1990’s rap is often referred to as the golden age of hip hop, when Biggie and 2Pac, Nas
and the Wu-Tang Clan, Jay-Z and Eminem laid down some of the most legendary tracks in
music history.
But what if I told you it’s all a lie? Here are 10 reasons why 90s hip hop sucks.
Before you start protesting, subscribe to our channel and like this video. Babble Top
is about to blow your mind!
Ghostwriters wrote the classics Nowadays, there is a lot of controversy over
whether or not Drake writes his own rhymes. But have you ever considered that your favorite
classic 90’s New York rap song might have been ghostwritten too?
Jay-Z wrote Dr. Dre’s lyrics on “Still Dre.” Though a genius beatmaker, Dre was
never a skilled rapper. Eminem also wrote the producer’s part on “Forget About Dre.”
The D.O.C. helped him out on “Nuthin’ But A G Thang.”
Puff Daddy was notorious for employing ghostwriters including 50 Cent, Mad Skillz and Sauce Money.
The rap mogul even bragged about it on “Bad Boy For Life.”
And then there’s Nas. The rapper with the most critically acclaimed debut album ever
wrote Will Smith’s Getting’ Jiggy Wit It,” and many of Pharrell’s hits.
However, The Source editor Dream Hampton has alleged that the Queensbridge native employed
ghostwriters himself.
Jay Electronica and Stic of Dead Prez apparently wrote Nasty Nas’ lyrics on his 2008 untitled
LP. Both rappers denied the claim. If true though, how long had The Illmatic rapper been
hiring others to write his bars?
Oh yeah, and you know how some people think Ol’ Dirty Bastard was one of the best rappers
of his day? Well, turns out RZA and GZA wrote most of his legendary album Return To The
36 Chambers.
Biggie and 2pac would have fell off Remember when Eminem and Jay-Z were the kings
of hip-hop? Maybe not.
Much like the Rolling Stones, they are now semi-retired acts still milking their relentlessly
sycophantic fan base. They could release a fart and some critics would still put it in
the top ten songs of the year.
You can’t expect them to stay on top forever. Likewise, Biggie and 2Pac would have eventually
fallen off. The twin towers of hip-hop would have inevitably put out a few duds.
But fate — and two amazing bodies of work — crystalized their legends. They died at
the peak of their powers, and much like James Dean, will be remembered for putting out classics
after classics.
Perhaps they would have ended up like Jay-Z and Eminem. But they could also have taken
a deep dive into mediocrity and embarrassment.
Remember DMX? Younger rap fans mostly know the Yonkers native for his battle with mental
illness and drug addiction, offering quick glimpses of his genius only to follow them
up with a fresh new scandal.
90s rap is bad for children 90s rap evolved to shock its listeners and
their prudish parents. Gangsta rappers glorified the violence they witnessed in the streets
of Compton.
Meanwhile, New York rappers boasted about selling dope and smoking weed. Women were
treated like furniture and sex objects.
It became something akin to an arms race: whoever said the most outrageous thing would
win rap fans’ hearts and hard-earned cash.
The rise of hip hop in mainstream music forced the Recording Industry Association of America
to introduce a warning label on 2 Live Crew’s Banned in the USA album.
Media outlets argued that rap infected children’s minds, encouraging them to commit senseless
acts of violence and debauchery.
When Slim Shady hit the airwaves in 1998, he immediately became the most scandalous
rapper of all time. His tongue-in-cheek rhymes poked fun at homophobia, domestic abuse, drug
abuse and his mother.
There was a new public enemy in town. Nobody was safe and nothing was sacred anymore. To
this day, the trends set in the 90s still encapsulate most themes in hip hop.
90s rap is materialistic When 90s rappers broke down the doors of mainstream
America and started making a lot of dough, they started rapping about acquiring luxury.
Instead of rhyming about skills, you now had pop stars dressed in hoodies and baggy jeans
rapping about zeros in their bank accounts.
While 80s rappers like Public Enemy, Ice Cube and KRS-One spit rhymes about social injustice,
most 90s artists sought to fill up their coffers.
Even the fun-loving music of Native Tongues took a backseat. Labels like Roc-A-Fella,
Bad Boy, Cash Money, No Limit, Def Jam and more aimed to smash the airwaves with as many
glittery “hip pop” songs as they could, flooding the market with shallowness.
And who can blame them? These were the heirs to a global phenomenon that would sweep the
musical landscape and reshape it to its image.
As hip hop artists made more money, they started to rap about their new environments and what
they thought was the only way out of the poverty trap.
Yet, riding around in luxury cars, dining at Chateau Marmont or stepping out with a
Kardashian is not was hip hop was founded on. But thanks to the musical explosion of
the 90s, Kylie Jenner has now entered our rap lexicon.
