The Semi-Official Rap/Hip-Hop Thread

that video with kanye,rakim,nas,krs-1 is pretty flippin sweet

I've been listening to a lot of Mos Def recently, specifically Black Star and Black on Both Sides.

And now for my most frequently asked hip-hop question: Are Mos Def and Talib Kweli going to team up again for another Black Star album ever? Soon? Please?

I really like Mos Def also.

He's got a couple of songs that I found called "Excellence" & "Summertime" not sure what or where they are from, I believe it was some EP of his. But I really enjoy both songs.

Sure you've heard it already, but the new Jedi Mind Tricks = mucho excellente! Other than that I'm really just waiting for the new Aesop. It'll kick 100 flavours of ass.

Hippity Hop albums I've listened to this year:

Fat Jon & Styrofoam - The Same Channel (Fat Jon is from Five Deez, an awesome group if you havent heard them yet. This was a nice mix of electronica and hip hop)

El-P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead

Jedi Mind Tricks - Servants In Heaven, Kings In Hell (Uncommon Valor!!!)

Hieroglyphics - Full Circle (Not enough Del...)

Kool Keith - Project Polaroid (6 years too late, Deltron 3030 did it better. Speaking of Deltron the new album should be out this year...)

Random recommendation of the day: Cyne. They've only two albums, and they are very good. Great lyrics, rhyming, beats and sampling, check them out.

I'm no hip hop/rap expert, but I like Lyrics Born a lot, and would recommend him to anybody. Great stuff.

I like All Natural. Has anyone heard them? They are pretty damn good. Also, what is Nerdcore?

http://www.nerdcoreforlife.com/

Wow I had no idea there were that many idiots out there. That looks horrible.

Well, I've recommended them in other threads, but it probably wouldn't hurt to do it here; if you're looking for good hip hop, you really can't go wrong with Seattle-based Blue Scholars and Common Market. I'm pretty sure both "bands" share the same DJ, and the MCs (Geologic and Ra Scion) guest star on each others' self-titled debut albums. Best of all, Blue Scholars have a new CD hitting stores this June (I believe), and if it's anywhere near as good as their last one, I'll be happy.

I would definitely have to second that redommendation.

Haha, this is great. That wasn't even the film I was thinking of at first, there are actually two films about this being made at the same time. I'm not sure the world can take it.

http://www.nerdcorerisingthemovie.com/

I have Labor Day and, while I could kinda get into it at first, it's just annoying as hell now. The dude rarely makes sense and his voice is grating as all fuck.

Also, I've been so out of it that I haven't been keeping up with much anything new, mainstream or otherwise. Who's this El-P everyone seems to be in love with?

Aesop's gotten better with age. His masterpiece for me's Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives, which you should check out even if you don't like his earlier stuff. The lyrics aren't as obscure this time around.

And El-P's fantastic, if only for his apocalyptic lyrics, which incorporate a lot of neat sci-fi ideas which I personally love. I recommend starting with Fantastic Damage, before checking out I'll Sleep When You're Dead (which is, IMO, even better) and yeah skip over The Overly Dramatic Truth. Habeas Corpses is killer.

Jurassic 5 needs to be mentioned in this thread.

The first single off Aesop Rock's new album: None Shall Pass

EDIT: Regarding Jurassic 5, Quality Control is absolute classic, but I haven't been especially impressed by their more recent output.

For those who like Jurassic 5, I recommend DJ Format. His Music for the Mature B-Boy is amazing. The follow-up If You Can't Join 'em... Beat 'em is pretty cool too, but doesn't reach the same heights.

3 Feet Deep is a fun track.

"Abdominal flippin' the intricate like Asian origami/behind me//leave a wake of devestation like the course of Tsunami/a swarm of armies couldn't force me from my path/a juggernaut with the microphone in his grasp"

Ok everyone, top 3 favorite hip-hop tracks ever:

1. Express Yourself - NWA
2. 7th Chamber - Wu-Tang Clan
3. Breakadawn - De La Soul

This is hard. And its bound to change.

