The True, The Bad, The Ugly of 2017

It’s that time again, when the holidays near, and everyone is starting to reflect on the past twelve months, and set goals and desires for the upcoming year. We are less than two weeks aways, and looking back on 2017, I must say that it has certainly been an entertaining year in Hip-Hop. To summarize this mini year in review, we will break down the happenings into 3 categories; The True, The Bad, and just the down right Ugly. So strap in your seatbelt and  let’s get to it.

Let’s start with the BAD. ( Nicki vs Cardi)

In 2017 we witnessed the emergence of another female rap superstar, Cardi B. And every since Cardi’s breakout single “Bodakt Yellow begin blowing up the charts and causing a frenzy on club dance floors; the media has constantly been speculating that there was beef between Cardi and the reigning queen of rap Nicki Minaj. Cardi and Nicki were both being asked about each other it seems with every interview. There were talk shows speculating, forming theories, and breaking down supposedly subliminal shots the two MCs are allegedly taking at each other in recent song releases.  The media and the public continued to harp over the “beef” even though both artists constantly deny that there is any friction between them, which makes this very BAD. Rather it’s beef or not, what we can agreed, is that some really good music is being released amongst both artists. Nicki has been locked in like she has a chip on her shoulder, and has bodied all of her recent features.

Now let’s talk about the Ugly. ( Joe Budden vs Mumble Rappers) 

Joe Budden ( let’s call it disagreements) with the new generation of rappers has been very well documented. In 2017 Joe used his platforms (The Joe Budden Podcast, and Complex’s Every Day Struggle) to do anything but hold his tongue about the current hip-hop state of affairs. It started off as kind of comical, then things began to take a turn. It started with the now infamous interview on Everyday struggle with Lil Yatchy, in which Yatchy verbally battled with Joe. Rather related or not to the Yatchy incident, Joe than inherited a beef with rap supergroup Migos. This resulted in the now (even more infamous) altercation between the parties on the BET pre-award show red carpet.

Although it was quite entertaining (the memes that spawned from this event is hilarious) from a media standpoint, I think we can agree that this was UGLY. Again, good music has also risen since then. Migos are on a tear musically and Quavo dropped a diss aimed at Budden. Maybe just maybe this might tempt   Joe to step back on the mic (wishful thinking).

We went through the Bad, and the Ugly, but being the extreme optimists that I am, I can’t leave you on a negative note. So with that being said let’s talk about the TRUE.  Drama and beef rumors aside, we received some really good music in 2017. As you can see that’s been a constant theme throughout this post. A lot of very great albums came out this year. Jay- Z and Kendrick both dropped classics with their respected projects 4:44, and DAMN. It’s going to be interesting seeing which one of them take home the grammy for best rap album. Also have to big up Rapsody, Big K.R.I.T, Big Sean, and Logic for dropping great projects this year as well.

There you have it the True, Bad, and Ugly of 2017.  I would like to salute all of the platforms out there; rather it be podcast, blogs, vlogs, or online magazines ( True-Magazine is the #1 online source btw), for keeping us informed with news and music as  soon as they drop. And through all those efforts combined with the talented artists we have representing for our culture, Hip-Hop is now “officially” the number 1 genre in music, and that right there is very TRUE. 

@DJ Chalant