Rap Music's Place In Prog

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   Hi all, long time prog fan here who's recently got into this excellent site (so many good leads in those top 10 lists) and thought I'd join in the discussion.

For my inaugural post, I thought I'd try to break some new ground, kind of what prog is all about, by introducing rap music into the prog mix. (Apologies if this has actually been done countless times before.)

Prog seems to gleefully embrace elements of all genres under the sun except hip-hop. For some reason it's the outsider. Throw in jazz, rock, metal, chamber music, classical music, blues, various Ethnic music, anything goes. But put on a hip-hop beat and start MCing and- no. Just doesn't fly with anyone even in theory does it?

I suppose the argument is that prog is often about a display of performance ability and people often seen DJing or producing beats as "not real music" because you stitch together bits of other records or make it on computers. I find this kind of silly because who cares how a sound is made. Blending old records together can result in really crazy mashes not entirely unlike those made by some of prog's stylistic chameleons and what prog band doesn't use computers to edit and filter their sound?

As for MCing, the objection usually seems to be the gangster stereotype seen in much mainstream rap rather than the idea of rhythmically saying rhyming words about a subject. But of course you can rap about the mystic secrets of the cosmos or any other such prog-sounding topic if you have the will to.

Even though I am  huge rap fan I agree that most mainstream stuff is rubbish and that most good hip-hop languishes in obscurity. There's an underground of hardcore fans who support it but it never registers on the mainstream at all so I'd like to point open minded people in the direction of some rap music I feel heads in a proggish direction- I'd like to see it come in from the cold so prog lives up to the promise of it's all-inclusive nature.

(I write all this aware of the possibility that there IS a prog band or artist out there who brings rap and hip-hop into the mix and if there is and I just don't know them, let me know.)

Probably the best bastion for the most prog-like rap I know is a label called Def Jux run by an artist called El-P. Here are some Def Jux records that either in production or lyrics or both head into proggy places either by getting really complex lyrically or having eclectic, unusual production or just generally eschewing the expectations of hip-hop.
Here's some Def Jux:

The Cold Vein by Cannibal Ox
I Phantom by Mr Lif
Fantastic Damage by El-P
I'll Sleep When You're Dead by El-P
None Shall Pass by Aesop Rock
(Aesop Rock is probably the best example there is of a prog-type rapper, extremely complex rhymes, very hard to follow, very deep and ambitious. None Shall Pass is probably his best album.)

Beauty And The Beat by Edan is another record that comes to mind with very offbeat but great production.

Also really liked a rap record that came out earlier this year called More Heart Than Brains by Bike For Three (Canadian MC plus Belgian/Vietnamese female producer) which was really heartbroken, quiet stuff, real change from the usual bluster.

Another Canadian MC called D-Sisive put out a record called Let The Children Die earlier this year, another I find worth checking out.

Why are a group from California who mix indie pop-rock with hip-hop. Their new album Eskimo Snow completely dropped the rap elements but their much better 2008 album Alopecia brought in big beats and an Eminem like delivery from the singer that was really quite a unique mix, miles away from the stupid stereotype or rap-rock that comes from Limp Bizkit/Korn.

There's also old classics like Doctor Octagonecologyst by Doctor Octagon where the notoriously crazy MC Kool Keith pretends to be a time traveling alien who comes to earth and poses as surgeon and gynecologist.

Canibus is another MC I like a lot, often very serious and intellectual yet at the same time rooted in hip-hop's traditions, check out Rip The Jacker.

May think of more later and maybe you can suggest some yourself, thanks for reading if you did :)

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