Rap Then vs Now

Rap has changed significantly changed throughout the years. African Americans created rap in the 1970s and since then it's made many dramatic turns. Rap music has evolved from hit after hit to now fill the world with lack of a better word bullshit. Rap had its birth in the block parties of the Bronx in its early days. D.J.s like Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash were inventing breakbeats and M.C.s were making rhymes of spoken word over simple instrumentals. Lyrically, the focus was often on party anthems, social issues, and braggadocio. Groups like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, who addressed topics like poverty and police brutality on tracks like “The Message” (1982). The style was raw, real, and sample-heavy which was closely connected to rap’s four elements: D.J.ing, emceeing, breakdancing and graffiti. Now rap has took an unfortunate shift it main focus is sex, money, parties, and fame. The key elements of rap have been lost it became about the attention and the money and less about the art. We now have songs called "Slut Me Out" by NLE Choppa and the basis of the song is about other women getting their "freak on" and slutting him out. Rap today has evolved into sexual desire and cash grabs, when in the past it was community-driven and frequently politically charged. Rap used to inspire, uplift, and invoke change. Rap used to be about the art, and I hope one day we can find the art again.