The Future of Rap
By Rhett Parker
Is rap in its last days as one of the most popular genres, or is it just in a transitional period? In the last decade rap and pop have been the leading genres of the music industry and have proven to be the most popular genres amongst the people, but rap has seemed to be on a decline due to people getting tired of the genre and feeling that a lot of what is coming out sounding bland. So, is rap getting old?
Rap has gotten to a point where most people who aren’t into the genre can’t tell the difference between different songs and artists. Instead of being inspired by other artists and using what is already done to build on it and make new styles, many artists are just taking from their inspiration and copying them, which leads to a lot of the music coming out sounding used. Rap was once a genre that would constantly be reinventing itself because rappers would build off each other to create new styles and sounds.
Is TikTok to blame for rap not being as appealing in the last couple of years for many people? A lot of rappers have recently been releasing songs with the sole purpose of trying to go viral on TikTok. Rappers who are trying to make a “TikTok song” use the strategy of making a song that has a part in it that can be clipped out for a 30 second or less video, this means that they just want to make a small section of the song catchy or something that people will want to use to make videos with. It seems like everybody is on TikTok these days, so if you can make a hit song on the platform then everyone will recognize the song and it will be a great success. However, this mean that a lot of the music coming out today is using this same strategy and it can seem to get old. People might like the clip of the song that’s used for videos, but does that mean they are really going to go listen to the whole song?
Many rap artists are making the same type of music repeatedly, and when it is done well people love it, however the fans are starting to notice that they are hearing a lot of the same from everybody. Trendy rap has a lot of the same creatively bankrupt style of beats and vocals which have been overused. The appeal for this same sounding rap music is dying.
As the basic sound of rap is getting overplayed and the hype for it is fizzling out, new styles emerge and become more popular then ever. Popular rap artist, Tyler, The Creator, is leading the charge of new sounds in rap, as he has created and popularized a new subgenre of rap which the fans clamored for. Tyler, The Creator has used this to his advantage to stand out and other rappers are following his example and doing the same. As the mundane rappers continue to follow the old trends, the biggest rappers at the top have been changing their sound and trying to innovate the genre. This year we have seen great success in some of the biggest rappers in the industry changing their sound and style, examples of this are the new albums from Lil Yachty, Lil Uzi Vert, and Travis Scott who have dropped huge selling albums that have been some of their most popular. These albums are completely different to their past work or anything that has come before it. On the other hand, big rappers that don’t innovate and maintain exhausting formulas are not seeing as great of successes, such as, Trippie Redd’s 2023 album titled “MANSON MUSIK” which did not get good fan reception due to its worn-out sound. Fans are starting to want something new out of the rap genre.
Experimentation in rap is not a new thing to the genre. Experimentation is what has made the genre so exciting to most music listeners for decades. In the history of the rap genre when artists would release “out of the box” projects it resulted in many of their fans criticizing it for not being the same traditional stuff that they liked, but after time these projects would begin to grow on the fans, and they would accept them more. For example, the album titled “808s & Heartbreak” by Kanye West wasn’t loved by a lot of his fans, but as time went on and other artists were inspired by the album the fans went back and changed their opinions on the album because it was ahead of its time. Nowadays “808s and Heartbreak” is one of Kanye West’s most beloved projects and has inspired the next generation of music. The audience of the rap industry gained a new and different perspective on experimental music. We often applaud it for being different instead of criticizing it for not being what we have previously loved. This is a good thing for the future of rap because audiences are more accepting of experimentation in the genre. It is now up to the artists to take a leap of faith and try something new.
As today’s rap dies, tomorrow’s rap is born. A new chapter in the genre is taking form. We could be entering a creative renaissance of rap. Artist must maintain the basics of what people love about rap while reinventing the genre. People will always love rap for being high energy, raw, and passionate. The key to rap is that it’s a modern and highly entertaining form of poetry put on top of energetic beats. Rap is all about poetic lyrics with a beat that’ll make you bop your head; these are the fundamentals; you can experiment and innovate everything else to make a unique sound. If high profile rappers continue to challenge the genre’s limits, create new sounds, and learn from past work, then the genre will transition into something new and exciting, as long as the other rappers that are inspired by these trailblazers choose to build on their creativity instead of trying to recreate it. Rap as we know it is dying, but it is dying in favor of a brighter future for the genre.
