The 2010s...

[sadmanbarty]

Looking back, where do you think it could have gone?

london's pretty much rejected auto-tune other than in a very derivative afrobeats context (in the music it produces, not in its listening habits). it hasn't gone for any the vocal dada either in terms of young thug-style verbal absurdism or in terms of that cyborg-kate bush dancehall.

i suppose on a more ideological level it hasn't let go of "the streets". it's social realism, not only lyrically and visually, but sonically whereas rap and dancehall are going through the star gate in 2001.

 

[sadmanbarty]

not that drill doesn't have it's weirder instrumentals.

 

[version]

Drill feels like a closed system. Very focused and specific, not much flexibility. Brittle. The US stuff feels much more fluid and expansive, open to outside influence. One's zooming in, the other's zooming out. There's probably some of the 'Innovation vs Purification' thing going on too: innovation in the US, purification in the UK.

Innovation & Purification

Like the reasons why you like contemporary dancehall are the reasons why i soured off it, ditto mumble rap. It's hard to speak about this stuff in a detached way when people try to fit everything into a progressive vs reactionary box - i think that's too ontologising, a tune can have progressive...

www.dissensus.com

 

[sadmanbarty]

Drill feels like a closed system. Very focused and specific, not much flexibility. Brittle. The US stuff feels much more fluid and expansive, open to outside influence. One's zooming in, the other's zooming out. There's probably some of the 'Innovation vs Purification' thing going on too: innovation in the US, purification in the UK.

http://www.dissensus.com/showthread.php?t=14776

i even say so in that thread (under the moscow 17 video).

what's interesting is you can hear the two different frameworks.

rap's got these huge reverbs, lots of dead space. often it'll have expansive sound-worlds or pastoral sound-worlds that make you think of open planes.

drill's hyper intricate, fidgety and pinickety. music that sounds like picking at a scab.

 

[version]

Drill reminds me of that comment Burial made about his scrapped album.

" ... all the tunes sounded like some kind of weapon that was being taken apart and put back together again."

 

[luka]

If Barty singlehandedly manages, against all odds, to convince everyone here that the 2010s were an amazing decade for music and 2017 was the greatest year ever, of all the years, it will be one of the greatest feats of persuasion ever witnessed.

 

[Corpsey]

If Barty singlehandedly manages, against all odds, to convince everyone here that the 2010s were an amazing decade for music and 2017 was the greatest year ever, of all the years, it will be one of the greatest feats of persuasion ever witnessed.

Not sure if it was a great decade for rap but 2010 was an amazing YEAR for rap IMO

 

[sadmanbarty]

Rihanna- Only Girl In The World (2010)

This was the point Rihanna went from being a pop star to being London’s anima. About 80% of the girls at school got red hair after this; she had possessed a generation. All the girls were now vectors for Rihanna. It made me feel like she was the only girl in the world.

 

[sadmanbarty]

Wize- Ah Yeah Riddim (2010)

Tribal drums. Tribal gang warfare. Tribal politics.

Night. Guy Verhofstadt in a lonely hotel room with only the hum of the air conditioner and his own fears for company. Through the blinds one singular strip of light cuts across his face. His bloodshot eyes strained by the torment of his visions that evening. The death of a federalised Europe. The death of the international order as we know it. The supranational dream rendered a nationalist nightmare.

 

[sadmanbarty]

Mavado- Nuh Fraid A Dem (2010)

The turn of the last decade was marked by a battle for Jamaica’s soul.

On the one had there was Kartel, the self-proclaimed “devil’s advocate” who toyed with Jamaica’s racial, religious and sexual taboos. The future he presented was an Auto-Tuned future. A skin bleaching future. It was ultimately transhuman. Plastic, synthetic and insincere.

On the other there was Mavado, the religiously devout social conservative. He didn’t offer a vision of the future. His yearning, rasping vocals spoke instead to our pain and our humanity. It was a voice from another age. He was the very last torchbearer of the black tradition. He was the voice of humanity as we began our journey of technologically-augmented transcendence. Before we ventured beyond soul.

 

[sadmanbarty]

Giggs- Look What The Cat Dragged In (2010)

A Jamaican raised in the African heartlands of Peckham.

He and he alone was perfectly situated to find London's new voice. He was the chosen one.

After him London would no longer rap like the sound clash warrior titans of Jamaica.

It was now sedate and subdued. Emotionally empty. Hollow man.

 

[sadmanbarty]

Meek Mill- Ima Boss (2011)

The first black president. MLK would be proud.

 

[sadmanbarty]

Chief Keef- Setz Up (2011)

Foregrounded ad-libs; the beginning of rap’s fragmentation. Sedimentary rock crumbling between your fingers.

His ad-libs sound like Cartman from South Park. It’s testament to Corpse’s comparison between fragmented rap and being poked by fat kids with sticks.

 

[craner]

The turn of the last decade was marked by a battle for Jamaica’s soul.

On the one had there was Kartel, the self-proclaimed “devil’s advocate” who toyed with Jamaica’s racial, religious and sexual taboos. The future he presented was an Auto-Tuned future. A skin bleaching future. It was ultimately transhuman. Plastic, synthetic and insincere.

On the other there was Mavado, the religiously devout social conservative. He didn’t offer a vision of the future. His yearning, rasping vocals spoke instead to our pain and our humanity. It was a voice from another age. He was the very last torchbearer of the black tradition. He was the voice of humanity as we began our journey of technologically-augmented transcendence. Before we ventured beyond soul.

There was also the 4 x 100 Mens Relay Team.

 

[craner]

This was the point Rihanna went from being a pop star to being London’s anima. About 80% of the girls at school got red hair after this; she had possessed a generation. All the girls were now vectors for Rihanna. It made me feel like she was the only girl in the world.

This is so true, she bewitched the decade.

 

[sadmanbarty]

This is so true, she bewitched the decade.

that video was filmed in wales by the way.

she got in trouble with a farmer.

 

[craner]

Who hasn't?

 

[sadmanbarty]

Seggz, Rex Deniro & Fretz - Rockstar Bully (2011)

The London Riots. Looting a giant bag of basmati rice and boasting about it on social media.

GAS Gang at it's most bellicose and hubristic.

 

[sadmanbarty]

 

[version]