Technology Kills Rap Legends (Vol. 1): The Internet

This article serves as part one of a series entitled Technology Kills Legends. Every once in a while, I will be delving into many facets of modern technology that have led to the death of the 'hip hop legend' or 'rap superstar' or what have you. Its crazy how time changes everything. For part one of this discussion, we will be looking at the effect of the internet on our perception of the word "legend" and how it applies to the parties we deem worthy.

Remember the feeling you had when you first watched Busta Rhymes' video for 'Gimme Some Mo'? What about the feeling you experienced when you first heard Jay-Z's 'Hard Knock Life'? Reminisce over seeing 2pac and Dr Dre's video for 'California Love' for the first time. I haven't had THAT feeling in what seems like a decade. Technology kills legends.

Hip-hop hasn't been the same to me since about 2003. The feeling may have died later than that, but I'm going to use 2003 as a breaking point. In the time between '03 and yesterday, it seems like EVERY rapper made a myspace, facebook, twitter, blog, youtube page, website, etc. etc. Its tough to idolize anyone when I know what he had for dinner, what he's doing at any given time etc. All that, and I don't even have to work for such information. They tell us. We've also seen the influx of gossip sites, dedicated hip hop sites and blogs and fans have utilized the same tools every rapper has access to. What has that done? Well, it's killed the idea of a 'legend' in my mind.

With the exception of Kanye West, Jay-Z and Diddy, it seems like our favorite rappers are no longer larger than life. There is sooooooooooooo much access to the life and thoughts of EVERY rapper that there is no longer the mysticism and aura that once surrounded such artists. The lifestyle even seems tangible now. I mean, no I can't afford to drive a Bugatti on Monday, a Ferrari on Tuesday and a Lamborghini on Wednesday, but I can envision what its like. Why? Because hip hop tells me what its like. At one point, MTV Cribs was mind blowing because of what we saw. Then, we found out that seemingly everything we saw was rented. The clothes these legends wore/wear are no longer out of reach because of eBay and Karmaloop - big name rappers now don't wear anything special. It seems simple to dress like Jay-Z now. Anyone can buy a v-neck. The lifestyle of a 'legend' is no longer far fetched.

There is nothing special about having music early now either. Remember mixtapes? Real mixtapes? Remember ordering mixtapes online to get access to brand new music? Yeah, that doesn't happen anymore. As soon as Rapper A is done recording a song in New York, he'll email it to Rapper B in LA for a hook. And then 10 minutes later, it seems like that record is available to the world. With such lazy distribution, a buzz can grow over night and die 2 days later. And after those 2 days, Rapper A feels obligated to drop more material to not lose relevance. Over saturation has lead to the demise of 'legends'.

I haven't sat outside Best Buy on a Tuesday morning waiting to be the first person with a copy of ANY cd since '04. And that has nothing to do with the fact that most every cd leaks around 2 weeks before its release. I just don't care anymore. Yes, I do still occasionally buy cds, but because of leaks and reviews, it seems like I'll already know exactly what I'm buying and I will have heard most of it. This KILLS the element of surprise and deads most of the excitement I could have potentially felt.

Do you remember when DJs broke records? Remember when Flex 'dropped bombs' on brand new records? Or when DJ Clue ran a song back 50 times? Yeah they still do those things, but who the hell listens to the radio anymore? I know I don't.

I really feel like the internet has done incredible things for the music industry, but I feel like it has also killed the idea of a 'legend' in hip hop.