I would say so. Not like you have to actively go back to it or even like it. But if you claim you love the culture at least familiarize yourself with some of its history.
You can enjoy whatever music you like, but if you’re going to discuss online with hip hop-heads, I think you should do the homework.
Also, it’s just kind of cool knowing how it evolved (and devolved in some cases).
Depends on how serious u take it….are u a casual or a head…if u consider yourself a head then at least do it for research purposes …. U dont have to have them in rotation
Yes. If you care about the "deeper level" of any type of art, the history clues you in to aspects you would've completely missed. Considering that rap is a genre full of references, it makes it even more important.
Quick example. Go check out Nas - "Hip Hop is Dead" or "Last Real N\*gga Alive". If you don't know the people and situations he's referring to, the whole song sounds kinda basic. But once you understand the history of NY Hip Hop...it's a new experience.
If you want to understand the stems of where it all began, absolutely. People who listen to rap, most likely listen to a pop-subgenre of rap. We have very few big rappers rn who still uses old-school techniques. Modern rap feels like a pop-inspired version of old-school rap if you ask me ever since the Soundcloud era started
It’s important in the sense of knowing where Hip-Hop came from and seeing it as a whole, is it important to be listening to the older artists? That’s where I think it depends person to person. To me, yes, if you want to claim you truly “Know” hip-hop then you better be in that shit from the newest drops to the first singles (but I’m not meaning you gotta like it all, just that you should keep the “oldies” up) now as an entirety thing. It would appear that no, it doesn’t matter at all. Hell it doesn’t seem to matter to most people if you listen to more than one rap artist anymore. If you don’t listen to ONE artist someone else is jocking then in their eyes “you don’t know shit” …or so it seems to be anyways
It's good to know the classics so you can know the context of where the art is. It's hard to appreciate people breaking rules when you don't know what the rulebook says. Also, people don't always appreciate how varied of a genre Hip Hop is and will downplay "mumble" artists when people have been experimenting with those ideas for forever.
Yes, only then can you truly realize who the best rappers are by measuring what came before. Now with hindsight we can see what artist pushed boundaries and which artist just stayed stagnant
I’m 42 and the oldest that I’ll go and still listen to regularly is probably Wu Tang (1993). I don’t really appreciate Run DMC or Public Enemy all that much. I like NWA but a lot of the stuff sounds dated to me.
So no, I don’t think it’s important to go back to the origins of hip hop if you don’t want to.
Yes, totally. This isn't even a discussion in other music genres.
Disliking a classic album is fine and not listening to old rap everyday is fine because that's your taste. Not knowing all of the big albums of each decade is fine, but everyone should listen to a few classics if they want to really call themselves a true hip-hop fan. It's okay to only listen to modern stuff but you must call yourself a hip-hop listener more than a hip-hop fan.
Im 19 now, when i was 12 or 13 i tested into a program at school and we got to do research based passion projects (It was literally just extra homework now that i think about it lol).
My biggest passion in middle school was making beats on my old laptop so i chose to do my project on the history of hiphop. It was fun, instead of doing PE every tuesday i got to spend an hour researching Grandmaster Flash and his career and various other hiphop founding fathers so to speak.
I wouldnt say its necessary to listen to old school hiphop to truly appreciate the culture. We have new artists every generation coming in like kendrick lamar from the 2010s who was a really good example of what hiphop culture is about. I would say if you’re into the evolution of music and who inspired who then yeah i would listen to old school hiphop cuz it really is fascinating going down that rabbit hole
Yes.
Can you imagine someone calling themselves a Cinephile, and they never ever watch anything released before 2015? Id laugh in their face. Same with hiphop
I would say so. Not like you have to actively go back to it or even like it. But if you claim you love the culture at least familiarize yourself with some of its history.
You can enjoy whatever music you like, but if you’re going to discuss online with hip hop-heads, I think you should do the homework. Also, it’s just kind of cool knowing how it evolved (and devolved in some cases).
