Should Hip Hop Have Labels? Conscious VS Trap

Conscious VS Trap

After Vince Staple tweet about not wanting to be placed in the conscious rap label last Wednesday evening, Hip Hop heads voiced their opinion on the sub labels of hip hop.

I am highly offended by the term conscious rap don't associate me with that.

— Vince Staples (@vincestaples) August 12, 2015

This brings me to talk about the topic. Should hip hop have sub genres? Hip Hop was founded on the fun of mixing together music with rhymes and developed into storytelling, word play, political power etc... The culture of hip hop will always include the elements of  DJs to turn the tables, a microphone to spit the bars, graffiti to paint the images, and the infinite break dancing. Introduced in the late 70's were hip hop pioneer groups like, the Sugar Hill Gang, who were the first hip hop group to enter into mainstream media with the classic anthem "Rappers Delight," which expressed pure fun, funkadelic beats, rhymes, and basic flow. During the 80's when hip hop developed a political subject matter, where groups like Public Enemy, Run DMC, Eric B & Rakim, KRS 1, Queen Latifah etc... Influencing the youth by telling stories, having literary content in order to express minority struggles through music. The 80's rappers are often identified as political conscious rap.

Known as the "Golden Era" 90's hip hop impacted the world with a more rebel attack on society creating the sub genre "gangsta rap" with west coast groups like NWA expressing their frustrations with the law. This ultimately led to the first iconic deaths of hip hop Tupac and Biggie. During the 90's artist like Jay Z, Nas, Eminem, Common, Outkast, Lauryn Hill etc... Elevated hip hop by adding literary devices to their rhyme schemes such as: multiple metaphors, similes, personification, allegory, alliteration, allusion etc... Because of this we've branded the music based on location, lyrics, associated acts, sound, and delivery. There are many labels of hip hop and affiliates such as: West Coast hip hop, Mid-west hip hop, East Coast hip hop, Southern Style hip hop, trap, conscious, political, neo-soul, battle rap, freestyle rap, and more. 

The 2000's introduced Kanye West who elevated hip hop with his unique samples and vocals. By mid 2000’s Atlanta hip hop made its mark with artist like Soulja Boy and Gucci Mane, bringing to life “trap music,” a completely different sound than the usual hip hop. Currently we’re in the “Toronto sound” era, created by Drake, who is currently the most influential artist of the decade.    

So a long story made short, this generation did not create sub labels, the genre builds off of itself ultimately making its own sub labels. Sub genres are needed to identify the emotions and environments of the music. You wouldn't compare Common's lyrics to Fetty Wap's, just like you wouldn't play Eminem's "Stan" in a club. Some people will listen to dance hip hop 24/7 and others enjoy learning from the music. We enjoy music based on what is relative to us. Yes, there are radicals who throw the word conscious around, and yes trends go in and out of style, but the content inside of the music labels itself. In any genre the newer artist will be compared to the past artist of that genre or sub-genre, subjecting them to a label. As artists we are supposed to develop our own sound, create our own labels, and embrace the competition because being unique is how the music grows.