Thank God I was born in the early 80s. I was privileged enough to come into age during a time when Hip Hop peaked (and when rap music, generally, didn't blow balls)
For awhile, I've been avoiding writing long diatribes about how rap (not Hip Hop) is about as enjoyable as dual root canals but...what can I say, the shit really sucks right now. So, as I was on my way home from my 9-5 ball and chain, I was trying to think what sent rap into the shitter. I came up with a number of things, but I think it all can be embodied in one man's career: P Diddy.
Puff gets props on one front, discovering and putting out Biggy, if you can even say that. But in general, isn't his relationship to Big similar to that of Dash/Hov in that a talentless, flashy pseudo businessman from Harlem extorts the talent of a BK emcee??? What did they actually do???
First Puff destroyed the concept of what it is to be considered a good album. When Bad Boy became a force to reckon with circa 96-98 a good album was considered to be at least 80-85% dope tracks. That meant a good album had to be 8/10 good tracks or whatever the ratio is depending on how many tracks was on the album. A classic had to be 95-100% heat to be considered a classic. Albums that were 12 tracks long with only 6 good tracks were considered weed plates in the mid-late 90s. Now(2007), a good album only has to be 65% good. That means out of 10 tracks, only 6 have to be good for a mainstream rap album to considered good. Reference 2006 for numerous examples. Now, I wondered how it got this way...Here's a number of reasons: Mase (debut and follow-up), The Lox (debut), Black Rob (however many albums he has), G-Dep, Loon etc,etc. Really, all of these guys are at least average rappers but under the leadership of "can't stop won't stop" publishing/masters owning Puff they all produced shitty albums. But, at the time they all had chart-topping radio friendly hits which probably sold mad albums but the quality of their whole effort(s) was butt. So if you're wondering where the 1/2 hit + filler tracks = wack ass album format came from...you can thank your boy Combs. I think it's the continued production of albums like the above--coupled with outrageous album sales he got from those--that made cats believe, who needs 15 thoughful, dope tracks when I can pump out 3 "club bangers" and make an assload of money.
The original I blatantly suck but want to make ya dance dude . I think it should suffice to say "don't push me close I'm close to the eddddddge." This is not the first time Diddy rapped his god-awful rhymes over a track but probably the first track that was accepted as "cool." If I can recall right--which tends to be difficult b/c of all the years of drug/booze consumption--cats felt like, "yea, Puff's doo doo but I can dance to this." I'm not going through this guy's whole catalogue but "Been Around the World," & "Bad Boy for Life" etc, etc. Never should this man have been allowed to touch a microphone unless he was prepping it pre-concert for Big or for adlibs--no words though, just utterances. Puff did a couple of things that fucked up rap. He created the 98% swagger, 2% rhymes model and that bullshit "I'm not trying to be lyrical I'm trying to make cats dance" spiel.
All in all, Diddy's should be exiled from Rap forever and besides, Big, his only contribution to rap was the Fred/E-Ness debacle on Making the Band. I mean no offense to Puff or nothin.
Other wack trends from Puff: jerking rappers, the rappers that can't rhyme, the singer who can't sing, the acceptance of the dancing male in mainstream, materialism, white tigers in the hood, extortion.
