Hip Hop Music Masters

Rap music was artist driven. Hip Hop music is producer driven. Producers are ones who put together all ingredients to get you final product, a hit song. Since rise of producers starting with Missy and Timbaland in mid 90’s hip hop music has gone mainstream.

The lyrics don’t matter much anymore because meat of music-- is in music. Literally, complicated arrangements, samples on top of samples, guest stars, wanna-be stars and more, all culminate into MTV ready hit songs.

It’s not that hip hop is not deep, or socially conscious. It’s just that it has a different lineage. Rap masters were lyricists. Hip Hop Masters are non verbal communicators. This is blessing and curse of hip hop music.

That is why hip hop music is so present on radio, cable TV, and now, in online world. If you think that modern hip hop is a bit much, perhaps you should try one of streaming radio stations where you can select hip hop music from 80’s and 90’s when rappers were still in charge. Get in touch with De La Soul and some of other early hip hop pioneers.

They became caricatures selling urbanites on exotic possibilities of redneck culture and vain beauty queens.

The Nashville gatekeepers learned a very painful lesson.

Pop culture mangles, destroys, and makes fun of anything that comes in its path. They learned that:

1. You can still get country music lyrics played on urban radios, but you will need your own radio networks

2. You can compete with pop by developing younger artists like Sarah Evans and Faith Hill who can present a pop image with solid country music lyrics on their albums.

So where does this lead modern country? Still on forefront, experimenting with country-rock, and Rhythm and blues collaborations.

It certainly is a good time for country music and an even better time for country music fans.