Ayo Ease, thanks for the heads up on Lowkey, I hadn't heard of him. I admit I was wrong about you bro, you do know your history and I retract my previous "f-ck you" even if it wasn't directly aimed at you.
However we will probably never see eye to eye on this topic, and that's cool.
I just feel compelled to say a few things because I really do love Hiphop, in a lot of ways it saved me from myself, and I hate to see it get watered down.
First of all, I don't think an artform should be pigeon-holed to any subject matter or style. Not every artist is gonna be on some Public Enemy type sh-t and that's fine with me. When you look at the golden era of hiphop (88-94) there were a lot of cats doing a lot of different things, you had revolutionaries, abstract poets, teachers, straight-up clowns and even some bling-bling. It's called the golden era because there was so much diversity and heads were making it big.
And that's exactly my point. You don't need to s-ck that industry d-ck to blow up. It's a myth! Fast forward to today and look at someone like Mos Def - dude is starring in movies and recently did a cameo on a few kid's programs AND has been quite active on the political TV show circuit. Maybe he doesn't have as much fame/money as 50 or Em, but he's pretty damn mainstream for someone who made a song about Bush knocking down WTC. The industry LOVES this guy, and so does Hollywood.
But you are right about one thing, it's only partially the rapper's fault. The blame for where hiphop has gone can be laid squarely on the public, who consistently fail to support the real deal in favor of some vicarious fantasy of wealth and stardom. Record company execs are just catering to what they want. The perfect case study for this would be the motherf-cking Black Eyed Peas
Behold, before the sellout:
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTEzODUwNDQ=.html <--- Okay nothing mind-blowing with the lyrical content, but the beats/production are original and funky as hell, plus the vibe is just good fun, heralding to hiphop's true roots, which was to get the party amped. It's a dope track!
That whole album was pretty damn tight, but guess what. Nobody f-cking bought it, because it wasn't in line with the trends. Instead the masses would much rather that BEP make songs like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX13bNmYlOc. Not one shred of originality, no soul. Just a recycled, carbon copy of any random garbage you'd hear at a mainstream club. That's what people want and my "F-CK YOU" still applies to them, because they killed much of the flavor that made hiphop such a great, creative medium.
As far as 50 goes, my opinion won't change, and I'm surprised you'd even argue that someone who portrays himself as something he is not is somehow being real. If I rented out a penthouse with a bunch of escort models all wearing diamonds and sent a ferrari to pick you up, bascially invited you over saying this was where I lived, and how I rolled. Then you found out later that I really was rich, but not nearly as much as I had let on. What would you consider me, other than a poser?
And I'm sorry, rapping about money and girls is PART of the formula. The basic message is, look at what I have and you don't. Keep buying my records and making me far richer than you can ever dream of being. That sh-t is not only wack, I find it disrespectful and insulting to fans. Yet somehow they love it. Go f-cking figure..