Very well written article
What do y'all think of this? I'll just sum up the main point of the article for you lazy-readers
"Now that no one is forced to buy a physical album, the so-called conscious emcee can't present him/herself as the alternative to the norm in hopes of grabbing a small share of album sales. If conscious artists are forced to make better singles and emcees who want to use the word gangster need to offer some social commentary and credibility, we all win. That's probably why you won't find anything that could be considered "conscious" on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. To me this is exactly what KRS was talking about. Not only does limiting an emcee to conscious subject matter make them one-dimensional, but they're also likely to go broke.
As long as people are dealing with unemployment, gentrification, police brutality and other issues, there will always be emcees rapping about it. It's been that way since Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five dropped "The Message." And as long as the aforementioned issues exist, people will probably turn on Gucci Mane, New Boyz or Webstar as some form of escape. Part of being truly socially conscious, is accepting those facts, and not throwing on some costume to push your own agenda under the guise of being uplifting. Conscious Rap is dead. Get your black suits up."
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