I agree, the true hip hop and real rap is still around. You just don't hear them on the radio because the majority of people want to hear something catchy and a beat they can dance to. It's a shame that the artist listed above and many others, can't sell records but have the most talent. I'm sick of seeing classic albums like 'Geto Boys - The Foundation' (IMO, Best Album of 2005) can barley go gold, and trash like Bow Wow go platinum every time. Blame Cooperate America for the downfall on mainstream hip hop.
I've always disagreed with the sentiment that "real rap is dead". Please. What exactly was "real rap"? For example, you describe todays rap as being bad and cite among the reasons : "the majority of people want to hear something catchy and a beat they can dance to". That was what started rap music! Go back to the old school stuff ... I mean to the origins of 70's rap with DJ Kool Herc and others. They were just party dj's trying to hype up partygoers. Of course there were groups later that had a more serious/political bent, but are you trying to tell me stuff like Blondie's "Rapture" and Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" were anything more than catchy/dance beats? They've been saying rap/hip-hop/R&B's been dead or on the way out for 2 decades now. I think it's even more popular now.
I'm younger than some of you, and my youngest few years were spent in a rice-farming community. So the rap song that got me into it was this one: <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EMzoBkaFxh4"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EMzoBkaFxh4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
Okay, just because it was the first to hit "pop" nationwide, doesn't mean it was first. And Sugar Hill in '79 was not the first, but was the first "commercialized" one, mass-produced. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop_music It is cool to note how many kids now have no idea how young the genre is... and would call MC Hammer or Snoop Dogg "old school."
Gil Scott Heron <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AFEe187XQGk"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AFEe187XQGk" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1970) You will not be able to stay home, brother. You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out. You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip, Skip out for beer during commercials, Because the revolution will not be televised. The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox In 4 parts without commercial interruptions. The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary. The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will not be brought to you by the Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia. The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal. The revolution will not get rid of the nubs. The revolution will not make you look five pounds thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother. There will be no pictures of you and Willie May pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run, or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance. NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32 or report from 29 districts. The revolution will not be televised. There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers in the instant replay. There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers in the instant replay. There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process. There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving For just the proper occasion. Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and women will not care if Dick finally gets down with Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people will be in the street looking for a brighter day. The revolution will not be televised. There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock news and no pictures of hairy armed women liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose. The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb, Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth. The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will not be right back after a message about a white tornado, white lightning, or white people. You will not have to worry about a dove in your bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl. The revolution will not go better with Coke. The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath. The revolution will put you in the driver's seat. The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised, will not be televised, will not be televised. The revolution will be no re-run brothers; The revolution will be live.
Well, if you're gonna overlook "Subterranean Homesick Blues", you might as well go with: <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jVHE-oYRKts"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jVHE-oYRKts" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
