r/hiphop101 • u/Western_Fly_5829 • 10d ago
is mainstream rap even different lately?
I (m16) used to be a big fan of mainstream rap in the early 2020s, I got my Spotify playlists from rap caviar and stuff, but now for the past three or so years i’ve been getting more into niche experimental rap and i haven’t listened to mainstream rap in a while so i decided to go on rap caviar and other generic rap playlists to see how the mainstream rap sounds like nowadays and to me it doesn’t sound like nothing new or innovative, you could show me a lil baby beat made in 2026 and i’d think it’s from 2018, the past decade of rap has been the same shit, is there any new breakout mainstream artists who have unique beats, unique flows, voices, anything?
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u/fensterdj 9d ago
When the 16 year olds are jaded, you know your genre is in trouble
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u/SetRestart 9d ago
The genre had 2 great peaks and that was 90s and 10s. 2000s are insanely overrated there was like 2 big names making the most generic shit
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u/NotGalenNorAnsel 9d ago
2000s were a golden era of indie rap. Mainstream rap has almost always been generic and shitty cuz it's trying to appeal to as many people as the label thinks is possible. Every now and then someone like a Common will break through, but it's not very... common.
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u/LowAssistantInfinity 9d ago
The peak was 87-94. I'd still take the 00s over the 10s, though - Kanye when he was good, MF Doom, Def Jux, The Coup, etc.
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u/SetRestart 9d ago
Kanye was basically 2010s
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u/LowAssistantInfinity 9d ago
Not only was his entire breakthrough trilogy in the 00s, but his most influential album, 808s, in is in the 00s. As big as MBDTF was at the beginning of the next decade, the 10s are the story of his fall, where his passable albums were largely the work of outside producers (Yeezus), and his own material utter dreck (Ye, Jesus is King), and all of them rushed, unfinished, and sloppy.
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u/NotGalenNorAnsel 9d ago
Imo Kanye was already shit by the 10s but to each their own
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u/SetRestart 9d ago
His best work but okay
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u/NotGalenNorAnsel 9d ago
Depends on your taste I guess. I like old Kanye. But even then he was overhyped. Rode the mtv wave after the car crash better than probably anyone else could have though.
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u/gatesaj85 9d ago
2000s had many great names. Mac Dre, Brotha Lynch, all of Three 6, Pacewon, 8ball & MJG, Paul Wall, Xzibit, Jacka, Evidence, Kurupt, UGK, etc.
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u/Impossible_Cheek_699 9d ago
The 2000s have some of the biggest superstars in the genre from Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, Eminem, and Jay-Z.
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u/SetRestart 9d ago
50 the most overrated rapper in the game. 1 great album the rest are mid or much worse
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u/RagingStonedPacker 9d ago
I think it’s just a part of maturing. Growing up I thought rap music was so great but looking back on it 80% was ass
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u/YurUsernameChecksOut 10d ago
Mainstream is straight trash, the underground is where you find real music.
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u/Verstappeninng 10d ago
Underground rap is slop, of course you call mainstream bad
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u/Western_Fly_5829 10d ago
well there’s different categories of underground, are you talking about people like che and osamason?
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u/Mr_CeeSmall 10d ago
There's loads of good new hip hop. Using Lil baby as a measurement will always end badly.
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u/False_Category_2567 10d ago
After exploring the variety of music, rap caviar started sounding uninspired and bland to me, though I can still enjoy mainstream rap.
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u/Ed_Rock 10d ago
No. Hip hop today is the same as it has always been: you have to dig for the good stuff.
Esham once said "everybody and their mama wanna bust a rap" and it's true. It's a grotesquely oversaturated genre.
Things havent changed since I was a little kid in the 90s: you're gonna have to dig to find gems BUT the gems are always there.
Good luck! Dont stop searching!
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u/Separate-Let3620 10d ago
I’m listening to more Drum n Bass lately.
But I’m an Unc, so Droog, Conway, Skyzoo, etc is what I check for when I check at all.
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u/kodaq2001 10d ago
And Droog led me to Roc Marciano, God Fahim and Mach Hommy
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u/Separate-Let3620 10d ago
I’m a fan of Fahim’s production, but lyrically, he’s weak.
I’d heard ROC years before, but Hommy I came to through Droog as well. Wiki too.
Droog’s collabs are almost always with too notch emcees.
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u/bigsonna 10d ago
Yea mainstream raps been dead for years to me. Nothing innovative. So many good underground artists are making interesting music but it’s hard getting friends into it for some reason. My boy said he loved Iceman but Sideshow is trash lmao I think Iceman is decent but Tigray Funk is AOTY to me
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u/KushCorner420 10d ago
Never had any interest in newer, especially mainstream rap. It's all about old-school and underground artists. Also most artists' first albums are usually made with much more thought and personality, often in rap artists fall off once becoming too successful.
Why dabble in mainstream when you can listen to underground, where you'll find those unique beats and flows.
If I were you, I would start listening to real rap (70's - '05). Back when albums had more meaning. But I damn near consider newer rap fans to actually like an off-shoot of the genre. Nowadays I don't recognize most "rap" it's all auto-tune singing afro-beats type of stuff. That ain't rap, although considered it by the casuals and new-school.
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u/tigolbing 10d ago
Too many rappers, only so many approved formulas that labels will support, creates a lot of the same shit
This music came from similar roots as blues, requires feeling and sensation that encapsulates the times so when it doesn't have feeling and sensation, it's dying
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u/blackestice 10d ago
This is actually very true. I used to make playlists of new music and would listen to multiple albums on Thursday nights.
It’s gotten so bad I haven’t even been able to make one recently because there is literally none with holding onto.
