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Opinionally, I think rap died with Tupac. I mean, he used to send a message in all of his songs. Before I heard him, I never even listened to rap music because I thought it was pointless and dumb. But I heard 'Dear Mama' and that song hit home. I grew up partially in a single parent home and my mom was the strongest person. She's my Superman. And I swear anybody that could relay that into a rap had to be talented.
As for the other rappers out there, I don't know what's going on. I THINK of Eminem as more of an entertainer than a rapper. His lyrics are too off-base to even 'white' America since he lived in a predominantly black neighborhood. So, he's ghetto and could only relate to those one or two white kids who grew up on the edge of the projects. . .getting beat up by black kids just because he was around. The rest of these kids are just listening to his music because he's cool. I used to have his first cd. Today, if you ask some kid to name a song besides the most popular ones on his first album, they couldn't tell you. So, I think it's distinctively known as fad music.
Common is great. A message.
As far as underground, there are a lot of people holding it down. They'll never get recognition but they are still 'doing their thing'. In my area, there's the Get Down Clique and Code Red(this group is banging. . .they opened for 50 Cents' Louisville concert about a month ago). Then, there's Ghostface and the Shadow. 812 Soldiers. All kinds of people who hail from here. Just trying to make a name but really just doing it because they love it.
But some of it's hardly rap.
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