Indeed. Oldschool's combination of crudeness and sheer passion was best. Newschool rap can't ever compare to that.

But it's good that we have the newschool rap so we can further appreciate the old school style and for many artists to have a backbone in the music industry.

I have a new Rant. It called "Cultural/sub-cultural influences in hip-hop and its influence on other music genres". It's supposed to get this thread up and rarin' again with some renewed fervor and intelligent insight on things that i've said:

Believe it or not, kiddies, the rap/hip-hop scene isn't just the mainstream stuff that "MTV shoves down your throat". You know which sub-genre of this I speak of; Gangsta rap. Their songs include the praising of drug-abuse, womanising, etc. Unfortunately, people judge this as this being the whole genre. This is not so.

There's a lot more to it than seen at first glance. Just like the punk genre of old; "Oldschool" hip-hop, as it's bcome known as, spoke about things other than what today's mainstream artists speak of. World hunger, poverty, racial profiling, etc. are things they spoke about.

Enter hip-hop subculture. Shortly after oldschool hip-hop's introduction came the beastie boys; a group who introduced straight mc-ing to the late 80's/early 90's skateboarder (now simply known as "skater") culture. Another example would be the introduction to rap-rock (which sounded much different from linkin park, if that's who you had in mind). An oldschool group who went by "Run-DMC" introduced rap-rock to the mainstream with their song "walk this way".

This, in turn opened hip-hop artists' minds to listen to diverse cultures to use for their songs. Today, underground artists, such as the Canadian MC, K-os (pronounced "chaos"), uses reggae, spanish, and oldschool infuences in his songs. Even mainstream artists today sample songs from countries around the world for their songs; Take "Beware the Boys" By Jay-z featuring punjabi MC.

This use of melding world music and using other subcultures for hip-hop music is making a path for other genres of music to do the same. My question for you is this: What importance does this have for the future os hip-hop AND other genres of music that are following in its footsteps?

There are still some people who keep alive the ol skool roots of hip-hop. You should listen to Tribe called Quest, Jarrasic 5, the roots, and a lot more.

Even some of them "gangster" rappers have some great songs. You just need to filter out the stuff you don't like. Nas got some good stuff (i.e. One Mic, Warrior, etc..), 2Pac dealt with societal problems.

Biggie is my fav rapper, his music was totally filth, didn't have any meaningful songs, typical modern rap topics, but you have to appreciate his ability to rhyme and his word play.

Biggie: opening lines to "Goin back to Cali"