1. Represent - NaS
2. Shame On A Nigga - Wu-Tang Clan
3. B.O.B. - Outkast

honorable mention goes to: The New Workout Plan - Kanye West

3 songs is a tall order. I'll probly change my mind in 5 minutes time, but:

1) Quality Control - Jurassic 5
2) Winner Takes All - Aesop Rock
3) I'm Destructive - Dr. Octagon

special mention goes to "Uncommon Valor" by Jedi Mind Trick - those of you who've heard it know what I'm talking about.

All time?

Jungle Bros. - I'm in Love With Indica
PE - Welcome to the Terrordome
A Tribe Called Quest - Scenario

Just finished listening to I'll Sleep When You're Dead for the first time, and I find it much more enjoyable than Fantastic Damage. But, more importantly, I'm getting into The Coup. I'm positive these guys are the best overall hip hop crew out there. Lyrically, they're as militant as PE but much funnier, and musically they have this great sound that could fit in perfectly on a mainstream hip hop station. Great, great stuff.

Whenever you talk rap on CHUD, it always heads pretty quickly to the backpack set. That's cool, I'm a big Atmosphere fan (not the last two albums though), Deltron 3030 is indeed one of the best songs IMO, Talib Kweli and Mos Def are great, I've usually liked certain songs from all of them.

But again, it's nice to see some NWA/Wu-Tang/NAS etc getting some love. Too many people throw the mainstream hip hop baby out with the crappy bathwater like Chingy/Fabolous/BowWow. Let's remember that Tupac, Notorious BIG, and most of the legendary MCs were in the mainstream of hip-hop.

I'm liking some of the Chamillionaire mixtapes right now, Clipse's "Hell Hath No Fury" led me back to "Lord Willin", and I've been revisiting Tupac's "Makavelli".

But as a child of the 90s and an Ohioan, my favorites are Bone Thugs~n~Harmony, whose comeback album "Strength and Loyalty" debuts May 8th. Any list of favorite tracks has to include "Thuggish Ruggish Bone" and "Tha Crossroads."

Yes, yes, and yes. I really like Jedi Mind Tricks, and this song should be required listening, RA the Rugged Man's verse especially.

Top 3 songs off the top of my head at the moment:

1.) "Pain" by 2Pac
2.) "Top Down" by Too $hort
3.) "Outlaw" by 2Pac

I started a thread about Da Backwudz and not a single response. You'd think SOMEONE would have had something to say, they even came from Atlanta.

Hypocrisy in Hip-Hop: Why is it that even supposedly "socially concious" rappers like the Fugees and NAS still rap about murder and drug dealing and stuff like that? There are occasions where the hypocrisies appear within the same song. Like this track from Kanye:

Look at my check, wasn't no scratch/So if I stole, wasn't my fault/Yeah I stole, never got caught/They take me to the back and pat me/Askin' me about some khakis/But let some black people walk in/I bet they show off their token blackie

He brags about stealing from the store and then the next line he acts disgusted and annoyed that they accuse him of stealing. This kind of shit appears all the time and it always irks me. Am I missing something or do these rappers really not notice that they contradict themselves?

Because "socially conscious" means exactly that, they're conscious and willing to talk about the realities of where theyre coming from, regardless of how rough or grotesque that may be to some people. 50 Cent and G-Unit might rap about drug dealing and murder and insinuate that it's cool. Nas, Jay-Z, the Fugees, a lot of the great rappers talk about it as merely the reality in which they grew up. When Jay-Z raps about his drug-dealing ways as an inevitability of where he came from, and the means by which he got out of the ghetto, I think that's very socially relevant.

"Diamonds from Sierra Leone" is a good example of what I wouldn't call hypocrisy, but an honest acknowledgement of the conflicts he has. On the one hand, "bling" and diamonds are a major staple of hip hop fashion, and on the other hand, they might be mined by poor Africans in Sierra Leone. It's true that West has a self-important streak that sometimes borders on insufferable, but I wouldn't call these lyrics hypocritical, he acknowledges time and again that these are issues he wrestles with.

