Everything sounds the same, it’s continuous reiterations of something that has been done before. It’s not poetic like Tupac was, it’s largely disingenuous posturing by people with little to zero talent. I play an actual instrument, lucky enough to be good enough to be a hired gun and play gigs where I have to learn dozens of songs in a few days. I’m not feigning to be better than anyone, but shitting nonsensical lyrics into a microphone is not “talent”.
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You must never have listened to cousins by ye
gucci flip flops clears every tupac song.
You can tell any genre is dying when a single act is relevant for decades, hip hop just like rock and adjacent genres used to be quite the flavor of the month.
> it’s continuous reiterations of something that has been done before.
To be fair, that’s literally all music. There are literally only 12 notes. How many songs are out there?
i WISH it was
Ngl, I wouldn’t mind hearing something else in the mainstream. What’s popular isn’t actually what people want, it’s only what the entertainment industry offers us.
Of all the rappers you could’ve named, Tupac has to be the most basic cop out possible. Wu Tang, Mobb Deep, Nas, Kendrick Lamar, Black Thought, Big Pun, J Cole, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Common, the list goes on. This isn’t a knock on Tupac at all, but if you’re gonna write up such a non-controversial statement, at least be more creative with it.
No, it’s just wrong, it’s a genre that’s been there for over 60 years now. Just because you don’t think it’s a “talent” doesn’t mean it’s dying, or that people don’t enjoy it. What you’re describing is freestyle. Which is only one type of rap. But even then, JuiceWRLD was a freestyle artist and still has millions of monthly listeners.
> I’m not feigning to be better than anyone, but shitting nonsensical lyrics into a microphone is not “talent”
That could describe a lot artists, past and present.
And, let’s be real here, rap isn’t dying. Rap has evolved to music you can enjoy without the lingering guilt of “this music isn’t for me because I’ve never been in the trenches like that”
And truth be told, mainstream rock and alternative, among other genres have done so little in terms of innovation over the last 10-20 years.
So, upvote, even if this can be boiled down to some charlatan view of “durrr music aint what it once was”
Nah, it’s a SLOW dying genre. I loved old school hip-hop, but I also loved blues country metal pop etc. Now I avoid the stuff like the plague it has become.
A lot of mainstream rap can feel this way and this has been a conversation going on 20-25 years now in hip hop. It will continue as long as music evolves.
However, if you dig past most stuff you find on radio or Rap Caviar you can uncover some absolutely fantastic stuff. Production has never been better with the technology that allows for tons of variety. Some 90’s rappers like Nas, Killer Mike, and Black Thought are still putting out incredible projects but there are a bunch of newer artists like JPEGMafia, Little Simz, Denzel Curry, JID, Billy Woods, Clipping, Mach-Hommy, and Griselda family putting out great and very different work.
Yup! The fact that Drake and Kendrick are still relevant at almost 40 tells you a lot. They are still leading hip hop.
Usually new acts pop up to replace the old ones but that isn’t happening anymore. It’s def going down hill
Maybe I’m just growing up but that whole “ I’m a gangster” is just cringe as fuck and outdated. I still like some rap but these new rappers thinking they are the toughest shit is pathetic.
I listen to Spanish music and rock. My wife is white and she really put me onto rock, that’s the best gym music honestly.
Mind on my money / money on my mind
I love a lot of new rap, but the most popular rap is usually not what I like. I don’t like for rap to be catchy, and that’s become more popular in rap. Catchy music is kind of what I expect from every other genre, so that’s become becoming more popular in rap has killed my interest in most newer artists. There’s still a lot I do love like JID, IDK, Denzel Curry, NF, and plenty more.
The fact that you had to go all the way back to Tupac to make your point tells me everything I need to know. You aren’t a part of the culture and clearly don’t listen to hip-hop enough to speak on it. So don’t.
Historically, all genres of music have a finite life cycle of popularity. Rap is likely at the end stage of popularity
first of all, 90% of those people over the age of 27 feel the exact same way so it’s not an unpopular opinion. secondly, it simply isn’t true and you using tupac as an example shows how little you actually know about the genre. you just don’t like rap man and that’s ok but hating like this isn’t. focus on your own craft instead of trying to tear down others who don’t even know you exist, it’s sad.
