Rapping things up

Last weekend, traveling hip-hop festival Rock the Bells kicked off its annual festivities, featuring hip-hop legends such as Rakim and Wu-Tang Clan alongside younger rap acts such as J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar’s Black Hippy crew.

However, the most discussed moments of the weekend had nothing to do with any rappers in attendance. It’s the hologram appearances of deceased emcees Eazy-E and Ol’ Dirty Bastard that stole the headlines.

Of course, hip-hop is no stranger to these holographic performances. At Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre’s infamous 2012 Coachella performance, a hologram of Tupac Shakur appeared to perform a medley of his hits for the crowd. At the time of the Tupac performance, there were rumors of a Tupac hologram tour, opening the door for hologram performances of any dead performer.

One year later, the company behind the Tupac hologram is bankrupt, and the prospect of a hologram tour seems ludicrous. Still, with the sudden reappearance of the hologram fad last weekend, one has to wonder why it’s been mostly hip-hop acts attempting this nostalgia-driven cash grab.

While money is an obvious incentive, the real draw for these holograms is the genre’s respect for the past. Still, hip-hop isn’t the only genre glorifying its past.

Major rock festivals are also known for highlighting once-great rock acts in the headlining spot, but no genre quite respects its elders like hip-hop, which perpetually keeps the genre looking at its past rather than its future.

Much has been said about Kendrick Lamar’s recent “Control” verse in which the West Coast rapper claimed to be the “king” of New York rap. Several New York emcees, including Joey Bada$$ and Joe Budden responded with the type of displeasure one can expect.

However, Kendrick’s point rings true. New York, more than any other city in hip-hop, is still stuck in the golden-era past.

Joey Bada$$ may be a lyrical prodigy, but his reliance on 1990s-sounding production will prevent him from breaking out into any sort of superstardom.

New York City rapper Action Bronson has been accused of sounding too much like rapper Ghostface Killah. Both rappers are some of the best in the genre lyrically, but their reliance on decade-old practices hardly makes them contenders for any sort of modern New York crown.

A$AP Rocky, New York’s most popular rapper other than Jay-Z, has been able to break into the mainstream due to his modern production choices and southern aesthetics.

Rocky doesn’t sound like a golden-era New York emcee, and that’s why he’s conquered rap radio. He’s a forward-thinking artist, even if his lyrics aren’t up to par with his peers.

This year in general has been a year of reviving past sounds. Justin Timberlake’s “The 20/20 Experience” is a callback to soul of the 1970s, hardly the genre-pushing work that “FutureSex/LoveSounds” was.

Daft Punk may have “brought life back to music” with “Random Access Memories,” but not without dropping the futuristic sound that made them electro-messiahs.

Even one of 2013’s biggest hits, “Blurred Lines,” wouldn’t sound out of place next to mid-2000s pop tracks like Nelly Furtado’s “Promiscuous.”

The abundance of retro tunes may be a breath of fresh air for some amidst the wave of EDM-laden pop and dubstep-ready drops, but it’s also stalling a genre that has been known for its constant innovation.

There is still plenty of innovation to be found in hip-hop, though. Kanye West’s “Yeezus” is a fearless attack of hip-hop aggression, and rapper/producer El-P’s bombastic production style sounds like nothing else being released. Even Odd Future’s exciting jazz-fueled hip-hop is promising, but these artists are still far from the mainstream radio’s ears.

While revisiting past sounds can still provide great music for a modern audience, it also keeps artists looking backward rather than forward. If hip-hop constantly looks to live in and idolize its past, it won’t be able to actualize the bright future that awaits it. It’s time to move away from holograms and historical worship, and embrace the living talents and future sounds that can propel the genre forward.