Whoa! Whoa there Mike! I totally agree that
Kanye is a total douche who's music is extreeeeeeeeeeeemly overrated (is it just me, or is he sounding like
Eddie Vedder when he complained about his popularity in the nineties?) I can't stand him myself although I still love when he declared that Bush didn't like black people. That was righteous!
But you can't throw the baby (Hip Hop) out with the bath water (
Kanye, Diddy, Nelly, Lil' Bow-Wow or whatever generic crap is on the top ten now) man! Hip Hop music/culture is not represented by what you're spoon fed through mass/corporate media. It would be like dismissing
the Beatles because all Pop music must be as shallow as the pre-packaged, focus-group-designed products like
Britney Spears or
Nickleback.
You want intelligent, interesting, creative and original Hip Hop? There are lots out there if you reach past the low hanging fruit (the crap full of bitches, ho's, bling and bullets.) Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm a little out of touch with the scene (if there's anyone on here that knows a little more, please throw a few names out!)... and a lot of people feel Hip Hop is in one of it's darker periods right now BECAUSE of all the mass produced, sub-par product, but I can recommend a few that will grow the brain instead of shrink it:
Start with
KRS-1 and
Public Enemy. Even if you're not diggin the music itself, check the lyrics. Both are socially and politically aware artists/groups that challenge(d) the status quo.
Common, Mos-Def and
the Roots continue this tradition with incredible beats and progressive lyrics as well.
For creativity and originality, go back to the innovators
De La Soul and their ground breaking album
3 Feet High & Rising and almost every album released by these guys since... Or the jazz/funk/hip hop fusionists
Diggable Planets. Their first/only two albums, like the
De La, remain fresh and interesting to this day in my books. Then there's
De La's original producer
Prince Paul, and his side project
Handsome Boy Modeling School. Multiple guest spots adorn both releases from
Prince Paul and
Dan the Automator including unlikely collaborators;
the Mars Volta and
Fido.
For fun stuff that's still progressive and innovative, don't forget
the Beastie Boys were ahead of their time with
Paul's Boutique and
Check Your Head. Even
the Black Eyed Peas had two amazing debut albums before they brought
Fergie on-board and reduced their average IQ and quality of music considerably.
Then there is the insane talent behind the beats like the turntablists I featured
HERE, not to mention the history of Hip Hop/turntablism and how it relates to the reggae/disco/remix culture. Real rich and interesting stuff.
I guess my point is, don't dismiss Hip Hop music or the culture because of a distorted view of it that some/many share and promote. I saw a documentary about Hip Hop and the urban youth who were hoping for careers in it... When asked to freestyle for the cameras, the kids started spitting out crap about bitches and bling and gangs and whatever. When asked why they were rapping about that, they confided that they didn't really want to. They wanted to talk about what meant something to them, like community and politics and light and fun stuff too... but they knew that that wasn't what the labels were looking for... and that wasn't what MTV was looking for... and that's not what the public/lowest common denominator was looking for from these guys from "tha hood".
So instead of "dissin'" the Hip Hop as a whole because of what the suits at the labels want it to be, look at what corporate media does, not just to Hip Hop or even music in general, but to all art (movies, comics, music, etc.) that is innovative, original or cutting edge: First it resists it... and then when there's money to be made, it diminishes it into an easy to package, generic product that appeals to the widest cross section of the market possible, only to be mass produced and over exposed until people are sick of it, missing the real gems and the heart of what that particular genre/medium/movement is about.
Anway, that's the two bits from the crotchety old man, for whatever two bits are worth in this economy.