90s rap songs are played out Hip hop artists are like news reporters for
the black community. They spit about things that matter to a certain demographic at a
certain point in time and place.
Rap lyrics have a limited shelf life. This is why many rap fans can only pretend to understand
some their favorite 90s track. Take for example 2Pac’s lyrics on “How Do You Want It.”
“Mister Bob Dole You’re too old to understand the way the
game’s told You’re lame so I gotta hit you with the
hot facts”
Who in 2017 knows who the heck Bob Dole is? At the time, Dole was running for president
and set his sights on hip-hop. He shamed Time Warner into abandoning the gangsta rap business.
This was a pretty big deal. Pac attacked Dole, 70 years old at the time, calling him lame
for opposing hip hop but also because of limited mobility in his right arm. Dole was severely
injured while fighting the Nazis in World War II.
These facts are lost in translation to newer generations. If a listener wasn’t alive
or too young in 1996, they have no clue what Shakur meant when he attacked the ancient
politician.
Thank gawd for Rap Genius.
The 2000s were better than the 90s The legendary golden age arguably only lasted
a year: 1996. The Fugees’ The Score, Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt, Outkast’s ATLiens, 2Pac’s
All Eyez On Me and Mobb Deep’s Hell On Earth seared their imprint on hip hop culture.
We may never see a more fruitful year in the history of the genre. But a year does not
make a decade. While regional boundaries limited collaborations between superior rap artists
in the 90s, the 2000s were no-holds-barred.
When the East Coast-West Coast rap beefs died out after the death of rap giants Biggie and
2Pac, the hip-hop world was shaken to its core. But after the apocalypse, the world
rebuilt itself. Some argue, for the better.
After the Golden Age, boundaries blurred. Rappers from all corners of the country started
collaborating and reshaping the game to what it is now.
DipSet collaborated with Philadelphia’s Freeway and Southern rapper/ producer extraordinaire
Master P, crashing New York rap’s orthodoxy.
Atlanta-native T.I. pioneered Trap music in the aughts. Today, it’s the most copied
style across the genre.
Chi-Town native Kanye took the producer/rapper role to another level, revolutionizing the
musical landscape. 50 Cent invaded the airwaves with G Unit — a team of rappers from all
over.
Besides, Eminem really hit his peak with 2002’s “Lose Yourself,” one of the best rap songs
of all time. So did Lil Wayne with Tha Carter albums.
It was also the decade where the mainstream finally gave props to hip-hop. Both Eminem
and Three 6 Mafia earned Academy Awards for their music, breaking the glass ceiling.
Late 90’s rap really sucks What really sinks the 90s as a decade was
what happened after Biggie and Tupac died. There was a time when Puff Daddy was one the
most popular rappers around. And he can’t even rap.
This was arguably Bad Boy Records most prolific era at the height of honey-dripped productions
and unabashed materialistic lyrics. The Lox, 112, Total, Black Rob and GDep made Puff a
lot of money while the musical landscape suffered.
Puff’s rap protégé Mase filled the vacuum left by Notorious B.I.G.’s untimely death.
He became a fixture in the Big Apple with crappy, over-stylized tunes like “Feels
So Good” and “What You Want.”
Mase’s sudden rise to fame overwhelmed him though. He retired from the music industry
before the turn of the millennium and became a pastor.
Will Smith smelled the golden opportunity and came back from his Hollywood hiatus to
drop corny gems such as “Men In Black,” “Just The Two Of Us,” and “Wild Wild
West.” The tracks felt more like commercials for his movies than genuine attempts to make
people dance.
Nas, Dr. Dre and Foxy Brown also rode that wave on their collaboration album The Firm
— a commercial success but arguably the critical letdown of the decade.
Those who thought the Wu-Tang Clan would save the end of the decade were badly disappointed
by their long–awaited second album Wu-Tang Forever. Though it sold well, it failed to
capture the zeitgeist like 36 Chambers did.
Even Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit tried his hand at the rap game. Yes. This is how bad it got.
Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer Rap music almost died of a massive heart failure
in the early 90s. Imagine a parallel universe where Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer are the most
popular rappers on Earth. That is not a nightmare. That’s 1990.
The forefathers of glorified struggle rap struck gold that year. The OG of lame Vanilla
Ice — birth name Robert Van Winkle — had several hits including the sadly unforgettable
“Ice Ice Baby” and “Ninja Rap” from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret
Of The Ooze soundtrack.
“Ice Ice Baby” holds the dubious honor of beinf the first hip hpo song to top the
Billboard charts.
You can still hear the song in commercials, at meetings with corny execs trying to show
off their old age and bad taste, and at tired karaoke parties. It might be even more popular
than the sample it was built upon: Queen’s “Under Pressure.”
