Is Rap Getting Lazy?
When a rapper freestyles over a beat that’s not their own, that’s cool… it’s neat to hear the rapper in a different context, I can get with that if it’s good.
I certainly don’t mind checking out freestyles or mixtapes, but aren’t you getting numb to these promotional gimmicks too?
I mean, sure it’s sometimes interesting to hear Lil Wayne spit over Help by The Beatles and Wale rhymin’ over Duffy’s Warwick Ave is a novelty.
But Jim Jones on MGMT’s Electric Feel? That’s a bit of a reach, innit? It’s getting pretty tired. And these awful recordings are being released left and right with the novelty factor taking a serious nose dive (for me anyways).
Sure, on some level, this type of promotion is working, but don’t you think rappers are getting lazy? At the very least, they should put some work into it instead of shouting two lines over the intro of a hugely successful track that someone else wrote. And, yeah, I understand that sampling has been a building block of rap and hip hop, but the promotional stuff being released lately is really terrible… and there’s pretty much no creativity involved. Meh.
I’m not sure if this is an official release, but it probably is since he showed up on Hot 97 to debut it. Here’s Swizzy over M.I.A.’s Boyz. What do you think?
Swizz Beatz – I’m Supposed To Ball
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK
rappers are freaking lazy! trying to jump on that next big sound. Not like I really every respected Swizzy as a MC but yea this is super wack in all respects.
If Jim Jones if feeling the MGMT track and wants to rock the MGMT track, lovely. But his effort sounds like somebody told him he should spit 2 bars cuz its a hot record. Not Cool Either.
Why I quit rap…..
ha yo i was thinking the same thing….. like Swizz is an amazing producer but what? BOYZ? really? Pretty sad. Sounds like an old bad mash-up of mine lol….
Can someone take me back to the 90s already. I wanna hear Swizz over some rakim or kwame at least…
But hey at least M.I.A’s getting some royalties from this cause she deserves it…
-morsy
This trend has been tired since the late 90’s.
Problem is the general public still thinks this is cool.
In the end these lazy rappers will be forgotten.
I love Swizz Beatz. My fav projects of his are the LOX’s “We Are The Streets” and Beyonce’s “B Day”. This M.I.A. track works perfectly for him. As a solo artist he, um, has a LOT to learn (generous), but fuck it man he’s earned the chance to wild out. Who doesn’t cringe when Dr. Dre or Timbaland spits over beats, anyway?
Now as far as sampling hit songs, I agree, it’s wack. Remember when Alchemist’s beat for Prodigy “Keep It Thoro” was the hottest shit to freestyle over? That was cool cuz it was hip-hop giving group love. But blindly appropriating shit is dumb. Kanye flipping 1 second of M.I.A. on “Swagger Like Us” was pretty inspired so it can be right (after M.I.A. took the entire “Straight To Hell” Clash song to rap over, which worked pretty well all things considered).
But who doesn’t love it when Ghostface spits over the complete Stylistics song “You’re a Big Girl Now” or Zapp’s “Computer Love”? We LOVE that shit!
Thinking of Juelz Santana’s Skull Gang mixtape, where he lazied over early ’90s hip-hop beats, that turned out crap… so you know, whether you’re taking a pop record or an old instrumental it all depends who’s doin it I guess.
sure, yeah… but why would an accomplished producer like Swizz just ‘rap’ over MIA’s beat and release it as a single? He didn’t even sample it, he just rapped over the instrumental. How lazy is that? We know he can produce some great music, so why does he need to do this? Anyone can wild out, you don’t have to earn it… but you have to be able to pull it off. With all these half assed productions, it’s not a good look. It’s like when you hear DJs make mashups… just because two tracks are the same BPM, that doesn’t mean it will sound amazing when you put them together. There has to be some thought put into it… if you don’t believe me, then compare a Soulwax blend with any one of these terrible mashes crowding the interweb.
At least the ‘Swagger Like Us’ sample was used creatively and it worked well. And sure, Ghostface is sick, he can pull it off… the point is, if you’re gonna put something out, then do it well. Show your audience that you actually care about your shit.
The difference between now and in the 90s is that there are less and less barriers to putting out stuff like Jim Jones over MGMT. If you were gonna do this in the 90s, you’d have to spend money on getting it recorded proper and that alone would force you to ensure that it was quality. Now, with the internet and consumer based production software there’s suddenly an audience and a cheap means to do it. When rappers did these type of promo tracks in the 90s or earlier, at least they weren’t half assed.
PS. M.I.A. did NOT take the entire Clash song. It was literally an 8 bar sample from a tiny portion of the track. I don’t think the instrumental to ‘Straight to Hell’ even exists, so it’s impossible to rap over that whole original song.
$0.02
I don’t know, I leave it entirely on a case by case thing. If it brings something new to it, creating something new AND is good great. If its just someone trying to add their name to something thats getting a lot of hype for their own self publicity, then defo wack. Even more so if its no good.
Theres definitely way to much of all the diy, mashup, rapping over someone elses beat as the internet makes it really easy to get it out and theres no filtering process, it spreads like wildfires based on the original artists hype but
I think its just the nature of the beast. The only escaping it is staying off the internet, and in the real world
Excellent post, and even better banter in the comments. this is why i love this blog.
All the DIY/consumer production software shit is great for tone deaf bastards like me because i can use it as a creative outlet to keep my sanity from a mind-numbing day job.
we complain that some acclaimed professionals are using their mac at home to produce a ton of average shit because we try to avoid the typical garbage that gets played on the radio these days, and we don’t want to hear/see it on the web… but the garbage on the radio isn’t meant for the internet dwellers, its meant for the boring guy in the cubicle next to me that doesn’t want to find great music – he just wants to be told what to like. If you’re in to finding new, virtually unknown music, then hearing cheaply made mashups can leave a bad taste in your north.
Excluding radio lovers, that leaves us with a lot of people that don’t buy a lot of music, they just dl it (present company excluded). there’s a lot i don’t know about the music industry, but a way that talented (& talentless IMO) artists get their name out there is by producing a lot…. even if it means throwing something out there that only took the same amount of time as my morning routine.
its frustrating but i agree with what HTD says. i think its just the nature of the beast. Since they’re not making as much money from sellin records they’re just trying to find new ways to get their name out there (and keep it out there, even if it’s not attached to timeless music pieces).
leave the shitty music production to me.x
If you ask me, the problem ain’t if Rap is Getting Lazy but are we the fans too frig gin’ gullible? We sit and wait to be forced fed the BS that mainstream is dishing out. The rappers observe that our culture has been watered down with nursery rhymes and that this is what’s hot right now. So they think that in order to get noticed it makes sense to jump on one of these tracks and try to show off their skills.
Rap as an art form has become too one-dimensional and a lot of good talent is either not being heard by music fans or is being stifled by those that have the power to expose it. Isn’t radio in Canada supposed to play a certain percentage of Canadian content? What happen? Fans need to get more engaged or enraged and demand more quality, more exposure for indie artists and bands to get more variety on the airwaves.
bb i hear u but dis shit go hard
I want to know more
Lil Wayne Haddddd Braidssssss ….OMG Memoriesss
Lil wayne is still going hard, nuthing changed, he still releases a crazy amount of songs! compare to other rappers.
lil wayne was a G back then keepin’ it real, now he is a fake ass nigga tryin’ to be a rock star..fuck him