Hip hop music’s popularity, like any of the other genres before it, is beginning to plummet. The internet ushered in an age of instant music downloads that made music fans more critical, preferring quality over quantity. No longer can an artist bank on a single style over and over to boost sales. They now need to be more creative to capture their fans’ attention and make them want more.

Back in the days, a proper beat is all you need to have a hit. Unlike before, hip hop music can no longer depend on beats alone. Something different without deviating too much from the basic aspects of hip hop, that is what you need to draw people of today in. Now, you need to have lyrics that are completely unique.

Things, as history, is bound to be repeated. All over the hip hop industry today are artists who believe mixing beats to lyrics written by others is all they need. Remixes were big during the late 70s up till the early 80s, when hardcore disco fans mixed in some disco beats onto older recordings, creating hits in an attempt to revive disco. Confronted with the necessity for creative effort, some hip hop artists resorted in this old trick to improve their market sales.

For a while, it worked. But fans tend to change, and those who just depend on another’s efforts will soon find themselves falling off the sales wagon. Then along came artists like Ludicris and TI, among others, that found that writing their own stuff was way easier than copying someone else’s. A new period of hip hop music was given birth: themed albums. Following the example of groups from the early 80s, artists started creating albums centering around a single theme and writing lyrics of their own in each song. It worked like a charm.

Hip hop music today is now filled with good quality music, written and composed by the artists themselves. Having a range of themes from love to living a good life, hip hop artists break new grounds, achieving popularity that is hard to earn in the digital age. Digital downloads run today’s music world, and giving die hard fans special and exclusive tracks keep the albums selling, and the competition scrambling for more ways to come out on top. The next chapter of hip hop music is forged, and those who cannot cope up with the continuous demand for creative work fall behind, leaving standing the true poets of present hip hop.

Everything hip hop is dynamic and spontaneous. Artists battle on stage to gain huge audience, the price going to the one who receives greater crowd approval. Hip hop is all about improvisation, lyrics created in the blink of an eye as fast as an opposing rapper can throw his own. The audience is known to be quick and merciless when it comes to what they like, and have no problem making their approval known. There is a certain rush in hip hop battles that sets it apart.

The charisma of hip hop emanates out of the artists out to be heard and their desire to send their message. Hip hop, originating from the more distressed portion of the city makes it ironic that the dissemination of the hip hop pioneers to look for other ways to earn a living is what brought the music to having popular attention. Hip hop made a lot of noise, and with it’s wide use of profanity became the forbidden fruit of music lovers craving for something new, which in turn made the music grow bigger.

Artists in the past like The Notorious BIG, P. Diddy, Ice T, Ice Cube, and Eminem brought talent, creativity, and even their drama to the spotlight which then made the fans wanting for more. Actual violence between warring turfs and against law enforcers brought them to new heights never reached by other artists before. An entire sub-culture of fans was created as the notoriety of the music pushed the sales up.

Female artists were starting to enter the scene and stood their own amidst the more prevalent males of the genre. The likes of Queen Latifa, Mary J. Blige, and Little Kim brought a different flavor of feisty and smooth to the previously violent and degrading nature of the men’s music. Others rose to fame and fell, being attracted to making easy money led them to career or even life ending choices.

Eventual changes in the music industry like music downloads softened the hype about hip hop. Record labels created during the craze were closing left and right. Artists who had paved the way were turning their attentions elsewhere, branching out into more commercial endeavors like acting in and producing movies and television shows, or launching clothing lines and other neutral goods, without a shred of hip hop music to them.

With its shimmer fading, it was starting to look like no place is reserved for hip hop in the coming generations. Instead, it caused a softer side to the once violent genre to form. Now, instead of insulting women, artists like TI, Ludicris, Neo and others, sing to the women, leading back to where they came from. They pay tribute to their predecessors in a method that is long time since last seen in music genres.

Author Bio: Find People For Free

Category: Culture
Keywords: hip hop music, hip hop story, hip hop dance