[kdolo]

I have said once to my friends and I'll say it here.

the best "rap" music today is not even being produced in the US. The true essence, style, social consciousness, and art of it - right now - has been captured abroad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYgxDO90e...re=related

[Screwston]

(07-22-2012 05:45 PM)kdolo Wrote:  

I have said once to my friends and I'll say it here.

the best "rap" music today is not even being produced in the US. The true essence, style, social consciousness, and art of it - right now - has been captured abroad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYgxDO90e...re=related

That sounded pretty bad.

[Saladin]

(07-21-2012 06:58 PM)kdolo Wrote:  

The Weekend, Drake, Gambino.........all absolute trash !

Garbage ........absolute garbage.....

but the problem is that most of the fans are not really old enough to be able to distinguish the good from the bad because they aren't old enough to have experience the full spectrum of "urban" music from the 80's to present.

The Weekend should be shot - and so should anyone who calls that music

Hater troll....

The Weeknd is great, and you spelled it wrong too, which shows you probably listened to one of their songs and decided it was shit.

Hey, for the first 5-6 times I listened to it I didn't really like it, but after that I really enjoyed listening to his songs.

[Black Quixote]

Maybe soft in the sense of caring about women. But I dont really believe he does. It's obviously an act. I would believe a majority of his persona is just a character he puts on. It all seems just so, theaterish. He is a decent actor when he wants to be, and nothing is a better time to do it, then in the rap game. Girls = Actual Buyers of music + concerts. Guys: Download a majority of the time. Girls are more profitable, and it's better for his fan base that he can play both sides of the love card, the ineffectual player as embodied in "No Lie" for the badder women, siding with guys that are obviously not big lovers when it comes to women, but he ALSO gets the love of the intelligent woman + even the bitchest of girls for his love songs and heartbreak shit. I doubt that nigga gets much LMR EVER, they see he is nice, and wanted by women = Ohh I can trust him, he understands me lol. There is more then one way to play the game, he just honed in on making shit everyone can identify with opposed to picking a small subset of repetitive "I shoot niggas, I cop shit in my hood SON, I'm a don!". He at least has the diversity and the ability to make a diverse stream of songs that connect with audiences from Lykke Li fans to Justin Bieber to Just Blaze to Rick Ross fans. The man is just intelligent, especially with that GQ Magazine cover move. From a Business sense, he is a good product. So what if He isnt walking around slapping niggas and doing absurd complexity when he rhymes, it's a different style of music catered to a more chill, relaxed, even younger audience that is able to appreciate things besides hood shit, super intellectual and social commentary, and abstract concepts. If I am about to go out, I wanna get in the mood that Ima bring a chick back, not slap a nigga because he scuffed my shoes to preserve my rep.

For the record succintly: He is a good businessman. Decent actor. Decent but pretty Average rapper that just picked a good relaxed style. STILL a bit of a bitch doe.

That is all.

[canucktraveller]

I find it funny how the hip hop scene is one of the most elitist communities out there. As soon as someone mentions a talented "new" rapper the hip hop heads come out of the wood work to talk about how shitty the music is now.


IMO there is some incredible new music coming out now to go along with the overplayed mainstream music that has been around in every generation.


Kanye might the most influential person in hip hop history (I know I'll get hate for this)
-He produced huge hits for Jay and Kweli early in his career
-He dropped college dropout and arguably killed ganster rap (until its recent resurgence)
-He dropped 808's and brought electronic music into the mainstream, while creating the emotional style that guys like Lupe, Cudi and J.Cole became known for
-He dropped MBDTF, which is one of the best produced albums ever


Guys like Kendrick Lamar, Odd Future and Hopsin are really young a hugely talented. Who knows what they are capable of.

Guys like Drake and Gambino have a target audience, if you don't like it then don't listen. 5 years from now neither will be relevant anyway so it doesn't really matter. As an aside, I first saw Drake in concert in '08 (I think) when he opened for a Toronto guy named JD Era, who I actually though would blow up instead. Comeback Season and So Far Gone (for the most part) showcases the talent Drake has, much more than anything he has put out to sell.


As for the Weekend, I think he has the greatest male voice since Ne-Yo, and considering he hasn't even dropped an album I don't really get where the hate is coming from.
If you can't recognize the talent in this, regardless of whether or not it is your style, then I am sorry.

