Rap Music

[hnismokehash]

Fat Trel's new mixtape hasn't grabbed me as much as it might have, but this song has been on repeat for the past few days. Part of it may be my soft spot for rappers who are have some weight, but aren't as big as Rick Ross or Big Pun. Most of it is that Trel just dominates the hook.

[mono tony]

willie the kid - the cure 2

[Yii]

via tappey

[oldirtybastien]

Out May 15th

http://definitivejux.myshopify.com/coll ... p-music-cd

[J.F.]

still basically unfamiliar with hip hop, but here's one I found two days ago which I enjoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tP-4m4b3tA
Azealia Banks - L8R ... popular thing? - some vids of hers seem to be watched quite a lot there on YouTube
On the other hand, judging from some comments, something might be wrong with her and that clip, but what do I know?
I like the whole track, but in particular the way she uses those "perforated throat growls" I last heard from Jeanne Lee.

[Joda]

Can't wait for this one... April 17th

[dave quam]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsjIkwsdJuI

beat is crazy on this one. I guess its about a year old but the video just came out a few days ago.

[Yii]

GOKU GREEN / Dream Life http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDR0gKYAVeg

[cheerios]

Jedi Mind Tricks Ft. Randam Luck - Raw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFdsAsIYZpU

[mono tony]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWPegBIc17w

from house shoes let it go

[bryan]

Kendrick Lamar - Cartoon and Cereal feat. Gunplay
"let my life loose in this booth, muthafucka, hope y'all amused"


Ab-Soul - Terrorist Threats feat. Danny Brown
"I ain't got no gavel, I ain't trying to fight nobody's battle, I just want to be free, I ain't trying to be nobody's shadow"


Schoolboy Q - Druggys WitH Hoes Again ft Ab-Soul
"...you nasty... Q you know you nasty"

Section 80, Control System, and Habits & Contradictions are the respective albums from the above and other than XXX are the most solid rap full lengths I've heard in the past ~year. Sonic cohesiveness, use of samples, pan-regional sound, and breadth of subject matter. Appealing to both my inner goon and grown-up. TDE / Black Hippy is the crew!

And oh, now that I think of it, they tend to brood... a la ATLiens.

[bryan]

OK, let's try this ^^^ again. Videos didn't embed. Embedding video is like pulling teeth.

[hnismokehash]

Necro -- For The Streets

Something I recently realized is how fucking great a producer Necro is. Maybe I'm just saying that 'cause this kind of music is a tonic to the overly recycled trap music that most of my other favorite rappers are rapping over, but there is definitely a reason he releases instrumental versions of a lot his records; the beats are great and might not be heard if you're turned off by his unrelenting violent misogyny (although I doubt anyone who doesn't like Necro in the first place is seriously going to buy an instrumental beats CD of his, but, whatever). It looks like there are a couple tracks off his new EP that have a "Jewish"-theme, although I like how he has, in the past, dropped in sly little references to Middle Eastern conflicts in the middle of tracks predominantly about sex ("Mad dudes fighting over her like Palestine", from The Kink Panther). Kind of like Brotha Lynch Hung, Necro's a really good rapper with a singular voice whose subject matter has stopped any kind of mainstream acceptance. My buddy dated this junkie for a while (he never touched the stuff), and has clear memories of driving around her and her friends, all of them high on heroin, bumping Necro, which pretty much captures Necro's essence, at least to me. Super pumped for his Murder Murder Kill Kill EP and that collaboration album he's doing with Kool G Rap.

[hnismokehash]

Section 80, Control System, and Habits & Contradictions are the respective albums from the above and other than XXX are the most solid rap full lengths I've heard in the past ~year. Sonic cohesiveness, use of samples, pan-regional sound, and breadth of subject matter. Appealing to both my inner goon and grown-up. TDE / Black Hippy is the crew!

And oh, now that I think of it, they tend to brood... a la ATLiens.

It doesn't seem to me like there is actually a lot of discussion about what people post in the rap thread, so I'll give you my thoughts on these raps (and you can probably discern my general tastes from which of these I like best).

My favorite of these, which I'm pretty sure I've heard before, was the Schoolboy Q track. It has pretty interesting production even if its mostly just about having sex with women and the usual rap tropes. There's a line in there, I think by Ab-Soul (sorry, I don't know these guys well enough to be sure), that is something about you can have my woman, but you can't have my weed. I've always thought this sentiment (which I've heard other places) strange, and don't really know if it speaks more to the rapper's issues with women or his issue's with drugs. Anyways, this one knocks.

