Hip-Hop is Dead?

Commonplace #2: Hip-Hop is Dead.


Many people that were there for or apart off the  original hip-hop movement argue that "Hip-Hop is Dead". In the late '80s, there was such a diversity (in hip-hop)...You had choices. That doesn't exist anymore (Dawkins)." The glorification of drugs, guns, money and violence in today's hip-hop lyrics is the main reason for this. Many people who feel "educated" on the hip-hop culture have made this arguement and there are a number of articles on the internet, in magazines and even debates on this idea.

I find it interesting that people think "Hip-Hop is Dead" when the success of hip-hop artists like Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy and Young Money just to name a few would have you think otherwise. These artists definitely have the money and the fame to prove that wrong as well. Its a given that the original intentions of the hip-hop genre have dramatically changed but declaring hip-hop dead just doesn't seem sensible. The outbreak of multiple hip-hop artists each year leads me to believe that there's no way 'Hip-Hop is Dead".


Sources:

Walter Dawkins. Is Hip-Hop Dead? Hip Hop Commentary.Web.