Rap/Hip-Hop Appreciation Thread - Progressive Rock Music Forum

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Textbook

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Posted: October 30 2009 at 03:48

Anyone listen to The Coup?

And now, some Lonely Island.

ExittheLemming View Drop Down

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Posted: October 30 2009 at 04:19

npjnpj wrote:

Rap/Hip-Hop?

YOU MUST BE FRECKIN' sh*tTING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT DOES MY HEAD IN GAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BLEEEAAACCCHHHHHH!!!!!!

Sorry, but I couldn't be more disgusted with a genre of music, and both 'genre' and 'music' are used very losely in this context. Gonna go and have a nice quiet puke now.

I'm really upset!

You clearly misread the label on your bottle of Dutch Courage, it's very often a strong emetic.

Easy Money View Drop Down

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Posted: October 30 2009 at 09:11

[QUOTE=Textbook] Anyone listen to The Coup?

My band used to share gigs with The Coup in SF/Oakland late 80s. After letting them open once, I would never do that again because they didn't know when to stop and it was hard to get them to leave the stage, ha ha.

J-Man

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Posted: October 30 2009 at 09:43

Textbook wrote:

Anyone listen to The Coup?

And now, some Lonely Island.

Actually laughing right now LOL

Check out my YouTube channel! http://www.youtube.com/user/demiseoftime

Apsalar

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Posted: October 30 2009 at 18:49

Easy Money wrote:

[QUOTE=Textbook] Anyone listen to The Coup?

Nice! Steal This album & Kill My Landlord have been in heavy rotation for many months of this year.

JLocke

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Posted: June 29 2010 at 03:44

Just felt like reviving this thread in order to spark discussion again and to also make an apology.

For years, I ignorantly considered Hip-Hop to be a stupid genre for stupid listeners, and never saw the appeal. I considered sampling to be a lazy, half-assed way to compose songs, and considered the artists involved to have very little talent.

I was wrong. Boy, was I wrong. I feel like the stupid one for ever making such a broad and uneducated assumption about an entire genre of music.

I'm now getting very interested in Hip-Hop (the best of it, not this mainstream Pop side of it that deterred me for years). So hopefully this discussion will pick up again so people can keep making lists and I can keep discovering. It's a whole new world for me, but I'm loving it so far. VERY underrated genre, specially in Prog circles.

Edited by JLocke - June 29 2010 at 03:46

Textbook

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Posted: June 29 2010 at 03:53

JLocke: I think your experience is pretty universal actually. The rap they show on TV is pretty much exclusively stupid so one concludes all rap is stupid. But the same can be said of a lot of the rock on TV too. If you hear rap records like Deltron 3030, The Cold Vein, Below The Heavens, Beauty And The Beat, None Shall Pass, Black On Both Sides, Eardrum, Resurrection, It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, Rip The Jacker, Game Theory, Blazing Arrow, etc etc, that all starts to fall apart. Whatever that stuff is, "stupid" isn't it. You start to realise the endless lyrical/poetic possibilities of rapping and also beat creation, assembling and modifying sounds to construct tracks.

As I never tire of saying, the "rap sucks" brigade, have almost to a man, never actually listened to it. I find it very difficult to respect the opinions of people who review music they haven't heard.

JLocke

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Posted: June 29 2010 at 04:18

^ Deltron 3030 is something I've really been digging lately. My friends have turned me onto DJ Shadow and Wyclef Jean, both of which I already love. And let's not forget the guys who first got me big into the genre in the first place: Public Enemy an Tribe Called Quest.

Some of the guys I've been discovering on my own include The Roots, The Beastie Boys and the sadistically funny ICP. The last of those I can only take in small doses, but still find entertaining.

So, I'll check out the other stuff you listed just now I didn't recognize. Hopefully I'll enjoy most of them, if not all. Smile

I realize everybody makes this mistake, however I still feel foolish because as you pointed out, the same generalizations can be and have been made about any other genre out there, modern rock being the grandaddy of all the shallow assumptions. I just hope I never make just a gross error again. The more I discredit certain types of music based on guesses and not experience, the more potentially great music I miss out on.

Edited by JLocke - June 29 2010 at 17:01

Textbook

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Posted: June 29 2010 at 05:31

Those were albums I was listing there, not acts, but it's good to see you getting into rap. Surprised to see you bumping the Insane Clown Posse though, they're sometimes cited as one of rap's worst acts. If you enjoy their style, I think something similar is done a lot better by the likes of Brotha Lynch Hung, Esham and Necro, though you have to be prepared to stomach some EXTREMELY offensive lyrics.

More rap albums for the thinking man that I forgot to mention above: Illmatic, Liquid Swords, I Phantom, The Taste Of Rain Why Kneel...

Also, I'm sure you'd like De La Soul. All their albums are good so you can't really miss, but the first four are their most regarded.

