Rap music has evolved drastically over the course of several decades. It has often been regarded as one of the rawest and most unfiltered genres of music with its recurring themes of sex, violence, substance use, money, etc. While rap has tended to center around these tropes over the years, its contexts have not been restricted to these themes. During the 80s and 90s, rap music represented an era of authenticity and reality that reflected the personal struggles and early life experiences of artists. Many rap artists expressed the early childhood traumas and hardships that molded them into the person that they were to date, and the depth and rawness of these texts was what branded rap into the genre of unfiltered poetry that made it a highly respected form of art and expression.
It seems as though, however, contemporary rap is beginning to abandon the storytelling approach, focusing less on personal experience and self-expression and more on offering an illusion of what reality is. Many rap artists today base their value on their assets, with many of their songs centering around women, cars, money, and fame. While this isn’t a bad thing, it gives only a shallow perspective of reality, and it instead taints the rap genre by adding a materialistic label onto it, straying away from its goal of connoting genuine and real stories in the form of poetry and song. It is far less common for raps to actually have substance these days, and many people are writing it off as trashy, lewd, and undoubtedly appalling.
To say that people fail to find entertainment in current rap—well, that would just be plain wrong. Rap is still highly appreciated by many due to its catchy tunes, iconic lyrics, and flashy performances. While the entertainment aspect is yet to be abandoned, the art aspect of it has begun to subside. What made rap such a unique and iconic genre back in the 80s and 90s has been lacking in the contemporary rap era. Real stories and genuine connections to rappers are beginning to be lost, and instead are being replaced by objectifying themes, materialistic narratives and false images.