Never saw that thread. Aside from the novelty of them sampling Ooompa Loompas, I'm not terribly impressed by them. For southern rap it's UGK, Scarface, Three 6 Mafia, T.I., and Chamillionaire for me.

The Fugees' lyrics glorifies ganglife, they don't condemn it. The entire album of The Score is full of violence and crime, and very rarely is it in the context of "this is what NOT to do". Kanye West raps about trying to bring Jesus to people, but when he talks about his sins in other songs it's not to repent, it's to brag. He's proud of all the chicks he can fuck, not the slightest bit of guilt or regret is in most of his lyrics.

My problem is they're trying to have their cake and eat it too, as opposed to groups like Black Star which straight up condemn and oppose gangsta life.

Have you heard the album? It's not brilliance but it's definitely above average.

How is it that in a rap thread, there has only been two mentions of Clipse?

Well, they only have two albums. And while I've enjoyed both, I don't know that they're quite at the level of demanding a gushing mention from everyone every time we discuss rap.

I don't know enough about Mos Def or Kweli's upbringing or background to comment a ton, so if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. But I think there's understandably going to be a big difference between someone like B.I.G., Tupac, Jay-Z, and a lot of other "gangster" rappers and their counterparts in the underground, many of whom didn't come from that lifestyle. I think expecting them to out and out condemn the lifestyle and environment they came from is expecting a bit much. Obviously there's a ton of rappers who go too far in celebrating the gangster life (G-Unit comes to mind, though I like 50), but there's plenty of tracks from B.I.G., Jay-Z, Tupac, etc that lament the conditions and tragedies of that lifestyle as well. I can appreciate Black Star taking a "just say no" approach, but I don't it makes them automatically classier than someone like Jay-Z talking to those already caught up in the life and saying "Look at me, I've been there, I understand, but look where I am now and you could be too." Listen to his "Soon You'll Understand".

I've given them a cursory listen, admittedly. I guess I'll give it another shot.

I figured its mostly about marketing. They rap about that shit because thats what their fans want. If Ludacris started rapping about actual shit instead of random shit then I'm sure sales would drop.

Some of Kool Keith's tunes rip into marketeering rappers very nicely.

If you're looking for deeper stuff check out Cyne like I said earlier. (check out 'Samura's Optic' from their Myspace) Cyne and Five Deez are probably my favourite hip hop acts, with Del Funkee Homosapien as my favourite rapper overall.

I dont intentionally avoid mainstream rap and hip hop, but time and again whenever I dip back in I get bored or disappointed and revert back to seeking out not so popular acts. Kanye, Wu-Tang, Gang Starr, Nas, these people and their like just bore me. The last big hit I enjoyed was Madvillainy, and even that was from leftfield.

"I dumbed down for my audience, doubled my dollars/They criticize me for it but they all yell 'holla'/If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be/Lyrically Talib Kweli" and "And I can't help the poor if I'm one of them/So I got rich and gave back, to me, that's the win-win." - Jay-Z "Moment of Clarity" - The Black Album

Or one of my other favorites, "My bills are through the roof/I can't do numbers like The Roots."

MF DOOM is an amazing lyricist and producer, everyone worth knowing knows this. But MF Grimm? Criminally underappreciated. Case in point.

Edit: The song 1000 Degrees from the album "Special Herbs and Spices Vol. 1" produced by MF Doom. Also, MF Grimm is in a wheelchair, which is why he has lines like "Fuck Jacob's Ladder times 10/I'll use the elevator" and has an amazing line about "slithering down the stairs".

Listen to 36 Chambers again. If Wu-Tang bores you, you don't like rap. Their subject matter is gangsta, but they have some of the most amazing and inventive styles and I LOVE the way RZA's minimalistic beats really emphasize that. Their lyricism is also a lot better than most give them credit for. Hell, Raekwon even does an acrostic in 7th Chamber:

So, yo, bombin
We Usually Take All Niggaz Garments
Save ya breath before I bomb it

Not the most brilliant line, sure, but it's so fresh and inventive and the sound is so raw.

The entire Doom/Grimm album is seriously wicked. But I think I might actually dig DangerDoom most of all. It is a bit of a silly concept to begin with, but pulled off to perfection. And I enjoy it a whole lot more now that I've started watching Adult Swim.

