Hip Hop Thread

JERK DISEASE

Cold Vein is great indeed.

Tsukishima

A friend of mine recommended Nineteen Ninety Now by Celph Titled and Buckwild. And damn, I don't know who these dudes are, but this album is awesome.

JERK DISEASE

Celph Titled is the rapper.

The producer is Buckwild, and the beats are stuff he made in 1994.

Pochipochi

@JERK:

Cold Vein is great indeed.

I never understood the issues some people had with its production. I hear "Star Trek", "generic", and "lazy" sometimes and I find it absurd, because it's just such a cold ass album.

Major props to Cannibal Ox.

Too bad they dissipated like immediately afterwards.

Hawkeye

I've always thought that MF Doom was pretty famous but whenever I talked about him at my school's rap/hip hop club no one had ever heard of him. Really one of the most unique rappers out there.

gGbIpCJnmc0

Pochipochi

I'd call him famous in the music community. I don't really associate with people who just listen to "the classic artists" or Top/100/Billboard, so I don't know how he fares there other than I assume "not at all". If you had a college radio or something that played hip-hop, he'd be bound to show up though.

He's certainly not obscure by any means. He's one of the most famous "underground" rappers.

Wagomu

@Holy:

I'd call him famous in the music community. I don't really associate with people who just listen to "the classic artists" or Top/100/Billboard, so I don't know how he fares there other than I assume "not at all". If you had a college radio or something that played hip-hop, he'd be bound to show up though.

You rang? I actually have "Tick, Tick…" on my show tonight, haha. I don't have the hip-hop show (that's actually on before mine and plays a lot of great hip-hop from all over the place, including MF Doom), but I try to play good music on my variety show. I've been spinning Operation: Doomsday pretty consistently this week.

But, indeed, it's hard to expect anything from more mainstream listeners. It surprises me how many alt rock fans I find out there who still haven't heard of Sonic Youth, or, in a more thread-relevant example, how many hip-hop fans love De La and Tribe, yet haven't heard of the Jungle Brothers.

JERK DISEASE

@Wagomu:

how many hip-hop fans love De La and Tribe, yet haven't heard of the Jungle Brothers.

People are dumb.

Bucephalus

The new Yeezy album strays away from Hip Hop a lot more than its predecessors, but it still deserves a round of applause.

Well done.

Wabbit

I've been really digging this song lately (and the whole album actually)
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JERK DISEASE

Yeah that's a neat LP. The 60's rap album that never was.

Wabbit

It just sounds so

wonderfully trippy and weird.

The 60's rap album that never was.

totally. That's just the feeling you get. I'm sad this didn't get more mainstream recognition.

Or maybe it did? I'm bit of a rap newbie myself. Lately I've been exploring stuff like Liquid Swords and a lot of Ghostface's albums.

Smudger

Can someone recommend a decent album? (2010)

My collections been gathering too must dust this year.

JERK DISEASE

Dessa's "A Badly Broken Code"

Smudger

@JERK:

Dessa's "A Badly Broken Code"

Anything a bit more heavy or grimy?

That's not really my thing.

JERK DISEASE

Expand your boundaries.

But if you insist, try OJ Simpson by Guilty Simpson and Madlib.

Smudger

I think I'm just too stuck into British hip hop atm. (amongst other genres)

Most of the people I listen to are tied up with dnb & dubstep artists.

Thanks though.

Bucephalus

Fucking dubstep.

For every good dubstep artist there's 10,000 bad ones.

JERK DISEASE

SMUDGE explain to me how the nation to always follow up handsomely with their own contributions to American pop music genres has created such an extremely small and anemic hip-hop scene.

Canada and France both beat the stuffing out of you. CANADA. And France doesn't even speak English!

Pochipochi

Isn't British hip-hop just

The Streets

French Hip-Hop is like the only actual hip-hop scene in Europe.

Wagomu

Which French hip-hop bands are really good? I don't have anything from that scene.

fedcom

^ I think MC SOLAAR is pretty good (My french teacher plays his songs occasionally in class)

Jumping Josh

Not a massive fan of hip hop but I just bought the new Kanye West album and I gotta say it is an awesome album.

I reckon "All of the Lights" is gonna be a massive hit when it's released as a single.

JERK DISEASE

@Holy:

Isn't British hip-hop just

The Streets

French Hip-Hop is like the only actual hip-hop scene in Europe.

I like Dizzee Rascal, and there's Roots Manuva and Ty. And you can kind of count The Herbalizer.
Basically Ninja Tunes records and that's it for the isles in terms of relevance. And that was all like five years ago that any of those people made anything good.

Holland has a few cool things in it, like Nicolay.

JERK DISEASE

@Wagomu:

Which French hip-hop bands are really good? I don't have anything from that scene.

