Hip-Hop reminds me of....

I just finished watching the Decline of Western Civilization: The Heavy Metal years. And in a odd way it reminded me of the state of hip-hop today.

I know it may be painful for some of you but let's go back, way back into time to the days of bands with names like Faster Pussycat, Trixter, Firehouse, Cinderella, Whitesnake, White Lion, Warrant, W.A.S.P., L.A. Guns, Skid Row, Extreme, Poison, Motley Crue, and of course the grand daddy of them all Guns and Roses.

What did all of these bands have in common? (Besides having big freaking hair.) They basically talked about the same damn things; sex, women, and partying. Do you see where I'm going with this? Basically (mainstream) hip-hop is doing the same damn thing. All they're talking about is sex, women, and partying. Compare the way women are portrayed in videos today to how they were portrayed in the mid to late 80's. It's the same damn thing.

So here's my theory, once things become so bloated and blinged out people will eventually start listening to bands that matter. For example when people got tired of Warrent they started listening to Soundgarden and Nirvana. Eventually the mainstream catches up, this usually takes some time but it does happen.

It's already changing when you consider the current landscape of artists out there. Kayne West has, and hopefully will continue to make an impact. Common, Mos Def, Talib Kweli and the Roots have broken out of the underground (to a certain extent). I'm sure in the coming years artists like Planet Asia, Rhymefest, and Jedi Mind Tricks will rise from the underground.

One can only hope.