It's at 1:55 in "Hello New World": "I ain't coming at at you quote, unquote "famous rapper" / Who turn positive, try to tell you how to live / But this information I must pass to the homies / If hustling is a must be Sosa, not Tony."
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nomadologist
Guest
that's not off-topic! i'd have to listen to APC (been a long long time) to know if i agree with your point, but i'd be interested in comparing
i guess in the end, the self-righteous indignation that initally motivated me to start this thread is a knee-jerk reaction to the overly literal way just about everyone--from people who hate the clipse to people who fanatically adore them--in the print media has interpreted them. (the ones 've read, of course)
i am someone who responds to beats/production first, and lyrics second, especially when it comes to hip-hop, r&b, pop, and electronic genres. when i loved Hell Hath sonically so much on the very first listen, it was such a pleasant surprise to actually find their lyrics literate without being pretentious or clunky--as gumdrops says, they're dense, with allusions to so many unexpected sources and at the same time so many really relevant cultural references and of-the-moment slang and wordplay. it's hard for me to imagine anyone could put it in the same category as 50 Cent lyrically.
it's also so rare for me to feel overwhelmed by my own enjoyment of a record anymore, that it doesn't matter how many people have talked about them or the issues they've raised, i'm gonna want to talk about it, and defend clipse from misinterpretors like a teenager does their idols. it hits on so many issues i've been engrossed by or exposed to or bogged down in my whole life that it feels probably more relevant that it is in general. it's been so long since i've cared about much of anything that my enthusiasm is probably blinding me to flaws the album has. can literally only think of 3 glaring ones, but i bet i'll calm down after a while and see more...
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STN
sou'wester
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,1987797,00.html
I'm all for a bit of context, but it seems like over half this article is about cocaine rather than the music (man) which seems rather silly. I say 'seems like' because I couldn't be bothered to finish reading the review, I'm afraid.
I'm all for a bit of context, but it seems like over half this article is about cocaine rather than the music (man) which seems rather silly. I say 'seems like' because I couldn't be bothered to finish reading the review, I'm afraid.
viktorvaughn
Well-known member
I find Clipse really well-spoken in a curious way...they enunciate all their words fully. I think its just because i have been listening to so much Grime with its sometimes rushy, muddy flows.
I know how you could call their lyrics sociopathic...most of them pale in compare to the hardcore gun chat of some Grime MCs.
I know how you could call their lyrics sociopathic...most of them pale in compare to the hardcore gun chat of some Grime MCs.
yeah! the clipse *are* well spoken. even their hanger ons are well spoken and have a fantastic vocabulary. i wrote about this actually in a blog entry i wrote about the clipse, i just need to start a blog (not that the world needs another 2000 words on clipse of course but hey).
they seem to have fantastic taste in clothes and cars, certainly living the high life with style.
this and the clipse being eloquent, thoughtful mcs separates them from the next thug dealing powder and mcing.
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nomadologist
Guest
sad part is they didn't make all too much money on the last album and it looks like they're not going to this time, either 
god, that article is just terrible, STN
god, that article is just terrible, STN
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Slothrop
Tight but Polite
It'd be okay if you trimmed out the waffle and generalities about "cocaine rap" and cocaine generally, the bits where he actually reviews the record seem pretty good.sad part is they didn't make all too much money on the last album and it looks like they're not going to this time, either
god, that article is just terrible, STN
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nomadologist
Guest
Yeah, the last couple of paragraphs are good. Took a while to get that far in it, though...
Precious Cuts
Well-known member
Is it just me, or does it seem like the writer of that peice read this exact thread and then based his article on it?
Guybrush
Dittohead
Maybe he did. It’s a nice article, anyway. (I, too, was unimpressed with it, fwiw.)
there has been a lot of love for HHNF from people whose encomium for it is a little hmmmn but there was a lot worse to get enthusiastic about last year (like 95% of the stuff on that site's year end lists)
there is no reference to the interesting stuff, the synths like acid (trill) or the normal (mr me too) or their unusual elocution for instance
nomad yr pm box is full
there is no reference to the interesting stuff, the synths like acid (trill) or the normal (mr me too) or their unusual elocution for instance
nomad yr pm box is full
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nomadologist
Guest
fuck. that's probably because i just spent the last 5 days with some sort of tropical stomach disease. i soldiered through until Thursday, when it got so bad i couldn't even work up the strength to type in passwords, let alone go to work and waste time on nelson rockefeller's dime.
