Which is the best decade for hip hop?

[Deleted member 42221]

It's a debate as old as hip hop itself - which is the best era? Which is the best decade? Since I'm sick of threads being derailed by the war of oldheads vs Lilheads, I decided to make this thread so I can understand the arguments on all sides better.

This isn't a list thread - you have to put your argument out there. I mean it - 90's fans don't just throw one sentence in there.

That having been said, I have personal thoughts that I won't put in the OP so as to not derail the thread.

 

[Officer Big Mac]

It's the 90s. It is known.

 

[inner-G]

The 90s had everything from The Chronic to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Some of the best mixtapes/compilations, too.

 

[Deleted member 42221]

My personal take is that we're in a golden age this decade.

If I list my favourite hip hop albums of the decade, they're so varied and different. I'd argue none of these could have come out in an earlier decade - either due to style, themes, or content.

• My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
• Good Kid M.a.a.d city
• Flower Boy
• To Pimp a Butterfly
• Kids See Ghosts
• Big Fish Theory
• Summertime '06
• We Got It From Here, Thanks for your service
• XXX
• Damn.
• Saturation III
• 4eva is a mighty long time
• Atrocity Exhibition

And these are just the albums I personally love.

Hip hop is THE mainstream genre right now. It is the charts' biggest genre arguably, with many hits from many artists. Are these hits good? Often not, but the biggest hits are rarely the best (see the 90's and Vanilla Ice).

DNA - a chorusless song of pure amazing bars - was one of the biggest hits last year, making it to the year end 100. That says a lot about how things are shifting.

I could go on and on about other trends I like - LGBT hip hop, R+B hybridisation's new era, and the prevalence of concept albums - but that's for another time.

 

[OfficerRob]

90's and it's not close

 

[collige]

Anyone who doesn't say this decade isn't paying enough attention imo. Quantity and quality are both at an all time high.

 

[Deleted member 9145]

MBDTF came out in 2010

 

[Deleted member 42221]

Anyone who doesn't say this decade isn't paying enough attention imo. Quantity and quality are both at an all time high.

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For real I agree with you. A lot of people just listen to maybe a couple of Drake hits and just jump to "modern hip hop sucks".

Also modern hip hop has less people calling others fags so there's that bonus.

 

[Mona]

80s

 

[OfficerRob]

Those that say this decade should be required to post their age

 

[Deleted member 42221]

If we have a bunch of people just doing slack one-sentence answers, this thread will go nowhere. Make an argument!

 

[Zukuu]

90's and it's not close

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^^^^^

 

[litebrite]

90's and it's not close

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Winner

 

[Joshua]

A debate? There's one answer and that's it!

 

[Ze_Shoopuf]

yup 90's and it's not even close.

that stuff is timeless.

 

[ErnieMcCracken]

I'll say the 80's. It laid the groundwork for everything that came after and was so loaded in the late 80's it was ridiculous.

Run DMC
Public Enemy
Beastie Boys
Eric B. & Rakim
EPMD
Boogie Down Productions
Tribe
De La
NWA
Big Daddy Kane
The D.O.C. (that album was dope)
LL Cool J
Ice-T
Too Short

I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty, but you get the point.

 

[Numb]

This is hard
I like big chains and kangol
I'll still go for the 90's

 

[Glenn]

90s had timeless classics after classics. It's not even a competition.

What other decade can top Tupac, Biggie, Jay and Nas at their peaks? Then you have Wu Tang, Fugees, OutKast, Dre, Ice Cube, Eminem starting out etc.

I grew up on 2000s hip hop so I will always love it for nostalgia reasons. We still got classics, but it's obvious that lyricism was taking a back seat for the most part.

2010s has great variety and a number of amazing albums.. but in terms of sheer quality and quantity, The 90s always wins.

 

[Neece]

I'll say the 80's. It laid the groundwork for everything that came after and was so loaded in the late 80's it was ridiculous.

Run DMC
Public Enemy
Beastie Boys
Eric B. & Rakim
EPMD
Boogie Down Productions
Tribe
De La
NWA
Big Daddy Kane
The D.O.C. (that album was dope)
LL Cool J
Ice-T
Too Short

I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty, but you get the point.

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Tribe doesn't count for the 80's.

 

[litebrite]

I'll say the 80's. It laid the groundwork for everything that came after and was so loaded in the late 80's it was ridiculous.

Run DMC
Public Enemy
Beastie Boys
Eric B. & Rakim
EPMD
Boogie Down Productions
Tribe
De La
NWA
Big Daddy Kane
The D.O.C. (that album was dope)
LL Cool J
Ice-T
Too Short

I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty, but you get the point.

