>I hear you...I respect all that...But I don't care...I'm no
>sheep...And let's be real...We are not talking about
>production values here...The beat for "I Don't Like" rides
>out...It's catchy...

And that's why it's a hit. Yeah, lyrically it's fucking shit...probably 80% of mainstream hip-hop is lyrically shit no matter what the subject matter is...outside of like Drake and Weezy who's even bothering with metaphors nowadays?

However the beats(obviously focused on dancing, less boom bap) and hooks are as strong as ever. There's a reason why they are 'hit' songs that cross over, even if they are the equivalent of euro-trash pop techno where it's just a club beat, hook, and some lyrics in the middle nobody remembers.

>
>I'm talking the content and the image of Chief Keef from a
>personal level, not whether or not he's rapping over a good
>beat and you can dance/bounce to it...

It's an unfair critique though. Like, im not being dense; Chief Keef is a fucking poster child for a huge problem...there's a nihilism there that doesn't bode well for a large amount of teens growing up and the societal fallout for someone rapping about how his sister is dumb for wanting to be a lawyer (and being halfway right about it) is fucking awful and a sign that we don't deserve to survive as a species.

But that doesn't make 'I Don't Like' less catchy.

>And on a artistic/musical level, if black folks are going to
>be portrayed as ignorant buffoons (James) or savages (Keef)
>then at least have the decency to be good at what you do...
>
>You know why Ice T, Scarface and even NWA could be given the
>benefit of the doubt during those "this is the end of the
>civilization" discussions about rap back then?
>
>Because they were actually skillful at what they did...What
>Keef is is a modern day Eazy E in plain terms...But Eazy had
>Cube and Ren to balance him out with pure talent and skill...

Unfortunately, nowadays, to be a 'rapper' its all about hooks & beat. It's why a semi-real rapper like Wiz(semi-decent cause I still think he sucks) has to go work with the same songwriters that Rihanna does.

The games BEEN different for the past decade.

Can't knock em for being shitty rappers, because we were all dancing to Lil John ten years ago.

Can't knock em for being morally bereft because, well, they are just inheriting the nihilism that we enjoyed/promoted/dabbled in when hip-hop was our youth soundtrack.