I love rap music. But in recent years, my taste for the genre of music has declined due to the excessive grunts and groans that are passed off as words from rappers, such as Young Thug.

Rap music used to be about telling a story by putting a sequence of words and phrases together that have rhythm and a deeper meaning. But within the past few decades, rap music has shifted from a lyrically focused style to an obsession with bass and how hard the beat goes. It seems like every mainstream rap song you hear on the radio features an upbeat rhythm with lots of bass and lyrics that sound like an illiterate child wrote them.

An example of this mumble jumble is Young Thugs song, “Lifestyle.” If you can make out what he is saying at the 37-second mark then you are a true champ, because to me, it sounds like an excessive groan from being constipated.

Now now, before you get all worked up, consider that the Notorious B.I.G, Eazy-E, Hopsin, Tech N9ne and ASAP Rocky are all in my top-10 list of my favorite rappers. I have taste, OK? Just not in regurgitated mumbles.

Hopsin, who qualifies as one of my favorite rappers, made a hilarious, satirical music video calling out all the rappers in the game who are making millions without even having to say words. Hopsin personifies himself as the rapper “Hash Brown” during his hilarious parody.

Another thing that bothers me with current rap music is the outrageousness of characters trying to make a name for themselves. Stitches, a Miami-based rapper, has taken his persona to a whole other level; not only do tattoos cover his entire body and face, but he boasts about his drug-dealing past while constanly tauting police and DEA agents to catch him. But what about the music? Well I’ll just let you listen to his most popular song, “Brick in Yo Face,” to find out.

Rap music has changed— consumers are pleased when they can make out even just one line that a rapper says, rappers have stopped caring about the quality of their music and untalented clowns are stepping into the limelight because of their extraordinary looks and risky subject matter. This trend in the rap scene is likely to continue until there is a major shift within the minds of the consumers. As for now, I will stick to the quality rap music I know and let the rest be fooled by the money-hungry, codiene-dependant rappers that are laughing their way to the bank.

Nick Bragg can be reached at [email protected] or @Nick981 on Twitter.