I'm still not convinced there isn't a generational difference. I work part time with students and have heard "hype" as a positive adjective ie, "This thing is so hype". I also think the negative connotation people are mentioning comes from the term "over-hyped" which is closer to your second definition.
Comments
This is true but there are generational differences with that connotation. To a subset of younger people "hyped" means something is good and popular.
EDIT: For reference https://twitter.com/search?q=hyped the self-referenced use of "hyped" to mean excited about something is pretty popular
It is good for a person to be hyped about a thing, to hype something (≈ to trick other people into being hyped about it) is bad.
I'm still not convinced there isn't a generational difference. I work part time with students and have heard "hype" as a positive adjective ie, "This thing is so hype". I also think the negative connotation people are mentioning comes from the term "over-hyped" which is closer to your second definition.
Ah, there it is: https://twitter.com/search?q="so+hype"
Looks like that one can apply to both someone's emotional state in general and the thing they are hyped about without the negative connotation.