the rap canon needs rewriting

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2012/jul/17/public-enemy-classic-albums

tyranny said:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2012/jul/17/public-enemy-classic-albums

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good to know people are still writing articles to tell us we shouldn't do what we're told.

worst title ever

Everyone always goes on about how it's too long, but what are the tracks worth keeping on Wu Tang Forever?

'For Heaven's Sake' (should've been a single, would've been a surging opener, an Inspectah Deck and Masta Killa showcase)

'Maria' (a grotestque misogynistic rant, in the vein of 'Wildflower' and 'Domestic Violence'; therefore horribly compelling)

'A Better Tomorrow' (majestic, a 4th Disciple classic)

'It's Yourz' (super catchy)

'Impossible' (amazing Ghostface and RZA performances)

'The City' (nice apocalpytic 70s b-movie atmosphere)

'Bells of War' (1997 exoticness, a kind of declaration of intent and lo-fi anthem)

'The MGM' (as charming and goofy as a dodgy DeNiro comedy vehicle, basically Ghostface and Raekwon go to a boxing match, amusing verbal interplay)

'Dogshit' (ODB's testament)

'Hellz Wind Staff' (sounds like Slint, subtle and one of my favorite RZA productions)

'Heaterz' (massive cinematic sweep, a grand, early True Master production)

'Black Shampoo' (U-God doing I Want You-era Marvin Gaye. Bizarre, hilarious.)

I really like Wu Tang Forever. It has a lot of different textures. I like the fact that it is absurdly, unjustifiably long. It's rap's Electric Ladyland.

Thanks - you'll get a Wu Tang Forever playlist named in your honour for that.

The guy singing "This is 19 90 90 90 97" at the beginning cracks me up.

1xtra are doing a hip hop month. they are compiling the top 100 rap singles/songs of all time. so far the top 3 is kanyay-z - niggas in paris, wu-tang - CREAM, and um, warren g - regulate. :slanted:

'Regulate' is a fantastic record.

Weirdly, in the mid-90s my mother loved Warren G. I had to buy her a copy of G-Funk Era and she used to play it in her car all the time. It's a nice album.

I love the chopped and screwed version on D.O.T.O.

its good - i played it a million times when i got the above the rim soundtrack - but not THAT great. more a classic of its time (as in it just specifies that era really well - also has one of nate doggs best appearances) than an all time great rap record. id put several snoop singles before that one. but anyway, its 1xtra, and its voted by the listeners. im not expecting anything that interesting. although saying that, putting regulate up there is more interesting than something from illmatic (for good and bad).

regulate is a timeless classic

any real fan of the rap canon will tell u that for free

regulate isnt really part of the 'rap canon'. its part of the rap fans canon. which is a bit different.

so ur telling me regulate, the hookless wonder, is a "cult favourite" as opposed to a genuine blockbuster ?

dunno wtf this dude is on about, regulate is 100% part of any rap canon. not only an all time great record, but also the emblematic g-funk. dre (and quik, the guys from above the law, etc) concocted the formula, but warren g distilled it down to its basic essence. and not with p-funk or troutman, but with a michael freaking mcdonald sample. any record that can make michael mcdonald sound awesome is a major achievement.

also craner - no to triumph but yes to black shampoo is like, unfathomable, tho respect I guess for going against the grain

I cant even think about regulate without laughing because of this.

trilliam said:

so ur telling me regulate, the hookless wonder, is a "cult favourite" as opposed to a genuine blockbuster ?

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slight misapplication of movie terms there.

hardcore hip hop fans would not put regulate in a top 3 rap records list. its a cool song, i like it, i played it a lot as a teenager, but i wouldnt put it in a list like this. same way that i like indiana jones, but i wouldnt put it in a top 3 movie list either.

cult favourites rarely do well at the box office while blockbusters speak for themselves

ur making regulate a victim of it's own success

the song is just that damn good.

Obviously 'N*ggas In Paris' doesn't belong in a top 3 of all time either, that's just the way polls work out.

I've started working my way through the hiphop canon recently, for the possibly purpose of blogging about it (rejoice world!). So far I've got Run DMCs first two albums, LL's first album, the Beastie Boys 'Licensed To Ill', Eric B and Rakim 'Paid In Full' and BDP's 'Criminal Minded' in a playlist. It's really amazing for an ingrate like me listening to these old records and realising how much of what came after them drew directly on them. Also its very instructive in that you realise quickly that a lot of this classic stuff doesn't conform to what ''TRUE SCHOOL HIP-HOP'' style heads demand from hip-hop music. Hip-Hop didn't develop along a single track, improving all the way - it's not like Nas was the culmination of all Hip-Hop and everything since then ('worthy' underground rappers aside) has been a falling off.

I can't say that I don't regularly skip a few tracks on every one of these albums (especially the ones dedicated to the DJ - also, sometimes you look at the length of a track and think ''fuck this'' cos you know its going to be a spartan 808 beat and LL shouting for 6 minutes straight) but there's at least a couple classics on every one that deserve to be dusted off, covered as they are in ''historic'' reputation and status... dust. E.G. Run DMC nowadays I think of as quite cuddly and grandad-ish but ''It's Like That'' and ''Sucker MCs'' are tunes that go hard to this day.