[BCien]

It used to be as simple as this:

I got, myself a forty
I got, myself a shorty
And I'm about to go and stick it
Yes I'm about to go and stick it

[Screwston]

(07-22-2012 11:32 PM)BCien Wrote:  

It used to be as simple as this:

I got, myself a forty
I got, myself a shorty
And I'm about to go and stick it
Yes I'm about to go and stick it

I never got into East coast shit. They went after the West coast back in the day and the South a few years ago. I guess they just have hate in their blood from years of living in rat infested apartments and never owning a car. I always thought this was funny.

[the chef]

Lmao Houston keeping it trilla

Screwed up Sunday on 97.9, aye!

[BCien]

Hhahaha! that was a good one! Yes even their punk music is way angrier now it all makes sense why NY hardcore music is a bunch of angry meatheads hahahah

[BCien]

What about this?

[thegmanifesto]

(07-22-2012 11:20 PM)canucktraveller Wrote:  

I find it funny how the hip hop scene is one of the most elitist communities out there. As soon as someone mentions a talented "new" rapper the hip hop heads come out of the wood work to talk about how shitty the music is now.

It didn't used be like that.

It is not like back in '95 people were like, "Wow, this Mobb Deep Album really sucks".

Or

"This new Ghostface album is so soft".

Or

"Tupac has no energy on his Biggie Diss. Tupac lost it."

Or

"DMX is so soft now. He has no aggression."

Or

"Outkast doesn't really have that smooth southern player Cadillac vibe rolling."

No one said those things.

The reason people are like that today is that the music really is shitty now.

[j r]

I think that this article might have been written just to make G's head explode: http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2012/0...ld-us-back

NPR has its interns listen to classic albums and then write about them. 19yo Austin (people need to stop giving their kids these soft-ass names) listens to Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions and decides that it's too scary for him and he'll stick with the new stuff.

The money quotes:

Quote:

Although my experience with hip-hop is definitely limited in scope, I'd still call myself a fan. I remember the first time I really cared about a rap song. It was the spring of 2010 and "Over" by Drake had just come out.

I couldn't imagine my senior year (yes, of high school) without that track. I still think it's incredible. His hook over that yappy guitar, the service-academy beat that drops shortly afterwards, the bells on the top-end — it's all so viscerally pleasing.

Quote:

To me, Chuck D.'s legendary flow also comes across like a caricature. His syncopation strikes me as strange, foreign — and when he does reach for melody, like in the opening verses of "Night of the Living Baseheads," it ascends harshly like the bark of a drill sergeant. It's rough, rugged, built like a tank — and I'm coming at it expecting a Bentley.

Quote:

Ultimately, I have no regrets leaving It Takes A Nation on what is now an entirely metaphorical shelf. I'll gladly say thank-you, but given the choice, I'm going to blast Drake's infectiously triumphant mp3s every time.

As infuriating as this article is, it makes sense to me. I connected with Public Enemy, cause 1988 in NYC was still kind of wild. PE reflected that in the music. Kids today, at least the ones that end up interning at NPR, have no natural predators, so of course they're going to have a taste for soft, inconsequential music.

[thegmanifesto]

Jr -

Thanks for posting that.

It confirmed my long held suspicions that kids today are just cut from a different cloth.

Hip-Hop is like anything.

If you don't study it and have an understanding from day one, you just don't get it.

Quote:

There are a slew of classic rap records I've heard of but never actually heard — like Eric B. and Rakim's Paid In Full, De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising and, yes, my no-longer-nameless childhood favorite, Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.

There's at least one good reason I've never listened to any of those albums: The most recent of the bunch came out 3 years before I was even born!

Kids are idiots these days.

Just because music came out before I was born, doesn't mean you don't listen to it.

Hell, I listen to the Beatles, Led Zep, Stones, Miles Davis, Hendrix, Bob Marley and that sh*t is all from before I was born.

And today the access is so easy, back in the day you had to spend your hard earned dough to hear this stuff. Or heist records.

Today they can just type it into youtube.

Yeah, kids today are lazy and stupid.

And take "pics" and write "lol".

And dress like girls.

Ha.

[Black Quixote]

It's not garbage. It's just whereas, previously, there was limited topics to talk about namely "Fucking niggas up and having a bitch" or "Im broke as fuck BUT I have a badass car doe".

