Are the fans of our generation getting dumber? When is the last time someone on the internet had an intelligent discussion about rap music? Music is all based on opinions, but most of the time opinions get misinterpreted as facts or insults. And most of the time people can’t see other point of views than their own, and totally dismiss other peoples opinions. Apparantly everyone on the internet is a professional critic nowadays. You have the right to like and dislike whoever you want, but at least be reasonable. Sometimes it’s entertaining to see so many silly arguments about rap artists, but I feel like the ignorance level is just too high. Also, this could apply to any genre, but since we’re more familiar with rap, I’m going to use rap examples.

Here are some examples on why I believe many fans are dumb:

1. Artist is as bad as worst song.

Have you ever seen or been a part of a discussion where someone says a rapper is terrible while showing their worst track to back up their claim? I’ve seen this plenty times, and I’m still astonished by it. The whole ordeal of claiming an artist is terrible and only previewing one track to prove that, is a way of trying to place one’s own opinion on someone else. This is a way of trying to bring down an artist and make them out to be trash or untalented, when in most cases it’s not true at all.

Hating on Lil Wayne seems to be really popular lately, so I’ll use him as an example. Some people claim that Lil Wayne is a terrible rapper, and they like to show a song like How to Love to back up their statement. It’s quite obvious that Wayne is bad right now, but he made legit tracks back in the past, so it’s wrong to say that he’s the worst rapper of all time. But to push that one song to somehow prove that’s the best Wayne has to offer, is rather foolish. Don’t judge a rapper’s whole career based on one song. Also, if you don’t like someone, just don’t listen to them. As simple as that.

2. Only listening to underground or mainstream.

Saying, “I only listen to underground rap,” is a strange thing to say. Enjoying listening to someone who is underground or mainstream is alright, but listening to an artist based on where they stand in the commercial level is pretty jaded.

It seems that some people say this so they don’t get grouped with the Young Money fans and don’t want to look like posers. But it goes both ways. There are also people who believe that if an artist is being played on the radio, they must be good. Which means they will only listen to certain artists if they’re on the radio. Just because a song is commercial, does not mean it’s bad and vica versa. Just because an artist is underground, does not neccessarily mean that he’s good and vica versa. It’s okay to listen to rap music from both commercial levels.

3. Stops listening after rapper gains popularity.

Some people loves listening to rappers that are under the radar for some reason. It’s like people just don’t want to listen to what the majority listens to, and wants to be ‘'different’‘.

Lets take Tech N9ne as an example. Tech N9ne has been making music for over a decade. Last year he finally caught some mainstream attention, with the release of his succesful album All 6’s & 7’s. I’ve seen comments from people saying they would stop listening to Tech N9ne if his songs appear on the radio. But his fans enjoys his music, why would they stop listening to him if he becomes big and appears on the radio? Like his songs are going to change the minute they appear on the radio. To stop listening to someone because they gain popularity is lame.

4. Judging someone based on favorite rapper.

Honestly, what is the first you think of when a person who says Gucci Mane is their favorite artist? You don’t know everything that guy listens to, but people automatically think they are stupid fans who doesn’t listen to good rap. Just because someone says they like 2Pac does not mean they can’t also be a Gucci Mane fan. A diverse taste is good.

5. If you don’t like artist, you don’t know genre.

A lot of people believe Tupac is the best to do it. (Some even believe he’s the one who created hip hop, but that ignorance is another case.) Saying you don’t like Pac through a comment on a website? Oh man, all of a sudden you don’t know rap. After a comment like that your opinions don’t matter no more, because appearantly you don’t know rap if you don’t like Tupac.

6. Being a “true” hip hop fan.

This is a statement that I find very foolish. How someone believes in such a thing is beyond me. Take Nas for example. His debut album Illmatic is considered the greatest album of all time. I love that album, but it’s not my favorite album by any means. So if someone doesn’t rank Illmatic on the top of their list, they are not ‘'true’‘ fans? What happened to liking an artist because you like their music?

When I’m on came out by Trae, many people made comments about how this was the “real” Wiz Khalifa and not that commercial Khalifa. Basically, if you don’t like “real” Wiz, you’re not a true fan. Does that make sense? Labeling others based on what songs they listen to as a “real” or “true” fan? No, it doesn’t.

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10. I listened to an artist before you.

The good old OG fans of an artist. As if you’re superior to others just because you listened to them first, or you’ve been following them since the start. Busta Rhymes‘ verse in Look At Me Now was the first time for some to have heard of him. On YouTube there were a lot of foolish comments such as, “Like if you are not a hop-on and have been listening to Busta since E.L.E.” Congratulations. You listened to him first. So what? Does that make you better? They’re not’‘true fans’‘ because you heard Busta first? That everyone else is a hop-on because they finally got a chance to listen to an artist? Why aren’t you happy that Busta is getting new fans?

There are probably tons of other examples, but this is what I could think of at the moment. I just got the sudden urge to address this topic.

How do YOU feel about this?

(original article by Jordan Rainey of MakeSmartCool; RG version co-authored by ScopeY)