Hip-hop, and music in general, has changed a lot the past decade. The obvious change is in the sharp decline in album sales making the relationship between musicians and label companies all the more tenuous. Unfortunately with music becoming less profitable many rappers turn to other means to meet their ends like Clipse with Play Clothes and all the rapper turned actors. But let's stray from that talk. After all, Wale made a pretty encompassing song about the modern album sales conundrum.
What's just as interesting these days is that a lot of the rappers that defined hip-hop's golden era are either approaching (or past) 40 and are making less or no music and have turned to other interests (I'm looking at you Ice Cube.)
Not that I'm blaming those artists whatsoever as most of those people have families and lead much different lives, but it has put hip-hop into an interesting transitional period it hasn't really encountered. As a result of this defining generation starting it's ride off into the sunset everyone is starting to look for the best of the young kids coming up and what has resulted is a mess of buzz that has anointed about 50 young rappers the next (fill in favorite rapper here).
The latest young kid that many have invested in is J. Cole, with his biggest investor being Jay-Z who signed him to a deal to his Roc Nation label. That buzz coupled with a supreme mixtape that dropped this summer titled The Warm Up has this kid looking like one of the new stars Hov spoke of in the song that featured the young prodigy himself. This shows probably the best change hip-hop has seen industry wise this past decade. It has gone from a genre shut out by much of the music industry to one in which those that were once shut out now control a part of that industry making it so much easier for young artists to gain a foothold.
In the words of J. Cole himself, 'Applaud Hov, he gave 'em the platform'.
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