Is Kanye West's Yeezus the ITCOTCK of hip hop?
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Topic: Is Kanye West's Yeezus the ITCOTCK of hip hop?
Posted By: Tethro Juul
Subject: Is Kanye West's Yeezus the ITCOTCK of hip hop?
Date Posted: August 22 2021 at 18:11
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There were a few moments in Kanye West's career that made me draw parallels between what was going on with rock in the early 70s and the 2010s hip hop scene. His "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" album for instance had some very interesting ideas in it that could be called progressive; namely the songs Runaway, Blame Game, and Lost In The World. He also sampled King Crimson in POWER, a blatant nod to the prog pioneer. But at the end of the day this was still just a hip hop album with progressive elements in it. 2013's Yeezus was a different beast. It really opened the floodgates for what could hip hop could be. It didn't have to have a steady beat on completely repetitive samples with drums. In fact, hip hop didn't even need drums. It could have guitar solos, lush ambience, dissonant synth attacks, pulsating arpeggios. After this album came out, many hip hop artists began to emerge using much more experimental and "progressive" elements. Albums such as Danny Brown's "Atrocity Exhibition" for instance, or Tyler The Creator's "IGOR". It opens up with an abrasive punch in the face with "On Sight" similar to the opening track of ITCOTCK as well. I'm not saying that there wasn't progressive elements to some hip hop before this album. There was Kid Cudi, Kanye's earlier work, and the electronic music producers who were making the raw ingredients to what Yeezus became. But it was Yeezus that really put this new approach to hip hop on the map in a big way and served as source of inspiration for many artists. In that way, I consider Yeezus to be hip hop's King Crimson moment. I look forward to see what else they'll do with the genre in the future. I understand that not everyone on this forum likes Kanye or hip hop all that much. I used to hate it myself. But albums like this really opened my eyes to the art form it can be at its best and I hope you can enjoy it too. Unfortunately, rock is not the prevailing music genre in our culture, hip hop is. But it's cool to see people taking it and making something artful out of it, so maybe there's still hope for mainstream music. |
Replies:
Posted By: Easy Money
Date Posted: August 22 2021 at 19:01
| Public Enemy is the group that revolutionized hip-hop way before Kanye. There are also plenty of current artists who are way beyond Kanye. |
Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: August 22 2021 at 20:05
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Yeah i agree. Public Enemy blows Kanye away. Run
DMC's Raising Hell would probably be considered hip hop's equivalent to
ITCOTKC because it single-handedly brought hip hop to the mainstream Other artists that revolutionized hip hop in some way were the Wu Tang Clan, Snoop Dog with the G-funk. NWA was the leading gangsta rap artist -------------  https://rateyourmusic.com/~siLLy_puPPy |
Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: August 23 2021 at 03:28
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LOL ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: A Crimson Mellotron
Date Posted: August 23 2021 at 03:29
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I never understood the appeal of this kind of music... So, a post like this can only make me laugh out loud! |
Posted By: dwill123
Date Posted: August 23 2021 at 19:01
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If you are looking for the ITCOTCK of hip hop, that title would go to Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force and/or Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Both were the most influential in the early, early days of 'hip hop'. Others from that time frame were KRS-One, Rob Base and Kurtis Blow. Not only was Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force one of the ITCOTCK of hip hop but they also sampled Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express" for their 1982 hit 'Planet Rock. |
Posted By: Catcher10
Date Posted: August 23 2021 at 21:58
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^Yup....100% yup. Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5 and their masterpc The Message is the ITCOTKC. The Sugarhill Gang and Kurtis Blow also were the starters well before NWA, Public Enemy. The latter two were the originators of gangsta rap, all down hill after that. -------------   
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Posted By: I prophesy disaster
Date Posted: August 24 2021 at 02:52
This was my thought also. ------------- No, I know how to behave in the restaurant now, I don't tear at the meat with my hands. If I've become a man of the world somehow, that's not necessarily to say I'm a worldly man. |
dwill123 wrote:Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: August 24 2021 at 05:56
Add Beastie Boys and you've got the four Rap (it wasn't known as hip-hop then) pioneers ------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
Posted By: dougmcauliffe
Date Posted: August 24 2021 at 05:58
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While I think Yeezus is a very good album, I don't think Court is the best comparison to what it is to hip hop. I don't think Grandmaster Flash is either, they're more of.... the Moody Blues to hip hop? Honestly, Public Enemey is a pretty fair pick, it's worth also mentioning NWA and the Beastie Boys, but Public Enemy ultimately gave hip hop that edge and bite that it has. As well as the prominent social commentary aspect that has remained a constant in the genre since.
My two favorite hip hop albums from this year are Call Me If You Get Lost by Tyler the Creator and Kings Disease II by Nas which was actually shockingly great. The song Moments off the latter is totally stunning, very sentimental sounding. The track Nobody with Lauryn Hill was also very awesome. Figured i'd bring this up since we probably wont see another hip hop thread for some time.
------------- The sun has left the sky... ...Now you can close your eyes |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: August 24 2021 at 06:24
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Does Wu-Tang Clan get an honorable mention?
------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: dougmcauliffe
Date Posted: August 24 2021 at 06:26
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^ I feel like they need to, their debut came out a little later than some of the aforementioned artists who all come from the 86-89 area, Wu Tangs Debut came out in 93'. Maybe they're the Yes of Hip Hop? I don't know, maybe hip hops general progression isn't all that comparable to progs, seeing that since the early 90's, it's never really lost it's relevance like prog did after a relatively short run. ------------- The sun has left the sky... ...Now you can close your eyes |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: August 24 2021 at 06:29
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^ That makes sense to me. Their debut was a killer though. ------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: Morningrise
Date Posted: August 28 2021 at 20:37
| The Low End Theory- A Tribe Called Quest |