37. "I said shit this when I was like 16, 17 lol" In response to In response to 0
It sounds corny as fuck in retrospect.
I think there IS a distinction, but to be so indignant about it as to make the statement in the OP is pretentious.
Full disclosure, when I was in high school I turned up my nose to Get Rich or Die Trying when it came out because of how mainstream it was and because every brain dead asshole in my school was obsessed with In Da Club. I didn't necessarily dislike the music, I didn't hate 50, I just hated the parroting mindless people who only have heard of 6 rappers and then want to try and talk about the music like they're an authority. These are the same people who said things like "Lil Wayne is the best rapper alive" circa 2007 and MEANT it. I met people at parties in college those years that would spit vitriolic insults when arguing about Wayne's merits as the GOAT. THOSE type of people are the reason why I think young, impressionable fans of hip-hop music want to make a distinction, to separate themselves from the masses, to individualize themselves.
Later that year I finally listened to GRODT front to back and said "damn... this is a banger." Started to be less and less snobbish in regards to hip-hop as the years went on, but you could still catch me making fun of southern rappers, or nodding in agreement when Nas said Hip-Hop is Dead. I still have an elitist inside of me that tries to fight his way out from time to time.
I'm 26 years old now, and I've come to realize that this shit is NOT that serious. Nobody is winning any medals by defending Hip-Hop's honor, lol. The art form or culture that Hip-Hop started out as does not really exist anymore in the same form. Where do you even draw the line? Who decides what is and isn't hip-hop? I pick my battles more in my advanced age, and trying to be pedantic about a form of music where even the BEST artists spit lyrics like "pretty dick, puttin stitches in they anus" is just not worth my time lol