I thank whichever higher power exists for the Internet. But God knows I can despise the people on it. I also thank the aforementioned higher power for not having the Internet explode in popularity in the 1990s. Not in the overall user sense, but a musical one; I am so happy hip-hop was not the way it is currently in the 1990s.
We would be in a much different place and I am unsure if that is a good assertion.
The Internet has provided a medium for trolls and haters and stans alike. For those unfamiliar with the terms, here’s a simple breakdown: Trolls are people who joke without remorse in a spectrum ranging from intelligence and subtle sarcasm to absolutely unnecessary discontent. Haters are… self-explanatory for anyone who lived to see Chamillionaire succeed (at the absolute minimum). The term “stan” is an allusion to the classic Eminem single “Stan,” that portrays an obsessive superfan’s descent into infatuation with Em himself to the point of ruining his life, then killing himself and his girlfriend.
(Today, this intensity does not hold true; now, it just means someone who will like an artist and defend them to no avail regardless of situation or context.)
The embodiment of this jargon has all contributed to essentially killing the mythology of a “classic album” together in a disillusioned, unified step in the wrong direction. And at this point, it has become unstoppable.
I am unsure if the classic even exists in hip-hop anymore; furthermore, if it can even be obtained. We are wandering in a state of public opinion left agape with the bias, slants and preconceived notions one can expect at any point in time. Allow me to re-emphasize such: These opinions are nothing new at all. But what has exacerbated the problem at hand as it has to many issues in our world? The Internet. This playground has allowed the trolls, the haters and the stans to run amuck in a stream of piss-poor ALL CAPS grammar errors, shameless self-plugs and anonymous comments about buying YouTube views for $39.99. Regardless of where your voice falls onto the spectrum, allow me to ask you this: What was the last classic hip-hop album you listened to?
Thankfully with the Monday passing as I compose this rant, Oct. 22 marked the release of the last classic I have heard in a long drought of disappointments (Hi, Lupe!), mediocrity (Big Sean, I see you!), pushbacks (cough, Detox), and sequels to Tha Carter series that only get worse. That album is called good kid, m.A.A.d city by a man named Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick Lamar Duckworth from Compton and Rosecrans in the state best known for women, weed and weather has been hailed as the savior of hip-hop and the torchbearer for the new generation at the age of 25.
Many pondered if Kendrick’s transition to Interscope at the hands of Dr. Dre would cause him to falter in the limelight of mainstream politics that have ruined careers aplenty.
You know what? He didn’t. It was worth all of my $13 and I refuse to hear otherwise. Classic.
There are many who share this sentiment, but don’t dare to call it a “classic.” Why not? An ethos has been established in the current flow of the hip-hop community that has made the mythological reach of a “classic” unattainable and invisible. Like a levee holding the pride of consumers ashore, there is this misconception that an album must sit for years, even decades, to be hailed as a classic. The best pieces of music are timeless; this truth is self-evident.
But the Internet has condemned us all from proclaiming a pedestal for our favorites. We are no longer entitled to classics.
If these trolls, these haters, these fans had these utilities in 1994 when Nas first released Illmatic, an album hailed as a quintessential classic in the genre as Jane Eyre is to literature, would we have hailed it as a classic then? Now? Absolutely not. The public opinion creates martyrs out of what we enjoy in an endless and violent thrust of subjectivity with no real winner. The trolls would have compared Illmatic to whatever Weird Al album was out in the span of a year. The haters would claim how Nas did not sound as good on Illmatic as he did on this rare Queensbridge demo tape only 15 people have or how he is garbage in the eyes of Eric B. & Rakim. The stans would defend it as hip-hop heads have for decades now as an absolute untouchable.
The exact same has applied to good kid, m.A.A.d city and it has been (legally) available for four days now. Trolls have compared Kendrick to Gucci Mane’s latest tape, haters (Hi, Shyne!) will call this masterpiece garbage and stans will continue to hail him to a near-Black Jesus stature of hip-hop greatness. It has reached universal appeal with critics, though some choose not to place it upon the mythical pedestal we cherish so much.
Opinions will be what they may. But we cannot let the classic die before our eyes because someone else will demand it so along with our compliance. Don’t kill my vibe.
Do you hit the forums hard in critique or defense of new music? Tell Michael what you think about the Internet’s role in music by emailing mdpenn@wisc.edu.