Apsalar

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Posted: June 29 2010 at 05:46

Textbook wrote:

Also, I'm sure you'd like De La Soul. All their albums are good so you can't really miss, but the first four are their most regarded.

Yep, 3 feet high and rising is my favourite of those first couple. Also in a similar vain, early Jazz-rap, and a very slept on album/group is Jungle Brothers and their album Done by the forces of nature, which has been one of my favourites for a long time.

Nice to see some love for Blu & Exile, textbook

Textbook

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Posted: June 29 2010 at 05:48

Funny though, I don't really like Jungle Brothers. Kind of bore me.

But yeah, that Blu & Exile was good. Did you check for Fashawn's Boy Meets World which comes from the same group of guys?

Apsalar

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Posted: June 29 2010 at 06:16

Textbook wrote:

Funny though, I don't really like Jungle Brothers. Kind of bore me.

But yeah, that Blu & Exile was good. Did you check for Fashawn's Boy Meets World which comes from the same group of guys?

That's the way I felt about their first album, but the one I sited floored me. In that case, did you like Main Source's Breaking Atoms?

Nah, totally missed that one. Recent? I'm usually pretty slow on the up take. Any chance for a little more information?

Chris S

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Posted: June 29 2010 at 06:17

I love Nate Dogg with Warren G , I mean these guys had the perfect formula and Nate is an incredible vocalist. Pity he can no longer play.

Nobody...does it better...

<font color=Brown>Music - The Sound Librarian

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Apsalar

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Posted: June 29 2010 at 06:23

Chris S wrote:

I love Nate Dogg with Warren G , I mean these guys had the perfect formula and Nate is an incredible vocalist. Pity he can no longer play.

Nobody...does it better...

A quality slice of G-Funk.... regulate...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORjG0u_J-VE

Textbook

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Posted: June 29 2010 at 06:33

Yeah I liked Breaking Atoms. Simple stuff but Large Professor has the charisma to pull it off. Did you get the recent official release of his lost classic The LP? I think you'd like it.

Boy Meets World is the 2009 debut album by rapper Fashawn, entirely produced by Exile, appearances by Blu and Aloe Blacc so that's the Below The Heavens posse right there. Also features Evidence, a guy I think you'd like. It's familiar stuff- jaws won't be on the floor- but done very well.

harmonium.ro View Drop Down

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Posted: June 29 2010 at 07:00

Does anyone remember how good were the Black Eyed Peas when they started, back in the 90s? I liked their clever mix of funk, rap, and even jazz. I would never have guessed they'll go so commercial.

lucas

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Posted: June 29 2010 at 07:20

Yes, these days they play really uninspired and generic music, like most of the R'n'B meets rap bands.

Strange that rap went so popular these days, as at its beginning it was really loathed (at least in France). This is now probably the musical genre that sells the best. Imagine if bands of the other extreme musical genre (in terms of vocals) : death metal, were praised by the masses !

"Magma was the very first gothic rock band" (Didier Lockwood)

JLocke

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Posted: June 29 2010 at 11:08

Textbook wrote:

Those were albums I was listing there, not acts, but it's good to see you getting into rap. Surprised to see you bumping the Insane Clown Posse though, they're sometimes cited as one of rap's worst acts. If you enjoy their style, I think something similar is done a lot better by the likes of Brotha Lynch Hung, Esham and Necro, though you have to be prepared to stomach some EXTREMELY offensive lyrics.

More rap albums for the thinking man that I forgot to mention above: Illmatic, Liquid Swords, I Phantom, The Taste Of Rain Why Kneel...

Also, I'm sure you'd like De La Soul. All their albums are good so you can't really miss, but the first four are their most regarded.

I'm well aware that ICP is hated across the board. That doesn't change my opinion of them one bit. Wink

Sorry about the error I made. I think what threw me off was that Deltron 3030 is the album AND band, so I misunderstood. In any case, I'll look up those ALBUMS, and hopefully make even more discoveries. LOL

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Posted: June 29 2010 at 11:26

Moatilliatta wrote:

OutKast deserves some credit. Stankonia and Speakerboxxx/The Love Below are two of the best rap albums I've ever heard.

Have you checked out Aquemini yet? It's a classic. As for something that (I think) hasn't been mentioned yet, Organized Konfusion. These guys are geniuses, and probably have one of the best debuts ever. And trust me, that's saying something, because there is a ton of great rap debuts from the 90's.

Noak

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Posted: June 29 2010 at 12:14

My knowledge in Hip Hop/Rap is limited. I love Gravediggaz and Curse ov Dialect and I sort of like Madvillain.

Best Hip Hop song ever imo. The whole album (Wooden Tounges) is great, they have samples from Harry Partch and Comus. Thumbs Up