What is "real" rap?

[Blu]

I always hear this term associated with the late 2Pac and Biggie, so someone please explain to me:

What the fuck is 'real' hip-hop/rap exactly? And how does one differentiate 'real' hip-hop from hip-hop?

I mean, is 'real' hip-hop songs from the 90's, or just any song that deals with emotions?

Explain this shit, please. Because if the whole "only emotional songs are "real!!" is the case, Soulja Boy can come out with an emotional song and that would be dubbed "real."

So explain this shit, ya'lllllll.

[Kill You]

Not just from the 90's, it can explain any hip hop that...I guess touches you emotionally? Any hip hop song that is just great and virtually anyone can relate and bop their heads to. It's the rap that talks about real life issues and problems instead of money and bitches.

[mdemaz]

From my experience, real rap (well, hip-hop really), is dealing with real life issues whilst storytelling or expressing your views and past experiences in songs whilst having intelligent song structures.

Basically your typical crusade from the slums of society to the high ranks of honor, example, we all know Eminem's story right?
Same sorta thing, even if you are rapping about gangs, drugs and shit like Pac or whatever did, you are still doing brutal storytelling, unless you are lying.
I've heard an interesting theory on this using a simple equation, hip-hop plus lies, equals, rap.

Well, it depends really, rap itself is a musical genre, it's the art of rapping about basically anything, hip-hop is basically the foundation of rap with more technical things involved such as metaphors and such, it involves storytelling and what I said before.

False rap is stuff you would see YM do, like, blatantly rapping about money and girls and "swag".

To answer your question, it's hard to tell what is real and what isn't real when you analyze a individual's lyrics, although it's easy to see a poser in the flock of sheep, they give themselves away when they rhyme the same word 5 times.

So yeah, fuck what people say, I think everyone just says this shit to piss everyone off.
Biggie and Pac were just rappers, they weren't superheros.
I can guaranty if anyone who wasn't known well was in place of them two and rapped the same things, they wouldn't get any credit at all and just be looked down upon as underground trash, which is sadly true sometimes.

Everyone should stop riding their dick and have a look what the actual meaning of real hip-hop is instead of calling two of the most overrated rappers in history real rappers, that's just fucking retarded, predictable and close-minded.
If they are just associating those two with real rap, then that is just fucking retarded.

There's no such thing as a real rap/hip-hop era, all rap/hip-hop since it's creation in the 70s is relevant.

[Stanforever]

it depends on the listener

[JamaicanPattlez]

real hip hop is a myth, there's no such thing as "official real hip hop", it depends on the listener

I agree. Fuck, some people think Bricksquad is the hardest group out there.

[DƎRDYPK]

real n1ppa/wippa shit

[momentsgolden]

Hip-hop started somewhere... a good number of the elements it has are either spin-offs or evolution. The same way we define musical genres or eras (pop, rock, classical, romantic etc) because of distinct "backbones" or origins of the music defined, rap has to have a real and a non-real element depending on certain criteria. Tellin the difference is very difficult to do so i guess trying to make an algorithm about it is near impossible (hence the quit statements shown by frustrated fans above)

In my humble personal opinion, Real Hip Hop is music that is made with either of 2 objectives share one's perspective on life and love with all its hardships and complexities truthfully OR make some form of rhythmic wordplay or "sound" that resonates with listeners. In all this, rhythm, particularly drums, and an attention to lyrics are indispensable.

The first one is where all these pac and biggie dickriders come from as they were youth listening to an artform which basically had ONE source of critical analysis (The Source) and where competition was as arbitrary as the place one was born instead of the quality of someone's word. Because of this, the image portrayed by these superstars was quickly and unreservedly accepted as a true and (incorrectly) the ONLY representation of a black culture and lifestyle. Fortunately, people like Kanye West can provide a viable alternative to the "rags to riches" "thug image" yet still stay distinctly hip-hop.

Its a complex subject. For a short answer, ask any hip-hop fan who he stans for and that person will be your model. #fuck everybody