Cam'Ron plans to confront Internet Pedofiles on new DVD

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

About two years ago, I would've made a more empassioned, eloquent argument, more along the lines of what others have done in this thread. But, really, me and hip hop haven't seen eye to eye in awhile. The current mainstream stuff, in spite of it being "hip" with many of my peers, is just awful, awful garbage. Young Jeezy, Three Six Mafia....people like this shit? There's no innovation here, nothing that shows any sort of creativity or thought beyond what will sell. I swear some of this stuff sounds like the potential crunk preset from Casio's Gangsta keyboard line. Press a button and yell about lookin' for the time to find a dime to your heart's content!

 

The "underground" scene isn't much better. Recent stuff from the Roots, Mos Def and Talib Kweli have all been major misfires. The Def Jux label hasn't released anything worthwhile since 2002. Anticon was never good.

[Angel_Grace_Blue 0]

You should check out Abdominal, then.

 

I'll upload a song or two later. He "flows like a motherfucker".

 

Edit: I've got nothing else to do, so here's a sample:

 

Abdominal - "Abcapella"

 

DJ Format featuring Abdominal - "Participation Prerequisite"

 

I might do some more later (If people would like to hear them of course).

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I swear some of this stuff sounds like the potential crunk preset from Casio's Gangsta keyboard line.

 

D4L (aka the Laffy Taffy guys) built an entire album around this production method.

[k thx 0]

The only hip-hop I like so far this year is Crazy by Cee-Lo.

 

And that's not even hip-hop.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

The "underground" scene isn't much better. Recent stuff from...Mos Def and Talib Kweli have all been major misfires.

 

What Mos Def and Talib Kweli have you heard? Mos only has the two solo albums, and they were all pretty good. I definitely wouldn't describe them as "major misfires". Kweli's "Quality" and "The Beautiful Struggle" were both very listenable, too. Their "Blackstar" album was fucking great.

 

If you want to try some edgier conscious hip-hop, I would give Dead Prez, The Coup, and/or Immortal Technique a spin.

 

Also, "Stay Fly" by 3-6 is good. Jeezy is shit.

[Annabelle 0]

mos def hasn't done anything worthwhile since his solo album & blackstar lp. that was 6 years ago.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

I liked his 2004 solo album.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I give Mos props for going in another direction with his 2004 album. But it was poorly executed. Half of the songs seemed to be him hyping the song for three or four minutes and then it'd be over. A man with lyrical skills like Mos shouldn't be going, "Oh yeah, this is hot, we gon do it right now, yeah, uh" for three minutes backed up by so-so rock. That's boring.

 

I like Dead Prez, but most of the time, I get the feeling I shouldn't be listening to them since their lyrics are so anti-white.

[Ripper 0]

I personally hate Dead Prez because of how racist they are. Its annoying.

 

I will give people Mos Def's 2004 album not being as great as it could have been. It had a few great songs and the rest of the album sounded like a preview for a longer album he was doing or something. He had songs that were like 45 sec. long.

 

Talib though...he hasn't released a weak album yet. Right About Now(the last one he released) is really goddamn good. He managed to make a ode to Lauryn Hill a banger, something I thought whould suck when I heard the concept. And I honestly can't see anyone calling quality and the Beautiful struggle misfires.

 

I still say the best of hip-hop lies in mixtapes. There is no worry about album sales, just making music there. Joe Buddens latest mixtape is incredible. And while I don't really care for Jeezy that much (I am not a fan of crack music and thats ALL he's got) the guy is a mixtape beast. But the Yeahs, and thats right's get annoying I guess. Even guys like Little Brother who released probably the best Hip Hop album last year have 3-4 mixtapes that are on that level or better. Lil Wayne releases a great mixtape what seems like every month.

 

I have personally given up on the mainstream stuff even from artist that I like because they have got to try and sell records, and what sells isnt what I like. When I heard the hook to the new Bubba Sparxxx song being "bootybootybootybootybootybootybooty" I died a little inside knowing the guy that made a incredible album like Delieverence made that garbage ass song, but I understand they need to eat.

 

So I stay in mixtape land and I am quite happy with the state of hiphop.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I've been told I'm partial to the more raw material found on mixtapes. That's probably true. My only gripe with mixtapes are the "DJs" who have to remind the listener who's hosting the mixtape every 25 seconds.

