Beats, Rhymes and Life... 90's Hip-Hop

Relaxing and reminiscing to the smooth beats and funky flows of 90's emcees, is the paradox of joy and pain. Delight,elation, glee. All these things. Hip-Hop equals pure, original flair and flavour. Sadness and despair. I was listening to Hip-Hop as it was and will never be again.

Hip-Hop as a genre has long forgotten its original, rebellious roots. It's music was powerful and emotive. It's social commentary gave a voice to a generation who needed to be heard. The voice was versatile, it could be raw but then fresh and funky in the next breath. Today, it has even kissed its refreshing, rhythmical beats goodnight. Instead it has welcomed basic, mundane, bass-driven beats that ride under sloppy southern drawl. Lucrative endorsement deals, jewellery and greed- the most deadly of all- is choking the message out of Hip-Hop.

If you think that this is just another 'Hip-Hop is dead' rant, you are mistaken. Hip-Hop is still breathing. There are still artists bringing truth to the mainstream. You just have to search harder to find them amongst the conveyor belt of sound-a-like 'MCs' churned out by the manufacturing line.

This post is an appreciation for the heyday of Hip-Hop creativity. Check out some of my personal 90s highlights to see what I mean.


Common - I Used to love H.E.R






Souls of Mischief - From 93' till infinity