soulja boy- crank that. triumph or tragedy?

  • Thread starter simon silverdollar
  • Start date
M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
swears said:
Wow, it's like all those "Jack..." house records from the late 80s.
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Or Roxanne records from the 80s, there's a whole album of them. It's just versions, ain't no thing. I like the DUMBNESS of the versions though, hiphop hasn't got stupid dumb in a while, and I don't think you can talk about the simplicity of Crank Dat without that, it's cold dumb. I welcome it. I'd even go so far to say that dumbness heralds the end of an era when transposed into popular culture, it's like killing a feeling and fucking its corpse.
 
G

gumdrops

Well-known member
its a nadir for mainstream rap, definitely, but essentially the apex of what mainstream rap has been devolving to over the past few years. where else could things go? its barely a beat, its barely rapping, its the ultimate triumph of 'minimalism' (of both musical and lyrical content) over all else. i do find it vaguely enjoyable but its vacuous, vapid and ultimately, quite depressing. but theres few other alternatives for mainstream rap now - its this way or nothing, pretty much. i wouldnt mind so much if there were plenty of other alternatives in hip hop as vibrant as ever, but im not sure there are. all this stuff about it reflecting the current mood/climate/general nihilism/apathy in the US is all well and good but it doesnt really do that in any 'meaningful' or acute or even well-expressed/executed way does it?

i dont really see how its the lil jon sound gone pop either - lil jons sound went pop when he started producing usher and ciara etc.
 
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Gavin

Gavin

booty bass intellectual
slackk said:
I just find it bizarre that there were so many of these crank songs, to be honest. Noz at cocaine blunts made two comps this year of them. The Soulja Boy one isn't even the best or first of this bad bunch, some of them (imo etc) are much much better. It's a bit of a shock that that is the one that made it big really, but what can you do.
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THANKS YOU... I could only get these on YouTube!
 
S

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
simon silverdollar said:
is it...
a nadir for hiphop, and pop music generally (reducing the pop song to being an extended advert for the novelty ringtone, etc etc yadda yadda...)

OR
are the haters just snobby, po-faced miserabilists running scared of hiphop's embrace of an irresistable, silly pop hook?

my (popist?) instinct is to go with the latter view, but then i listen to 'crank that' and, really, it's just rubbish isn't it?

anyway, what's the dissensus?
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Pretty much should be self-evidently shite to anyone who has a even passing interest in southern hip hop. Or any hip hop. Or fuck it, just music.

This is basically the hip hop industry's equivalent of Eric Prydz.

It's a laugh and all, but it's definitely not good.
 
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N

nomadologist

Guest
Southern hip-hop? Like which?

In case people haven't noticed yet, hip hop isn't just another subgenre of pop at this point. I suppose Michael Jackson's "Thriller" sucked, too, because it wasn't "underground" enough.

Dumb.
 
D

doom

Public Housing
Me, Hugo Ball and Gil Wolman rekon reducing pop music to a single illiterate verbal noise is one of the best things rap can do...

the beat is hot as shit as well, very nice re-touch of an ATL classic. The verse / hook on the orig is arguably better....

:cool:
 
S

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
nomadologist said:
In case people haven't noticed yet, hip hop isn't just another subgenre of pop at this point. I suppose Michael Jackson's "Thriller" sucked, too, because it wasn't "underground" enough.
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I'm probably not understanding you correctly, but the answer would be "no", because there isn't really much of a comparison between Michael Jackson's Thriller and Soulja Boy's Crank Dat at all.
 
bnek

bnek

Well-known member
i love this song & the dance, its genius. put this on at work & watch how people react, its brilliant.
 
P

petergunn

plywood violin
first off, i did a remix:
http://www.divshare.com/download/3402002-b6f

this song is like the Fruity Loops demo!

when you open Fruity Loops, it's set to 140bpm, Crank Dat is at 140 (or 70) (which, recently almost NO hip hop songs have used for a while... most songs that feel slow ("this is why i'm hot", "it's going down") are at between 78-85 these days)

when you input a note onto the keyboard the note is automatically C unless you change it... the first steel drum note is C... he uses the steel drum preset w/ no fx...

that said, it's a great song, catchy as hell and fun... in the whole scheme of mindless rap/dance songs of the past few years, i's say Laffy Taffy is far more annoying lyrically and far less interesting musically (it has 2 notes, compared to 3 for Crank Dat)

what about Chicken Noodle Soup? (could never get w/ that one, but same story as Crank Dat, made by 17 year old kids just messing around)

or "Vans" by the Pack?

or this?
, which i hope is a joke, b/c it is the worst nightmare of everyone who hates Crank Dat...

also, i mean, from a dance music perspective, it's not like this is more or less repititive and simple than "it's time for the percolator", "there's some ho's in this house", or "watch out for the big girl"... i think if you treat it as a dance record and mix it in and out quick (it's at 140, bassline, grime, and dubstep fans...), it works fine...
 
swears

swears

preppy-kei
Yeah, but I like the way this pushes it to an extreme. Even minimal tunes like "Grindin" still had "proper" verses or whatever.
 
