Rap Trends That Need To Die With 2013

Sick of these predictable tropes from rap this year? Us too.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Rap is always molting and changing. It moves fast. If you're not careful, you're liable to get left behind—played out like Kwame and them fuckin' polka dots that he has become so sadly, sadly famous for. We've been paying close attention to the rap game this year (as always!) with an eye specifically trained on the annoying, passe, ridiculous and otherwise stress-inducing habits no one (apparently) tells rappers that fans secretly hate. There's more than a few of these things we as a community have just been accepting because "that's the way it is," even though there's no book written in stone somewhere saying that's the way it has to be. (Trends don't usually make a whole lot of sense when you really sit and think about the "why" part.)

Not to worry, though. Like Tupac, Beyonce, Aaliyah, and Aphex Twin, I care. I'm here for you. The following is a list of trends hip-hop needs to leave back in 2013 when the calendar switches over. Someone said something about "#newrules" this year, right? Well here's a list of cliches we shouldn't have ever put up with in the first place that, going forward, we should put a stop to, for the betterment of future generations of rap fans. Complex is for the children, ya heard?

Written by Craig Jenkins (CraigSJ)

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Hashtags in song titles & dollar signs in artist names.

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Releasing songs in the wee hours of the morning.

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Sneak disses. (Say names!)

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Endless RT's of praise from fans.

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Multiple special editions & re-releases.

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Thirsty freestyles over big songs that just came out.

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Rhyming about social media.

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Trailers for videos and snippets for songs.

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Mixtape countdown clocks.

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Poor punctuation and spelling in tweets. (Hi, Gucci)

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Hipster Scapegoating (aka using the word "hipster" when you just mean "white people")

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