Tik-Tok, the video-sharing social networking service is changing hip-hop as we know it. While the genre itself has only been in existence for about 48 years, Tik Tok is unintentionally changing hip-hop’s landscape.
I’m no hip-hop purist, so I don’t want to come across as such. But while a new era is emerging from apps like Tik Tok and Triller, artists are making songs specifically for those apps—songs like Megan Thee Stallion’s “Body,” which are clearly not for my age bracket, but for kids to recreate choreography in five to 10 second videos.
I’m no hater—cause get it how you live, right?
To be clear, I’m not talking about the songs that aren’t made for Tik Tok, and eventually, end up on the app—like the “Hip-Hop Harry Challenge,” those are fine. I’m speaking about the music made specifically for these video-sharing apps.
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I just think hip-hop, as a genre, is worth so much more than making hits for Tik Tok.
What started out as a trend of making cool dances to hip-hop songs quickly evolved to full-blown marketing strategies, where “everyone from fans to the rappers themselves are involved,” according to Kathy Iandoli at XXL Mag.
For years, the motto in hip-hop has been “content is king,” but I’m not entirely sure if this is what the phrase meant.
Now don’t get me wrong, hip-hop isn’t a monolith—there are multiple sub-genres underneath a much larger umbrella. There is a space for artists who make music for Tik Tok.
But now, because it’s trendy, it seems that even some of the more serious emcees are moving into making music for the video-sharing app. The songs have no real substance—other than erratic beats and repetitious yet pointless lyrics.
In a new era of music where streams reign, song quality seems to matter less and less, because why put all of your effort into a song, when you could just make a Tik Tok hit?