I’m telling you…Hair Metal Stage…

CNN, of all places, has a pretty decent write-up about the present state of hip hop. As you loyal Good Nonsense readers (all 10 of you) know, I’ve been a fan of hip hop for a while—The Roots, Mos Def & Talib Kweli, Jurassic 5, Common, Outkast, and others are still making great strides and great music—but I’ve also said on numerous occasions that the current state of hip hop...well, it sucks.

Creekmur says music labels have overfed the public on gangsta rap, obscuring artists who represent more positive and varied aspects of black life, like Talib Kweli, Common and Lupe Fiasco.

"It boils down to a complete lack of balance, and whenever there's a complete lack of balance people are going to reject it, whether it's positive or negative," Creekmur says.

Yet Banner says there's a reason why acts like KRS-One and Public Enemy don't sell anymore. He recalled that even his own fans rebuffed positive songs he made -- like "Cadillac on 22s," about staying away from street life -- in favor of songs like "Like a Pimp."

I took enough business and econ classes to understand the very basic concept of Supply & Demand, so I realize why crappy, generic, stupid rap music gets on the radio and good music that make you think a bit does not. But how do we fix it? Eventually people will start looking for actual value in songs again. If this is the hair metal stage, and we’re currently witnessing the Motley Crue’s and Poison’s of hip hop, then when will the hip hop Nirvana and Pearl Jam come to save the day? And when they arrive, will the current state of the music business prevent them from making the impact they need to make?

And better yet, can I choose who the hip hop Nirvana and Pearl Jam will be? Because I have some pretty good ideas.

All I know is, hip hop’s in pretty bad shape at the moment. And people are desperate for a savior. When somebody makes even a decent album, like Nas’ Hip Hop Is Dead, it’s immediately labeled a classic, but when it doesn’t hit people like a classic (because it’s actually not), it dies just like the rest of them.