The Mainstream is Getting Really Shallow…

I had never thought about this until it was pointed out to me, but I have been writing about the same 8 rappers for the past six months. I mean, mainstream hip hop is starting to look like a moving carousel. It\’s the same plastic horse and rider every 15 seconds or so. When did everyone else get off, or get kicked off the ride?

It\’s not easy to notice at first, especially down south with all the regional garbage that gets thrown in to break the Wayne monotony. But once you remove the one hit wonders and the baby cousins of someone with a little pull, who do you have left? There have been times, and I\’m sure most of you can attest to this, when I have turned on the FM radio in my car and heard a Carter III incarnation on every hip hop station available in Atlanta at the same time. It\’s now starting to move in that direction with Paper Trail. Not that I have issues with those albums (well I do, but that\’s not what this piece is about). However, if the programmers didn\’t play Whatever You Like 86 times a day, there might be a little extra space to play something else. Hence my desire to shout out the underground whenever it\’s possible.

Not that I\’m forecasting doom or gloom, but I\’m not planning on turning the radio on at all after 808\’s and Heartbreak drops. For one, I think I\’ve heard enough of that album already and secondly, can you imagine the spins those singles are going to get. Not only will he get love from most hip hop stations, the top pop 40ish stations are going to hop on that bandwagon too. It will be Kanye all day, all night, live and memorexed. We are going to be Love Lockdowned to within an inch of our lives as the rest of the relevant artists beg to hop on the re-mix and old school hip hip terrorists start breaking into studios and blowing up auto tune machines. And while all of this craziness is occurring, there will be some seriously talented emcees sitting on the sidelines watching from the beyond the newly installed hip hop glass ceiling.

I know, I know; it\’s all about the sales. The sales drive the spins and then the spins drive more sales. So if everybody is buying it, why the hell do we have to hear it on the radio too? That\’s a sad little cycle that strangles the genre and pisses me off. Then you have all this syndication going on that kills a lot of the local market. You don\’t hear what going on in your backyard when the show you are listening to is being broadcast from 1000 miles away. Damn shame.

So it\’s up to the fans really to keep the other 95% of the performers on the radar. I bought one mainstream album this year. Then I gave it away. I try to promote those who don\’t get radio play, but yall don\’t wanna hear me. I guess maybe I should start forecasting doom and gloom.

Why?

Because Plies is on the cover of the December Vibe and the caption next to his picture reads, \”The Future of Rap.\”

Can you hear me now?

Shelz…