rap aesthetic

E

ether

Well-known member
Prompted by a news paper article, I did some not very extensive research into African Rap, spurred on by discovering the huge amount of hip hop music in the continent, it depressed me how much material I came across on You tube Etc. strongly echoed the aesthetics of Mtv bass, If i muted the volume there would be little to discern between the two.

I think what prompted my interest is that I haven't heard anything which has been strongly innovative in recent times, rap has become as predictable and safe as rock and roll, relying on the same set pieces and bland components which make it easy to digest and unchallenging to the pallet, the aural equivalent of white bread. For one thing, rap can no longer be the soundtrack to middle class white suburban rebellion. Surely aren't people bored of the mundane mass media culture of rap music.

can anyone suggest any good current hiphop african or otherwise...
 
hint

hint

party record with a siren
Can you give any examples of older Hip Hop that you consider to be "strongly innovative"?
 
S

sing_minimal

Well-known member
i can only listen to a very small percent of contemporary hip hop..the roots are always awesome and i liked that clipse album from last year a lot and the new shape of broad minds album was pretty great as well..but yeah, generally hip hop isn't all that interesting lately
 
Z

zhao

there are no accidents
but yeah, the aesthetic. the aping of US bling is to be expected from places that are poorer than the poorest ghettos in the US... i usually don't pay attention to the vids, just the amazing beats and the amazing amazing flows.

a few bongo flava vids:

one of the biggest tunes in the genre:
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oh man this stuff just kills me...
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not really hiphop, kinda dancehall-ish... sick, sick tune:
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(love the courting big girl theme :D)

another sweet sweet girl vocal track here, again not really hiphop:
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and where US hiphop albums you are lucky to have 1 good song out of 13 or whatever, it seems like with something like Bongo Flava the vast majority of songs are tip top quality...
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and here is a more commerical tune that has the faux-MTV look (but still sounds better than any hiphop played on MTV):
<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3QMeH8YYfbk&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3QMeH8YYfbk&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

this music makes me bug the fuck out...
 
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M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
But tune of the month is that Mgarimbe one for me

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E

ether

Well-known member
cheers for the links, interesting to see the US mpc sound seems to provide the backbone to alot of the tracks strangely rhythmic elements seems sparser than I expected definitely prefer the more up tempo dance hall inspired stuff. thanks again.
 
hint

hint

party record with a siren
Hmmm... don't you immediately hear the US producers that most of those tracks are biting?

Beats like this are far more interesting, in my opinion:

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E

ether

Well-known member
now this is kinda dope! kind of reminds me of clipse but with something to say, aside from 'I used to shift keys' thank god somebody can still rhyme stateside. manages to rep old school values but without being to derivative.
 
Gavin

Gavin

booty bass intellectual
Hey the Murder Club dudes are from Chicago right? They ride mopeds. There is some pretty nice dance-hip-hop going here... Cool Kids, Hollywood Holt, etc. I hear a lot of juke and hyphy influence in their stuff.
 
E

ether

Well-known member
Gavin said:
Hey the Murder Club dudes are from Chicago right? They ride mopeds. There is some pretty nice dance-hip-hop going here... Cool Kids, Hollywood Holt, etc. I hear a lot of juke and hyphy influence in their stuff.
Click to expand...

who are the artists involved in that stuff (juke and hyphy) chicago seems to have some really diverse stuff coming out of it write now.
 
Gavin

Gavin

booty bass intellectual
ether said:
who are the artists involved in that stuff (juke and hyphy) chicago seems to have some really diverse stuff coming out of it write now.
Click to expand...

Hyphy is SF Bay Area, but I can definitely hear its influence. I don't enough to give many recommendations but I've been playing The Pack album from a couple years ago a lot this weekend.

Juke is awesome, not exactly a wide palette of sounds at the moment, but lots of energy, nice to see dance music on people's radar here.

Juke people to check out (they've all got myspace):

DJ Slugo
DJ Gant-Man
DJ Deeon

Chicago hip hop:

Hollywood Holt (there's a mixtape on this site somewhere... it's ok, stuff comes off better live surprisingly
The Cool Kids(they are opening up for M.I.A. on her tour, might try to catch that in a couple weeks
 
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P

petergunn

plywood violin
zhao said:
and here is a more commerical tune that has the faux-MTV look (but still sounds better than any hiphop played on MTV):
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Click to expand...

you're overstating your case w/ this track, it sounds and looks inferior to almost every single r&b video played on MTV
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
ether said:
Surely aren't people bored of the mundane mass media culture of rap music.
Click to expand...

Surely aren't people bored of middle class people endlessly whining about how mundane the "culture" of "rap" music is?

Hip-hop is a form of pop music, get over it! Stop fetishizing the non-Western American Other, and you'll realize that hip-hop, like all kinds of music, is bound to become another spectacle-driven industry stronghold.
 
Gavin

Gavin

booty bass intellectual
I am rarely bored by mass media rap music even at its most derivative... Maybe there is something wrong with me.
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
ether said:
now this is kinda dope! kind of reminds me of clipse but with something to say, aside from 'I used to shift keys' thank god somebody can still rhyme stateside. manages to rep old school values but without being to derivative.
Click to expand...

are you kidding? within the first verse he talks about dopeman attire and a million other hip-hop cliches...

i like the beat
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
Gavin said:
I am rarely bored by mass media rap music even at its most derivative... Maybe there is something wrong with me.
Click to expand...

I'm not either. I'm bored by people who want music to be a morality play.
 
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