YouTube channel HipHopMadness recently dropped a video looking at “The Death of Clout Rap.”
A long, long time ago, hip-hop was built around a platform of holding yourself accountable for the content of your lyrics, whether good or bad. Even when the conservative media attempted to portray early gangsta rap as somehow capable of corrupting the youth of America, Ice Cube was adamant that what he and NWA were doing was simply “street reporting.”
“We don’t tell no fiction,” Cube declared in 1989. “So N.W.A can’t get any harder unless the streets get harder.”
Yet, somewhere along the line, the prominence of hip-hop within the internet age has meant that all of these values were discarded in favour of a new era in which controversy, clout and cash reign supreme.
The video was narrated by Spencer Pearman, written by Robert Blair and edited by Roman Bill. Music comes courtesy of Josh Petruccio.
You can follow @HipHopMadness on Instagram.
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