Second comes Ab-Soul and Danny Brown. I like rap's flirtations with conspiracy theory, generally, plus Ab-Soul's wearing that H.N.I.C. hat in homage (maybe) to Prodigy, the king of all this conspiracy shit, is nice. He raps well, although if you want to here some next level conspiracy stuff listen to this:



I seriously (or not seriously, if everything he's spitting is a lie, who knows) learned more about global economic policy from this track then from anything I've ever read on the subject.

Back to Ab-Soul's song, and Danny Brown. I will freely acknowledge that he can spit, and I really liked that mixtape he did with Tony Yayo. But I can't take him seriously since he got that goddamn haircut. Superficial? Maybe, but it looks dumb as shit, and not just on a good rapper who will be accused of being soft for having it, that haircut would look dumb on anyone.

My least favorite is the Kendrick Lamar track, who I've never been able to get into, for some reason. Probably just cause there are a lot of other rappers I'd rather listen to first. Again, interesting production, but I can't connect. Gunplay kind of pulls it up at the end, but that's just 'cause Gunplay is one of those rappers I would rather listen to than Kendrick Lamar.

These Black Hippy guys are from LA, right? I would disagree with the idea that they should be using a pan-regional sound. If they want to get Los Angeles back on the map as important rap city (and if they don't have this in mind, I think they should), they should be trying to create a regional sound. The only Los Angeles rapper I listen to on a regular basis is DJ Quik, and, although he's moved on from his G-Funk days, his past few albums have really sounded like they came from LA. These tracks don't, and I think they kind of suffer from that.

[bryan]

Nice, some discussion.. It would be a sidetrack to get into why I don't care about regionalism any more but suffice to say that my interest in that dissipated as NYC rap lost it and became really conservative years back. Since then, I've gotten more excited over the rap that synthesizes different regional sounds into something that comes from nowhere and everywhere at once. This brings it to Black Hippy, and a lot of expectations on Kendrick's full length later this year. The thing is, I find his moralizing heavy-handed. How many times, for example, do we need to hear another patriarchical cautionary tale about a female protagonist from a male rapper? Also, rap technicians like Kendrick can end up just being someone I admire on a skill level but do not like to listen to. However, he's got some tracks that balance charisma with skill (such as Rigamortis) that leave me hopeful for more even though Section 80 didn't totally work for me as an album. Kendrick might be the better rapper, but Schoolboy Q made the best album. Then again, we are in a post-skills era where charisma is everything. And this last point is where I tip the hat to Danny Brown, because what he lacks in ability he more than makes up for in charisma. The haircut is just part of that, and as he says, a "litmus test". If you can get past the haircut and skinny jeans there is a microphone monster who made a monster full length that was truly conceived as an album. That's rare. A fantastic feature on XXX with words from the makers themselves right here: http://passionweiss.com/2012/01/10/step ... own’s-xxx/. Essential. And for the trainspotters, there is a This Heat sample and the beat for Die Like A Rockstar basically sounds like Throbbing Gristle synths.

[ryansupak]

All of a sudden I'm interested in Top 40 Hiphop again. It's been 7-8 years since.

From about 2007-2011 I'd turn on the stations and it would be an "Autotune Ballad". Autotune is fine with me, but there was a trend for a few years where all the male vocalists were made to sound like an even wimpier version of the singer from Maroon 5. (Kind of a new take on "the third sex", maybe, I don't know.)

I started listening again to Top 40 Hiphop last month or so, and I like the way a lot of the producers are seeking out the limits and weird behaviors of the software they're using (I hear a lot of Reason and Fruity Loops in there). I also think it's interesting how much "indie/hipster" culture has cross-pollenated with it, especially in the lyric delivery. Plus, the mainstream has fully embraced what used to be known as the "Southern" sound, plus chiptune motifs, as well as mid-90s Trance musical motifs like rhythm-gated synth pads, etc...

[Robert G]

Can't get enough of French Montana's "Pop That." As brilliant as it is dumb. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DssQYSKUj0o

[bryan]

The Underachievers - "Herb Shuttles"

This is like a "'93 'Til Eternity" for 2012. Good energy, but above all, the beat is just so lovely.

[howsthatsound]

seems like some of you know where to find mix-tapes. when i was in highschool one of my most prized tapes, was a dj mix of all of the original bronx vs. queens bridge beef tracks. in chronological order i think. it was just an amazing historical document. unfortunately it was lost or stolen, or whathaveyou. anyway. anyone know of any similar collections out there?

[bryan]