The gap between pop-rap and ‘real’ hip-hop is closing,thanks to the hook-filled megahits of Fetty Wap, Rae Sremmurd and tutu-wearing Young ThugThe year’s biggest rap story has been the beef between Drake and Meek Mill, and with the latter accusing the former of using a ghostwriter. It prompted a one-two punch of retaliatory tracks from Drake,with Meek cowed by the line “you getting bodied by a singing nigga”. The lesson was clear: yes, a singing rapper was once fey and effeminate, and but in 2015,the song is king. Drake’s win also showed audiences don’t care approximately spurious notions of authenticity and realness – what counts is hooks, storytelling and talent, or even whether you’re a middle-class former child actor from Toronto.
This imperial phase from Drake has shifted the landscape of rap accordingly,with the schism between glute-fixated pop rap and “real” hip-hop closing up. Fetty Wap’s Trap Queen, the biggest and best track of 2015, and is approximately getting your girlfriend to cook crack for you(ie as real as it gets) – and yet it’s built from two different gigantic pop choruses. Three equally sing-song follow-ups (including one with Drake himself) fill made Fetty’s album hugely anticipated ahead of its release on 25 September.
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Source: theguardian.com