Am I That Guy?
written by Doesn't Matt' R
written by Doesn't Matt' R
Recently there was a posting on PTM that dealt with certain fan characteristics in the hip-hop community. Now normally it can be dangerous to group a large bunch of people together based on stereotypes. But everyone seemed to be able to relate to one of them, or at least know somebody who fit that mold. That got me thinking. Back in the day there was always some older cat telling me how good things used to be. “Rakim was the greatest M.C. of all time.” “The music was better before it was about all that flashy Bad Boy, 90’s jiggy nonsense. “ “Wu-Tang ‘s got nothing on the original Juice Crew.” Etc.
So, yeah, in my opinion 97-98 is my all around favorite year for hip-hop. Life After Death dropped in March, but Biggie was dead and Puff turned his album, No Way Out, into a tribute to his homeboy and it was ill.. DMX put out two classic albums in under 6 months. Volume 2 dropped. Doc’s da Name, Moment of Truth, Aquemeni, Capital Punishment, N.O.R.E. The list goes on and on.
Back then you could still buy a CD single in the stores. For 99 cents You could have an entire album sent to your email, track by track, on AOL from a chat room. And they weren’t suing you for downloading it. I think if you got caught, your account got suspended. Concerts weren’t filled with 12 year-old girls from Long Island. Man things were so much better back then.
Oh sh*t. Am I that guy now? Putting the industry on blast. Guilty. Talking about how great things used to be. Guilty. Doubting anyone who feels today’s music. Guilty. The messed up part is that things really aren’t that bad. Could be hip-hop is on the rise again. American Gangster blew my mind. Kanye’s 3rd album was the only thing I listened to for months. Weezy’s new joint showed you could still have a hot album that sells like crazy. Bun B put out a classic. Nas did it again. T.I. killed it before getting locked up. Legends and up-and-comers all put out killer tracks. The Cool Kids look like the future. Big Sean has a buzz. There’s new talent out there. And yeah, I Walked it Out, watched the girl’s Pop, Lock, and Drop It, and put my shoulder bounce on when Soldier Boy started playing. But I feel the same way when Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz comes on. Uptown Baby, Uptown (* doesn’t matt r. raises roof).
I know it’s fun to reminisce on the good old days, but we can’t get too caught up in the past. It’s never going to be what it was for whatever reason. Maybe it was newer then. Maybe we cared more. Maybe the music really was better. Who knows? I’m just trying to make sure I’m not that guy, all us “young kids” hated to have around.
1 comments:
You know, it's kinda funny when you're young and you swear you'll never be like the oldheads, but then you don't even know you're turning into the oldhead. I mean, one day you're confused as to why your parents stay watching the news all the time. The next day you're eating a bowl of frosted mini-wheats, smoking a pipe, rocking an ascot while watching CNN in the morning. It's inevitable that you end up being like the oldheads at least a little bit. My goal is to keep it at a little bit, though.
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