XXL just released their Freshman Class of 2016 issue today and just like every year there’s tons of disgruntled fans, hop-heads, & whatnot because their favorite artist didn’t make the cover or they feel the artists on the cover are trash.  Whatever the case, this year’s issue caused an outrage.  Usually I’m rather indifferent to the opinions of these things cause people are gonna have their opinion but this year I feel like there’s legitimate reasons for the complaints: Designer being the end all, be all, of the argument.  One song, no more than 20-25 bars, and on top of that no one even understood the lyrics & still don’t really know wtf this guy is even talking about. But I guess a co-sign from Yeezus makes the most intolerable, highly flammable :?|  Honestly that’s the major problem we have now-a-days.  The dominant forces in rap, as well as the taste-makers don’t seem to gaf anymore.  It’s all about a check so they go along with whatever, and it’s not a secret anymore.  This new cover is a clear sign.

I came to this conclusion when I realized that half of those guys sound just alike, and Young Thug/Future is basically the blueprint for it all.  So not only does it sound uninspiring it sounds like last years…and the years before that. No originality.  Don’t get me wrong, there’s some artist up their worth the listen, but definitely no game-changer.  Someone that everybody agrees is hands down the best rapper out there.  Not like a Pac & Biggie… or when Jigga reigned… or LL, or…you get my drift. The first name that probably comes to a lot of minds is Drake, but besides the whole ghost-writer ordeal Drizzy isn’t as versatile as a Kendrick or a Kid Cudi even.  He’s dropped some hella good albums, but nothing I feel will go down in the same pages as Illmatic, Reasonable Doubt, Me against the World, Ready to Die, sh*t like that you know.  Nothing Was The Same is right there behind them tho…it’s classic material I can’t lie.  Now K. Dot I feel did that with TPAB, but a lot of people disagree with the album, and the direction that K. Dot is going in general.  I’m starting to believe K Dot won’t be that dominating factor that the game so really needs, but it’s not his fault.  It’s just the double-edged sword that we call the internet mixed with the capitalism of the music industry.

I had a conversation with an older fella and he said there was just as much trash music back then as it is now & that people will always miss earlier years music, it’s just the cycles of music.  I began to debate but thought about it and had to agree…to a certain extent.  There may have been music people disagreed with back then (Miami booty-shake, ATL bounce, etc) but the artist who made the music still had a love for what they were doing.  I saw an interview the other day with one of XXL’s Freshman artist, Lil Yachty, and he blatantly said he doesn’t take his rap serious, and doesn’t consider himself a rap artist.  One listen to his music, and that was clear.  Again not his fault though, tons of people support him so what could a non-fan really say?  I salute his accomplishments to the fullest but the debater in me just doesn’t want to give his artistry any credit cause he doesn’t give it any.

Now that artists can be accessed so easily people aren’t too much concerned with how much they relate to artists music.  It’s more of a concern with how much they, feel they can relate directly with the the artists real life.  That’s why the internet damn near went nuts discussing rather if Gucci Mane was a clone or not; a conversation that should’ve never left the 5th grade hallway.  Which leaves us with another situation.

The taste-makers get younger & younger…and it’s not really that they’re taste-makers.  The younger the fan, the more support they give, being they have more time on their hands its easier for them to follow every single thing their favorite artist do.  More time for organic internet promotion through reposting songs like crazy.  From adolescence to teens most youngsters don’t, really listen to music that in-depth; they’re more in tune with the beat, and what little they do understand or resonates within them just makes it better. Unfortunately what resonates with most of our youngsters these days is party & bullshit (no disrespect to Biggie) :,?(  That’s my hypothesis at least.  Leave a comment for a more in-depth discussion