The State of Rap in NYC

This entry stems from the previous one and is posing the question: Where has New York Hip-Hop gone?

New York City is the birthplace of hip-hop and throughout it's history has produced great talents. But in recent years, hardly any NYC new-comer has made a significant splash. In the past, the heavy-weights were on there grind. Jay-Z, Nas and Biggie were consistent Hit-makers and kept NYC's creditability up there. Even the not so heavy but time-tested rappers such as Busta Rhymes, Fabolous, Fat Joe, Dipset and 50 cent, enabled New Yorkers to have since of pride in hip-hop. In recent years, however, hip-hop seems to be on the rise everywhere but New York. The last home-grown talent to make some sort of major impact was Juelz Santana and I'm probably giving him to much credit on that. I'm not looking for the next Jay-Z, just some one fresh that gives NYC something to look forward to.

We've all sat back and witnessed the rise of the South, from Lil' Wayne to Young Jeezy to T.I. The south is producing rappers at a quicker pace the any other region. Once again not all are elite status, but at least they are selling records along with getting nationwide recognition. If you wanted to feature a rapper on a song, there is a slew of able new southern rappers to chose from. But if you wanted a New York rapper, your only choice is one of the proven veterans. NYC's hip-hop playfield is starting to mimic the West Coast's, where they have their big names, like Snoop Dogg and the Game, but has hardly any promising new talents. How do we fix this? Well, I feel it is on the veterans to seek and train new artists. The talent is out there, it just didn't vanish. It seems as if the old school has the mentality were "as long as they are hot, who cares". To me, that is selfish because they know first hand what it takes and should be able to spot it, but only if they took the time. Does New York have to wait until Jay-Z fully retires to seek out it's new aire? How long will the vets be able to keep it up? Damn, Where Brooklyn At?

-TheMadMusician