Honestly I get bored by the random rhyming, after an album is over I think back and I'm like "what was the point?". Sometimes Wu-Tang lyrics are cool, I mean we're talking about the C.R.E.A.M folk, and I like RZA especially. I'm not against abstract lyrics or boasting, but alot of the time it just makes me want to listen to something more coherent and challenging. I'd rather check out the political ranting of Immortal Technique or the cynical humour of Atmosphere, or the quirky observations of Cunninlynguists any day of the week than the big hitters of rap who usually stick within the confines of their genre too much.

Lately I see more willingness to experiment in the mainstream, the emergence of Kanye, Jay-Z hooking up with Linkin Park, Gorillaz, etc, and thats encouraging, but there's so much talent just underneath the mainstream that deserves some limelight too, but ultimately never will because they're not primarily about the bling and the boast.

On the flipside of that though, acts like The Roots or KRS-1 are pretty popular, so its a nice balance I guess.

Those were some fun lyrics by Jay Z though Stew.

The summer in between my Junior and Senior year I became obsessed with rap and it's possibilities, studying it like a headphone wearing Jane Goodall. I studied rhyme schemes, metaphors, flows, the various elements of really good beats, etc. Then I began to write rhymes. A LOT. I have an entire notebook and a manilla envelope full of random lines and verses and all other sorts of horrible shit written on receipts, notepads, loose-leaf, just anything and everything. Then, later in the year, I got Frooty Loops and began making beats, which I've been doing ever since.

I was just curious if anyone else took the step of actually creating rap, however mixed the results may have been (to this date I'm still proud that, among the several metric tons of shite my brain produced, I wrote a pretty cool and funny verse about dating Catholic girls that I (too often) can whip out at parties after I had a few.)

Random rhyming? Wu-Tang? They act out a lot of sound effects and ODB says some fucking ridiculous shit, but I wouldn't say that they lean towards the abstract, certainly not as much as, say, Aesop Rock or MF DOOM.

Also, about the lyrical, before I mentioned how incredible their rhythm and flows are. Part of that is because they have these amazing internal rhyming abilities that link their lines together beautifully ("I leave the mic in body bags/ my rap style has/the force to leave you lost/like the tribe of Shabazz")
. Just listen to the melodies of their vocals. They very rarely have too many syllables and when they do it's usually on purpose (in 'Ain't Nothin' to Fuck With' when Method Man sings "The Meth will come out tomorrow"). Theres so much style and so much skill on display, you don't have to like it (my previous statement was an exaggeration), but you can't deny it's greatness.

Again, ever since I started writing, I realise and notice so much more about lyrical construction than I did before, so we are probably just focusing on different aspects.

This is an odd statement. If you don't like something, you're not going to consider it to be "great". Rap is like most music, if it's not pleasing to the ear, no amount of critical analysis or deconstruction is really going to sway you.

That's why I hate the fuckin south. With shit spewing out from that section of Hip Hop, I don't believe they've ever heard of lyrical construction, they all rely on two things to rap about: Materialism/New Dance Move. With groups like Cash Money Millionaires and shit like "Walk It Out" "Pop Lock and Drop It" and "Chain Hang Low" from artists you'll never hear from again, I don't know how the south is on top at this moment. Of course, there are some exceptions. I do enjoy Ludacris, though he dips into mediocrity every once in a while, T.I. I could tolerate, and I do enjoy Young Buck.

I second the love for Wu-Tang. To me they're like the East Coast version of N.W.A., and their solo stuff doesn't fall far from their albums as a group. Ghostface Killahs last two albums were great as well as Method Man's latest 4:21 The Day After.

Also, has anyone mentioned Lupe Fiasco? This kid is good. damn good.

I know many people who recognize Bob Dylan as a talented songwriter but don't nessecarily enjoy listening to his music. Since rap has a level of poetry to it, it IS possible to appreciate it as a great work without enjoying how it sounds as a song. I don't like the Decemberists, but lyrically, they're great songwriters.