Van Winkle never fully enjoyed the success of that song though. Suge Knight and his Death
Row thugs reportedly forced the Ice to sign over the royalties by dangling him from a
balcony of his hotel room.
Meanwhile, MC Hammer was so popular that he had his own Saturday morning cartoon and his
own line of dolls.
His claim to fame, “U Can’t Touch This” sampled “Superfreak,” musical giant Rick
James’ sultry hit. Dancing maniacally while wearing parachute pants, MC Hammer was the
opposite of Gangsta Rap. He sermoned people to “Pray” and “Help The Children.”
Rappers from all over criticized him for making millions by selling a dumbed down, ingratiating
version of hip-hop.
When his popularity dwindled, he dropped the MC to his moniker. Hammer tried to look more
badass. He reportedly had even 2Pac ghostwriting his lyrics. It was all in vain though.
In a move that should stun no one, he devoted himself full-time to his Christian ministry
when he fell off by the late 1990s.
The vanguards of commercial rap became cautionary tales for future generations of artists.
The Decline of Female Rappers started in the 90s
In the late 80s, several female rappers made impacts with lyrical talents and abilities
to move crowds. MC Lyte, Salt-N-Pepa and Queen Latifah carried that momentum in to the next
decade.
By the late 90s though, as rap broke through mainstream America, the number of female rappers
started to dwindle.
Granted, the earlier 90s were the heyday of feminist rap with names like Yo-Yo, Monie
Love, Da Brat and The Lady of Rage.
But by the time Lil Kim and Foxy Brown came on the scene, they became more recognized
for being sex kittens. Foxy and Kim ruled the latter part of the decade by flaunting
their physical assets and catfighting for the crown of Queen of New York. Other rappers
— namely Cam’ron and Nas — reportedly wrote many of their hits.
Only Lauryn Hill released more chart-toppers than Foxy and Kim. She was in a league of
her own selling platinum hits and albums with the Fugees’ The Score and her solo effort
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
Eve and Missy Elliott also proved that a female rapper could be sexy and lyrically gifted
as well.
The original ladies of rap stopped producing albums though. MC Lyte, Salt-N-Pepa, Monie
Love and Yo-Yo’s career hit a wall right before the new millennium.
By the aughts, the number of female rappers continued to dwindle. The trend that was set
in the late 90s hurt many talented women.
On top of that, Missy Elliot went into hiding, Lauryn Hill, Lil Kim and Foxy Brown flamed
out, and Eve and Queen Latifah transitioned into acting and other endeavors.
It’s almost as if there was only enough space for one mainstream female rapper at
a time. Following Foxy and Kim’s blueprint, Nicki Minaj ruled the better part of the last
decade.
In 2017, hip-hop has only begun to recover. Artists like Remy Ma, Def Loaf, Young M.A
and Cardi B are ushering in a new era of successful female rappers.
Rap was heavily censored Those who long for the 1990s were either not
born yet or were too young to remember them. Nostalgia for the so-called Golden Age of
rap music often glosses over the pervasive censorship that muzzled artists back then.
The establishment pushed back against the surging tide of hip-hop. Music moguls even
fed hip-hop heads sugarcoated alternatives like Vanilla Ice and Hammer.
In 1990, police systematically shut down N.W.A. concerts across the country. Their timeless
anthem “Fuck Tha Police” provoked a law enforcement crusade against the group.
That same year, thanks to hits like “Me So Horny,” 2 Live Crew was put on trial
for obscenity. Record store retailers could be arrested for selling their album As Nasty
As They Wanna Be. Those were the days.
Politician and civil rights activist C. Delores Tucker waged war against hip-hop. Tucker bought
shares in companies to block the sale of hip hop records. She protested the NAACP for giving
a 1994 Image Award to Tupac Shakur. She even sued Shakur for attacking her on “How Do
U Want It” and “Wonda Why They Call U Bitch.”
In 1997, the NFL jumped on the Slim Shady mania and parodied “My Name Is” in a promotional
ad. Football greats Joe Montana, Joe Gibbs, Joe Namath and “Mean” Joe Greene performed
“My Name Is Joe,” replacing Eminem’s incendiary bars with funny rhymes about the
gridiron.
The mealy-mouthed puritans noticed the subterfuge and forced the NFL to drop the commercial
altogether.
Proof that back in the 1990s, a simple reference to hip-hop could get you in hot water.
Nowadays rap music and its derivatives rule the charts. Artists refer to themselves as
rock stars. They’ve become as big as the Beatles were back in the 60s. The culture’s
gone worldwide. Why long for the days when New Gingrich encouraged advertisers to drop
hip-hop radio stations?
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