By now, everyone has heard the popular song “Hot Boy” by the new and upcoming rapper Bobby Shmurda. It has been played all over the radio and has been featured in many Vine and Instagram posts. This song is considered as “rap music”. But is it really?

The song sounds like a whole lot of nonsense to me. The quality of rap music has been deteriorating over the past couple of years. These days, all you need is a nice beat and a few catchy lines to solidify your song as a “rap hit.”

In the 80s, artists such as Run D.M.C, Slick Rick and N.W.A. were all popular rappers of their time. Their songs had powerful messages and were relatable to all ages. Their music is still played today because their music is classic and timeless.

On the other hand, we have rappers such as Young Thug, Rich Homie Quan and Chief Keef who represent the new generation of rap music. These rappers’ music have no real substance. Yes, their music makes you have a good time, but when you take the time to actually listen to the lyrics, do you actually feel inspired? Or do you feel as if you just lost half of your brain cells?

Rappers such as J.Cole and Kendrick Lamar create music that expresses their past life experiences and their struggles. Troubled teenagers and struggling adults can relate to these songs and they can lift people’s spirits.. The songs actually have meaning and have an effect on the audience listening to it. However, all of these party songs get overplayed on the radio and they get old really fast. These rappers have a couple of hits and probably won’t be remembered in the next ten years.

“I think that rap music has declined a lot. The lyrical content is becoming more amateur  and childish,” senior Vanday Bundu said.

If rap continues to go down this path, heavy rap music fans will be left disappointed and uninspired.

“Rappers like Bobby Shmurda aren’t real rappers. They’re just around for the time being. Yes, I enjoying hitting the shmoney dance. But the lyrics of the song are foolish when you actually take the time to listen, “ senior Alexander Raymond said.

When it comes to rap, the lyrical content has to be there or it ends up just being noise.

Hopefully a group of aspiring young rappers will come in and take the place of these so called “rappers.” If this occurs, the state of rap music will evolve once again.