I don’t think it’s necessary but it definitely helps.
Depends on how serious u take it….are u a casual or a head…if u consider yourself a head then at least do it for research purposes …. U dont have to have them in rotation
Yes. If you care about the "deeper level" of any type of art, the history clues you in to aspects you would've completely missed. Considering that rap is a genre full of references, it makes it even more important. Quick example. Go check out Nas - "Hip Hop is Dead" or "Last Real N\*gga Alive". If you don't know the people and situations he's referring to, the whole song sounds kinda basic. But once you understand the history of NY Hip Hop...it's a new experience.
If you want to understand the stems of where it all began, absolutely. People who listen to rap, most likely listen to a pop-subgenre of rap. We have very few big rappers rn who still uses old-school techniques. Modern rap feels like a pop-inspired version of old-school rap if you ask me ever since the Soundcloud era started
Yeah i feel like if you havent listened to older guys like nas, etc. you dont reallyknow a fucking thing about rap lol
It’s important in the sense of knowing where Hip-Hop came from and seeing it as a whole, is it important to be listening to the older artists? That’s where I think it depends person to person. To me, yes, if you want to claim you truly “Know” hip-hop then you better be in that shit from the newest drops to the first singles (but I’m not meaning you gotta like it all, just that you should keep the “oldies” up) now as an entirety thing. It would appear that no, it doesn’t matter at all. Hell it doesn’t seem to matter to most people if you listen to more than one rap artist anymore. If you don’t listen to ONE artist someone else is jocking then in their eyes “you don’t know shit” …or so it seems to be anyways
It's good to know the classics so you can know the context of where the art is. It's hard to appreciate people breaking rules when you don't know what the rulebook says. Also, people don't always appreciate how varied of a genre Hip Hop is and will downplay "mumble" artists when people have been experimenting with those ideas for forever.
Yes if you want to understand the building blocks
Yes, only then can you truly realize who the best rappers are by measuring what came before. Now with hindsight we can see what artist pushed boundaries and which artist just stayed stagnant
I think so yeah
I’m 42 and the oldest that I’ll go and still listen to regularly is probably Wu Tang (1993). I don’t really appreciate Run DMC or Public Enemy all that much. I like NWA but a lot of the stuff sounds dated to me. So no, I don’t think it’s important to go back to the origins of hip hop if you don’t want to.
I'm 41, and I 100% agree.
Salute to the forefathers but I bump the 90’s-00’s shit especially the eses. New age raza rappers stay in rotation too
Important? Not really tbh but you would miss some good music
Yes, totally. This isn't even a discussion in other music genres. Disliking a classic album is fine and not listening to old rap everyday is fine because that's your taste. Not knowing all of the big albums of each decade is fine, but everyone should listen to a few classics if they want to really call themselves a true hip-hop fan. It's okay to only listen to modern stuff but you must call yourself a hip-hop listener more than a hip-hop fan.
Im 19 now, when i was 12 or 13 i tested into a program at school and we got to do research based passion projects (It was literally just extra homework now that i think about it lol). My biggest passion in middle school was making beats on my old laptop so i chose to do my project on the history of hiphop. It was fun, instead of doing PE every tuesday i got to spend an hour researching Grandmaster Flash and his career and various other hiphop founding fathers so to speak. I wouldnt say its necessary to listen to old school hiphop to truly appreciate the culture. We have new artists every generation coming in like kendrick lamar from the 2010s who was a really good example of what hiphop culture is about. I would say if you’re into the evolution of music and who inspired who then yeah i would listen to old school hiphop cuz it really is fascinating going down that rabbit hole
Yes, to expand your tastes and horizons of the genre. No, do whatever the hell you want and tell gatekeepers to do one.
Nah
Very important, gotta know who started it all!
Yes. Can you imagine someone calling themselves a Cinephile, and they never ever watch anything released before 2015? Id laugh in their face. Same with hiphop