10 Things That Changed Hip Hop This Past Decade, Numbers: 3-1

Home Stretch.

3) Mixtapes- What did mixtapes do to hip hop this decade? Once upon a time, hip hop was strictly in the streets. Where would you her this new type of music? Parties. The beautiful thing about this music is that it was made open air in the street. It came during an era of struggle in inner city. There was not much, but a lot came out of it. The nostalgia of this music moved into American pop culture.

What happened? Well the music became a business. It became a part of pop culture and was sold to masses of people. The music went worldwide and the world discovered what was happening in the city of New York.

Rap changed and became watered down to be sold to the masses. What mixtapes did was allow artists to put out music that was theirs and was not watered down. New rappers premeired on mixtapes and worked off of that. On a mixtape any rapper could easily sell who they wanted to be. It took the power out of executives and let the artist freely rap about what they want. DJ's hosted mixtapes and made mixes out of them.

Mixtapes have been around since the dawn of hip hop. What happened this decade was that with new technology, it happened at a larger scale. My favorite mixtape was Papoose's Menace to Society II and Beast from the East. Here is a trailer to a movie that came out a while ago.



2) You knew they were on the List. Hip Hop goes through phases. At times, it seems that certain places dominate the hip hop sound. This decade the south did to hip hop what the west coast was doing a decade before it. Completely owning the popular sound.

Premiere cities that dominated the sound at some point were Atlanta, Miami, Houston, and New Orleans. Who is responsible? Well Master P during the late 1990's and the New Orleans sound came out and made a different hip hop. It was loud and more energetic than its New York counterpart. Other people that made the region bigger were Ludacris, Lil Jon, and Lil Wayne.

Each city or region had its own unique style. With Houston came the chopped and screwed sound that dominiated 2006. Remember Mike Jones (how I absolutely HATED him, worst rapper this decade, cheesy, unoriginal, uncreative.), well he went platinum with sound. Other rappers who became famous from Houston were Chamillionare, Slim Thug, and Paul Wall. They also added a bit of their culture to popular hip hop culture. Grills, what New York rappers did in the early 90's these rappers did then.



Atlanta was where most of the energy came from. Lil Jon would use what at time seemed simple music beats and rhymes to sell his music. It almost was like call and response in hip hop with him. He also brought out other artists, remember Bone Crusher (I chuckled right now). They were more slowed down than New York. Outkast first premiered this city in the 90's and now other rappers came from it. Rappers that moved major units in the country. Your talking about Yung Jeezy, Ludacris, and T.I.



Miami was a hybrid of sounds. You had the slowed down Trick Daddy, the young hitter Ace Hood, the latino heavy-weight Pitbull, the correction officer turned drug kingpin Rick Ross as well as Mr. DJ Khaled himself. There major influences was the nightlife in Miami (I'm waiting to meet Uncle Luke), the drug scene, as well as all the people who came to this town.



The South left its mark on hip hop no doubt about it.



So Your like what's number one? What image, or artist, or statement shifted hip hop this decade?

1) HIP HOP IS DEAD!! Believe it or not, this was the biggest statement this decade. I'm not saying whether it is right or not, but it was and is a big deal. With hip hop as the largest form of music to dominate pop culture, and The South being the dominant sound, Nas said this statement. IT shook up the hip hop world.

The quality of hip hop music was placed into question. Before this decade began, Hip Hop came through a golden age. Many acts came out at the same time, Wu Tang, Nas, 2pac, Jay-Z, and The Notorious B.I.G. Then what happened. The South started to dominate hip hop and New Yorkers (being New Yorkers) started to feel sour.

There was a huge shift, I personally remember never even hearing a southern rapper on Hot 97. They listened down south. Rappers were moving large amounts of records and the music itself sounded different than their roots.

It was also who said it. Nas is an artist who holds a huge level of respect with his classic catalog of music. Imagine if Soulja Boy said this. Doesn't matter as much huh? Told ya.

To me, what Nas said was that the music that was filling up most people's playlists was watered down from what it had been previously. Mixtapes sounded better than albums although previously it was not this way. Everyone then would question if hip hop had lost its integrity.

Every rapper was questioned if there music was real hip hop. This movement also showed how worldwide hip hop had become. Late 1970's inner New York City culture is now the mainstream. The future of hip hop is uncertain on where it is going, but this statement single shook the entire hip hop spectrum.