r/hiphop201

Apparently religion plays a role in hip hop culture but I'm just wondering how important it is. And doesn't religious belief contradict the artistic content of violence, misogyny, drug use and homophobia, flashing with luxery etc, especially during the 90s and 2000s, is something I wonder about.. Because even though religion historically did promote violence and oppresion of women, it modernly teaches modesty, equality and peace. Rapping about life is one thing but really promoting the above things through art is something else. And hip hop did that. I am an atheist myself, born in a black mixed christian, muslim and atheist family and there are plenty of examples of famous rappers dealing with religion and spirituality in general: Snoop Dogg converted to Christianity, Ice Cube to Islam, Nas is in between Christianity and Islam, or maybe just universally religious, Kanye West is or was a Christian, DJ Kool Herc was tied to Five Percent Nation (pseudo Islamic and pseudo science sect) and Christianity, 2Pac is associated with Christian imagery, Jay-Z is universal, KRS-One is associated with Hinduism, a bit of Christianity but mainly just spirituality, Drake is Jewish, Lil Wayne is a Christian, RZA is a Muslim, B-real is a Babalawo (Ifá), Kendrick Lamar is a Christian, Wonder Mike (Sugar Hill Gang) is a Christian, Rakim is a Muslim, Eminem is a Christian, Lauryn Hill is just spiritual, Joseph Simmons (Run-DMC) is a Christian, Busta Rhymes is a Muslim, The Notorious B.I.G. was raised as a Jehova and later on just spiritual, Black Thought is just spiritual with an upbringing of Islam and a bit of Christianity, Missy Elliott is a Christian, Mike D (Beastie Boys) raised Jewish and is spiritual. So my main concern is how important religion is in hip hop culture and whether being religious contradicts the artistic stimulation of violence, money, drug use and so on.

"taking drugs to make music for people to listen to while high or simulating that feeling"

The decades reflect if the drug of choice is a stimulant or a depressant, where the culture depicts itself in media remnants, with certain drugs like weed/caffeine/nicotine always being in the background

the 80s was pure cocaine and before that was quaaludes, so more club scenes and Funkadelic samples where people thrived or died from freebasing the purities of heroin, cocaine, etc and tried to make eclectic music to reflect that loud and boldness or people had extreme highs of fame and ambition and the lows of crashing and burning as sometimes one hit wonders

the 90s looked very colorful because of the remnants of LSD of seeing extra nuance in hue differences, so everything was spikey with nickelodeon graphics and colorful with neon pink, tangy orange, and cyan, where there's this extra texture component for how colors and cartoons are portrayed as heightened sensory perceptions long after the drug trips are over for how music videos were zany or looked like a fever dream

the 2000s was crack music-driven, by crunk music, DJs like DJ Drama, Kay Slay, Clue etc yelling over the music especially played at strip clubs to stimulate more senses, and loud samples that pierce thru on top of the words and mixing where everything is bold and in-your-face confrontational to not shy away from saying something real and as piece of your mind for delivering a message, and extasy was also creeping up in terms of how love songs used to hit

the current generation from the 2010s to 2020s is very sedated with depressants instead of stimulants as the go-to drugs: it's just people being sleepy with lean, molly, Percocet, or completely zooted off fenty laced shit that they thought was cocaine but make them OD or dreary, which produces a bunch of lofi music and mumble rap talking about nothing as a reflection of the drug. Adderall is also in the background where artists are consistent as fuck but they end up making about the same songs over and again to feed the algorithm but barely talk about anything new or have any novel flows or different topics, in this era where using ghostwriters and lying about your deeds isn't a frowned upon like in the past where the public stopped caring about the authenticity of the artists

due to the culture being delayed from covid, etc we're still in the depressant-influenced drug era culture, and idk when the next stimulant drug revolution is gonna be to shift into being more performant at a high energy, or just go to those eras to find the music that reflect what energies and rhythms you want to convey

I need help
I found a track on YouTube called "Gritty City Boogie" by a rapper named shynx
something about it feels insanely familiar but I genuinely cant figure out which rapper it reminds me of
What exactly does this remind you of?
Specific rapper

Any idea?

I’m not gonna lie, I’m forever thankful for Genius.com.

That might be one of the best creations of the last few decades, and I say that because it took me an embarrassing amount of time to understand that Wayne’s “I’m at your face like Lancôme” bar was about makeup, not…well you know.

I just assumed it was one of those entendres I’d never get, so I stopped trying.