Words By Patrick M.

Graphics By P.

Guns N’ Roses, or what’s left of them, will release Chinese Democracy this year, an album more than 17 years in the making. There was a time, before Autotune, when GNR represented the best music had to offer. Following 1987′s Appetite For Destruction they could legitimately claim to be the biggest rock stars in the world. Perhaps enjoying the mountaintop a little too much, the band took four years to follow up with the excessive, erratic (and admittedly enjoyable) Use Your Illusion I and II. But while taking their time dawdling at the top, music passed GNR by. A week after Use Your Illusion‘s release, Nirvana came out with Nevermind and suddenly the coolest guys on the block, Axl and Slash, were out-of-touch douchebags.

GNR’s rapid decline was not so much a product of their own music as it was the fact they represented a musical era that sucked balls. Like other art forms, music can be broken into periods. Early innovation and rebellion against the status quo spawns classic material that resets standards. Then, success and imitation breed stagnation and self-inflated worth, until the next generation comes along and kicks the previous movement squarely in the nuts, deflating it forever. GNR just happened to come at the end of an arc and had to take the brunt of the nut shot.

Hip-Hop is in the midst of a bubble boom the likes of which haven’t been seen since rock music in the ’60s and early ’70s, mostly because it’s so fucking awesome. Depending on whether you put the born date of Hip-Hop’s dominance at The Chronic or Raising Hell, its been nearly two full decades at the top. And the few times it has looked like it’s been about to fall off (1999-2000) a push of energy has come in that kept the good times rolling (the rise of the South.)

But, as with our economy, I think the good times are coming to an end. Compare the albums of 2008 to those covered in our 1998 Week; the overall quality isn’t even close. To quote my friend, whose idea I am totally biting for this post: “Hip-Hop has entered its hair metal phase.” Yessir. I’m pretty sure the lead track off Tha Carter IV will be called “Pour Some Sugar on Me.”

That’s not to say there were no good songs released in the late ’80s (as with Hip-Hop in 2008.) It’s just that back then, as now, the artists were more concerned with what it means to be a star, rather than what it meant to make good music. Tell me how much of Hip-Hop in 2008: how albums are put together, how artists are marketed, how fans talk about the game. All of these things are focused on forwarding the popularity of artists or of managing a “brand” like Jay-Z or the self-proclaimed “Best Rapper Alive.” How much of Hip-Hop is focused on making great songs? The balance is totally fucking off.

So who is Hip-Hop’s GNR in 2008? I’d venture to pick the self-proclaimed Michael Jordan, Mr. Kanye West. Like GNR, he’s responsible for the best music of a subpar era. He’s also demonstrated a similar ability to celebrate himself. Furthermore, like Axl Rose on “November Rain,” he now evidently believes that he’s a serious singer with serious problems. But if you’ve spent the last four years talking yourself up as the biggest star in the world, are fans going to be able to empathize when you try to claim you need a hug too? How sorry are we supposed to feel for the guy sitting in first class?

He’d better hope that MC Kurt Cobain isn’t brooding in coach.

You can hear Chinese Democracy in full, now streaming via Guns & Roses MySpace, www.myspace.com/gunsnroses.

Guns N’ Roses Vs. Kanye West: Axl’s Got A Secret Weapon In The Race For #1 [MTV]