Op-Ed: Can New York Rap Reclaim Its Top Spot In Hip-Hop?
by Staff Editor
With MC’s such as Dave East, who can deliver heavy bars with a story-telling ability, and still hop on a mainstream-sounding track, or even Manolo Rose, who can give us that street sound mixed into a club banger, New York is creating its own wave. The great Styles P even tweeted recently that bars seem to be coming back into style, which could very well leave a lot of today’s hot rappers out of the loop.
As the hip hop community is becoming more leaned on in music culture for its voice and platform, content matter and lyricism are both being much more magnified, which has proven to be a specialty for the East Coast in rap history. With Kendrick’s conscious and raw To Pimp A Butterfly album receiving 11 Grammy nominations, this may pave a perfect opportunity for the lyrically inclined MC’s, such as a Remy Banks, the Flatbush Zombies, or even a Bodega Bamz, to step up for the next round.
The city may not be at the top of the charts as a whole right now, but one thing New York has always been is hungry. With five boroughs of different vibes, artists, and influences, NYC has learned how to adopt the old ways of the rap game and bring a flair of modernized sound to it.
There are plenty of hungry young artists throughout the city, as well as its outskirts, who are still returning to the roots of the game such as cyphers, battling, and showcases. One of these days, the tough hip hop community crowd might just let up and open their ears. You may be brushing it off for now, and turning up the volume on your trap playlist as you read this, but trust and believe, New York isn’t stopping for anyone, and they will be heard one way or another. –Lindsey India
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Good article,the City is definitely making a comeback & there are artists not on the radar yet that will help to solidify that along with the likes of Dave East. (I only like Manolo Rose on hooks though,he can’t rhyme to save his life!)
New York lost it’s title because rappers began to sound like they were from anywhere other than NY. (50 Cent would be my example) The radio stations also stopped allowing DJ’s to be just that. Listen to any supposed top DJ’s mix hour and they literally only mix the top 25 Hip-Pop songs. (Not a typo). No writer wants to insult listeners much the way politicians don’t want to insult voters but clearly, millions of listeners of hip hop born after the 1990’s have no desire to hear anything outside of club music. Future is supposedly one of the top rappers out now and as hard as I try, I can’t understand much of what he says. We still have some dudes in NY who can hold it down but don’t expect NY to return to the status it held for much of the early years.
There is no NY version of Kendrick or J.Cole or Drake. That’s simply rare talent. NY stopped dominating because it refused to focus on the music, instead stubbornly sticking to lyrics. Music and vocal ability matters. Some of the greatest NY rappers weren’t hardcore lyricists but master vocalists who hopped on perfectly supporting beats. DMX and 50 Cent for example.
NY had two of the most popular rappers of all time and didn’t even know what made them so great. Cut the “bars” crap out and you will get somewhere. Music is music. Lyrics come last and always will in music.