hip hop '10

S

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
CrowleyHead said:
Is he though? To me he's all the 'significant' parts of Eminem and Bubba Sparxx thrown in a blender. Maybe I'm being cynical, but the whole 'White Rapper from the trailer park of Alabama, raised on a mix of Skynyrd and Dirty South, torn between a love of his skateboard and rhymes' thing just seems really cheesy. Not to disservice his skills or songs.

Also, the moment I found out he was a professional skateboarder once, I predicted that he was a Heiro/Souls fan. Looked up like, two interviews, BAM! He's talking about '93 Til Infinity in EACH ONE. I'm annoyed more people play up his love of backpack rap than try to discern his taste in southern rap, because his taste in 'classic rap albums' has NO RELEVANCE to the music he makes.
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I'm not sure I really understand this assessment. I guess I can see the Eminem similarity, but only in that one track I posted. Eminem also tends to go for those sombre piano-led productions. Also Pop the Trunk has a touch of that horrorcore thing to it, and Eminem was all about that.* Flow-wise they couldn't be any different though, and... Bubba Sparxx? Nah man. It's a bit of a harsh review to reduce it down like you did, this is kind of the equivalent of listening to virtually any New York hip hop and being like "Black guy, grew up in the Bronx or Brooklyn, raised by a single drug-addicted mother, torn between love for his hood and leaving for better things." It is possible to be white and from a trailer park and still be an individual with something unique to say. I don't think he puts forth any kind of cheesy "torn between rhyming and skateboarding" narrative either. As far as I know he was skateboarding until he injured himself too many times, so figured he'd do rapping instead.

Re: classic rap. It's not a surprise you thought he'd be into Hieroglyphics because in my experience, ALL skateboarders are. That's what they listen to. In interviews he also frequently references Snoop Dogg, Three 6 Mafia, Devin The Dude, Outkast, Mystikal, UGK and Bone Thugz. In fact, in his CB interview he actually explicitly says: "The one thing about the South is that we never really favored the underground over mainstream." I mean, I agree that his taste in anything has no relevance to the quality of his music, but neither does generalized ideas about why music critics might like him. I certainly am not one of those critics, and I don't even really know jack shit about classic era hip hop.

So that doesn't really add up; but if you don't dig him, you don't dig him, and that's cool.

* Actually, if anything, that Odd Future shit we're talking about in this thread is WAY closer to (old) Eminem than Yela.
 
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C

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
But here's the thing as far as that goes... Yela's career seems built on selling his story. Every feature he gets, I re-learn about his single part-Native American mother, raising him while she was just a teen... etc. etc. It seems that who he is matters so much more than his rapping ability. And this happens every time Interscope gets a white rapper. Suddenly, their life is more important to me than their current singles. Except I'm not HERE to buy autobiographies, y'know? I generally prefer rappers where I know nothing of their life REALLY, and I have to judge them strictly by the music.

That said, I don't mind dude hopefully having hits and becoming a steady presence, because he is good! Just not somebody I care about in particular.

Also; I totally agree with you on the OF stuff.
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
CrowleyHead said:
But here's the thing as far as that goes... Yela's career seems built on selling his story. Every feature he gets, I re-learn about his single part-Native American mother, raising him while she was just a teen... etc. etc. It seems that who he is matters so much more than his rapping ability.
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Isn't this largely the media/larger cultural obsession with authenticity - every white rapper's 'authenticity credentials' are always going to be put under the microscope, whether they encourage it or not. Mayeb he's talking about it a lot, but chances are that's partly because he's been asked about it a thousand times before.
 
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CrowleyHead

Well-known member
That's certainly a fair point. I just think authenticity is immensely overrated and so far beyond anything. Like, when Tyler from Odd Future was on Shady 45 Radio, he mentioned he was from Compton. First time I've heard that, and that was about how in depth he was about it. It's so nice to know that nobody cares that a dude from Compton isn't a walking L.A. Rapper Cliche (THANK YOU, NIPSEY HUSSLE.)
 
outraygeous

outraygeous

Well-known member
SWAG

just thought id add that.

oh, watched some videos about Lil b because he mentioned odd future in an interview. I dont like Lil b, there is something not right about the fellow in his raps. True, odd future are weird and I do like the raps of Necro but the calling yourself a bitch and a pretty bitch is all a bit much.

Id rather the way out there thats never gona happen raps than a guy whos obviously not gangster (re video when he gets boxed in the face) talking about how hes gona smash my girl and throw money at me
 
Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
What are the best websites/blogs for keeping up with hip-hop? I go on cocaine blunts, project covo forums that's pretty much it at the moment.
 
C

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
outraygeous said:
oh, watched some videos about Lil b because he mentioned odd future in an interview. I dont like Lil b, there is something not right about the fellow in his raps. True, odd future are weird and I do like the raps of Necro but the calling yourself a bitch and a pretty bitch is all a bit much.
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It's actually great. So many dudes were getting called gay for wearing skinny jeans and dressing in hipster apparel. B went all out and started calling himself a lesbian, and that he gets girls 'cause he looks like JK Rowling. GOLD.
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
That is the weirdest thing I have heard in a while. But...true?

Didn't know Lil B was in that group The Pack (who did 'Vans' - 'got my vans on but they look like sneakers').
 
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CrowleyHead

Well-known member
Controversy sells. Truth be told, I think Lil B got just as many fans from "I'm God" as he did from a song like "I Look Like Jesus".
 
Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Like that Meek Mill tune, the Dipset beat is crazy too.

Had a quick listen to the Lloyd Banks album ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.F.M._2_(The_Hunger_for_More) ) yesterday and its (to me) surprisingly quite good. I always thought Banks was just a a Craig David lookalike who fiddy took to parties to impress any British people that might be there, but he's actually more than a Craig David lookalike. This might be old news to everybody else in the world.


this has got a great 50-ish hook (slurry singing), the beat is by Cardiak (who did ''Start it Up''). Cardiak did this one too: which is also a great beat.

This is an absolute banger too, the hook is annoying though

 
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