The future of Hip-hop?!

On the cover of this month's issue of VIBE, there is a picture of the future of hip-hop. The picture isn't of Lupe Fiasco, The Cool Kids, Wale, B.o.B, GemStones, or a slew of other up and comers. No, "the future of rap is on the cover of VIBEs December 08 issue and you'll never believe who it is!" Man, truer words have never been spoken..

Plies. Yes, THAT Plies. Algernod Lanier Washington according to the government, and the future of hip-hop according to someone at VIBE who doesn't actually listen to music.
Calling him the future of rap is like calling the SUV the future of automobiles, or Rod Blagojevich the future of Illinois politics, or Al Sharpton the future of Black leadership.
With three releases under his belt in 16 months-Real Testament, Definition of Real, and Da Realest-we can see that Plies is prolifically real. I mean, I'm impressed that after a full day of being a "full-blooded goon," he still has time to record so much music. But after listening to some of his real testaments, I figure each track didn't take more than 30 minutes from start to finish. Even still, that's a lot of goonery. Perhaps after performing tasks befitting of the realest person alive, he simply went to the studio to record said deeds. Perhaps, his albums are merely an auditory journal of sorts that gives us insight on the day to day activities of the realest man alive.

Everything above aside, this isn't about Plies. It's about the sad state of hip-hop affairs. I'm not one of those hip-hop is dead/dying people, but I do believe that we are in a rut of sorts. Anytime someone who is a new artist that sounds just like other mediocre rappers with the same content, beats, and D class jewelery gets heralded as the future of anything, we have a problem. Plies brings nothing new to the table. (Sidenote: Grills are still hot?) Sex for the women, guns for the guys, and jewelery for people that are autistic. (Sorry I shoulda said materialistic.) It's the same formula over and over. Sales are down becuase creativity is down, not becuase of iTunes.

In any case, in order for hip-hop to grow and move forward, we need albums like The Love Below, St. Elsewhere, Electric Circus, and 808s & Heartbreak. Boundaries need to be pushed and minds need to be expanded. That way, the future won't be a step backwards.

Do you.