Is Hip-Hop Going Out of Style?

You know I am kind of up in arms with this one. I am an AVID fan of hip hop being a late 70's and 80' baby I grew up when hip hop was first making its mark. Being from the Bronx (the birthplace of modern rap) I feel culturally and historically bonded to hip hop as a part of my lifestyle as it is for many. The era I grew up in may be gone but as hip hop and rap music came of age it became a construct for which a once unheard nation could have a voice and we could entertain and build and educate with this music. As corny as that sounds it is true. Now our music is 90 percent rap and b***s**t and I do give credit to many artists for maintaining the music's integrity but a lot of the labels are selling the souls of these artists for money. that once humble artist becomes a part of the machine and is no longer the avid music lover making beats in his bedroom, or the beatboxer on the corner at lunch in school, you know? I still believe rap music is the most dominant form of music today and hip hop culture has affected all of our lifestyles (if you even said bling bling one time you're affected). There is no denying this fact. Going out of style? No, but I feel our music has been watered down and the sad fact is this was foretold to happen to this music. Rap is still a young musical form in comparison to the history of music, so we shall all see what is to come of our beloved form of music.

yes, sales were down quite a bit, but Lil' Wayne, even though i can't stand him, had released a new album and it sold over 1 million copies in it's first week. On top a that, the entire album was leaked like a week before it's release. To answer your question, it is really just a personal opinion. I mean underground rap fans now days hate the mainstream because they think they're killing hip-hop. And truthfully some a the topics among mainstream artists are getting kind of repetitive but I guess it happens. I could probably explain this a little more, well more about the underground-mainstream thing which may or may not expand your view about it going out of style, but it'd take a few paragraphs.

I remember reading an article awhile back that said record sales for that industry we dropping dramatically. Which to me would mean that is is going out of style. Can't be quick enough for me though.