I always think this, but then a new Gorillaz album comes out and changes my mind.
lol white guy
I agree. There is little to no creativity or new rappers that are good or topping charts.
Sad really. Just like rock raps gonna die. Then we are just going to be left with bro country and pop…
Does your depth in rap and hip-hop culture start and stop at the radio?
I also don’t know the point of saying you play an “actual” instrument, learn songs, and get hired to play. There’s plenty of artists who create and mix their own music to use who have the same gigs. It’s a strange roundabout way to diminish an art you don’t like.
Plus, nobody’s bothering to be original! it’s less “and on the cool check-in, center stage on the mic, and we’re putting it on wax, it’s the new style! (4 and 3 and 2 and 1)” and more about the quick cash-grab.
Good
Rap music has fused into being a branch of pop music and country is headed the same direction.
My opinion is less aligned with yours, and I don’t think it’s goin go to die…also, I don’t have as extreme of an opinion on it. All of that being said, I do agree with you that mainstream stuff has gotten so stale and so much of the same.
This is an opinion from someone who really enjoyed a lot of the stuff you would probably think was bad for a long time. I’ve told this story to other people though. I was a fan of rap for awhile, and I would use the Spotify Rap Caviar playlist to discover new stuff. For years, I would accumulate liked songs and artists from it.
Somewhere around 2021, I found myself listening to it to discover new music and I just hated everything I was hearing.
I don’t know exactly what happened. I just think the genre has gotten a bit played out. It’s like the reached a cap of some sort and it really did kind of become more of the same thing. There’s still some good stuff here and there. It’s also not all as cut and dry as I’m making it out to be, but I do agree with you in a sense.
I’ll add too that I went the last 15+ years of my life being very open minded about music. I’ve enjoyed all sorts of different genres and artists. I’ve loved pop music. I used to tell people it was typically easier for me to like a song or artist than it was for me to dislike them (as long as the songs were “good”). Now, I’m less that way. I still have a good degree of that to my overall music tastes, but man, popular music over the past few years has just disappointed me more and more, and it’s made me a little bit more stubborn with what I like.
Rapidly dying? No. Creativity all the time? Also no. It’s just not evolving.
No, mainstream stuff all sounds the same. There’s plenty of artists off the beaten path that are making some quality shit.
What genre isnt dying
Yeah it sucks now. Waiting for rock to come back
It’s a new era, shit aint going away anytime soon
Blame yourself for not listening to the below artists, who have all released music in the last 3 years with a focus and talent on lyricsm and/or production that has created quality music
By default there needs to be a talent for rhyming and reciting, and for building a groove.
So is rock music. The problem isn’t that the genre is dying, it is more that there is so much easier to access music and being able to explore tons of music easily and that we don’t have the record companies and radio cultivating taste anymore.
I just don’t like how it sounds. It all sounds the same to me, and it sounds less like music and more like “talking to a beat” to me.
Idk. I like clipping. I think they are doing interesting things with rap. “Visions of Bodies Being Burned” and “There Existed an Addiction to Blood” are both great albums that do a lot of interesting stuff.
Bro I love Kendrick. I grew up in LA and he’s the only genuine mf I’ve heard in a commercial capacity in a long time
Sounds jealous
Hurry Up. The internal racism (N word over and over and over again) and the woman-shaming (ho this, ho that, etc.) coupled with the abject lack of fundamental musicianship, (whether scored or performed) takes this off my radar, and my tastes are broad and deep.
In the US? Yes, your rappers are cringe mumblers but in the UK they are amazing and they clear the US so easily, broaden your library
It all started with mumble rap. Went down hill after that
Yes because this is SUCH an unpopular opinion
People have been saying the same crap for years
>> I’m not feigning
Say that again
You’re absolutely right I definitely implied I was and I stand corrected there. After being accused of racism via this post, granted probably by people who don’t think so well, I should have been more specific insofar as the genre of modern day commercial rap that I was indicting. I respect your opinion and appreciate your grace
There are very few genres of music this doesn’t apply to in the year 2025 but it’s always rap that’s highlighted with these kind of takes
Rap music died years ago my dude
Like with any music genre the surface level stuff is hardly the best of the genre. You gotta dig with any type of music to get the good stuff. There are some phenomenal rappers out there, but they aren’t as marketable as big names that release radio hits.
