What to Expect from 2018
2017 was possibly one of the most unpredictable years in hip-hop since the original b-boys came together in New York to create rap. We saw the return to form of one of the greatest of all time with Jay Z's 4:44 and the end of Drake's run on the Billboard Hot 100 after 431 weeks (or 8 years and some change for those who don't want to do the math). Women such as Remy Ma and Cardi B took the entire world by storm while the trap scene grew exponentially from a select few in the south to the triplet flow dominating the genre. Let's not forget that Nielsen reported this year that Hip-Hop surpassed Rock as the most dominant genre. With all the excitement in the rap world, what should listeners and rap circles expect from 2018?
1. The explosion of the rap world on Grammy night
The Grammy's and the Hip-Hop community have had completely different opinions on what is "good" and what is "bad" since they first awarded the golden gramophones. Greats such as Jay Z (1999, 2002 & 2011), Public Enemy (1991) and Nas all having boycotted in the past, I expect the same to happen this year when looking at the nominations. While many of the nominees are deserving, the award that will cause the stirrup is best rap album. If 4:44 loses to Culture by Migos, or vice-versa, the Academy will be seen as pandering and biased towards either legends or new artists respectively. I'm already wondering how both Rhapsody and Tyler, the Creator both released albums that were above I Decided by Big Sean, J Cole's 4 Your Eyez Only and a Tribe Called Quest's final album, We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service. It makes me question who voted and why. That being said, the only way the rap world doesn't burn to the ground is for Kendrick Lamar to win with DAMN, and that isn't a promise. This year will be interesting at best, more controversial than Macklemore's win in 2013 at its worse.
2. Some of the biggest rappers staying relatively quiet or below quality work
2017 saw releases by a large amount of some of the best rappers that the game has to offer right now. Eminem, Jay-Z and Kendrick to name a few of the multitude of big names who put out works. As I'm writing this article, the only "confirmed" releases seem to be Migos with Culture 2. I hope that Nicki Minaj will release something for the first time since 2014. Chance is practically being begged to drop something by his fans, with hints that he's in the studio due to the impromptu new song being performed on Stephen Colbert's show. Maybe Drake will release something, since he hinted at it at the end of his playlist, More Life, on the song Do Not Disturb, when he says "I'll be back in 2018 to give you the summary". Some consistent people like Big Sean can be expected. But with the growing amount of tracks on mixtapes and albums (Finishing Heartbreak on a Full Moon by Chris Brown was like finishing a marathon - painful and joyous), can we expect the same amount of quality from our artists? Quality and quantity are different words for a reason.
3. The rise of new rappers and new topics
Artists in the rap game are going to have to make choices: whether release large quantities of work every year to the detriment of quality, or release sporadically but make sure that every track is worthwhile. Anyway, it leaves place for new rappers to come and make a name for themselves with certified bangers and insane projects. We saw a bit of that mentality in 2017 with Cardi B and XXXTentation, but 2018 will be the time for anyone to release anything great, take the entire rap game and steal away in the night. In this new wave of rappers, I'm hoping for new topics to come through. We've heard innovative rappers such as Joyner Lucas talk about being drug free, and in a rap game still struggling with the death of Lil Peep and the United States' opioid crisis, new topics are bound to come up in the game now. This is open-season, let's see who comes out the winner.
In conclusion, I hope that 2018 will be a good year and not as uncertain as I make it out to be. I want to wish all of the readers, rappers and rap listeners a joyous and blessed new year, filled with good health and better days... because GOD knows that 2017 has been a questionable year.