HIP HOP IS DEAD...

...Or is it just in a coma while its spirit remains to intertwine with all other genres of music existing today?

As someone who has experienced music from the 80's 90's and the new millenium, if you asked me how I felt about hip hop today vs. from "back in the day" I would definitely tell you that I miss A Tribe Called Quest , Salt-n-Pepa, and Queen Latifah...

HOWEVER. This doesn't mean I don't appreciate newer rappers/ hip-hoppers.. But it's hard to say that someone is only a "rapper" or a hip-hop artist, because music genres today have been intermixing with each other creating more Melatos than ever before.




If hip hop is dead, what do you call the music that Kanye West is making? Lupe Fiasco? Common?

If we are not calling the music these artists create "hip hop" then we have to analyze what exactly it is they are creating and give it a genre..

So we've got this new thing where rap artists pair up with rock / alternative groups and create some fabulous new combination of both types of music.

You have Jay-Z with Linkin Park, Jay-Z in the Gray Album with The Beatles, Kanye West and Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Timbaland with various non-hip-hop artists on his Shock Value CD, Lupe Fiasco with Matthew Santos, and the list goes on...

Clearly, this is not your typical hip hop.

Let's start with Jay-Z & Linkin Park.

"Collision Course"

They obviously know that what they're producing is new and revolutionary. Often deemed as "mash-ups" I don't think this term gives enough respect to what is actually being creative.

I advocate that we call these new combos "hip-rock"

The name is simple, yet explanatory. Just as hip-hop stems from what the dance-patterns were while listening to this type of music, hip-rock does just the same, simply and succinctly.