Hip-Hop's Influence Is Dead

 The influence of Hip-Hop music in shaping the minds of the young is no longer as effective and vibrant as it used to be when I was younger. I grew up in Nhlapo, Khalabanzo, the violent and rough section of Katlehong that birthed the city's most notorious thugs like Wosh and Makaka of the BMX gang. These guys were influenced by the Italian Mafia movies of their time. Yet their children, the generation that came after them were less violent but very troublesome. These were the guys whose behavior and actions were influenced by Tupac and Eminem(mostly). Their violence rarely exceeded to physical fights, it was mostly through rebellion to societal expectations, traditional morals and values. Tupac and Eminem were able to make their struggles relatable to the daily struggles that were faced by the youth of the 80's in South Africa so it was easy for them to be relevant and capture not only the minds of their audience in South Africa but also their emotions. Tupac's Thuglife movement gave the angry, bitter and causeless 80's township youth some sort of validation, they felt understood and appreciated so they too adopted the message of rebellion that Tupac preached to his congregation.

 
My neighbor had Tupacs quotes all over his body, Thug Life was on his neck. He was very smart yet he was also very rebellious.. He was not alone, he was part of a movement that had a clear philosophy as well articulated in Tupacs music and haphazardly communicated in other Hip-Hop artists of those days. I would be not doing justice to my point if I do not mention the fact that the ill-treatment of women and girls in those days was also partly because of the influence of Hip-Hop in redefining the meaning of Man and Masculinity. 

 I dont know if this should be a paragraph on its own, but I just felt like it should not be part of the above paragraph. This days groups like The Migos and artists like Drake dominate the Hip-Hop music scene. Their Audience is mostly the late 90's and the 2000 kids. This generation has problems of their own, issues like the lack of access to free education and high unemployment levels are two of the major issues they are faced with yet the music(Hip-Hop) that they listen to does in no way identify with their struggle. There is no call to action in Todays Hip-Hop music, in the 80's Hip Hop moved young people, today it numbs them down and makes them oblivious of the environment they live in. The high doses of confusion and clutter in todays Hip-Hop makes the music only ticklish, not effective. If there is an effect, it is just a wave that will die out soon, it wont shape a generation or the future, it will only shape that period of time of which it trends and die of, things will return back to normal again.