Is the general public's impression of hip hop any worse now than it was 15-20 years ago?

i believe the public's view of hip hop has changed from a dichotomy (hate or like, 2 options) to several more options within this time.

while im not particularly aware of the perception of hip hop 15-20 years ago, since im only 17 years old, i can say that in all likelihood that the general public's impression of hip hop has decreased over that time.

since i like to quantify things, i have generally thought of people's affinities towards styles of music in levels. in respect to hip hop, here are the levels i have so far in decreasing order of popularity:

1) people who do not think hip hop is a form of music at all

- this level ranges from adolescents to adults to old people. it is a fairly large category, and imo, the largest one. most people see music as a trivial matter and not really something necessary to formulate an opinion on. as a result, they look more towards what the general opinion is, which imo, is the basis of all stereotypes

2) people who listen to mainstream hip hop

- this level ranges mainly for teenagers. it is also a large category, but the people who listen to this type of music nearly enjoy listening to bad music. its strange to describe. if they approached mainstream hip hop "normally" (when i say normally, i mean as they would towards any other genre of music), then they would see mainstream hip hop as bad. however, they continue to listen to it, oddly enough

3) people who ACTUALLY listen to all types of music and generally accept hip hop as a form of music, while they dont particularly mainly listen to it.

- this level ranges mainly for adults/younger adults and rarely teenagers. any person who truly understands music would probably realize that hip hop isnt the best music out there at all. nonetheless, they see the positive aspects of it and realize that its really not as bad as most people say it is

4) people who solely listen to "good" hip hop

- this level ranges from some teenagers to some adults/young adults. i think being in the RHH section for so long gives some of us a parochial view of the public's impression of hip hop. in all probability, there are very few people who listen to "good" hip hop

5) people who ACTUALLY listen to all types of music and hate hip hop

- this level ranges for mostly adults/young adults and i would say little to no teenagers. several people say that they listen to all types of music. however, people who ACTUALLY take every style of music into account generally see hip hop as somewhat positive. therefore, there is a very small minority of those people who while understanding all genres of music, still believe hip hop is bad

thats a lot of space taken up. i give you my sincere apologies

The general public being those who don't listen to hip hop then I would say no not really. Back in the 80's hip hop was criticized as being a fad and not real music. It was criticized for its lyrical content, its degradation of women and glorifying the gangsta lifestyle. The same criticisms are around today, no more, no less. I will say though that hip hop is a more accepted form of music now than it was in the eighties. It's been legitimized with its own categories for grammies, american music awards, mtv etc..

I think it differs from person to person. Some people may have never like Hip Hop as a genre, and some may have gained some respect for Hip Hop along the way after hearing certain artists.

Honestly, I feel the overall quality of new hip-hop to be worse than it's ever been, but I think it's going through a cycle or something, and it should peak again. However, I feel hip-hop is more normal to the masses as it's more sociable acceptable now because people have gotten used to it by being exposed to it through dozens of forms of media including TV shows, movies, half-time shows, and cross-genre collabs. The radio and MTV used to hate rap back in the 1980's, but now I think it's seen more as an actual form of music/expression and it's a legit musical genre and something that can make profit.

Well...Lil Wayne has a song called P*ssy Monster. No matter how "raunchy" Run DMC or Big Daddy Kane got, it wasn't that raunchy. Hell, 2 Live Crew wasn't that bad. So the view that non hip hop fans have of rap being only about sex, drugs and money is becoming somewhat validated. And you can't rely on the underground to differ the opinions of the masses, because if they hate rap as it is they're not going to exert themselves to find better rap.

From stories of older relatives to reading biographies on rappers, i know that the public has never been too keen on rap. In the mid 80s to early 90s, while rakim and gangstarr were making innovative music, gangsta rap was popular in the mainstream rap world.

NWA and Ice T frightened white America, and from that moment on, rap has been looked down upon. The song Cop Killer by Ice T sparked protests and rage everywhere in the early 90s, and no one tried to hear him out. The song was defending rodney king, but people just paid attention to the title. NWA made the political album Straight outta compton, and white america felt as if they were trying to challege the government.

Then basically for all of the 90s, there seemed to be a number of 1 hit wonders and dance songs being created by the rap community. Now we all know that the 90s is the best decade for rap, but all those classic albums that pop to our head weren't popular in mainstream (MTV, VH1, etc.), but only BET and hip hop radio stations. So white america basically only knew of the 64 boyz, 2 live crew, vanilla ice, mc hammer, and others as representing rap.

Speaking of 2 live crew, their album "as nasty as they wanna be" was the main album that sparked the whole debate about how rap degrades women. I personally thought that album was disgusting, and it had a right to be criticized.

Then towards the mid 90s, the whole east coast/west coast beef and biggie smalls/2pac beef started. That beef made white america come to the conclusion that rap did nothing but promote violence. Even though 15-20 years ago was the golden age of rap, we have to remember that artists that put out classic albums were not popular in mainstream.

the stereotypes of hip hop probably have more backing cause a lot of artists rap about drugs and pimping women but then again the more casual mainstream listener listents to hip hop now more than ever because of the pop-like catchy music

good q as usual

I'd imagine it has. I'm only 17, but just judging from the material back then and comparing it to now, it's a lot different. The industry has shifted to a "sex sells" philosophy, and there is more use of profanity. Whenever someone is complaining about rap, what is the first thing they talk about? "Ugh, it's misogynistic, they say the word f*ck ever other word, blah blah blah".

And also a side note, is it me, or does Huey apologize in almost every answer? lol

Idiots think that it is as bad as always, but just the general Non-RHH community can see that the majority of it isn't nearly as Violent nor as graphic as in the 90's.....

V V V I agree, In fact Gang violence and activity in general are at all time lows, compared to the 90's when they were at the all time high.... I wasn't disputing anything you said, so that you know

EDIT: I like Huey's answer....but I feel it cold be expanded a couple more times, Once to "people who understand and enjoy all types of Music including Hip Hop" (he had one that said something similar to this but it said didn't necessarily listen to it alot), and again to "people who merely disregard Hip Hop, based on Incorrect information and a lack of Understanding of the genre" <<< Which IMO is a LARGE majority of people.......

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Times change if rap would have started in the slavery times the lyrics would have been slavery based. whether you believe it or not there was more violence in the 90's then now

No

People that liked rock in the 70's thought rap was crap when it came out in the 80's. (and still do)

Just like old school hip hop heads think new rappers suck because they don't follow the exact path as the pioneers.