Lyrical rap is dying, or is it?

Over the past years, we have seen a complete shift in the genre of music that has impacted and influenced many generations. That genre is known as Hip-Hop. In late 2015 a popular new free music streaming app burst onto the scene known as SoundCloud. This allowed artists to post music for everyone to see completely for free. Record labels and music agents were no longer needed to be recognized, all you needed was a cell phone and headphones and the possibilities were endless. With this new app, a controversial sub-genre of Hip-Hop began to come alive, and that was known as “mumble rap”. Yes, many say that mumble rap began with artists such as Cheif Keef and Gucci Mane but they were just the foundation of something much bigger to come with the SoundCloud era. Artists who are now considered mainstream all got their start in this era of music. Names such as Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty, and Playboi Carti all began with SoundCloud and it took a while for people to adapt to this new style. Many legends in the Hip-Hop community discredited these artists due to their lack of lyricism and seemingly less care for the art of rap. With that being said people started to gravitate towards this style of music. Artists went from making music in their parent's basement to getting signed to major record labels and opening for big-name artists. For a while that was the new norm, rap artists were no longer using MF DOOM style wordplay or Jay-Z-type lyricism, they were now just searching for the next catchy hook that would get them the most streams. That all started to change around late 2018. There was a very subtle shift in the rap world and artists began to shift away from the mumble style and were implementing high-level rhymes into their music. Artists such as Lil Baby, Tyler, The Creator, and Roddy Rich were a few that were at the forefront of this change. Yes, these artists had a mumble type of style but as they progressed with their music we were able to see a change in how they lyrically approached their music. When we now look at the past year of rap music we are beginning to see many artists trying to tell a story with their music instead of looking for that catchy hook. New artists on the scene such as Larry June, Westside Gunn, and Benny the Butcher have been making music for years and just recently are getting the recognition they deserve as lyrical rap starts to reemerge. Along with this shift in the rhymes, we have also seen a shift in the production. The Alchemist is a great example of someone who has been a legend in the producing game and is working with all these talented artists providing them with an old-school beat with a new-school sound. This poses the question as to if lyrical rap is dead or just beginning to reemerge. I believe that we have just started to see the shift in the next generation of rap music and culture and we will continue to see this advanced lyrical style of Hip-Hop for years to come. In the world today cultures are constantly changing and as fans, we have to adapt with that change. When it comes to music I believe that being open-minded is one of the best qualities you can possess. We can all have our opinions on what we think sounds good or bad but I believe we can see a clear shift in what Hip-Hop is becoming. Whatever, to each their own I guess.