Photo by Dean Rose on Unsplash

Every now and again, when a new wave of rap hits the mainstream, there is always another round of discussion accusing the new rappers of killing the culture, and bringing shame on the genre by neglecting to appreciate and follow in the path of ‘real hip hop’.

Whilst I am a hip hop fan myself, if there is one thing, I don’t believe in, its that there was a specific time when hip hop was real. Hip Hop has always been what it was, a form of expression whether it be artistic, comedic or even political. The main issue here is that we fans seem to think that we can expertly remember the past and use that to judge music we listen to in the future.

“A person in a headwrap listens to music on white Beats by Dre headphones” by Mpumelelo Macu on Unsplash

The first music that we hear and use as a soundtrack to our life’s experiences, frames for us, the rest of the music we will hear later on life. Those first experiences set the tone for how we judge music for the rest of our life.Our memories are not purposed to remember everything that happens.

How we recall events depends on if we give those events any special attention. In every era of rap, there is different styles, some of it is serious political rap at other times its rap meant for the strip club. But we don’t always remember the many different styles because they are on the edge of our consciousness, and therefore we block them out of our memories, as they seem to not hold any special interest to us.

We are only ever remember some parts of our past experiences. And they mostly revolve around the experiences that made us feel good.

Every new wave of rap is different even if they sound similar to past waves. Each generation is living life in set of different circumstances. For example Public Enemy in their career tied themselves to the Nation of Islam teachings, it was perceived as a way for black people to feel empowered. Nowadays any connection to Islam for a rapper is more likely to be downplayed.

We as music fans are more critical of the music and artists that seems unfamilar to us. When a rapper calls himself Lil Xan, its unfamilar, and it doesnt conform to the set image we have in our heads of a rapper. This is regardless of whether he has talent or not.

Each generation of rap has its upsides and downsides. Right now the new wave — clout rap, is generating alot of criticism for their style more than their substance. What should also be looked at is how they are capable of turning their lives into a compelling show that connects to their audience. These rappers can beef with each other on the internet and draw in an audience of over 180,000 on a livestream, or like Cardi B they can earn millions by being able to connect to their audience in a way that feels geniune and makes the audience feel good.

Becasue we are guided by our past experiences when we listen to new music, we jump to conclusions when the music is unfamiliar. Meaning that we tend to believe, activities such as trolling online will always lead out to violent outcomes. Not realising that because there is a cultural environment with a different set of circumstances. The increased media attention on rap dissaudes those type of behaviours because of the negative attention it brings and potential loss of income.

Hip hop is still broadly the same, it will always include rap beefs, flamboyant showmanship, socially aware artists, and innovative use of technology. The question of whether it was ever real or not is more to do with if the new music matches up to our version of the past . That is subjective and it depends on how you feel at any particular moment in life. If music connects with us in a geniune manner and makes us feel good, its hard to forget and its what feels real.