Also, if you’re playing music as a hired gun you probably aren’t playing the best of music yourself…
You’re right about your first take but the second paragraph was very presumptuous
Listen to Billy Woods and come back on that one
RAP MUSIC IS DYING, DUDEEEEEEEEEE
kinda sick of people basing their opinion of the whole genre on RapCaviar. that playlist is corporately curated, of course it’s gonna be filled with poppy generic shit.
there’s plenty of unique, experimental, and substantial rappers releasing music. I can only guess you just haven’t looked for it, cause it isn’t hard to find.
They say that about every genre. They bounce back
2024 was a fucking killer year for rap. Tyler, Doechii, Kendrick, Lupe, JPEG, Vince, Rapsody, Simz, Freddie, Schoolboy, GloRilla, Denzel, Common, all had fantastic releases. This year already has had a monumental collab by 2 Chainz and Larry June, previously unreleased Mac Miller album… I’m eating plenty good over here man idk. Sorry you haven’t listened past an idle flip through the radio or whatever. Rap is definitely still heavy with storytellers, poets, artists, innovators.
No I think you’re just getting old
There’s no more innovation and a lot of newer artists don’t see it as an art form but instead a way to make money. And what makes money is brain dead auto tuned mumble rap.
I think the last rapper who had acclaim with both the masses and critics was Eminem.
Give some Aesop Rock a listen. New album just dropped today.
As a fan of rap music rn, this is not an unpopular opinion… I hear it every 3 days and it’s so played out
You just aren’t looking hard enough (or at all)
You’re listening to stuff on the radio. I promise you rap is very much alive.
People have been saying this as long as ive been alive (im 37)
Rap is definitely due for an album that resets the status quo like The College Dropout did. Everyone who is blowing up nowadays is basically just ripping off another big name.
People have been saying this forever everything fessing sound the same!!
Yup, the vast majority of it is total ass.
It’s not a dying genre if hip hop( rap music)culture is used in everything commercial. Has it lost its creativity? Yes.
Rap continues to evolve and find the mainstream every few years. You being uncomfortable with the influences that eventually take over the genre to where it doesn’t resemble the 90’s doesn’t mean it’s a dying genre by any means. Look at most modern music, it’s been homogenized to resemble trap and rap beats. And that phase of rap was only about a decade ago. It won’t be long before it finds its way again, there’s new influence, and this conversations starts over again the way it always has. They said this in the 90’s. They said this in the 00’s. They said this in the 10’s. You’re saying it now. Same song, different day.
This is bait
Straight up, everyone says this about genres they don’t like to listen to. Your tastes do not allow any nuances for something you dislike. Therefore, it all sounds the same. I say this as someone who listens to every genre, even country.
All the mumble rap Andy’s in the chat are melting down lol
It’s fine. Rock is dead too!
In 5 years all we’ll have is mumbling “vibe” music for tic toks and pop country.
There’s a very small but still very alive hip hop movement.
Nas is doing a lot of heavy lifting, but also Denzel Curry, everyone off of Griselda records, Larry June, Killer Mike, Talib, Blu and Exile, Common, Rapsody,Skyzoo, Roc Marciano, Doechii, Nick Grant, Mickey Diamond.. and a few others, still carry the art form.
There’s a ton of great music out there to be found. Shad is one example of superb lyricism that doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.
Still putting out music, but the Reel Speakers EP is his most recent (aside from singles and features).
Artistically absolutely but commercially not even close
Good. Hate it.
