I think Rap / Hip-Hop Music is fading out

[bsmooth]

Rap's breakout was 1979 with "Rappers Delight", but it goes back to the early 70's with DJ Kool Herc credited as starting it in NYC. So after almost 30 years since it's breakout, I doubt it will fade out anytime soon.
Besides there is a difference between hip-hop and rap, and the underground scene is very much alive and vibrant. You can find many artists who don't brag about bitches, booty, bling, and killing, instead they rap about much more diverse subjects to include some very astute political observations.

[Brian Fein]

The other thing that ruins live Rap concerts is when the artist brings out his entire crew of 350 staff and personnel, and every second is filled with someone screaming "Yeah!", "Uh-Huh", "What?", "uh-uh-uh!!".

I think there's alot to be said to this.  Rap shows live are unwatchable cause they always have to bring their posse out with them, or they'll look stupid on stage with no band.  just dumb.

The only good rap show I've ever seen was Run DMC at Fau Freaker's Ball in 1999.  It was amazing, and I'm sad that I didn't appreciate the greatness more at the time.  I never thought that I was watching legends do their thing for a coupla thousand people in my school's gym.

That said - The Roots is by far my favorite hip-hop act today.  They're actual musicians, and it comes through.  Timbaland, though, is an AMAZING producer and has provided some of the funkiest beats I've ever heard.  Dre's not too bad either, but alot of his stuff is starting to sound alike these days.

[ADeadSmitty]

I agree with a lot of the opinions on this thread -- especially that rap concerts suck compared to rock concerts. It's just not as exciting to see someone rap in person as it is to see a rock band, IMO.

But there is some interesting stuff being done in hip-hop. I like a lot of Dan the Automator's projects, especially Deltron 3030.

Edit: I also like Atmosphere.

[jtex316]

I understand that there are a lot of rappers and that there is a huge following.

However, you have to look at it, Bar-Graph style:
               _                                                    _           _     _
               _     _     _                                      _           _     _     _
               _     _     _           _                  _     _    _     _     _     _
               _     _     _     _    _            _    _     _    _     _     _     _     _
               _     _     _     _    _     _     _    _     _    _     _     _     _     _     _
               _     _     _     _    _     _     _    _     _    _     _     _     _     _     _
        _     _     _     _     _    _     _     _    _     _    _     _     _     _     _     _
  _    _     _     _     _     _    _     _     _    _     _    _     _     _     _     _     _
  _    _     _     _     _     _    _     _     _    _     _    _     _     _     _     _     _     
  _    _     _     _     _     _    _     _     _    _     _    _     _     _     _     _     _

'90  '91  '92  '93  '94  '95  '96  '97  '98  '99  '00  '01  '02  '03  '04  '05  '06

The what I think of rap's popularity ASCII bar graph.

The taller the bar, the more popular rap / hip-hop is for that year, based strictly on my opinion and using no factual or statistical data.

In the very early 90's, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg dominated everything.  Then there was a decent, but not spectacular period of time in Rap, and it would have been higher, but the "east vs. west" crap drew a lot of heat to rap, and made people who hated rap hate it even more.  However in the 2000's with Eminem exploding with his super controversial lyrics, it brought a ton of brand new fans into the rap / hip-hop genre that weren't there before. 

However, my prediction ASCII bar graph shows that rap's overall popular status is on the decline.  I don't predict another big rise as we saw in the 2000's, because I just don't think there is another Eminem out there.  I mean he's pretty much used up all of the "shock" and "scandal" type stuff with his lyrics and personal life, it would be pretty hard to come so far over the top of that that you would be revered like Elivs.  And if you fell short, you would be mocked and ridiculed as a "Eminem wanna-be".

Yes, the overall popular status of a genre's music depends on a ultra-mega star exploding onto the scene and creating a massive change in music, like Eminem did, like Dr. Dre and Snoop did in the early 90's.  It happens in rock, too.  Nirvana came out in 1991 and killed the Metal / Hard Rock scene for a long time.  Like MC Hammer was more of a Pop Artist, and killed off the teeny-bobber, Michael jackson / Step by Step type bullshit.  But like I said about cycles, both hard rock and boy bands resurfaced in a big way in the late 90's.

**** Special Note: If you disagree or don't like my bar graph, eat my c***.  This is my opinion, not taken from any facts (and no please don't put in 1997's rap album sales figures, I don't care).  And yes, I know my bar graph is crooked - you try making an ASCII thing like that by simply using this message box insertion form field.