap albums, or that I wouldn't enjoy some albums coming out of genres I don't like, but often the time it would require to find those isn't really worth it to many, which I understand.

But I also think that the people that happen to not like Hip Hop probably should make more of an effort to get somewhat acquainted with the genre regardless than the people who do not like, say, metal, because metal isn't relevant whereas Hip Hop is the most dominant cultural force of its kind of the last 35 years. Even if they never listened to rap music, the world around them has been shaped by it more than they'd ever guess.

 

I personally think if you have the time to rank 50 albums for your AOTY lists you have the time to check out the top 5 hip hop albums of the year ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But clearly a lot of people don't see it that way.

 

Therein lies the issue. How do you get people so stuck in their ways to engage with music from outside their norms?

Also, I wonder if it's a nationality thing. Not even that, a regional thing. I grew up in and around South London, arguable one of the most diverse areas in the UK, so I probably was influenced by my surroundings a lot more than others. Maybe those in a rural northern village may not have as many influences. But then again, in this day and age, is that even an excuse anymore?

Basically, i'm stumped haha

 

And it's not even like it's just a rap/rnb thing either. You look at the soul thread, you look at the jazz thread, you look at the underground dance thread. All music that was created by black people and they routinely just have 5 or 6 regular contributors. You'll get the odd occasional new visitor, but they rarely stick around.

 

I don't bother with most genre threads these days because most of them have died(or never took off in the first place)

 

Genre threads are pretty much the only threads I go in because most of the music I listen to are limited to those threads.

 

I still visit genre threads a lot, just it's limited to 4 lol. A lot of the old ones that I posted in are inactive.

 

Who Dat Boy just came on shuffle and I forgot just how much I love this song omg

 

Been waiting for a new album from her

 

I think she said it’s coming soonish

 

What a miserable life it must be though. I think aside from maybe my mom and my fiancé (which I would not have met without Hip Hop), Hip Hop has literally been the most important/dominant force in my life. I can’t imagine it being any different. Like I said, it’s their loss.

 

Damn are you all role playing as AbsolutePunk circa 2008?

 

I was only a casual lurker then

 

On the real, the site has changed immensely in its opinion on hip hop/r&b in the past decade. There is absolutely a problem with visibility on this site (as shown by the EOTY lists), and I don’t know how to fix it. The hip hop community on here is much nicer than we used to be, so that gets rid of the whole gatekeeping thing that actually took place on here back in the day.

I said this in the “Do You Miss Absolutepunk” thread, but I think there is a fervor or rabidness that is missing on this site compared to AP. I rarely see new people joining and actually engaging in the forums. The most active users on the site are super active in like 1-2 threads. There’s less people to engage with or rec stuff to. Even in here, I feel like there are general consensus albums that the regulars get behind and a ton of stuff gets ignored. It’s just...what happens? Making individual threads might work. It certainly doesn’t for when I’m trying to promote an album I like, lol. It’d also begin to chip away at the community in here, I feel like. It’d just be the regs talking about an album there instead of here.

 

This is the most important point imo. The solution is definitely not to flood the forum with a bunch of threads that'll top out at 10 posts. How is it going to get more people to listen if they close the window once they read "hip hop" or "rapper"? Furthermore, with a handful of exceptions, this thread does not move that fast. Maybe a dozen new releases, from singles to full length projects, get discussed in here any given week. And if it's a newer artist, I think most people try to provide some RIYL to get people interested. This thread is always active enough that it's within the first few pages of the forum, if anyone actually wanted to acquaint themselves with the genre or discover more, they surely would have clicked by now. IT's always been a contentious issue in the 12-13 years I've been using the forum, it used to be a lot more confrontational in the old AP days though. The move to the new forum seemed to come with a bigger sense of openess, but it has mostly extended to guitar music that just carries on the tradition of what is already beloved around here. I don't know what the solution is (and there isn't one if people have no interest in being open and putting in the effort), but thinning out the discussion in the one hub for hip hop on this website definitely doesn't feel it.

 

Maybe it’s because the average age of people on the site is older than it was on AP. I remember a ton of young dumb pop punk kids (some now regulars in here lol) pushing back on hip hop and we’d get super contentious with them and, frankly, bully them about being closeminded. The whole Wonder Years thread left the site for a period of time over shit like that. And then they came out the other side more understanding and probably feeling dumb.

On here, I don’t see an explicit pushback. There isn’t the “rap is crap” bullshit on here, at least explicitly. I think it’s more that most of the users are old and set in their ways. They see that a new hip hop album by a popular artist is out/acclaimed, and they check it out and it makes lists. I doubt many of them are digging into the new styles/artists unless they get covered by a large publication. Old people!

 

I feel like this is certainly a big part of it. Like you said, most of this website base is older than it was in the AP days. Obviously this isn’t the case for everyone, but people get older, people get increased responsibilities, and not everyone is able to keep up with the never ending flow of releases like they could when they were younger. Especially not now with a lot of artists are able to drop three projects in the span of a year. With limited free time people naturally want to stick with the cream of the crop.

 

Yeah I mean it isn’t a great excuse but it’s reality: you get old and boring and set in your ways. On this site, you aren’t fighting hate or ignorance. You’re fighting apathy or burnout.

 

I still try to make an effort to listen to new releases and push myself, but that mostly happens on my commutes which I don’t do much of these days. The days of just endlessly combing through blogspots and YouTube are long gone. That’s showbiz, baby. I cannot believe I’ve been posting on some incarnation of this site for half of my entire life.

 

I’m finally checking out Jurassic 5 after being obsessed with Freedom since HS. Power In Numbers is great thus far.