What Does America Look For In An Emcee? Aug 28 '05    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music The Dirtchamber Sessions, Vol. 1 by The Prodigy From $11 Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 The Bottom Line Even if it has mistakes; please read and tell me what you think... Considering the mindlessly eternal stretches between the “mainstream”, a collection of poppy rappers who are made from excessively sugar-high radio DJs and the “underground” which I’m not even going to begin to describe seeing as the definition of the word goes too far back; I wanted to create an article describing what America, or even the world may look for in a real emcee. Is there a prototype for one, blending by force cleverly inserted punches in the field of bragging, a certain amount of limitless depth that arranges with the musicianship of the production. Will the introspection allow all listeners to really relate to what emcees in this culture say? Or does the generation of people who look to the radio for innovation overpower the people who take this as an art and listen to it for a motivational escapade into the downtown city lights of a normal rap artist’s mindframe? Even if we look at the precious few talents that have arose from a wormhole in the ground; we will still come up with mainly a mixture of sagging dirt. Perfectly armed battle lyrics combining with deep raps about how life has played it’s tricks on you are hard to come by these days and even when they’re heard they’re normally just clichéd versions spiting better days when the artist gave you a subject to ponder after listening to the depth of the record. Many have built up a reputation from the underground and then carelessly sacrificed it for the grand ol’ pics of Washington, Lincoln, and Franklin. And it’s not surprising in the least considering that money is the epitome of music as a normality, but real artists who put their soul into the art are deserving of a higher payroll; however some of the consequences of signing to an underground label are not getting high levels of recognition. Here are the two most normal places that the “prototype” emcee would be making music in: The Commercial Crevice: The self-esteem and personalities of many artists are rolling downhill because of the crevice, and those who used to use lyricism as a device through they’re personality have mistreated their abilities and have all of a sudden rolled to a stop. Overall they seemed to lose what they used to have, instead succumbing to the dough creating horribly meshing substandard tracks with sup-bar DJ’s and dusty, whack production. “Fallen off” is an overused term for the newly found mess that Eminem and other emcees are compared to how they used to be. So would a mainstream artist be a capable prototype for a rapper, especially nowadays where there is so much disdain carried toward the radio and any signs of popularity in hip hop? I don’t believe so because creating a catchy tune and finding a depth within yourself and being able to pull it out and share it with a listening audience isn’t normal, especially when you’re at risk of confusing the listeners. How Would It Affect The Music?: It would most likely bring a different side to the music; considering that most people who actually know and think about emcees are more into the scenes of underground than what’s playing today and what’s steadfast on the Billboard charts. People like Dr. Dre have people of both sides cheering for him because of his driving, westernite production that has landed him a blessed niche in the legends of hip hop production; yet people’s opinions of him still range from underrated to overrated, so this would create controversy if the “prototype” for a perfect emcee preferred money over matter. The Underground U-Turn: In the three years I have been immersed with hip hop, I don’t remember anybody turning their backs on the outings of mucho grande payload for the bold, respected streets of the underground, lesser known world of rap. But then again, in a world with money as the grand payoff for a hard-worked request, why waste it in an unvalued extent of rhyme where respect is the equivalent of cash? Many emcees have mild personalities mainly involving schemes for dough or fans while they don’t look further down into lyricism and things that are uncommon in the hole they have stuck themselves in. It’s not a once-you’re-in-you-can’t-get-out thing, it’s just a minimally taken choice that forces an eternal poppy riff down your music if you fall into the crevice. And that can be a bad thing. If the prototype hailed and supported the underground, would they still be recognized from all sides of the spectrum? How Would It Affect The Music?: The prototype would most likely be ignored by major record labels and shots at major stardom because of the ignorance of the types that look for record sales as a saving grace from any types of skill. It wouldn’t affect the music overall as most likely the artist would continue what they’re best at; yet based on the fact they would get cruelly forgotten by many hip hop listeners in the first place. So that’s an overall downside to the music; being a legend in one place and being barely known in another. Conclusion: So basically it boils down to a common factor that legends in either underground or radio-playing havens can relate to: fear. Fear of changing and defeating the odds for the better or worse, no matter what point you are at in your career. Even though even the best emcees of all time aren’t close to the perfection of the craft; they do helm the genre in which every day so-called rappers attempt to sag it whilst creating songs that celebrate flashy ice and get mindlessly supported by people in suburban areas. I’ll be modest and say like many other writers here, I believe commercially supported hip hop can be dope if treated in the right way (Ludacris, Cassidy, etc) however things switch in this genre all the time and you have to bring your best game to it to survive. What really does America, or even the world, look for in an emcee? Or are there so many different opinions for rap that there will never be a prototype? Maybe some people who are willing to save it from the people who want to create toil for it’s creators; and there are so many with potential who can flesh out the subject matter and be used as inspiration for up-and-comers. So leave me a comment if you have an opinion on this essay. snik1

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