I think it may be neither? As I’ve stated in previous responses I’ve been humbled by plenty of great examples as to why my take isn’t necessarily rooted in reality. I wasn’t giving enough credence to contemporary artists who aren’t mainstream. Obviously it’s an extremely commercially viable musical medium, I just need to take some of these commenters suggestions and delve in a little further
I wish
Someone tell OP the radio isn’t the only source of music. Lots of independent artists out there you’ve never heard of are probably making your favorite songs, but because you just consume and don’t seek, you’ll never find it.
If you don’t like rap, that’s cool. But saying “everything sounds the same” is just ignorant. Everything you hear sounds the same isn’t the genres fault.
Upvoted for being an unpopular opinion. Rap is worldwide now and it’s easier than ever to break in. As you noted the talent threshold is pretty low. Streaming means rappers do not have to make songs for the radio anymore to make a good living and can remain largely independent. It’s almost becoming regional for me at this point, I hardly listen to any new rappers outside of Michigan because there is SO much talent out there. Im not trying to say it’s all good, I know there is a boatload of shitty rappers out there. I believe there’s a rapper for everybody if you’re willing to look and listen. My opinion rap is the fastest growing genre on the planet and that isn’t changing any time soon.
If y’all actually missed when hip hop was rapping then Killer Mike would be platinum
Lyricism as a whole is dying tbh
I agree and hope it actually dies. Rap is a shit genre outside a couple actually good artists. It just enables the edgelords of the world into thinking being a Thug and cursing constantly/being vulgar is cool. It’s not and has enabled a lot of bad behavior and criminal actions.
From counter-culture to just regular culture. I’m excited to see what the next big counter culture genre is, as hip-hop formulated multiple counterculture genres, some of which are just tapering off (Like emo rap and the suicideboys type stuff)
Hip-hop has been essentially dead to most people over 30 for a good ten years now.
In the wise words of Nas “everything sound the same commercialise the game reminisce when it wasn’t all business
Rap is bad take #5456715 snooooz
your old droog. always and forever
run the jewels, always and forever
>”In a mess of obnoxious fantasy, posturing and pageantry
>I ain’t even mad, I’m impressed, shit it’s baffling
> God almighty, chop an ivory tower to piano keys
>Play your own dirge on the way to surfing maggot beach
>You fuckin’ dorks ain’t a source of the art
>You can’t be cooler than the corners where you source all your parts”
Aesop Rock also just dropped a new album, check him out.
The kids making music now are largely in it as a ‘hustle’.
They have no knowledge of music before the tools were accessible to everybody. I have younger cousins making some cushy cash ‘rapping’ and they fancy themselves musicians, but literally have never even heard anything other than the trap music they discovered at 12.
It really has gone downhill as bad as rock and roll did.
I love 80’s and 90’s rap. It sounds amazing compared to today.
We are just about beyond the hair band phase for rap. There was no grunge death rattle for it.
I hate hearing every other car at all hours of the day drive by my place blasting cRap.
I don’t know man, have you heard of the Alchemist? Conductor Williams? Statik Selektah? Harry Fraud? You can find a lot of great rappers off of searching these producers.
I run a hip-hop site that specializes in new drops so i listen to dozens of albums and 100s of new rap/hiphop tracks every week as a part of my job.
TBH It’s always been like this, but trends and subgenres (and even artists) can rapidly rise and/or die with trends for sure.
For every one solid track, there are dozens that are low effort and are what used to be called “filler” before the digital days.
For examples of actually NEW up and coming artists that are good see
The problem is, in an art form, people are always looking for the next thing and to differentiate themselves from the previous generation. In the 90s, perfected beats and intelligent lyrics were the norm, so subsequent generations have gone with the opposite. Generic shitty beats and stupid lyrics
You see the same thing with rock. Being incredibly skilled at your instrument and showing that in your work is considered passé
I lost interest starting in 1989.
The decline hasn’t been rapid. The decline started before many of you were born.
I think people say this about Metal periodically. At the same time though I don’t think Metal will ever die.
In the ’90s I always wondered why electronic music wasn’t more popular and I concluded that it wasn’t profitable for record companies.
Kendrick is on a short list w/ Pac, Rakim, Biggie, Em, Andre 3000