The New Normal of Hip Hop

A change has occurred in hip hop, a paradigm shift has removed popularity from the hands of gun totting lyrics to the poignant and heartfelt lyrics of the newest breed of MC's that are flooding the iPods of young people all over America. The work of artists such as Drake, Kid Cudi, J. Cole, K'naan, Wiz Khalifa, and my Nigerian brother Wale has spurred a new era of hip hop, that embraces the highs and lows faced by youth in affluent neighborhoods to the hood.This new generation is so deep that I had to leave out a few names for the sake of time.

These artists are talking about age old issues facing youth everywhere (self identification, the opposite sex, drugs, and friendship). They're fan bases are not built on traditional platforms (Radio) they are able to engage fans in ways they're predecessors could have never imagined. It is very hard to hear a Wiz Khalifa track on radio outside of Pittsburgh, yet he dominated twitter for days with the release of his mixtape Kush and Orange Juice.

With the advent of social resources such as Twitter and Facebook, these new artists bring you along as they move up. I recently had a conversation with a female friend of mine, she took pride in the fact that she was one of the early fans of K'naan on Facebook. To her this was a point of pride that increased her affinity to the artist in some sort of way.

This sense of affinity is at the heart of the movement of this new school of artists. Not only does it seem like they are accessible they're lyrics increases this sense of closeness with the listener. All the gentlemen in the above mentioned group could easily be someone you hang out, they're not all your classic leading men, they're just guys who rap about real shit that real people deal with.

Drake had a song on a mixtape called say whats real. Here's a short excerpt "Boy in my city I'm da 2-3 Drug dealers live vicariously through me". Seriously 5 years ago there is no way a rapper would include the word vicariously in a song, and still be able to sell 400,000 copies in the first week. It is a very different climate right now. Maybe it's the depression and the subdued economic activity, but people don't want to only hear about popping champagne, they want you to commiserate with how they avoid the bill collector (J.Cole- Dollar and a Dream) or how they can't get the girl they want so badly (Wale- Diary).

These rappers not only cover conscious issues, they also make good old fashioned ass shaking music (Wale- Pretty Girls, Kid Cudi- Make Her Say, Drake- Best I Ever Had). They've been able to marry the youths need for rebellion along with their need to be entertained, understood and of course party.