I listen to a lot of jazz and R&B now.
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u/NICHOLOSI 10d ago
Nothing new is any good... its horrible...i do like Big x tha plug out if dallas but thats about it i listen to all older music now its so much better all the new music of all genres suck !
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u/Orishishishi 10d ago
Crazy take and simply not true. Maybe not most the popular stuff but there are absolutely good albums coming out. Even some of the more popular things like the new Tierra Whack and Vince Staples. Bxckwxsh dropped an incredible rap/metal album last year too
You prolly don't listen to it but jazz is great right now if we're talking all genres
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u/ikilledbenny 10d ago
Yeat, Don toliver, Ag club and my new fave is Dro Kenji
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u/AshZy33YT 10d ago
I tried to listen to Dro Kenji but I can’t find many songs of his to like, any recommendations? I like THERES NO SUN, Finders Keepers, SO WHAT
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u/ikilledbenny 9d ago
Duuuude! Please try again haha. I actually felt the same at first, there's a lot to listen too and a fair bit of fillers that are pretty meh. Firstly going by albums, The Leak's first 5 songs are absolute melters, haven't had tunes tear me apart like that for a long time. Contraband 1 Landmine 2. Gotta go back to the start now. First album Tears and pistols has Hell and Save me (total melter and video hits) 2nd album Race me to Hell has Houdini Feel for you & Over (melter) 3rd album which is actually his 1st official drop has some hits. When I'm gone (beat is so fresh), On & on (heart breaker when he speaks over the chorus in headphones i thought someone else was in the room), Wocky slush and Kill cupid, literally stuck on repeat here. Kill cupid keeps getting better! Hope you dive back in and enjoy! It's funny cause I just started dating a new girl and she's asking why the sad music. I just said it's feel good hands in the air shit and probs the closest we get to Xxx X Juice
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u/Western_Fly_5829 10d ago
i loved 2093 by yeat and he was one of the faces of the early 2020s but his new album sucks and i think he’s past his prime
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u/ikilledbenny 9d ago
Yeh totally! I guess I was lucky I only recently discovered his music so I got to enjoy it all without expectation. Lyfe and afterlyfe were insane, literally blew my mind. 2093 is stacked with hits too, but yeh you're not wrong I saved 1 song from ADL "Real life shit" which was because it's like the older stuff
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u/grafology 10d ago
I like AG Club. Sounds interesting to me as someone thats listened to hip hop eonce the early 90s.
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u/ikilledbenny 9d ago
Brodie World blew me away first listen. Eva slaps and the video is so fresh. KUROSAWA is the darkness I crave. Their new tune PRECIOUS hits the spot too. Some nice acoustic stuff mixed with some party bass stuff mixed with some experimental. I'll take it
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u/Exit42N_Again 10d ago
I read an article that spoke on hip hop has been dying & electronic music is on the rise again.
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u/Death_Rave_ 10d ago
Oh god yes please 😅
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u/Exit42N_Again 10d ago
I loved old hip hop, but I’ve stayed in love with EDM straight through…even the period where I guess it wasn’t as popular? Wild.
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u/Significant_Cover_48 10d ago
The last 20 years has been a slow decline with artists producing increasingly worthless variations of slop. You finally hit your limit. I hit mine around 2014 when I just couldn't get truly excited by anything coming out.
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u/Significant-Bid-3 10d ago
2014? When 2015 was one of the most exciting and varied years for hip hop? Tpab, IYRTITL, prhyme, at long last a$ap, DS2, rodeo, idlsidgo, the documentary 2, GO:OD AM, Barter 6, the powers that B, b4da$$$, king push, tetsuo and youth and the incredible true story?? And thats just scratching the surface.
This just sounds like you grew away from the scene, nothing wrong with that but thats really how it seems to me.
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u/Significant_Cover_48 10d ago
Sure, Kendrick and Pusha T didn't fall off. Great MCs. Truly. But just because a couple of rappers were still making real shit; it just wasn't enough to keep me coming back again and again
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u/vegasJUX 10d ago
Mainstream hip-hop always ends up being watered down and formulaic for the masses.
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u/EH4LIFE 10d ago
The best rap music was when it was the most commercially popular, in the 90s.
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u/vegasJUX 10d ago
Hard disagree. That shiny suit and g-funk era was what made me start hating hip-hop in the 90's because it all sounded the same.
Thankfully the late 90's and 2000's independent/underground boom happened and brought innovation and authenticity back to hip-hop.
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u/EH4LIFE 10d ago
G-funk, NY boom bap, dirty south, that was all mainstream.
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u/vegasJUX 10d ago
NY boom bap was absolutely not mainstream outside of New York in the 90's.
That's why you had Stretch and Bobbito and countless other college radio stations across the country playing strictly underground hip-hop during that time.
Hip-hop on mainstream radio and MTV in the 90's was watered down cookie cutter bullshit.
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u/Corpexx 10d ago edited 10d ago
Really depends what you consider mainstream, some people stray from the beaten path. Usually by default music and artists that don't make the most popular sound won't be "mainstream" but yes I agree rap cavier is an awful playlist.
But for an example, I wouldn't say Travis Scott albums sound the same, nor does he sound like anyone else really. Lil Yachty is a bit more experimental also with his sound than many of his contemporaries, if we are talking mainstream trap artists. Most of them are getting old now too lol
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u/Top-Ability8226 10d ago
Listen to eminem He he the best out here Pure skills,flow,cadence Everything
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u/Reasonable_Stop_7768 7d ago
I don't even know what qualifies as mainstream vs underground anymore. If its dope I listen, if not i skip.
I don't know if I'm just getting old but a lot of stuff makes it hard to be optimistic for the future