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Attention Hip Hop writers: Hip Hop sales are down.

In a recent article by the Associated Press , based on ratings from the Nielsen SoundScan; Hip Hop album sales dropped almost twenty one percent compared with sales in 2006. For the first time in 12 years, there were no Hip Hop albums among the Top Ten Best Sellers of the Year. New Age album sales, which fell almost twenty three percent, is the only genre of music that showed more of a decline in sales. True, record sales are down across the board in every category, however it is startling to see Hip Hop right up there at the top of the list. Clearly Hip Hop, which has been the darling of the record industry for the past few years, is in trouble.

But why are sales down?

Countless articles, including the recent high profile story from the AP, have said the problems with Hip Hop stem solely from its content. The article, among others, argues that Hip Hop lyrics are just too degrading towards women and the thug life image is played out.

OK. True that Hip Hop lyrics can be pretty vulgar, and degrading towards women sometimes. Also true that every Rapper claims to be a "Gangsta". Point taken. If that's the reason that sales are down though, and all the negative Hip Hop lyrics were replaced with positives; and every call to "murder" was replaced with an exhortation to "love your fellow man", Hip Hop sales would still be down. Why?

The real deal is that Hip Hop sales are down because Hip Hop writers fail to realize that Hip Hop first and foremost is a musical art-form. Right now, Hip Hop music just isn’t living up to good musical standards. It’s just plain bad.

So many weak Hip Hop writers and artists try to get away with selling straight up trash. There are a handful of incredible albums that have dropped, but overall, the quality of the albums that come out have slowly deteriorated. See for yourself and compare lyrics from a classic Hip Hop song to the lyrics from a current Hip Hop song. Just because an artist has created a rep for himself, or started some kind of commotion to get his name in the news, doesn't mean that they can just pump out an album every year, serve it up, and it will be embraced it because it’s "new”.

Hip Hop fans in today's market, are showing their collective power. They have let the industry know that they are not going to spend their money on whack-ass albums. Hip Hop fans do their research; read reviews, talk to friends who’ve heard it, Google it, and try before they buy. They don’t need to buy something the day it comes out because they want to be "up on shit". They can afford to be a little more cautious.

We need to be absolutely optimistic and realize that these statistics will open some eyes. Although it may sound a little strange, this is the best thing to happen to the Hip Hop industry in a long time. It certainly should be good news for you.

So what’s the answer? It’s deceptively simple. Create Art! Just make good music. Hip Hop writers; write your lyrics about whatever you want as long as you put some thought into it.

Derive your musical influences and samples from whatever corner of the world you choose as long as they all come together in a cohesive and interesting way. Now, making art is by no means easy, but it is the only way to ensure that Hip Hop will continue to be relevant in the future.

If writers and artists want Hip Hop music to mean something to people, like it did in the 80’s and early 90’s, if they want it to speak for a generation, they need to start getting back into making real music for real people. It is the only way.

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