IAM and NTM, and yeah MC Solaar.

Mugiwara_no_Ice

@Wagomu:

Which French hip-hop bands are really good? I don't have anything from that scene.

It has been quite some time now that something really good has come out in french hip-hop land. The only mc I'm eagerly waiting a release from is REDK of carpe diem.

And yeah you should check out IAM, their solo albums are great too (Akhenaton, Shurik'n, Imhotep, ..) and MC solaar of course.

More recent stuff: Fonky Family, Kery James, Youssoupha,..

Bucephalus

Yeah, I love Dizzee Rascal too. Shame he hasn't made an album since 2007 though.

Tongue N' Cheek? What's that? Never heard of it.

JERK DISEASE

I almost forgot, there's a new producer from the UK called Paul White. He makes good Madlib style shit.

Best thing outta UK is still Roots Manuva though.

Pochipochi

God I always forget about Dizzee and Roots.

When THE STREETS is hailed as he is the entire country just sort of falls off

JERK DISEASE

Where's the hip-hop Beatles Britain!!??

Pochipochi

8UGtlUMMkOU

Let's push things forward with my ironic delivery and fake cockney accent even though I'm of Birmingham

so real

Smudger

@Bucephalus:

Fucking dubstep.

For every good dubstep artist there's 10,000 bad ones.

Or more specifically there are thousands of shitty commercial dubstep artists. Most stuff played in the clubs in london are top notch. Mainly because the artists have had to prove themselves to the club owners and other dj's before being allowed a go in the spotlight. Either through releasing tunes on places like breakbeat, or by being affiliated with other big names.

I go to camden for most of my music. Its littered with decent hip hop, dubstep & dnb stalls.

@JERK:

SMUDGE explain to me how the nation to always follow up handsomely with their own contributions to American pop music genres has created such an extremely small and anemic hip-hop scene.

Canada and France both beat the stuffing out of you. CANADA. And France doesn't even speak English!

Most of the rappers/artists end up mc'ing for the underground gigs. Its not that their aren't decent artists, just none that are really willing to sell their sole to the commercial music beast…

...like skepta did. (N-dubsz)
@JERK:

I like Dizzee Rascal, and there's Roots Manuva and Ty.

Dizzy Rascals quality.

France is better. I just think the majority of people in the UK focus on the dance scene more. We are the best country in releasing DnB, and have been for over 20 years. Shame we can't divide up the talent a bit more.

Btw what do you think of Kano?

Smudger

Plan B is alright.
gmSj2cUKWjQ

JERK DISEASE

Most of the rappers/artists end up mc'ing for the underground gigs. Its not that their aren't decent artists, just none that are really willing to sell their sole to the commercial music beast…

There's hundreds of underground hip-hop artists in the US that don't go big or commercial. But they make albums and release material in general.

The same would be true of the UK unless there just aren't enough of these guys.

France is better. I just think the majority of people in the UK focus on the dance scene more. We are the best country in releasing DnB, and have been for over 20 years. Shame we can't divide up the talent a bit more.

UK is Chicago circa early 90's I guess.

Also black people in Britain have a greater affinity with Carribbean stuff to my knowledge mostly cuz they're from there I guess.

Btw what do you think of Kano?

I haven't heard of him.

Pochipochi

So I was listening to the new Kanye West album and had some suspicions about it, so I threw it into an audio mixing program to look at the tracks…

The dynamic range is maxed out almost constantly on every track. This means, visually, most of the songs look like static.

This means the mastering is overcompressed so everything is "loud" on it. If you run a hi-fidelity system, you can actually hear the difference in quality.

I'm not sure if it's on purpose, or if the album suffers from Loudness Wars.

JERK DISEASE

I just listened to Raw Power for the first time (amazing fucking album btw), how does it compare.

Pochipochi

Badly.

Instead of a stylistic choice for the loudness and clipping, it just kind of sounds like it was poorly mastered, which is bothersome.

On an over-produced hip-hop album it's just out of place.

Smudger

@JERK:

There's hundreds of underground hip-hop artists in the US that don't go big or commercial. But they make albums and release material in general.

The same would be true of the UK unless there just aren't enough of these guys.

They still release music, but usually in compilation sets by the main record company's. It seems the small fry can't fund this shit.

My mate tried getting his stuff released and he got closed doors and agro every step of the way. He just sticks with clubs/venues now.

UK is Chicago circa early 90's I guess.

That and much more. Having such a diverse music culture brought in from Europe and Africa has definitely made us unique.

I'm not too sure if that's a good or bad thing yet.

Also black people in Britain have a greater affinity with Carribbean stuff to my knowledge mostly cuz they're from there I guess.

