5 things wrong with the Hip Hop industry

1. Unlike Country, Rock, Jazz and pretty much every other genre in the world, Hip Hop is still by and large ran and controlled by people who never came up in Hip Hop. Sure we have seen the Jay-Z's, Diddy's and Dr. Dre's but compare that to country where the industry is ran top to bottom by people who came up in country. The labels, the managers, the booking agencies, the desk staff, the venue personnel, more times than not have roots in Country music...hell, they have their own TV network and award show and operate out of a different city (nashville) than the rest of the industry. Think about if hip hop had it's own association for the progress of the industry, it's own awards to honor it's people, it's own venues dedicated to the music, etc etc...

2. Because of that lack of control - we get more gimmick acts than most. Sure, every genre has an artist come along that is entirely a "product." That's how we end up with Vanilla Ice, Riff Raff, Iggy Azalea and every bottle-poppin' wanna-be (there's literally too many to name). You'd never see this in Country (no matter how formulaic the music, there are still really good musicians, songwriters and artists that actually have talent), most Rock music is the same and even though the cultural relevance has diminished it's the same in Jazz music.

3. The bar of entry is too low leading to an overabundance of bullshit. Any idiot with a couple hundred to spare can go to guitar center or download some free software and if ya got $20 to spend for some leased beats online you too can drop a mixtape tonight and commence to blowing up everyone's social media timelines with links to "support" you. In other genres of music you actually have to know how to play an instrument which takes years of practice and hours of time practicing with your band - who also has to have some skill that takes time and money to develop.

4. The culture is all about me. Enough said. Well i'll add that in other genres it's a common, accepted and even expected practice to work with a team of people on each song in hip hop those things are definitely frowned upon.

5. Hip Hop does a horrible job honoring it's past. BET awards aside, have you ever tried to do some hip hop karaoke (Rapper's delight and Baby got Back doesn't count)? Right. Ya dont. And if you're an artist - and lets face it, chances are if you're reading this you rap - do not get caught doing a hip hop cover at a show.

So let's recap. No real control. More prone to gimmicks. Highly saturated. No sense of community and no real honoring of it's past. (because it's about me, duh!)  

Sounds like the place to be huh?