Old School Hip Hop vs. New School Rap: Saffron and Cam Debate

Hip-Hop is an incredibly diverse and deep genre with many sub-genres that connect together in a huge web that brings people all over the world together. Over the years it has changed, though. With the evolution of hip-hop and rap, how has the music changed, and what is better, the golden age of hip hop of the 80’s, 90’s, and early 2000’s or the more contemporary and evolved music?

Saffron: Music has changed dramatically over the decades going from emotional storytelling and powerful topics to club bangers and hype music which bases itself around wordplay and a quick punch line. Old school hip-hop has meaning and thought behind each line like their struggle they had before they became famous. While new school raps are more about what they have now and their lavish lifestyles. There is no thought put behind the lyrics, it’s all just mumble rap with bass heavy instrumentals and almost no emotion. Old school’s lyrics are more thought-provoking with groovy instrumentals. New hip-hop just doesn’t offer the same stimulation that the old hip-hop artists provided.

Cam: New hip hop is more thought provoking than you give it credit for. Critically acclaimed rapper Kendrick Lamar in his song “Blacker the Berry” where he talks about the plight of the African American in America and African American youth being singled out by white police officers. The whole song Kendrick talks about being “The biggest hypocrite of 2015,” which he follows up with “Once I finish this, witnesses will convey just what I mean,” and he repeats these two phrases multiple times during the song until the very final line of the song. Kendrick completely changes his tone and tells us why he has said he’s a hypocrite the entire song. Kendrick drops the line – “So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin laid in the street when gang banging made me kill a man blacker than me? Hypocrite!” Where he reveals the nature of the enigmatic hypocrisy that he had previously confessed multiple times in the song where he elaborated that he grieved over the murder of Trayvon Martin but he himself was responsible for the death of a young black man.

I would argue that new school is actually more thought-provoking than older hip hop if only for the fact that instead of just giving it to you straightforwardly, they hide their message underneath a sea of witty puns and zeal. The energy behind the songs and the hidden meaning in the lyrics allow the song to be listened to in two completely different ways – changing the meaning of the song just by the way you perceive it. A song could tell a heartfelt story of the struggle and the desire for greatness while at the same time being a complete banger. New hip-hop allows for a broad range of topics and beats that can synth together to form songs that are so deep and artistic that they are almost palpable.

Saffron: Even though new hip hop “has hidden messages in the songs,” no one can tell because of the way the new rappers dress and act. To me they seem like spoiled kids that just come up with something and make a beat or talk about everything they have, rather than the old rappers who had to work their way to the top from the real struggle. They actually had true meaning behind every word where the average person could relate unlike new hip hop. New hip hop’s meaning for “banger” music, or rap, sounds a lot like mumbling, and the lyrics are very cheap and crummy. For example, current rappers like 21 Savage, Kodak Black, L’il Boat, etc. have lyrics that are nothing but mumbling. It’s mainly the beat that catches the audience’s ear rather than the substance behind the message. This is a bad precedent for upcoming rappers because they are being shown that an artist can still have a “banger” without it having any meaning.

Cam: Hip-hop at its roots started in the party scene. It came from the boroughs of New York blasting off of every street corner and every house party through the city. Some of the pioneering rap groups like Grandmaster Flash to the Furious Five and the Beastie Boys all have upbeat rhythms and lyrics which incite fun times. While a lot of newer rap songs do have a deeper hidden meaning, why should they always have to be depressing and about the struggle? Why shouldn’t they celebrate what they’ve worked hard to achieve?

Saffron: It’s not about the “depression” in the old rap music; it’s more about the relatability in the songs. Rap shouldn’t speak to wealthy kids in the burbs; it should relate to everybody that has had it tough and that is trying to fight to be better. It’s not just about the money and the fame; it’s about the message that is not only entertaining but is also meaningful.

While new rap is different than old school hip hop, each version will have its fans. However, despite their differences there will always be an evolution in the “rap game.” Every year, decade, and generation something exciting and different comes out that will change music forever – like it or not.