Sorry I been MIA as far as content goes. Life gets pretty busy and there wasn’t much to touch on in hip-hop. [insert Kanye West joke here]

Had a conversation with Shaka from An Absolutely Dope Podcast and my guy Brian James and it sparked this topic. This current generation is being deprived of real rap competition. The game and it’s mentality has changed and it may never go back to what it once was. That’s unfortunate for the rap fan. It’s unfortunate because a lot of cats out today would rather be a “Good and Safe artist” and move 100K than be a Great Rapper and move 500K to 1 million.

Artist act like they can’t compete with each other and be successful. There was a time when a Ma$e and a Jay-Z would compete, A Biggie was inspired to sell like Snoop, a Jermaine Dupri was trying to out do the last Diddy hit record. Now, you can’t get an artist to speak positive or negative about any artist dead or alive.

You hear an artist talk nowadays and it’s so ho-hum with a self contained doctrine. The Good Artist today says things like:

I’m just doing me.
I’m not a rapper or a singer. I can just do both.
I want to work with anybody who want to work with me
It’s enough money out here for everybody.
Everybody can eat.
I don’t have time to go back and forth on records with nobody.

Now the last comment is a ploy to make you believe that “it could get deeper than rap”. My question is, how is that even possible when we are in an era where rappers won’t even say other rappers names? The only people consistently taking it to a street level are The Game and Diddy. Everybody else is just talking.

There is no spirit of wanting to win and be the best rapper/emcee anymore. In fact, you got more rappers not wanting to be called rappers. They fuse genres, try to sing and now harmonize and they “consider themselves artist”, which let me be clear is not a bad thing, but where is Rap Music going if all we have is a bunch of “artist” who don’t want to be called “rappers”? How many new 100% undeniable rap albums did you purchase or download in 2015?

YES! There is a place for artist and artistry, but never forget, Rapping is an art form too. Wordplay, story telling and rhyming over a beat is ART. Don’t let anyone tell you a rapper/emcee is not an artist. Not even a good artist.

I want cats to start wanting to be the best rapper again. Because The Best Rapper thinks like this:

Lyrically, nobody can fawk with me.
I’m making the best songs/albums out here.
I’m killing every track I get on and everybody on it.
I’ll make time for anybody that want it; It’s good to spar and keep sharp.

People may not want to admit it, but that “Good Artist Mentality” is why rap music sales are down. If cats were really out here trying to go in and make great raps songs, instead of trying to be nice and promote drugs and swag, their might be a few more plaques getting delivered out here. There are a handful of artist really moving units and then there are a lot of other artist talking like they are the artist really moving units out here. The people want more for their money. They don’t want the same sound, subpar bars and uninspired music. The people want to invest in music that is the soundtrack to their life.

So who wants to be the best rapper? Which one of the good artist trying to be a Gold or Platinum rapper in 2016?