In this generation of soundcloud rappers, where mumble rappers have taken the spotlight with heavy assistance from auto-tune and catchy beats; hip hop aficionados have wondered - is hip hop dead?
Eminem has made it clear in his most recent surprise album cleverly named "Kamikaze," that he is through with the mumble rapping and all the rappers with face tats that look like the graffiti on the desks in the back of detention hall.
Personally, last month was very refreshing to see Slim Shady come back with such creative intensity, similar to his bleached blonde days in the early 2000's when he was corrupting the youth across North America - much like myself. He put the new generation of rappers in body bags, one by one, song after song and continued to break more records while doing so. One unlucky victim was a former fanboy and listed Em as his biggest musical influence. They say never meet your heroes, but Machine Gun Kelly met him in the booth later that week, and that meeting was followed up by a trip to the morgue for MGK (RIP 1990-2018).
Cause of death: Eminem's rebuttal and first diss track in years "Killshot," which amassed over 38 million views in its first 24 hours, shattering the previous record.
Marshal got me in the game. The XXL polos, the du-rags, the oversized track suits; it was all my peers and I knew at a time. Consistently cited as one of the most influential artists of any genre, it was no surprise that I was captivated by his unique madness.
However, after his album Encore, Marshal went off the grid on a hiatus for a handful of years. This didn't sit well with me at first and I knew I needed someone to fill that hole in my heart. Although the bar was set real high, I was still hopeful I would find the one.
After a few years, I was ready to try some different artists out. My friends would try and set me up with different CDs in hopes of getting me out of this hip hop heartbreak, but deep down, I was still fighting it. Then one day, my friend who shares a similar taste in tunes, made me a mixed CD that he knew would be the one. I skipped through the first two songs immediately, then the third song started - it opened up with the sound of a lighter flick, I was engaged. It continued on about how he's the fireman, but not your traditional fireman that puts fires out. He was a fireman who was setting the rap world on fire with all the heat he promised he would bring. I looked at my friend and demanded more CDs, but only if the Fireman sang in every song.
I later would learn that the Fireman is Lil Wayne; my new favorite artist.
Could I have just switched genres and listened to Sum 41 and Blink 182 like all the other kids on my hockey team?
And just like that, I was back to driving around in the bad parts of town with the guys, blasting A Mili on the sub woofers that were a few decibels away from exploding my best friends' mothers' mini van.
It's hard to think of high school without thinking of Lil Weezy. He made so many parties better than they should have been. My friends and I still know the words to all of "The Carter 3" album and No Ceilings is a top 5 on anyone's mixtape list. Sure, I still don't know what a goon to a goblin is or means, but it gets the people going.
Weezy F baby would make his own hits, let other people make some hits, then he would remix those into bangers where people completely forget about the original.
But most importantly, he created the 6ix god, ultimately creating the 6ix. Thankfully, Drake has been able to keep the hip hop community afloat with his record breaking albums these last few years, but there's no denying the nosedive rap has taken from a talent standpoint.
Now, Young Money turns 36 and is dropping the long-awaited album " The Carter V" Thursday at midnight. Kanye and Drake are beefing over who bedded Kim K, and Marshal is trying to rumble with all the rappers who mumble. Rap is back - for now.