Double J - Trilogy Records
To me hip hop is a method of self expression. Like any type of music, hip hop has the ability to alter ones mood, and it can even be therapeutic. Hip hop just happens to be the style that I latched on to. Hip hop has progressed tremendously over the last decade or so. Hip hop is now universally accepted as a genre of music and is part of main stream America. People's view on what true hip hop is is often blurred, but all in all it has progressed tremendously. Just like most things in life, I see hip hop headed in a 360 circle. I think the sound is headed back toward the roots, especially with commercially successful artists such as Jay-Z releasing material that I like to term to be "more soulful". I also think that there is a movement toward the independent route in hip hop. Fewer and fewer artists are concerned about getting signed to a major every day. I think there is going to be a steady shift toward many more independent's moving major units.

Dia Leone
Hip hop in it's true essence...Can not and SHOULD not be interpreted or described fully in words. It is a FEELING. An AWARNESS.Intellectually, it is an alternative behavior that enables one to transform subjects and objects in an atrempt to describe and/or change the character and desires of ones being. I first listened to Hiphop (pardon the incorrect spelling the first time- Seeing as how in the past Hiphop was spelled "hip-hop" but true Hiphoppas are advised to spell Hiphop with a capital "H" as it is the name of our collective consciousness and our culture and those who spell it as "hip-hop" are undermining Hiphop's culture and unity and demeaning the importance of what Hiphop really is- which is truly an awareness that enhances ones ability to self create- a "sight" if you will.)- around the age of maybe 8 years old...Never truly understanding its depth at the time I merely appreciated it for it's musical composition and style.. In time I have seen Hiphop evolve into something more emotional with deeper rooted understandings and awareness of everyday life and it's situations. (KRS ONE)

Sass Samson
Hip-hop music should consider this: there is an MC committed to showing an alternate side to today's repetitive chants of "Cristal sipping" and "bling-blinging." Enter Sass Samson, representing Buffalo, NY and Washington, DC, respectively, is poised and committed to bringing hip-hop back to the once creative rhymes and beats that legitimized rap music over 25 years ago. "Hip-hop has become saturated with material nonsense," Samson explains flatly, "Nowadays, MC's simply don't impress me, and the line between being a hot MC and an MC that conforms to industry norms is thin, very thin. Listening to urban radio today, I'm tired of hearing about the same thing, and as an aspiring artist I have had to ask myself countless times, will I have to sacrifice my own creativity to be successful?" "I rarely get compared to other MC's because no one can copy my style. I am switching canvases on every song I record and that is why I got into rap in the first place. Some rappers want to be stars, living the video life everyday, but I just want to make the hottest records out there."

Jady Experience - Team Demolition
My view of the state of Hip-Hop might be different then others. I don't feel we are in dark times....it's all how you want to look at it. If anything Hip-Hop is in an EVOLVING state not in a DISSOLVING state. Yes it is more commercially acceptable and accessible to those who weren't down with it from back in the days, but is this a necessarily a bad thing? On the real I always thought that was the goal...even for our old school 4 fathers back in the day. Don't get me wrong, for the longest I had the attitude of "this is our shit....if you just trying to get down now....f--- you, we don't want your kind" but this is wrong. We should encourage others who don't know to embrace this culture. The more minds the better. Hip-Hop is not a U.S. thing anymore...it's world wide!...and when my great great great etc. grandchildren have the luxury of traveling to other planes and planets they gonna rep it then too. If you don't like the shit on the radio....turn it off.....if you don't feel the rhymes the next mc is writing...write your own....There is PLENTY of incredible music being made that is screaming to be listened to....it's up to the people to get off their ass and look for it if it's not in front of them.....Go to local record stores....go to local shows....check your scene....go online....check everything ...then you can complain if you want....with the way things are today....people are looking to be spoon fed shit....it's up to people to either stop being lazy and look for what they like instead of hating....or it could be up to the artist to try harder to spoon feed the people....either way it's a challenge, but that's life.....There is a balance I believe. Agree with me or not, I believe in karma and everything comes around....you can't take away the creativity of our music by saturating the artists with money, booze, bitches, hollywood agents etc....there are others that carry the torch of our struggle, if the ones in the lime light aren't......we are a family, a culture with soldiers and elders that look out for us....everyone does their part one way or another...Hope that made just a little sense.