As hip-hop/rap has evolved through the years, the same few tendencies remain intact. No matter the beat or the artist the same tendencies remain. The title for this paper will be “Common themes in the Evolution of Hip-Hop/Rap”. This paper will address how artists use their music and other platforms, such as social media, to show off their accessories. The paper will also give examples of how these artists show off their acquired accessories. When listening to hip-hop/rap music many people overlook the fact that these artists use these same tendencies in almost every song. The artists also have numerous musical platforms that their music can be heard from allowing them to have a bigger audience than rappers in the past had. Now with the uprise of social media, artists can preview songs that they will release, or they can post videos of themselves with women, drugs (usually weed), or just bands of money.
When listening to hip-hop/rap music you will hear some common tendencies in almost every song. “Don’t go big on me, you might get hit with this MAC” or it can be lyrics such as “Droppin’ the dope in the stash. In Italy, got two foreign hoes, they DM me.” These are two hip-hop/rap songs and you can see the topics they try to focus on. In the first line of lyrics, you see 21 Savage give a threat to anyone who opposes him or tries to “step up to him”. Rappers today can express these threats through social media and direct it towards another rapper. Rappers in the ’90s didn’t have the same platform that rappers today experience so sending a message to another rapper was more personal. For example, the infamous Drake and Meek Mill beef were them exchanging diss tracks between each other and social media played a big role in deciding a winner. In the ’90s the infamous Tupac and Biggie, beef was definitely more personal. Not only with song lyrics but also in the streets, having to do with territory. As you can see the artists today settled their beef by whoever had the best diss track while back in the 90’s the beef was settled by Tupac dying or other rappers dying. This genre will target anyone who finds interest in hip-hop/rap music or wants to learn more about the genre.
Using hip-hop/rap songs and evidence of events through the media will show how the evolution of artists has changed but the tendencies in their songs have not. The evidence will show the ways in which these artists flaunt their accessories and try to prove themselves to others. People will finally be able to take a closer look at how most artists of this genre today showboat on social media or say things in the song that are essentially out of character for them. While rappers in the ’90s would do the same thing, but the message meant more to them.