Written by R. L. Burney

How much for Hip Hop? - Questions for the hip hop soul

Damn. It's been a long time since I've bought a hip hop cd out a store. What about you?

More than likely it's been a minute for you too and majority of American consumers, in fact. Since 2005, hip hop record sales have nose dived into near oblivion and rarely are new rappers making millions in this category.

As of today, August 11, 2009, there are only two and "a possible" hip hop records in the Billboard Top 20. The Loso's Way soundtrack brought to you by Fabolous, Eminem's Relapse, and Black Eyed Peas' The E.N.D. (considered the "possible" as the Black Eyed Peas would probably be classified as pop, but it's still hip hop to us) are the only albums representing our beloved genre. Oh yeah, Lady Gaga is still there...and hey, Maxwell is back!

But what does this say about the hip hop industry? Is it dying as Time Magazine so anxiously inquires? No! It can't be dead, Nas. If it is, all these hungry artists standing on the strip haggling with their homemade CDs are just zombies in a cold world. Most would argue though, that the game has just evolved and only the poppiest and the most mainstream sounds get sales.

Flo Rida? Well past 10 million singles and albums sold worldwide? This is an example that there is still hope somewhere, I think. But is the hood bumping Flo's Mail on Sunday album or did you or anyone you know go out and buy "Low"?

This is the state of hip hop. You have millions of young (and old) people trying to break through right here in the United States and countless more in other parts of the world. Can artists still look forward to going platinum (via RIAA ratings) and living the dream as so many of our rap heroes? I doubt it. But maybe that's not what it's about anymore.

Hip Hop is a culture. Some people make the music just for expression and never have the want to blow up off it. Most do want to at least "blow" or get a deal; make some money doing what they love. For the most part though, hip hop has become the way we live, the way we think, the way we feel and express ourselves. So it's time that we find new ways to get to where we want.

And we already have, with the "mixtape", bootleg albums available in every hood and the internet offering everything for free. So we all are looking forward to seeing where this ends up. How will hip hop continue? Who is the next big thing? Where do we go from here?