For the most part I'm in absolute agreement with you. But still maintain that a lack of understanding of what hip hop is by the forum as a whole is at least a factor in this sub-forums "train-wreck".
Nah, I don't think that's the case Dave. It's not like hip hop is some secret code that only those fully immersed in the genre can understand. If the music's good and you come across as more than a drive-by spammer, then HR posters will likely reciprocate.
If it was that all the hiphop heads were commenting on each other's posts in this sub-forum, but none of the mp3 clinic mainstays were, then you'd have a point. But that's not the case -
nobody listens or replies to anything. If everyone who posted their own tune in here, replied to say two other threads each time, then it'd be a viable community. As it is it's a sink whose only function is to hold all the click seekers in one place and stop them spilling over the rest of the forum.
Occasionally some hiphop used to make it through into the clinic and I'd sometimes take a listen/make a reply. There was some good stuff, but in like five years of posting on here, I've never seen a single rapper or hiphop producer post a single piece of feedback to anyone else in the clinic. In the end I gave up, and I suspect that most others who were initially interested or willing to comment did too - when you see hiphop you can almost guarantee there will be no meaningful interaction. I don't know whether it's because hiphop is often so individualistic or what, but it's certainly more than just anti-rap prejudice from the forum members.
I guess I'm just an old head who doesn't like what the genre is becoming because I grew up with it when it was at peak and can see where it could be. Angry that young MCs don't say anything important; don't even appear to see what's going on around them. And I'm isolated because the stuff I make (despite being dope) is perceived to be 'that old school' hiphop and those rappers with something to say have vanished in the ether...
You could just as easily replace your genre with any other that anyone on here is interested in I think. We're all increasingly irrelevant and locked primarily into decade of our youth that formed our tastes. I suspect that the generation before you felt the same way about your music and these angry young MCs of today will feel the same about the next generations.
If you've an audience anywhere, then it's probably in the hiphop fans of a similar age to you. None of us are getting rich or famous any time soon, and there's bound to be plenty of veterans of the stuff you make who are receptive to your style. Whether they're on internet forums looking for likeminded folks is another question entirely, but I reckon just enjoy the stuff you do and if anyone else likes it, then that's a bonus
...and if you do want to participate more meaningfully on here, then jib off this subsection and post your music in the clinic. Be the hiphopper who bucked the trend