While music-industry sales have plummeted, no genre has fallen harder than rap. According to the music trade publication Billboard, rap sales have dropped 44% since 2000 and declined from 13% of all music sales to 10%. Artists who were once the tent poles at rap labels are posting disappointing numbers. Jay-Z’s return album, Kingdom Come, for instance, sold a gaudy 680,000 units in its first week, according to Billboard. But by the second week, its sales had declined some 80%. This year rap sales are down 33% so far.
Hip-hop now faces a generation that takes gangsta rap as just another mundane marker in the cultural scenery. “It’s collapsing because they can no longer fool the white kids,” says Nickels. “There’s only so much redundancy anyone can take.”
Before anyone accuses me of being an old fuddy duddy (which I am) I grew up with rap music. From the 80s through the 90s I listened to Run-DMC, Public Enemy, the Getto Boys, Cyprus Hill, to name a few. Eventually I got bored of the new stuff coming out. The music industry should realize that all genres of music will eventually become niche, mutate into something new, or die.
I go to a highschool i hear much more classic rock blaring from headphones than rap. Pink Floyd’s album dark side of the moon, the logo is on so many shirts, i see many led zeppelin shirts and the doors as well as other classic rock bands.rock might not b the best influence but there’s definetly a better influence than rap
Music is beginning it’s dark ages, likewise few
magicians will surface to exorcise the demons killing each genre. 2 such Saviour Palladins are
Secret Chiefs 3 and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.
You do some background research.
@Natefrog
You can’t spell ‘Crock’ without ‘rock’
80% of ‘Crock’ is ‘rock’
😉
Biyatch!
Rap isn’t cool anymore, not at all. Its over. I think hip hop hit a peak in 94-98 then in 2003 the death of tower records, was the sign of the death of jazz, rock, real hip hop, blues and classical. Whats left is Pop, hitmaker music and Country, all factory music.
back in da 90s rap wuz actually good and people actually tried to make good beats and lyrics now people just throw together a bunch of bullshit bout hoez n bein in da club n stupid shit like dat
R.I.P
RAP
1979-2002
Rap is a sad crappy blimp in musical history, just like disco–but unfortunately it lasted longer. Also, some disco artist actually had some musical talent. How the hell could the music industry (or the stupid consumers) have tolerated a genre that promotes lack of any musical talent for so long??
I can find good in any musical genre, so long as an artist can write, sing, play an instrument or do any combination there of. But when all you have to claim as talent as an artist is to talk / rhyme, use profanity, “sample” or steal other artist’s music and spew forth mindless drivel—-that ain’t talent.
Somewhere along the line American music consumers forgot this and music industry executives have pumped money into this crap now for over 15 years! Enough! Move on! Start promoting something worth listening to!
Yes the digital age and the internet have contributed to killing the music industry to some degree— but the real real reason the music industry is dying is because no one is promoting any true talent out there.
Most of the top paid musical “artists” today don’t even sing live or really play their instruments. The ones that do haven’t written anything that will stay the test of time.
If you reward mediocre crap, that’s what people will produce!