[OP-ED] SAME LANE DIFFERENT ERA

by Caleb Pugh | Oct 22, 2018 | FEATURED POST, Op-Ed

Every 5-10 years a new generation of great artist appears, to not only take over the game, but to change it. In the 90’s, during hip-hop golden era, we had Tupac, B.I.G, Snoop Dogg, DMX, Ice Cube and so on (Seriously the 90’s was stacked for no reason, no wonder there were so many beefs). In the 2000’s, we had Jay Z and Nas (Even though they started making noise in the 90’s, were putting them here for spotlight purposes) Kanye West, T.I, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, and Eminem and many others. Now my generations greats are JCole, Drake, Kendrick, Nicki Minaj, Kid Cudi. Now you old heads don’t crucify me for not mentioning Wu Tang and Scarface and please you wet behind the ear new heads don’t kill me for not mentioning Future and Gucci Mane or Young Thug. There are definitely a lot of rappers from each era that I missed, not because I don’t know them or recognize their influence on the game, but I have to keep the list to a minimum. There’s a difference between having a nice run in the game versus having influence and breeding the next crop of talent like some of the names mentioned above.

Everyone’s time comes and goes no matter how great you are. The challenge is to know when its your time to bow out and leave gracefully or eventually you see your fans turn on you (ex. Nicki Minaj).

All the current greats know their time is coming; some have mentioned it such as Drake when he said ” My biggest regret is not knowing how to bow out gracefully”.

Then there’s also speculation that J.Cole’s next two projects “The Off Season” and ” The Falloff” will be his last two. Cudi’s time has come and gone but his music is forever, you hear and notice his influence on this generation as well as the next. Without Cudi, we wouldn’t have artist such as Asap Rocky, Travis Scott, Lil Uzi, Juice Wrld and a lot more. So now its time to talk about the next set of Goats or artist that will be running the game.

First, this is my OPINION and nothing more. Also this list will be influenced by where these particular artists are at in their careers and their potential in the future.  The first artist is 6lack because he already shown that he is cut from the cloth of Drake and Cole and will takeover that climate of hip-hop once there done. The cloth I’m talking about is being able to bounce between lyrical rap and smooth R&B without comprising his talent or comfort. 6lack has been in the game for a while now whether it was battle rapping, being signed to Flo Rider or now having released two studio albums out now titled ” Free 6LACK” and “East Atlanta Love Letter”. 6lack has been around for while. I listened to “Free 6LACK”, where he talks about his label problems, and how he couldn’t release music, and wasn’t getting paid. Thank God that’s over! The moody and hypnotic R&B album standout tracks are “PRBLMS” and ” Ex Calling”. These songs help break him out onto the scene in a strong manner. But my interest with him didn’t start until his second album. From the moment you start ” East Atlanta Love Letter” you realize this is somebody who has learned a lot from his struggles, especially when it comes to love. 6Lack knows how to take you and place you right in the center of his world and mental space. As he stated on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 show, “It wasn’t just verses, it wasn’t just appearances, it was people stepping into my world and saying things they might not say on their own tracks.” He accomplished this with tracks like “Pretty Little Fears” (ft. J.Cole). You should watch the video to catch the complete vibe. Although this is an R&B album, but 6lack still flexes his rapping skills with tracks like “Balenciga Challenge” (ft Offset) and “Nonchalant,”. He even takes a shot at a certain somebody with lines like ” These niggas drop they second album then fell off”.We’re still waiting to see who that’s about. From his wordplay to beat selection to knowing how to make people gravitate to his chill vibe and smooth voice, its very easy to immerse yourself in his world. 6LACK is a force to be reckoned with and he’s only going to get better from here.

My second artist is none other than our favorite rock star, Lil Uzi Vert. Lets be serious, Uzi is already a superstar and has even created a new lane in hip-hop. His influence can be seen in these new rock star rappers like Playboi Carti, Juice Wrld, Rich the Kid, Smokepurrp, and a lot of these lil’s and Yung (no pun intended) rappers. Uzi has changed the game in his short career and when the generation after him starts rapping you will see his influence more. From his rock star antics infectious raps, hooks, and ad-libs what’s not to like about him.  The one problem Uzi has is his label. Don Canon and DJ Drama hold his music for too long. Instead of letting him have complete dominance over the game, they’ll hold his music keeping his fans constantly clamoring for new music. Uzi has been disgruntled with this process, I feel like his clout will eventually end. We get snippets here and there but very rarely do we get a full track, his projects 16*29( which was announced last September) and his album “Eternal Atake” which was announced in June have yet to get a confirmed release date.

I know you have to build the anticipation up, but if this album falters it could kill a lot of the Uzi buzz, especially with young rappers like Lil Baby and Gunna having the whole country on a drip wave right now. Hopefully it will be worth the wait but they need to take advantage of the Uzi hype now, especially with the popcorn mindset of the hip-hop fandom.
Atlanta has the whole culture on a wave with Gunna and Lil Baby, two of the hottest artists out. Cut from the cloth of Future, Young Thug and Gucci Mane, this duo is unstoppable. They were already killing it separately; whether it was Gunna bragging about his drip on his project series “ Drip Season” or Lil Baby taking us through his struggles of growing up in Atlanta. You knew they were primed to become superstars. The reason why I mention them together is because depending how their respective labels handle them, Gunna and Lil Baby could either be a great run or an amazing continuation of Atlanta’s dominance in the rap game. QC and YSl both see the hype for both artists wasting no time in releasing their joint project “Drip Harder”. In my opinion it’s good body of work, but felt a little rushed. Half the songs on the album sound the same and are very repetitive, which even the audience realized.

The label realized they needed to take advantage of the hype for these two, but rushing the project and giving their sound away to everyone can be detrimental to their respective careers. It also raises the question, can they continue this amazing pace? Only time will tell with these two.We’re all waiting to see if in a couple of years they will either be a forgotten commodity like Fetty Wap or stay relevent like their predecessors Future and Young Thug. I personally think Gunna is going to be the better of the two.

Now, to round out my new top 5, I think we have to go to Baton Rouge to get our .38 baby Nba Youngboy. Youngboy wears his emotions on a sleeve while telling his painful story of growing up in Louisiana. He has a well-documented history with the law, but as somebody that comes from Louisiana I can definitely see how he’s a product of his environment. Youngboy’s ability to make us feel the pain he went through is reminiscent of Chief Keef and G herbo and Louisiana’s own Kevin Gates. Youngboy is going to be a superstar because of his reliability, whether it’s from the people in his circle showing disloyalty, girls not showing him love and leaving when times were rough, the struggle of coming up in poverty and being told you have no chance, being misjudged for his mistakes, we can all remember experiencing those feelings in certain situations. NBA Youngboy’s album “ Until Death Call My Name” is a perfect project for people who don’t know who he is, right from the start he immerses us into a story making us feel like we’re right there with him.

Until Death Call My Name Reloaded – YoungBoy Never Broke Again: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIn8RYZBBIH4KPlNY6kt0CO9NIy9GyTt

Youngboy is here to stay because everyone can relate to his pain songs. The only person stopping his star from shining bright is him. If keeps getting in trouble, he’ll be just another lost star to the system but if he can make a change he could new face of Gangsta and Trap music.



These artist have proven their talent and demonstrated why they’re to stay. Only time will tell if it’s for the moment or if we’ll still be talking about their impact 10 years from now like we do with many greats. This is still only my opinion and I know there are people I’m probably missing. But right now these 5 have the game on lock. Feel free to comment on who you think I’m missing and why. Also comment on why you disagree with some of my picks. Goats change the culture for new stars to be born.