Rap Suggestions to Complete Newb? - Progressive Rock Music Forum

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Noak

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Posted: November 02 2010 at 23:57

Gravediggaz-6 Feet Deep

Curse ov Dialect-Wooden Tounges

Two of my favorite albums, any category.

Textbook

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 03:20

Canibus' Rip The Jacker, my review of which is the most recent entry in the "Non-Prog albums reviews thread" is also an essential classic.

As is the sadly overlooked Even In Darkness by Dungeon Family. Check out these tracks. The first two are super funky goodness and the third, Excalibur, has one of the most epic choruses I've heard on a rap track and the third verse by Cee Lo (later of Gnarles Barkley fame) is astonishing.

J-Man

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 15:48

Textbook wrote:

J-Man: Wu Tang Clan are hugely important but you may not like them because they have a foot firmly in gangsta land. What made them so different was this:

i) Rap's equivalent of lo-fi, with dirty and ugly sounds in the beats which was quite shocking at the time.

ii) They wrote lyrics that were sometimes opaque at best with insider slang and philosophical/cultural references that were not always obvious.

iii) A lot of rap groups were previously formed around MCs that were similar (and still are actually. Souls Of Mischief always amused me, 4 MCs that may as well have been the same guy.) The huge difference between some of the Wu Tang MCs (compare the lyrical precision of GZA to the deranged clowning of Old Dirty b*****d for instance or the way Ghostface Killah sounds like he's being chased by the police all the time while Method Man is the coolest, calmest, coldest guy in town) meant you were never quite sure who or what was coming up next which made listening to them exciting.

However, a lot of Wu Tang beats and rhyme aren't really *that* deep and there's a lot of stuff about violence and crime and drugs. Generally they used metaphor and code which was more interesting than speaking on it plainly, but it's still not that interesting for people who just don't want street stuff.

I would probably refer you to the Wu Tang spin-off group, Sunz Of Man who kind of took what the Wu Tang did but added further lyrical layers, with rhymes often grounded in medieval history, religious theory and general esoteric intellectual topics. Of particular interest is the solo career of group member Killah Priest, who does a great job of being a bridge between the Wu's raw rugged street sh*t and the world of academia, history and philosophy. His best albums are Heavy Mental and The Offering.

More classics:

I Phantom - Mr Lif

None Shall Pass - Aesop Rock

The Cold Vein - Cannibal Ox

Thanks for all your help, Textbook! I've listened to some Wu-Tang stuff on YouTube, and I think I'll check out their 36 Chambers album. I've liked (most) of what I've heard.

BTW, do you have any particular song suggestions from Sunz of Man for me to check out on YouTube?

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

Icarium

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 15:54

even some mellotron

my favourite rap song (one of the best rap songs)

Textbook

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 16:24

Yeah, Nas is pretty good. I've always loved this track, I Gave You A Power, a phenomenal lyric narrated form the perspective of a gun.

J-Man: Yeah, 36 Chambers (properly called Enter The Wu Tang) is generally considered one of the fundamental hip-hop albums of all time. You need to hear it to establish a context for rap as it was SO influential. Tracks like Wu Tang Clan Ain't Nothing To f**k With, Protect Ya Neck and CREAM are standards.

However, the subsequent clan albums are not that good. A lot of the spin-offs and solos are good. The guy who's had the best career is Ghostface Killah. He's pretty much the only one who's never released garbage- general agreement is that Supreme Clientele is his best but I also really like Iron Man and Fishscale. Also seminal are Raekwon's Only Built For Cuban Linx (Part II, released in 2009 was also really good) and GZA's Liquid Swords.

Wu Tang has its tentacles everywhere with a dizzying number of spin-offs and associated acts. Gravediggaz as mentioned before is also a Wu Tang affiliate act.

Here's the Sunz Of Man. All cuts are from their only album really worth bothering with, The Last Shall Be First. After this, you are advised to check out Killah Priest's solo career.