HHNF is an amazing album that coheres so well aesthetically, pharrell's minimalism morphs into a sort of baroque thematic maximalism that itself is a metatext on its own excesses.
i say all this and mean it, which makes me wonder--how little came out in 2006 of value that i got so excited about HHNF? i did spend most of it asleep, but like until i was sick enough to lie in front of the TV, i kept reading these year end nonsense lists and wondering "who the hell is that?" like i only just today saw a lily allen video clip. i even saw the white rapper show, and almost died of reality TV-induced mortification. persia is, counterintuitive to my first moment's assessment, the only real talent on the show. too bad she doesn't look like beyonce or she'd have a chance at a career in show biz. music, what's that? i also watched that abomination of a JLo dance show. god help me.
(does anyone know: what was the deal with girl who idolized vanilla ice?? and why was she repping white folk??? i swear most of us know better...)
HHNF is an amazing album that coheres so well aesthetically, pharrell's minimalism morphs into a sort of baroque thematic maximalism that itself is a metatext on its own excesses.
i say all this and mean it, which makes me wonder--how little came out in 2006 of value that i got so excited about HHNF? i did spend most of it asleep, but like until i was sick enough to lie in front of the TV, i kept reading these year end nonsense lists and wondering "who the hell is that?" like i only just today saw a lily allen video clip. i even saw the white rapper show, and almost died of reality TV-induced mortification. persia is, counterintuitive to my first moment's assessment, the only real talent on the show. too bad she doesn't look like beyonce or she'd have a chance at a career in show biz. music, what's that? i also watched that abomination of a JLo dance show. god help me.
(does anyone know: what was the deal with girl who idolized vanilla ice?? and why was she repping white folk??? i swear most of us know better...)
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nomadologist
Guest
Precious Cuts, I invariably disagree completely with that particular writer's ear. he writes really well, but i can't think of one time i've agreed with him. I find his taste very slanted toward major label stuff like Jay Z (from what I can tell), but at the same time he seems to be on that crusade that so many people are on about "cocaine rap" that is so narrow and journalisty i really really dislike reading about it. I love polemical writing, but sometimes I think the indie press is too intent on just "not getting" anything that's widely hyped by industry heads or bloggers, which they think proves they have insight.
In the first paragraph, he claims nothing on it stands out as much as "Grindin". To which I have to say, if the beat to "Got it 4 Cheap" or "Keys Open Doors" or "Trill" doesn't stand out to you, your ear is completely different from mine. Those songs command my attention, those beats are some of the most striking minimal polyrhythmic bodyrocking type of beats I can even fathom, all the songs have a linear narrative thrust which Pharrell is usually bad at. I love how not-funky the polyrhythmic beats are while still being immedaitely physical. I get the sense that writer wouldn't be much of a dancer from the beats he likes. How can you top Grindin, anyway? You can't, and you shouldn't bother. You should push it somewhere else. They captured "now" very deliberately and very well, sonically. The lack of samples is very significant to me. I love how Clipse exist in a vacuum where you wouldn't know Diddy ever existed.
Guybrush, I'm surprised you don't like it, since you seem to have an ear for really "hot" r&B/hip-hop production. Being Swedish, do you catch many of the lyrics?
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nomadologist
Guest
we should start a blog where there are several contributors. because i can't be arsed now that school is back in session to update a blog regularly enough.
MMS: sadly, they don't have much money, really. not the kind you can report on your taxes, anyway. i'm sure the louis v sunglasses are swag they get for free just for knowing Pharell and being hip-hop stars, over whom all the major designers compete as reps for their brands because hip hop is so edgy and street. "urban" as they say in fashion. clipse even talk about not saving/investing any money off their first album and losing tons litigating to get this one out.
Viktorvaughn: Anything the Grime DJs are saying probably pales in comparison to what actually went down in the 90s when all the stupid feuds were on and Sug Knight's reign of terror was in full force. hip hop used to be run like a maffia. hell, they even got jam master j not so long ago. fucking irv "gotti"--using the gotti name like it's something aspirational? ugh. Is there a lot of violence in Britain? Over here we imagine there isn't, except that new Ripper...
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funny, when that stuff came out, i got more play out of "when the last time", it had a longer shelf live, at least for me...