Now people are more introspective and the shift has gone from "Lets Kill Those Niggas from another neighborhood" to "Lets get some beers, call up some girls, and party with those niggas". It's like the RZA said in the Tao of Wu. (I am paraphrasing slightly) "Big changed shit up. It used to be a clashing of a HARDASS FLOW on a HARDASS BEAT. But then he started rapping real Hard on smooth rnb beats. And it was like whereas previously niggas got off on that hard clashing, that tension isn't distilled on a smooth beat, there is no clashing, just riding".

And it's true. Music isn't shitty now adays. It's just different. Are you going to say Kendrick Lamar, Smoke DZA, SCHOOL BOY Q, Joey Bada$$, etc. etc. do not boast a considerable amount of talent, flow wise, content wise, beat wise.

Talent does not equal merely aggression. Why does Hiphop/Rap have to be about being angry and fighting and shit? All that does is create a circle of aggression amongst the youth. I for one am glad it's now talking at least on a more subtle level about that shit because lyrics warm young niggas minds. I've seen it repeatedly growing up. Many of my cousins wanted to be gangsters and shit because we grew up on the classics. I didnt even listen to the radio like that til maybe I was 13. I expanded my horizons in the place I grew up. Because everyone I came up with is either in deadbeat jobs broke as fuck, trying to play Scarface, in jail etc. etc. with few exceptions. Like, we still have rappers who like to talk about things such as niggas being held down, being broke, being a gangster, doing shit etc. etc.

Let's look at these verses:

http://rapgenius.com/Lupe-fiasco-lightwork-lyrics

Beat, meh. Lyrics. Yes. I dare you to read those lyrics and tell me "Oh that was garbage, those multis were too complicated, his metaphors and topics were too intellectual, etc. etc."

Ok... another:

http://rapgenius.com/Game-the-city-lyrics

Kendrick Lamar's fourth verse. Are you guys going to say Snoop Dogg and other associated old school hiphop heads that Im almost positive know more about hiphop then any of us, was wrong when they said "Kendrick Lamar is the future". He is diverse in his flow, topics, delivery and generates effectively complex rhyme structures. From a rap perspective, look at his shit, I mean the man ranges from alliteration to Z in his usage of poetic devices to paint pictures.

And we have the others. But MY question to you all is: What do you think of Tyler the Creator?

[thegmanifesto]

(07-23-2012 11:41 AM)Black Quixote Wrote:  

It's just whereas, previously, there was limited topics to talk about namely "Fucking niggas up and having a bitch" or "Im broke as fuck BUT I have a badass car doe".

That is often said, but is just not true.

If you think that, you simply just don't know hip-hop.

De La Soul.

Pharcyde.

Tribe called Quest.

Black Sheep

Jungle Brothers

Nas.

Beastie Boys

Big Daddy Kane

Special Ed

Bone Thugs N Harmony

EPMD

Naughty by Nature

NINE

Eric B. & Rakim

Gang Starr

Jeru the Damaja



Just to name a few. I could go on and on till the break of dawn.

Lupe Fiasco wouldn't have had a career back then.

[Black Quixote]

Well none of them would have had a career twenty years before that either.

While I will say that due to the fact I am young, I need to have reverence for your opinion due to being older and having more experiences to back your opinion. You cant just say "The only people to ever be good at rap came during a ten-20 year time span. I mean, are you going to say Eminem is horrible just because he is technically 2000s and wouldnt have had a career back then? Im sure you've heard Infinite. That wordplay and everything is monsterous.

[thegmanifesto]

(07-23-2012 11:58 AM)Black Quixote Wrote:  

Well none of them would have had a career twenty years before that either.

Yeah they would have.

Quote:

I mean, are you going to say Eminem is horrible just because he is technically 2000s and wouldnt have had a career back then? Im sure you've heard Infinite. That wordplay and everything is monsterous.

Em's first album came out in 1996.

He was big on mixtapes between then and 1999 when is second album came out.

So Wat Cha Sayin'?

[Black Quixote]

Ok, so you agree eminem is good. Did you like Not Afraid? What about Relapse? What about Airplanes with Hayley and B.O.B.? Eminem is amazing, but he, like all those that want to stay relevant and make money, shift with the market and the people.

I mean, this is realistically a pointless internet arguement. Firstly, because regardless, I am going to take what you say to heart because if you believe I need to study hiphop more, Im open to development. Recommend me 5 artists I've never heard of and I'll get to listening. Second, Because even if I make a valid point, I feel you wouldnt acknowledge it. Every generation thinks whatever the ones that come after it do is riduculous and shitty. I mean, anything edgy is looked at the time usually as "What the fuck is this dude doing?". I mean for example Miles Davis like Thelonius Monks and Michael Jackson were loved but questioned on every new thing they did. Only reason why people think music is so much worse now is because we have the internet publicly spread "Fuck _____" due to ______.