J-Man

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 16:37

^ Checking out those YouTube clips from everyone. Thanks a lot for posting those! Smile

I just bought Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) on cheap MP3, so I'll be giving it a listen tomorrow on my bus ride to and from school. The clips I've heard aren't something that I should be playing with a 7 year old running around! LOL

I'm also really interested in checking out a few more of the albums posted here. Thanks everyone, and more suggestions/comments are always welcome! Smile

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

Icarium

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 17:12

if you like gymnastic rap and speed and humor

this song start at 48, and great bass line

realy cool beat nice tribbal drumming

Icarium

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 17:15

this album is great

Textbook

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 17:19

Really? I think his best album is Extinction Level Event.

Busta Rhymes was a phenomenal force for his first five albums, one of the greatest flow/delivery based artists of all time and his energy levels were off the charts. He's a lyrical lightweight but his best tracks are so high impact that it doesn't matter.

Theriver

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 17:23

Try The Roots as they play with real instrument

Icarium

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 17:41

the 90s was the best period for rap, so many great artists and so diverse in deliverance todays hip hop farts don't reach the 90s hip hop gods to their knees, 80s was good and the beginning but the real sh**t started in th 90s

J-Man

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 17:41

The Sunz of Man and Busta Rhymes songs sounded pretty cool. Thumbs Up

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

TheProgtologist View Drop Down

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 17:44

Theriver wrote:

Try The Roots as they play with real instrument

That's one of the things I really like about them.

Icarium

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 17:46

here is another legend

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLdkgUFLfyc nice guitar riff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YGHFJCG9IM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpIl063oy24&feature=related

I need to get some rap albums my self so this thread is nice

some rap is a nice way to relaxe and you just have to find the real thing

Icarium

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 17:54

I also have to promote three of the greatest rap songs which comes out of Norway if you are interested (theese songs are so full of memories to me and nostalgia that I become emotional)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warlocks_(band) to just pinpoin to how important warlocks are in Norwegain hip hip

tnot just are they a norwegian hip hop group, the ARE norwegian hip hop.

Edited by aginor - November 03 2010 at 17:59

J-Man

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 18:03

The Warlocks stuff sounded really good. I think I'll have to check those guys out!

Which albums do you recommend starting with?

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

Textbook

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 18:08

Mainstream hip-hop was at its best in the 90s but underground hip-hop is still good today.

I just got this new album by The Left called Gas Mask, nothing wrong with it.

Icarium

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 18:13

the first one is a classic, 90s hip hop and the qualaty is realy high it only becomes more ipressive how good they sounded then (hip hop in norway in 95 was not huge) and then this group not only are they pioneers, but they early on had a defiened sound. they sounded pro at the getgo.

http://www.warlocks.no/diskografi.php

Textbook

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 18:41

I have to check out The Warlocks. Heard about them before but never actually got an album.

Textbook

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Posted: November 03 2010 at 19:12

E 1999 Eternal by Bone Thugs 'N' Harmony

Here's the first five tracks of another classic rap album but unusually for a hip-hop album I worship, this one is lyrically kind of ass, very repetitive topics about murder and drugs.

No, what makes this one a winner is the SOUND.

i) The production is incredibly spooky, genuinely frightening in places such as the first minute of Da Introduction or the gunshot at the end of East 1999, which makes me jump every time. The beats are also incredibly detailed, continually changing in subtle little details to match what the MCs or doing or just for variety. It's also a very cohesive album which is why I'm giving the first five tracks altogether. They flow magically into each other and feel like a complete unit to me though perhaps the gaps caused by listening to them on Youtube might spoil that. I find this even more sinister than the Gravediggaz debut.

ii) This is arguably the most important album of all time in terms of delivery and flow. Prior to this most people just rapped in a very plain way though there were a few people like Old Dirty b*****d who were unusual. All of the members of Bone Thugs however had very complicated and distinctive flows which continually changed and evolved. Their use of cadence and scansion was very unpredictable and sometimes they're not really singing or rapping but in an odd space inbetween.

The creepy atmosphere is also enhanced by the background (E1999 Eternal is a street corner in Cleveland where BTNH are from which was notorious for being a sight for gang executions, supposedly because of a dark spirit called Mr Ouija who resided there. Additionally, BTNH unlike a lot of other "gangster rappers" really did come from the NASTY part of town and were very gutter. One member, Flesh, has spent most of the group's career in jail for murder.)

Turn up loud and listen in the dark.