u/Nikon-White

Now that it has been a decade people on the Internet are romanticizing 2016 or the “soundcloud era” of hip-hop. I was 16 in 2016 and lived it in real time. Even back then I thought it was garbage. To be fair, I am biased. Growing up I was one of those “born in the wrong generation” kind of kids, and when I was introduced to hip-hop, I was introduced to the golden era/90s stuff first. 2016-2021 was just so bad. The 2016 XXL freshman class was garbage outside of maybe Kodak and Denzel, and my biggest gripe is that I think this was the first time that hip-hop openly embraced anti-intellectual sentiments and putting effort into songwriting and lyricism became corny. The so-called lyricists who attempted to push back against the “mumble rappers” were no better either and were equally as corny. This was also the beginning of the “content creator” where the music came second to everything and people like you more for your online persona. As harsh as it may sound none of the artist from that time are really doing that great for themselves either ODd or fell off with a few exceptions.