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The problem is it leaves out the Midwest, the South as well as peak West Coast and their impact and influences. I think the 80's is the Golden Age for Old School Hip Hop/Primarily East Coast/New York as it started to transition to the new school along with everybody else into another Golden Age.

Just look at one year in the 90's of all the hip hop classic and influential albums in 1994.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_in_hip_hop_music

 

[Antiwhippy]

OFWGKTA


10's

 

[Tux_]

90s AINEC

 

[Numb]

I'll say the 80's. It laid the groundwork for everything that came after and was so loaded in the late 80's it was ridiculous.

Run DMC
Public Enemy
Beastie Boys
Eric B. & Rakim
EPMD
Boogie Down Productions
Tribe
De La
NWA
Big Daddy Kane
The D.O.C. (that album was dope)
LL Cool J
Ice-T
Too Short

I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty, but you get the point.

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La di da di is responsible for half your fav joints

 

[Neece]

I'm curious. For the people saying this decade, what single year would you say beats out...say 1996? The year that saw All Eyez on Me and The Score drop on the same day.

 

[HiLife]

Drake era obviously.

 

[Numb]

I'm curious. For the people saying this decade, what single year would you say beats out...say 1996? The year that saw All Eyez on Me and The Score drop on the same day.

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Unfair we on decades not year by year basis

 

[Tom Penny]

10's

 

[litebrite]

I'm curious. For the people saying this decade, what single year would you say beats out...say 1996? The year that saw All Eyez on Me and The Score drop on the same day.

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You can pick damn near any year in the 90's and it will shit upon whole decades.

1992 for example
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_in_hip_hop_music

 

[Neece]

Unfair we on decades not year by year basis

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I wanna see them pick the years they think outperform the best years of the 90's. If they can't even do that then a whole decade discussion is pointless.

 

[Deleted member 42221]

I'm curious. For the people saying this decade, what single year would you say beats out...say 1996? The year that saw All Eyez on Me and The Score drop on the same day.

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To be honest? I'd say 2017
Flower Boy
Big Fish Theory
Damn
The Saturation trilogy
4eva is a mighty long time
4:44
Laila's Wisdom
All-amerikkkan badass

2012, 2016, and 2013 all have great lineups too that hold up.

 

[Puck Beaverton]

90s followed by the 10s

 

[Uncle at Nintendo]

90s and its not even close. Better question would be the worst decade. I would say the 2000s because of ringtone rap, but it also had Kanye's debut, and was Outkast's heyday

 

[gogosox82]

This isn't even up for debate as far as I'm concerned. It's the 90's

 

[Numb]

I wanna see them pick the years they think outperform the best years of the 90's. If they can't even do that then a whole decade discussion is pointless.

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you got a point
also

 

[litebrite]

90s and its not even close. Better question would be the worst decade. I would say the 2000s because of ringtone rap, but it also had Kanye's debut, and was Outkast's heyday

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3 of Outkast albums came out in the 90's, technically 4 since Aquemini came out in 2000.

 

[ErnieMcCracken]

The problem is it leaves out the Midwest, the South as well as peak West Coast and their impact and influences. I think the 80's is the Golden Age for Old School Hip Hop/Primarily East Coast/New York as it started to transition to the new school along with everybody else into another Golden Age.

Just look at one year in the 90's of all the hip hop classic and influential albums in 1994.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_in_hip_hop_music

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I don't disagree but look at '88 alone.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_in_hip_hop_music
Early to mid-90's was stacked too and I'd say the greatest "decade" was probably 86-96. Too hard to pin it down by 80's or 90's.

 

[Ocarina_117]

It's objectively the 90s.

But the 10s has been brilliant so far.

 

[Truly Gargantuan]

Ain't none. Each decade has it's classics and dominant sound. I go through my moods where I might listen to a lot of one era, but each one has it's ups and downs.
I will say I can't listen to early hip-hop very much. It's too simplistic.

 

[Neece]

2000's was definitely the worst (not counting the 70's). It has some of the highs of the genre but man those lows. The ring tone rap, chain hang low, party like a rockstar era was dreadful. I don't think any other decade had lows that rough and ubiquitous.

 

[gutter_trash]

90s

the decade has an incredible arc from early to mid-to late 90s

 

[SageShinigami]

I'm curious. For the people saying this decade, what single year would you say beats out...say 1996? The year that saw All Eyez on Me and The Score drop on the same day.

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My PERSONAL opinion? 2015.

