Grumpy Old Man
I am 33 years old and I am starting to hate hip hop music. Whenever I say that to one of my peers in my age range I get the obligatory “grumpy old man” stamp. Why is that? Maybe its because I’ve always been a grumpy old man. Maybe its because I am extremely critical of all art including my own. Maybe my peers are feeling insecure about their own age so they feel the need to co sign whatever the 16 year old’s are doing or get the G.O.M. stamp they so quickly brand me with. Or maybe just maybe… Hip Hop sucks right now. It used to be an art form, respected if not understood. The (arguably) best rapper is 40 plus years of age… The other genres of music have no age limits on cool, edgy, hip or just plain ol’ good fucking music. I would argue that in any art form a fresh perspective is always going to garner attention and assumed that it will push the medium forward. This is where the younger generation in Hip Hop is lacking. They are the newest, yes, but far from the dopest. The urge to be unique within the medium has been replaced by a shark like marketing attitude, emcees no longer wander the land painting emotions with words, they microwave soul hot pockets served on promotional styrofoam plates. There was a romance that I associated with Hip Hop that I no longer feel. It has nothing to do with age because good music is timeless. I don’t remember being dismissive of music that was older than me when I was young, on the contrary I respected it enough to be curious. Finding out what was done before you can help you become something different, at least that’s how I’ve learned to grow. I hope one day the fans of this music that has meant so much to me in the past can see that a revolution is in order. A revolution that will not be auto-tuned.
