Hip hop is dead.
At least according to Nas, the reigning poet laureate of the form, who made this declaration the title of his latest CD. Though he surely chose that title for its sarcastic shock value, the notion is rooted in some truth.
Sales of hip-hop albums plummeted some 20 percent between 2005 and 2006, Billboard reported, citing Nielsen SoundScan stats. As 2006 came to a close, no hip-hop artist had an album among the year-end Top 10 sellers - even with forces like Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and The Game releasing albums late in the year.
Even without numbers, it's hard not to notice a cultural shift under way.
The Grammys have dumped the female rap category, giving its last award in 2004. Pop-rap as performed by Fergie, Gwen Stefani and Nelly Furtado now rules the charts, and the quick emergence, then disappearance, of rap sub-genres - crunk, snap, "hypy" - seems to suggest that hip-hop's burnout is accelerating.
Yet as traditional hip-hop - the kind we remember from the '80s and '90s - seems to be losing favor, a new breed is emerging.
Artists are pushing the genre forward with alternative approaches; two such groups, Gym Class Heroes and k-os, perform tonight at The NorVa.
Thanks to groups like these, hip-hop is increasingly leaving behind its inner-city roots to become a loose, all-American style that encompasses all forms of modern music. Gym Class Heroes, in particular, has an ethnic diversity that signals how much of an American phenomenon hip-hop has become.
Change is looming for all sorts of reasons - people are tired of themes of violence and criminality, the market is over saturated and after nearly 30 years, there's not a lot that hasn't been said - and that's partly why Gym Class Heroes' rise feels equivalent to opening a window in a smoke-filled room.
"Hip-hop is definitely in a dark period right now," said Travis McCoy, GCH's lead singer. "People are kind of forced to try something different.
In a sense, it can be a blessing. Some of the things that were cool four years ago are not cool now."
Gym Class Heroes has been called an "emo version of The Roots" because, like The Roots, the group mixes rap with live instruments.
But whereas The Roots is better known for its jazzy approach, these four twentysomethings from upstate New York blend punk, R B and rock with rap.
Thematically, the group offers the self-conscious musings often heard in emo rock, a stark contrast to rap's ubiquitous "Scarface" imitations. Their lead single "The Queen and I," for example, is about hard-drinking girls, and "New Friend Request" is about netting a new friend on MySpace.
"We try to make sure we stand outside the box," McCoy said.
The same certainly applies to k-os, a Trinidadian-born, Canadian-raised hip-hop artist who was raised by Jehovah's Witnesses parents. His album, "Atlantis - Hymns for Disco," merges rap, rock, blues and other forms.
"I just wanted to make music that makes you dance. It's just about loving music and having fun again," he said.
He thinks hip-hop's increasingly fluidity is due in part to iPod culture.
"You have kids listening to Beyoncé and then Frank Sinatra and then Bob Marley right after. Of course you're going to learn something. You can't get understanding back once you get it.
" In other words, you can't undo enlightenment, and widening one's palette leads to new truths.
Though rap is just a small part of his album, he insists it's still hip-hop, because the latter is a sensibility, not a sound.
"A lot of it has already been done in hip-hop.
The term is changing. It's in a cocoon now, because it's time for a change."
venable@pilotonline.com.
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