My original point, was that Drake isnt neccesarily the softest rapper. But that he has generated this image that SELLS because he wants to make money. Is it better to be marketable and make money or spit trill shit but make half as much. I mean, what, because he makes songs about women, and women hurting him, and breaking his heart? Yes, because he connects with the stripper from the time she is listening to him and Waka Flocka telling her to make "dat azz clap" right after another rappers song tells her to "baq that azz up!". The difference? She goes home and listens to something lovey dovey or even still sexually charged like "Practice". It's not even like Drake ONLY makes songs that are "Damn I got shitted on this girl and that girl", he has a relatively diverse amount of music so far. He is the full package, white enough so white kids like him. Black enough a good amount of niggas rock his music. Manly enough girls want him and shows enough vulnerability every woman trusts him. Have you seen that niggas CRIB? It is the Castle of "Yes your forehead will be hitting my abs TONIGHT girl". Dude is just super calibrated to what women want. It's not softness, it's just he only cares about two things. "Rap" and "Bitches".

Well, I've said my piece.

P.S. It's not even like Drake's the first nigga to sing on choruses, to rap as well, I mean all I hear are his influences and less HIM only. His entire mixtape Comeback Season OBVIOUSLY was based on this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bHqWDmljwQ (It's Ghostface btw)

And half his new album was other peoples lines, music, beats, and features brought together.

[thegmanifesto]

(07-23-2012 12:37 PM)Black Quixote Wrote:  

Every generation thinks whatever the ones that come after it do is riduculous and shitty.

False. The 80's hip-hop guys loved the 90's hip-hop. They thought the artform was getting better.

If you think all era's are created equal, you really need to go back and start from the beginning.

We can resume this conversation once you have educated yourself on the subject.

[kdolo]

Thank you guys for the back up.

Most of the new stuff is just absolute trash.

That being said, instead of just trashing it and bashing those who listen to it maybe older guys should try a better way to get the youngers to listen to the older stuff to see the difference.

[kdolo]

(07-23-2012 11:54 AM)thegmanifesto Wrote:  

(07-23-2012 11:41 AM)Black Quixote Wrote:  

It's just whereas, previously, there was limited topics to talk about namely "Fucking niggas up and having a bitch" or "Im broke as fuck BUT I have a badass car doe".

That is often said, but is just not true.

If you think that, you simply just don't know hip-hop.

De La Soul.

Pharcyde.

Tribe called Quest.

Black Sheep

Jungle Brothers

Nas.

Beastie Boys

Big Daddy Kane

Special Ed

Bone Thugs N Harmony

EPMD

Naughty by Nature

NINE

Eric B. & Rakim

Gang Starr

Jeru the Damaja



Just to name a few. I could go on and on till the break of dawn.

Lupe Fiasco wouldn't have had a career back then.

GOD BLESS YOU !!!

[kdolo]

can you imagine fag-weirdos like LiL Wayne sharing a stage with Rakim or Special Ed or
Slick Rick and Dougie Fresh .....trying to justify his existence ??? that they share the same art form???? are you kidding me ???

[kdolo]

Waka Flocka ...........Jesus help me......

[the chef]

y'all niggas is basic

we trynna act like there aren't any dope new artists?

hell naw

[DonovanVC]

(07-29-2012 04:08 PM)the chef Wrote:  

y'all niggas is basic

we trynna act like there aren't any dope new artists?

hell naw

Truth right here.

Also, how are people goin' say Drake is fake or soft or what not, when you got REAL niggas like Bun B requesting him to do songs.

I agree rap is not as good as the 90s version of it.

But there are some good guys out now. The following come to mind.

Drake (when he is not singing too much. Lines like "I don't need your 2 cents, I ain't tryin to leave you broke nigga" DAMN!)

JCole (Dmx himself upped this dude in interviews. I love his line from Villmatic: "I was takin out them student loans, tryin to do it better than the niggas we grew up on". Amazing.)

Pusha T - when this man's career is done, he will be in the top 15, if you consider his Clipse material as well. To me, he is the best rapper out right now. Kanye knew what he was doing when he signed this man to his GOOD music label.