L

lissajou

Well-known member
MOAR:

WASS HAPSENIN: New Rap from the trAp Vol. I

Tracklist:
1. What's Up - BHI
2. Juke Yo Boy - Born Threats
3. Watch Me Crank It (Roosevelt) - PLP
4. Smirk In My System - Too Crunk
5. Ride Out - Street Runnaz Click
6. Kill Dat Dance - Ammunition Click
7. Ho Sit Down - Maceo
8. I'm Da Man - Shawty Lo
9. Shoulder Wurk f/ K-Rab - Yung Money
10. Crank My Dance - Dem Homicide Boyz
11. My Girl Gotta Girlfriend - T-Rilla
12. Booty Butt Cheeks - B5F
13. Ain't Gon Let Up - D.G. Yola
14. GA Girls - Georgia Girls
15. Butterhead - Get Rich Clique
16. Gone Jig - C.B.Y.A.
17. Get Em - Kadalack Boyz

http://sharebee.com/b65b18f4

WASS HAPSENIN: New Rap from the trAp Vol. II

http://sharebee.com/86bdcfd8

WASS HAPSENIN: New Rap from the trAp Vol. III

http://sharebee.com/6a9f9499
 
Gavin

Gavin

booty bass intellectual
:D

Petergunn, interesting about the fruityloops connection -- that's part of the appeal, right, that anyone can do a remix, make up a silly dance, and post it on YouTube in an afternoon. There have been several attempts at working the "fan remix" angle (Public Enemy and Nine Inch Nails come to mind) but this is the only one that's had any legs.
 
slackk

slackk

-
lissajou said:
MOAR:

WASS HAPSENIN: New Rap from the trAp Vol. I

Tracklist:
1. What's Up - BHI
2. Juke Yo Boy - Born Threats
3. Watch Me Crank It (Roosevelt) - PLP
4. Smirk In My System - Too Crunk
5. Ride Out - Street Runnaz Click
6. Kill Dat Dance - Ammunition Click
7. Ho Sit Down - Maceo
8. I'm Da Man - Shawty Lo
9. Shoulder Wurk f/ K-Rab - Yung Money
10. Crank My Dance - Dem Homicide Boyz
11. My Girl Gotta Girlfriend - T-Rilla
12. Booty Butt Cheeks - B5F
13. Ain't Gon Let Up - D.G. Yola
14. GA Girls - Georgia Girls
15. Butterhead - Get Rich Clique
16. Gone Jig - C.B.Y.A.
17. Get Em - Kadalack Boyz

http://sharebee.com/b65b18f4

WASS HAPSENIN: New Rap from the trAp Vol. II

http://sharebee.com/86bdcfd8

WASS HAPSENIN: New Rap from the trAp Vol. III

http://sharebee.com/6a9f9499
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your chest.
 
G

gumdrops

Well-known member
swears said:
Yeah, but I like the way this pushes it to an extreme. Even minimal tunes like "Grindin" still had "proper" verses or whatever.
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i LIKE proper verses! id go so far as to say i NEED them. this isnt so much minimalism as barely anything there at all w/r/t to the rapping.
 
swears

swears

preppy-kei
Me too! But like I say, it's apples and pears. I enjoy "Crank That" the same way I enjoy a house record.
 
U

UFO over easy

online mahjong
i just googled "soulja boy interview"

Underground Rap Scene:

Who would you say is your biggest influence?


Soulja Boy:

I would say 50 Cent. I might not rap like him. But this man has Movies, Video Games, 11x Platinum Albums, Clothes, Shoes, Drinks.. I could go on all day. That is my biggest Inspiration. I just keep it in my mind. If he can do it. I can too.
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rockypoppy2

rockypoppy2

wtf?
i can see why people might not enjoy the lyrical content, but some of the beats are pretty heavy. this stuff kind of reminds me of baile funk, in the really amateur, under produced beats and silly content (where applicable)

in fact i think its quite an amazing thing that this sound has caught on at all.
 
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