I don't know really. the crowds around the reggae scene are usually into the dnb & dubstep genre too. After all both have a massive crowd into the slow and heavy reggae remixes so I guess its more of a mixed collaboration than one set scene. And that usually falls into something we call jungle.

I haven't heard of him.

I used to hate him, but I found a few tunes I can dig. (heavy/grimy hip hop)

Its funny how different our hip hop artists are to yours. We don't exactly have the style you guys got. Lyrically we're still cool though. I say cool, but its voiced by loads of skinny estate rude boys bowlin in a suped up escort.

JERK DISEASE

The US has tremendous range, British hip-hop tends to file into one world of darker dance music like jungle and trip-hop.
That's what happens with small scenes.

Also our regional differences are more pronounced I guess, so you get things like G Funk contrasting with Noir rap. Because some people live in year round sunny lowrider country, while others live in the gritty winter of NY.

Smudger

@JERK:

The US has tremendous range, British hip-hop tends to file into one world of darker dance music like jungle and trip-hop.
That's what happens with small scenes.

Yeah, pretty much.

Also our regional differences are more pronounced I guess, so you get things like G Funk contrasting with Noir rap. Because some people live in year round sunny lowrider country, while others live in the gritty winter of NY.

I always wondered what England would be like if it was as large as you guys. After all, you only need to drive 200 miles in any direction to feel like you're on another planet here. A thousand miles could herald a new era.

It'd still be dark grime of some sort though…lol

JERK DISEASE

I think 200 miles gets you from Boston to NY, your country small as hell nigga.

Wagomu

@fedcom:

^ I think MC SOLAAR is pretty good (My french teacher plays his songs occasionally in class)

@JERK:

IAM and NTM, and yeah MC Solaar.

@Mugiwara_no_Ice:

It has been quite some time now that something really good has come out in french hip-hop land. The only mc I'm eagerly waiting a release from is REDK of carpe diem.

And yeah you should check out IAM, their solo albums are great too (Akhenaton, Shurik'n, Imhotep, ..) and MC solaar of course.

More recent stuff: Fonky Family, Kery James, Youssoupha,..

Thanks, guys. My random early french education gains a use!

Tsukishima

@Mugiwara_no_Ice:

More recent stuff: Fonky Family, Kery James, Youssoupha,..

I also like Oxmo Puccino and La Caution. La Rumeur isn't so bad either. And I really like Hocus Pocus, a band coming from my city.

sGez_DAPhRs&feature=related

Though I don't really like the rythm of the MC's flow, I am fond of his lyrics and his beats.

Mugiwara_no_Ice

@Tsukishima:

I also like Oxmo Puccino and La Caution. La Rumeur isn't so bad either. And I really like Hocus Pocus, a band coming from my city.

! sGez_DAPhRs&feature=related

Though I'm not so fond of the rythm of the MC's flow, I really like his lyrics and the beats.

Sounds really good, I'm gonna check it out. Thanks.

RPG KING

what a french rapper.. the beat is nice though. i love those songs that have samples of old music with a person singing on it

Wabbit

Yo Zeph, a quick list of DOOM's best albums please.

I already have Madvillainy.

Wagomu

Zephos will give you a better overall picture, but check Operation: Doomsday, man.

Pochipochi

The best DOOM album after MADVILLAINY is Take Me To Your Leader as King Geedorah. Then Vaudevile Villain as Viktor Vaughn, followed by MM..Food which he just released as MF DOOM. Operation: Doomsday is a classic too, but it's not nearly as good as these works I believe.

He doesn't have many albums really, but these ones are exceptional. After you've listened to these, you're basically covered unless you want to listen to some off-kilter live work and his instrumental Special Herbs catalogues.

Wabbit

Zephos will give you a better overall picture, but check Operation: Doomsday, man.

thanks dude, I will.

The best DOOM album after MADVILLAINY is Take Me To Your Leader as King Geedorah. Then Vaudevile Villain as Viktor Vaughn, followed by MM..Food which he just released as MF DOOM. Operation: Doomsday is a classic too, but it's not nearly as good as these works I believe.

He doesn't have many albums really, but these ones are exceptional. After you've listened to these, you're basically covered unless you want to listen to some off-kilter live work and his instrumental Special Herbs catalogues.

well this pretty much covers it, I think? Thanks a lot Holy.

I will start to explore these and if there's anything Zeph wants to add I check out that too ofc.

Pochipochi

I completely forgot, but the [adult swim] album he did with Danger Mouse (DANGERDOOM) is actually good, but it also suffers by being "stuck in time", so to speak, due to its heavy sampling of cartoon quotes that also take up a good bit of space. After you've listened to it a few times, you don't have much reason to go back.

So yeah. He also released a new DOOM album in 2009 that was great, but it was also not particularly noteworthy.