Forest Hills Drive
Tetsuo & Youth
To Pimp a Butterfly
The Album About Nothing

All dropped in the span of about four months. I'm fudging that since FHD came out in December but the time span is right. Ludacris even popped up with a really good album that April. 2015 might be my favorite year in hip hop this decade.

Having said that, I'm still with you. I think the 2010s are great, but I also fucking hate mumblerap and all this clown shit I have to take seriously otherwise I'm "an oldhead". With the 90s I don't have to worry about that. There were dudes who couldn't rap back then...but they were at least intelligible.

The 90's had a lot of cool shit--start of the decade had some conscious shit, the middle was gangsta rap, the end had the rise of the South. Classic albums galore, tons of legendary artists getting their start or hitting their groove.

90s and its not even close. Better question would be the worst decade. I would say the 2000s because of ringtone rap, but it also had Kanye's debut, and was Outkast's heyday

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2000s had some good shit, but...it was a much bigger struggle to find it. I wandered away from hip hop from awhile and then when I came back turned into an underground geek. I won't forgive them for that lmao.

 

[TheBaldwin]

Ain't none. Each decade has it's classics and dominant sound. I go through my moods where I might listen to a lot of one era, but each one has it's ups and downs.
I will say I can't listen to early hip-hop very much. It's too simplistic.

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Yep.

People who say they only listen to a specific period of music are just limiting themselves greatly.

My favourite would be right now honestly. The variety and diversity in both the mainstream and underground is amazing.

If i ranked it would be

10's>90's->00's->80's -> 70's

 

[crimzonflame]

93-95 alone is better than any decade

 

[House_Of_Lightning]

1999

90s all day.

 

[litebrite]

I don't disagree but look at '88 alone.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_in_hip_hop_music
Early to mid-90's was stacked too and I'd say the greatest "decade" was probably 86-96. Too hard to pin it down by 80's or 90's.

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I don't disagree with this either, however I still think the 90's as a whole because you had greater diversity in styles and sounds due to other regions contributions and not just East Coast and West Coast.

 

[Man with Knife]

.

 

[Antiwhippy]

I will say that now is seriously the most diverse period for hip hop.

 

[Deleted member 13496]

Yep.

People who say they only listen to a specific period of music are just limiting themselves greatly.

My favourite would be right now honestly. The variety and diversity in both the mainstream and underground is amazing.

If i ranked it would be

10's>90's->00's->80's -> 70's

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What variety. Mumble rap dominates and they all have the exact same triplet flow over the exact same trap beat with the exact same autotune with the same stupid coloured dreads and shitty face tattoos.

Or it's Drake and Kanye.

Mainstream rap is easily the most stagnant and homogeneous it's ever been.

Like obviously if you look beyond the mainstream there are tons and tons of diverse and awesome artists but as far as what's popular across the board?

 

[Deleted member 42221]

What variety. Mumble rap dominates and they all have the exact same triplet flow over the exact same trap beat with the exact same autotune with the same stupid coloured dreads and shitty face tattoos.

Or it's Drake and Kanye.

Mainstream rap is easily the most stagnant and homogeneous it's ever been.

Like obviously if you look beyond the mainstream there are tons and tons of diverse and awesome artists but as far as what's popular across the board?

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If you're using "what's popular" as the basis for your argument, then the 90's isn't that great either. There weren't as many Tupac and Biggie hits as you think there were, and a lot more ass anthems and MC Hammers.

 

[TheBaldwin]

What variety. Mumble rap dominates and they all have the exact same triplet flow over the exact same trap beat with the exact same autotune with the same stupid coloured dreads and shitty face tattoos.

Or it's Drake and Kanye.

Mainstream rap is easily the most stagnant and homogeneous it's ever been.

Like obviously if you look beyond the mainstream there are tons and tons of diverse and awesome artists but as far as what's popular across the board?

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Your last line basically contradicts everything. Variety in the underground and even mid level artists is at an all time high, and the number of releases is ridiculous at the moment. There is sub genres for all types of fans. And yes mumble rap is over saturated in the mainstream, but s9me of its great and outside of a few artists, there are very few successful 'stupid coloured dread and shitty face tatoo artists' as you call them.

You could use the exact same argument for older generations. 'Hip Hop is just boom bap / G Funk'. Only difference is you liked those sounds that are being copied and pasted innthe mainstream. Cant seriously suggest that the 90's west cost wasnt filled to the brim with dr dre production knockoffs.

But hey, whatever floats your boat. Its all subjective.

EDIT: As OP said above, every generation is looked back with rose tinted glasses, happens with music, movies, games etc.

Everyone remembers the 2Pacs and Biggies. Very few remember the vanilla ices