4 pages into this thread and not a single mention of UGK anywhere.....c'mon now and you guys call yourselves hip hop fans? No mention of Geto Boys?
Props to those who mentioned Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, Mob Deep, RUN DMC, Beastie Boys, Eric B and Rakim, etc. Also slightly disappointed there is no mention of Grandmaster Flash, Slick Rick, Marley Marl, Afika Bambaataa, Kurtis Blow, Doug E. Fresh.....I don't know, maybe because I was an 80's kid and was into the scene early for and 8 year old kid from a small town in TN. From my perspective how can one appreciate something without knowing the origins? It's much like how people appreciate art but have no clue what went into it to create the image or fail to see the influence that created it. You can't fully appreciate architecture, if you don't understand the foundation.
My $.2 is that yes rap, just like every other music genre has evolved. What I always find humorous is that the new youngsters that enjoy mumble rap and the pop-ier type stuff like to talk smack about old school rap but fail to see how the music they bash paved the way for the, in my opinion, garbage that they listen to now. Everyone's taste in music varies much like style; some have taste and some don't....and yes each genre of music has their all-stars and their garbage. Unfortunately, music isn't about how great a song is anymore it's about how much money someone can make off it. Take this considering the notion that we, as the general public, make stupid people famous for stupid shit now, it's no longer about the music but about the execs bank account. The musicians are just as easy to blame too. It's all too easy to come up with a catchy hook that means nothing and says nothing, thrown on top of some autotune bullshit and a generic ass studio made beat. It's easier to crank out tune after tune and hope one is a hit rather than just focusing on each song and make it a masterpiece and then start the next. It's like a sniper using a machine gun, spraying the target with bullets and hoping that one hits the mark.
Notable favorites of the new era are Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar, Mac Miller, ASAP Rocky, Logic, G-Eazy & Lil Dicky. To be honest here, I only like about 10% of their music.
I am comfortable with my age, my taste in music and handing things down to the new generation to run things but they have to respect the creators and originators in order to keep things alive. Once a genre's only influences are each other is when you end up with what we have today. Remember when we used to hear samples of old funk, James Browns' Funky Drummer and different genres's in the beat instead of this same old tired garbage?