Now then ..Leeds.., I’m DJ Wax On AKA Wax Branning, bringing you some
knowledge and insight into the world of DJing and funky beats.   Today I’m assuming the role of the Jeremy
Paxman, and looking at the state of hip hop today.......

Weezy's Running Things.......

The big news of recent weeks in the music world is that New Orleans big thing of the
Decade, Lil Wayne has been nominated for 8 Grammys,  which has caused quite a few people to moan and question credibility of recording artists such as himself and Soulja Boy, citing them as not being "real" hip hop.

Well here's the newsflash - they AREN'T "real" hip hop, in the sense that most
people mean - they are pop music artists, as is T-Pain, as is Kanye West.....

I'm 26, and got into hip hop after the best had been and gone.  Hip hop is never going to be what it was in 1993, which was when Wu Tang released 36 Chambers, then managed to get solo deals on different labels, which was a first of the time.  And then they kicked off the merchandising trend with their Wu-Wear, which was the last move in hip hop which set things rolling for how they are now.  A measure of success in hip hop nowadays is how much money you can make, and the different merchandising/endorsement deals which you can get.  And this has affected lyrical content of mainstream/pop rap hugely.  Back before hip hop was a multi million dollar industry, rappers were rapping about making money.  But they were talking from the
perspective of a hungry young unknown mc/crew who has ambitions to be successful, but now even unknown rappers are rapping about money from the aspect of someone who made it.  If you need to compare, just check out some early Eric B & Rakim, compared to some Nelly or TI.  Even compare old Kanye to the new stuff, and you’ll find his conscious side somewhat diminished.....

And as we all know, the way to make money is to make music which appeals to the highest spending demographics, which are young kids to teenagers.  These are the people who these artists, who were at some point more “pure” hip hop artists, are making their music for.  This is in no way a reason to dislike the artists, in fact much the opposite;  People should respect the fact that these people are making music which youngsters enjoy, and we need to simply realise that we’re getting old.....

Keeping more-or-less on the subject, I’d just like to mention an album which draws from the golden era of rap, but merges this with a current sound, to become probably
my favourite album of 2008: Q-Tip – The Renaissance.  Definitely worth checking out.....

If you want to get in touch with any disagreement or abuse due to my over opinionated prose, visit www.djwaxon.com or www.myspace.com/djwaxon ....