When did the golden era end?

[Hush]

I've been working on compiling some Spotify playlists and I can't quite put my finger on when to cut off the golden era one. I was thinking '99 but there was some shit released that year and prior that just doesn't fit that mid/late eighties to mid/late 90's vibe.

Thoughts on when the "golden era" of rap officially ended?

[shadowmaster]

After Petestrumentals?? Semi joking.

[unheard78]

This might sound goofy, but I always thought the golden era ended after the release of The Chronic. That was probably the first time I can think of that so many people stopped caring about what they were bringing to the game and more about what Dre and the "gangstas" were doing. This isn't to say that there weren't golden era rappers still doing their thing, but it was the end of an era because the prevailing attitudes and perspectives changed.

[Debonair_P]

I would say 1997... mainly because albums became a lot less cohesive and were more concerned with having every 'hot' producer/guest so as to appeal to as many people as possible (the Life After Death formula.) Also, production became a lot less sample-based due to the increasing costs of clearances.

[HipHopInfinityRIPLOL]

i'm not sure if there's an official/unofficial year but i always believed it to have occurred during 88-92 give or take a year. There's some really good years after that but i feel it really, really started to decline in 96. Again, still some great releases coming out after 92-96 but not comparable to other years. Another caveat that i might add is that this would mainly apply to mainstream stuff. Coincidentally, the underground really had a great run around this 96 period where you really see indy labels and artists pressing/releasing their own music.

[Philaflava]

immediately after LAD was released.

[HipHopInfinityRIPLOL]

did the Philaflava logo on my Chrome tab just change

[WiCkEd22]

The Golden Era's LAST year was 1996... and in general I believe the Golden Era to be 1988-1996.

1997 is when everything fully went POP and Hiphop got more watered down then ever. 1997 was the beginning of the end of actual Hiphop in the mainstream. *shrugs*

[Philaflava]

did the Philaflava logo on my Chrome tab just change

Yeah we made the change a few weeks back but until you clear cache you might not have seen it.

[Thun]

The golden era ended at the moment Grandmaster Caz relinquished his notebook to Wonder Mike.

[clark bent]

1996 - i used to look at atliens (august 96) asd the day the music "died"
as for a long time that was imo the last no brainer true classic in hop-hop
and maybe it still is

[Tim Burton]

I would agree with 1996. I remember buying music in 1996 and having a lot more disappointing albums then ever before.

[Ominous]

95 was the last golden era year, lotta cats from the late 80's and early 90's started to tank, lots of weak debuts (Smoothe The Hustler, Ghostface, OGC...), weak sophomore albums (Nas, Mobb Deep...). Nothing was really coming out that was touchin the stuff from the previous 4-5 years at all. Of course there's some exceptions but on a whole, drastic decline.

[Thun]

Ghostface had a weak debut??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Mobb Deep's sophomore was weak??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[step one]

A more appropriate question might be when did the golden era of the TROY forum end?

[Ominous]

yup weak compared to the string of wu releases prior to ghost and weak compared to mobb's debut, there was a noticable drop in quality in hip hop all around compared to previous years

[shadowmaster]

That's revisionist thinking, people were playing Ironman for months. People I knew, at least. Personally, I feel Hell on Earth is not as good as Infamous but it was extremely popular at the time. The best parts of HOE are still amazing, though. With both Ironman and HOE it's just a change in production really (lyrically The Infamous was less depressing too), both albums are top notch. Ironman is probably Ghost's best. Most will disagree.

[Ominous]

so it's revisionist thinking even though thats been my opinion since those albums dropped, the drop in quality to me was obvious. excuse my refined palette

[MosesJonesJr]

"lots of weak debuts....weak sophomore albums"

The key word here is "weak"

While "Ironman" and "Hell On Earth" might not be each artists' best work, they are by far anything but weak.

Straight up fact, look it up

For me,
Golden Era ended around '96
That's when rap music went Diddy and hip-hop music went Company Flow

-

[Verge]

Ironman was never considered a *fall off by myself or anyone i know. And these are some seriously critical motherfucks.

*edit: or weak

[Ominous]

haha surprised no one pulled my card on calling hell on earth their sophomore, guess we all agree the shitstain called juvenile hell wasnt even worth acknowledging

[Ominous]

yes the keyword is weak, weak compared to their previous work and the releases from previous years, which was the point of the thread and those albums are too weak to be considered golden era which is why i consider 95 the last year

[Thun]

haha surprised no one pulled my card on calling hell on earth their sophomore, guess we all agree the shitstain called juvenile hell wasnt even worth acknowledging

Well my initial post assumed that you meant "The Infamous." Either way, your opinion sucks.

[Thun]

A more appropriate question might be when did the golden era of the TROY forum end?

TROY forum peaked during the second year of the TROY Blog (2010 I think?).

[Ominous]

haha catchin feelings, man up thunny

[clark bent]

ironman was and is insane...imo other than 36 chambers its the best wu album....and easily ghost's best album...but even if you dont think that its light years better than tical or return to the 36 which were in the string of "wu releases prior"

[Ominous]

what is a fact is rza himself even said ironman is subpar compared to their previous releases

to me the album sounds like a mixtape, lacks cohesion, subpar production. rza drums were really starting to lack on this too, a trend which continued on forever

[shadowmaster]

so it's revisionist thinking even though thats been my opinion since those albums dropped, the drop in quality to me was obvious. excuse my refined palette

You're entirely entitled to your opinion, I didn't mean to sound critical of your opinion. I hate a lot of albums that people love and I don't even discuss them as I'd get mobbed. But Ironman was acknowledged as their most soulful solo lp (by Rza himself), they took a different step by including the Delfonics and others. Cuban Linx and Ironman are the only joint Rae, Ghost and Cappa albums before Forever when they all started to fall apart and lose their initial energy.

In my opinion Hell on Earth, on a whole, is nowhere near as good as Infamous but it's peaks are outstanding. A lot of people will defend HOE to death so it's not worth arguing. Mobb Deep never touched the content of Infamous, maybe Q Tip played a large part. The lyrics got more and more cynical almost to the point of self parody in later years, Prodigy became sedated and Havoc sounded like a dyslexic kid reads his lyrics for a few of the later lps. No offence to dyslexic kids they most likely read and write better than Havoc does.

edit- look it up, at the time Rza said Ironman was their most soulful solo lp and a more focused release than some of the previous ones. If he made the comment you mentioned now then it's due to time and other factors.

[Ominous]

agree w/ most of what you said. as far as the soulful sound on ironman, i believe thats the style that probably suited ghost the best and was a great idea, however i think the problem lies in that it wasnt executed as well as it could have been. according to rza a good portion of the original album was lost in a flood and probably wouldve been a masterpiece but since ive never heard it i can only judge the product that was released to the public.

[shadowmaster]

The flood stories go on and on. I don't know if I believe half of them. Can't really imagine Ironman being much better, Raekwon tried to convince him to make another crime lp as a sequel but Ghost switched it. I played it too much back then. I also know some very critical people and they all loved it. Can't really think back to that period now. 1995, I prefer that year as a whole.