[Ripper 0]

I've been told I'm partial to the more raw material found on mixtapes. That's probably true. My only gripe with mixtapes are the "DJs" who have to remind the listener who's hosting the mixtape every 25 seconds.

Yeah, as long as you avoid Clue and to some extent Clinton Sparks (well, Clinton does this thing where he restarts the song after the first few lines. Annoying but not as bad as "D-J...CLUE!!!)

 

For the most part, noone does it anymore, mostly because they don't want to sound like Clue.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

STREETSWEEPERS!

[k thx 0]

But what about MF DOOM? [/pitchfork]

[Guest]

If you want to try some edgier conscious hip-hop, I would give Dead Prez, The Coup, and/or Immortal Technique a spin.

 

Also, "Stay Fly" by 3-6 is good.

I don't know how anyone that doesn't hate white people can listen to Dead Prez, and Stay Fly is shit.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

If you want to try some edgier conscious hip-hop, I would give Dead Prez, The Coup, and/or Immortal Technique a spin.

 

Also, "Stay Fly" by 3-6 is good.

I don't know how anyone that doesn't hate white people can listen to Dead Prez, and Stay Fly is shit.

 

I don't hate white people, I have alot of white friends.

[Guest]

Then do you just not listen to lyrics or what?

[The Czech Republic 0]

I think that was a joke, he changed black to white

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

I think it's funny that white rap fans are, as a rule, perfectly comfortable with misogyny, violence, & the word "nigger"; but as soon as the word "white" is mentioned it's like "OH NOES! This music is dangerous and incendiary!"

 

I tend not to take rap lyrics very seriously.

 

I like Talib Kweli, but I don't hate the police like him. I like Biggie Smalls, but I don't really want to shoot anyone's daughter in the calf muscle or tie their family up in a basement. Hell, even Mos Def can be construed as racist and homophobic ("Old white men/are runnin' this rap shit...Quasi-homosexuals are runnin' this rap shit").

[Guest]

I think it's funny that white rap fans are, as a rule, perfectly comfortable with misogyny, violence, & the word "nigger"; but as soon as the word "white" is mentioned it's like "OH NOES! This music is dangerous and incendiary!"

Yes, yes, and no. The latter one is near inescapable, while anti-white shit such as Dead Prez is quite easy to not listen to. That Mos Def line isn't racist to me at all.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Then do you just not listen to lyrics or what?

 

Of course I listen to the lyrics. If I didn't listen to lyric's I'd listen to 50 Cent and that G-Unit garbage.

 

Just because I listen to Dead Prez, doesn't mean I agree with all there opinions. They are very talented rappers, doesn't change the fact.

[Guest]

Ok, fair enough.

[dh86 0]

About two years ago, I would've made a more empassioned, eloquent argument, more along the lines of what others have done in this thread. But, really, me and hip hop haven't seen eye to eye in awhile. The current mainstream stuff, in spite of it being "hip" with many of my peers, is just awful, awful garbage. Young Jeezy, Three Six Mafia....people like this shit? There's no innovation here, nothing that shows any sort of creativity or thought beyond what will sell. I swear some of this stuff sounds like the potential crunk preset from Casio's Gangsta keyboard line. Press a button and yell about lookin' for the time to find a dime to your heart's content!

 

The "underground" scene isn't much better. Recent stuff from the Roots, Mos Def and Talib Kweli have all been major misfires. The Def Jux label hasn't released anything worthwhile since 2002. Anticon was never good.

 

absolutely..I have barely looked in rap's direction since way back in high school

[The Czech Republic 0]

I can't get away from this thread

Hip hop is about rhythm. If you're basing it solely on what other forms of music have, then you're missing the point. This isn't rock music, this isn't jazz, etc.

Which is true. Rap isn't rock, rap isn't jazz. But rock isn't jazz, jazz isn't electronic, electronic isn't baroque, baroque isn't flamenco, on and on and on, but whether it's Howlin' Wolf or Wolfgang Mozart, the Western music tradition is built on melody, harmony, and rhythm, of which rap is batting one for three. I'll acknowledge that there's very powerful relevant work amidst the crunk and gangsta nonsense, but the fact that it's the spoken word that comes first and foremost makes it more accurate to say that rap is not so much a genre of music but rather an artform that runs parallel to music.

 

Why do I call it rap but some of you call it hip-hop

[Slayer 0]

absolutely..I have barely looked in rap's direction since way back in high school

Ditto