Some friends and I recently had a debate on whether or not Flo Rida could be considered as a real hip hop artist. When you hear a Flo Rida song come on the air, it's usually being played on the pop stations right?
Flo Rida, better known to the government as Tramar Dillard had a break away hit with "LOW" which received heavy airplay on the Urban as well as Pop stations. My question to my friend was "What makes a Rapper "real"? What classifies a rap artist these days? Weezy is venturing off into the rock world and even rap stars such as Jay Z and Kanye West have collaborated with Cold Play and Lincoln Park.
In my opinion, rap has been lost in pop culture, but honestly that's what is moving records out of the stores. My friend feels that Flo Rida could be classified with any other rapper simply because he's talking to a beat. I think Flo Rida is commercially successful because he crosses all lines. We hear many rappers on the pop stations now, but Flo Rida sticks out because it seems as though he creates his music completely for the pop audience.
After much thought I just have to ask; Is rap still a real genre? What does it mean to you?
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