A question that arises to many speculators who listen to rap music is the following:
Will the rap music genre produce new rap music that will be enjoyed or will the age of rap music eventually end to bring a new underground form to light?
In order to come to a full understanding of new rap music and its potential future, one must understand the 1990's. Gangsta rap arose with Dr. Dre and the release of his rap music cd, The Chronic (1992). There was also a diversification of styles, such as the rise of Southern rap with Atlanta based OutKast and Goodie Mob. East Coast also had its own rap scene; a personal rivalry between the East Coast and the West Coast erupted with West Coast rapper, Tupac Shakur and East Coast rapper, Notorious B.I.G. White rappers also infiltrated the rap music scene, from Eminem, Vanilla Ice, and the Beastie Boys. Through the use of popularized rap music videos, the rap genre began becoming a real staple into mainstream music with iconic, larger than life figures.
The 1990's was a vital step towards today's new rap music. During the age of Napster, during the verge of the millennium, free rap music- and also music of every other genre- was freely available to the general public. Much of the music industry was threatened. Dr. Dre joined Metallica in slapping lawsuits onto the free file sharing system. Today, people pay to listen to rap music in either a rap music cd or a digitalized format. In the 2000's, hip hop has become a completely recognized mainstream genre. The era for free rap music isn't completely over. Free rap music CD's still are common for emerging artists who want recognition.
Hip hop has now developed other genres such as snap music and crunk. Perhaps one of these Subgenres will dominate and become the form of new rap music. Crunk has been seen in rap music videos, gaining some mainstream recognition.
As long as people still listen to rap music and as long as it evolves, rap music is here to stay. With free rap music becoming available in several forms of technology (CD's, websites, etc), new rap music and the future of rap music is available to those who are willing to listen to rap music and as a result, be in the forefront of its future.
