Everyone’s heard an old-heard say it before: “music is not the same as it once was,” or even “music nowadays has no meaning.”
These are phrases that people have been saying for generations, too. Even in the late 2000s, hip-hop fans complained of JAY-Z’s “The Blueprint 3” or Lil Wayne’s “Rebirth“, citing them as an end for the golden era of hip-hop which fans held so dear when in reality, those artists were simply past their primes. It is completely normal for artists to lose their touch, even if it is temporary, or to experiment with new sounds, but the community refuses to acknowledge quality in anything novel.
The same applies to artists now. Drake had a rather disappointing release with “For All the Dogs“, and Travis Scott polarized his fans with “UTOPIA,” with some calling it his worst album to date and others nominating it as the album of the year. Both of these records, no matter how disappointing, deserve an unbiased listen. It was unlikely that Travis Scott could top “ASTROWORLD” in a follow-up album released five years later, or for Drake to return to his mid-2010s form in just a year, but fans still expected masterpieces. It does not seem fair to judge artists using the standards of what they could have created almost a decade ago, especially in a genre that is so explosive and prone to change at a minute’s notice. Just last year, the Jersey Club style dominated hip-hop after Lil Uzi Vert’s massive single “Just Wanna Rock,” and it was replicated by many artists over the start of 2023, including Don Toliver’s “Bus Stop” and NLE Choppa’s “DO IT AGAIN.” Hip-hop will continue to change, and it is better to receive changes positively than to immediately write new, innovative music off as “bad.”
Now, with the upcoming generation of hip-hop artists and rappers breaking into the mainstream, the endless cycle of polarizing young and old listeners continues. Sexyy Red’s album “Hood Hottest Princess” received high praise from critics such as Anthony Fantano and Pitchfork, which drew the ire of their loyal followers. Even if the album is being played in the club 24/7 it is a chaotic-yet-humorous record that has been dominating TikTok and the internet as a whole. Female rappers in general have gained traction this year; Ice Spice, Memphis’ own GloRilla, and the aforementioned Sexyy Red, with all sorts of critics and fans.
That is not to say that new music cannot be criticized, far from it. But criticism based on the novelty of the artist is not only baseless, but it is counterproductive and non-constructive. Especially in the case of the artists listed above, where two of them have yet to release their stand-alone LPs, and none of them have had any chance to go through any meaningful artistic or personal development. Imagine dismissing Taylor Swift in the mid-2000s for being a new artist in a very rigid genre such as country or even in the early 2010s in mainstream pop; it would be ludicrous.
Even mainstream artists experience this phenomenon; “Whole Lotta Red” by Playboi Carti received immense amounts of hate and criticism when it dropped on Christmas Day in 2020, but now it is a classic (which has attracted a cult-like following on social media and the music community). The album was heavily experimental, not only in its production but its marketing style and subsequent promotion. It begs the question: is it fair to say an artist’s new music is terrible when it is still fresh? Over time, the answer to this is slowly becoming a definitive “no,” much to the music community’s chagrin.
Generally, it is a good idea to wait before reviewing or offering an opinion on art when it is still brand-new or to go through multiple listens of a project to get a truly accurate view of the quality of the music. At the same time, listening to music from the same genre and time allows one to truly see the innovation in a project, or even just to get a sense of what music sounded like when that art was still new. “Whole Lotta Red” sounds similar to projects by Ken Carson and Destroy Lonely now, but it was unique in 2020, so it deserves some merit for innovating a genre that was not mainstream at all just a few years ago, even if critics believe it is Carti’s weakest project to date.
With that being said, 2024 looks promising for new artists who will continue to innovate, both musically and culturally.
