The Life of a True Disciple of Hip Hop
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No, I never have. I'll try and check 'em out over Xmas. Always like those background tales of street culture. The UK stuff, especially the music I find more tragicomic than anything else.
forclosure
Well-known member
oh i know exactly what you mean but i think it speaks to how even now the chokehold maintained in this idea that America is the standard and the well where all ideas,creators etc come from and we follow and mutate afterwards but yes also the fact that deep down it's this sense of shame that as much as we try it's not good enough to meet up to what they're doing. The way Yanks tend to talk about themselves doesn't help i mean even Black Americans as much as they go on about how much of a violent racist hellscape their country is, will suddenly start talking American Exceptionalism and how they are the makers and producers black culture so much so that they don't want to hear about where Jamaica and West Africans fit into the picture (but now i'm just venturing into black twitter "diaspora war" shit)
Its fascinating to me that some of the drill lads from there are trying to sound like Londoners after decades where Londoners were trying to sound like Americans
woops
is not like other people
totally justified by any one of killa kela's outfits
forclosure
Well-known member
its tragicomic in the sense that like even the underground rappers stateside while alot of talented one offs did lead the best were able to turn it into a career or in the case of say Breeze Brewin or Ka ultimately come to a grinding halt, live real and fulfilling lives away from rap come back to it and be able to put out new and interesting music that might even be better than their past stuff and bring new listeners who might not have heard them back in 1998.
That lot they never even got to have that.
forclosure
Well-known member
it never really got bigger or smaller there was a moment 20 odd years ago around grimes early heyday where it partly was along for the ride and had a few notable releases but other than that it just stayed "the same".
It says alot about the persistance of these people and if anything that's got to be celebrated its that
It says alot about the persistance of these people and if anything that's got to be celebrated its that
forclosure
Well-known member
@woops don't know if you're familiar with J-Zone but i highly reccomend his book Root for the Villian cause all even now his story is the kind of story in rap music that doesn't get talked about.
A guy who took a chance with rap at a point in time where he didn't fit in with anybody and while he might've gotten good reviews, toured and that at the end of it his career was a failure and he signed off on having CD copies of his albums crushed.
A guy who took a chance with rap at a point in time where he didn't fit in with anybody and while he might've gotten good reviews, toured and that at the end of it his career was a failure and he signed off on having CD copies of his albums crushed.
I've said this before, but drill is (and grime was) what UKHH people always said they want - indigenous UK mic music but now it's here they can't get on board
forclosure
Well-known member
woops
is not like other people
i know that he used to keep it so so real that he'd rap about being broke and wearing fake chains and stuff, my brother's got a book or documentary or something that he did, he also has a line in mixes of obscure old tracks which are apparently wicked?
Don't know about that, think it's more 'cos it's by actual black kids who might not give a shit about you.
luka
Well-known member
so is all hip-hop though so?