Man, the Okayplayer Boards have really gone down hill in the past few years. I remember when it was about hip-hop(wistfully wipes a tear from his face.) And while we're at it, I'm gonna say that I think Little Brother is the most over-rated rap group in a long time. When did underground start to mean no testicles or creativity (they are recycled early '90s hip hop in my opinion)? Any thoughts? Anyone else still listen to hip-hop?
There's still a music message board there, I don't really frequent it though. Pass the Popcorn is the movie forum and SOaP has taken on a special cult status there. I also visit the sports board--mostly because it's funny, not because it's informative. I like Little Brother. A lot. Minstrel Show wasn't great but The Listening, Foreign Exchange, and Sleepers were all enjoyable. Yeah, they're a little bland, but they don't take themselves too seriously and they always have nice production. Phonte, Pooh, and 9th would be the first ones to say that they are emulating Tribe and others, but I don't think their sound is recycled. They have their own style. Why you gotta pick on them, huh Rafe? Over-rated in what sense? They're not that popular. The excitement about them on Okayplayer is due largely to the fact that they were posters on the message boards there, members of the okayplayer community as it were. ?uestlove heard their music and championed their cause and they got a record deal. There was a lot of backlash after the release of their latest album and the Little Brother hate has now sort of overtaken the LB love.
The thing is, if you want to complain about the current state of hip hop, LB should not be your focus. They're pretty harmless.
Fair enough Benny, I probably did go overboard, especially since I don't even own one of their albums. I've just been in a little bit of a funk lately with rap, especially the backpacker stuff. I just feel like the whining about the guys rapping about money and guns is almost as redundant as the actual raps about money and guns. All this creative energy is directed towards criticizing someone's work instead of showing what their own creativity has to offer. I am excited for the Cunninlinguists album, which came out a few weeks ago but I still haven't picked up yet. I don't know, I'm just waiting for another 1998/1999 Rawkus Record type of innovation to come from alt-rap. Until then it feels like I'll be stuck with Kanye and whoever he produces and the good shoot-em-up rap when it comes around. What else are you listening to these days? I'm looking for new stuff.
Some recommendations: -Blue Scholars from here in Seattle -Dilla Donuts -Aceyalone's new album is pretty nice, produced by RJD2 -Do you have Run the Road? It's Bristish stuff, Run the Road 2 just came out.
I honestly haven't been buying much hip hop lately, that's all the new stuff I could recommend.
It's interesting what you say about the dearth of quality "alt-rap." Remember, Rawkus went out of business and since Soundbombing II dropped the line between mainstream hip hop and underground hip hop really blured. Folks like Common, Kweli, Mos Def, Pharoahe Monch, Eminem all went mainstream. In a sense, the sound that was formely alternative has BECOME part of the mainstream, it's a natural progression. Since there aren't really all-star compilations like Soundbombing coming out these days, the good new alt stuff is much harder to find. The records that Stones Throw and Quannum put out are very nice, I recommend most of that if you don't have it already them.
It's true that the late '90s indie-stars went either mainstream like Kweli--I think he still puts out good stuff, even that Big Ten commercial is banging, or hippie like Common (though it's now a little closer to easy listening than anything else, or just kind of went way out like Mos Def (I dig New Danger though). But they have definitely changed their sound, so I don't think we can say their style got adopted by the mainstream, I think it's the other way around. As for new stuff, can't really escape Quannum living in the Bay Area. I saw the Coup with Lifesavas in November--fucking amazing show. Both have new albums out this spring that I can't wait for. I'll have to check out the ones you posted. I like RJD2's production on the new album, and Aceyalone flows well, but for some reason he doesn't excite me. I can't explain it, but it's the same way I used to feel about Dilated--technically good, but emotionally vacant. What I've been doing more lately is downloading random free shit from the blogs. I like beerandrap.com, somanyshrimp.com, ohword.com, and cocaineblunts.com. They've got a wide range of stuff, from crunk to crunchy. What was your favorite album of 2005?
Favorite of 2005? Wolf Parade. But in the realm of hip hop? As I said, I didn't buy a lot. Blue Scholars, DangerDoom, and Kanye were the ones that got the most play.
8 comments:
Man, the Okayplayer Boards have really gone down hill in the past few years. I remember when it was about hip-hop(wistfully wipes a tear from his face.) And while we're at it, I'm gonna say that I think Little Brother is the most over-rated rap group in a long time. When did underground start to mean no testicles or creativity (they are recycled early '90s hip hop in my opinion)? Any thoughts? Anyone else still listen to hip-hop?
There's still a music message board there, I don't really frequent it though. Pass the Popcorn is the movie forum and SOaP has taken on a special cult status there. I also visit the sports board--mostly because it's funny, not because it's informative. I like Little Brother. A lot. Minstrel Show wasn't great but The Listening, Foreign Exchange, and Sleepers were all enjoyable. Yeah, they're a little bland, but they don't take themselves too seriously and they always have nice production. Phonte, Pooh, and 9th would be the first ones to say that they are emulating Tribe and others, but I don't think their sound is recycled. They have their own style. Why you gotta pick on them, huh Rafe? Over-rated in what sense? They're not that popular. The excitement about them on Okayplayer is due largely to the fact that they were posters on the message boards there, members of the okayplayer community as it were. ?uestlove heard their music and championed their cause and they got a record deal. There was a lot of backlash after the release of their latest album and the Little Brother hate has now sort of overtaken the LB love.
The thing is, if you want to complain about the current state of hip hop, LB should not be your focus. They're pretty harmless.
Fair enough Benny, I probably did go overboard, especially since I don't even own one of their albums. I've just been in a little bit of a funk lately with rap, especially the backpacker stuff. I just feel like the whining about the guys rapping about money and guns is almost as redundant as the actual raps about money and guns. All this creative energy is directed towards criticizing someone's work instead of showing what their own creativity has to offer. I am excited for the Cunninlinguists album, which came out a few weeks ago but I still haven't picked up yet. I don't know, I'm just waiting for another 1998/1999 Rawkus Record type of innovation to come from alt-rap. Until then it feels like I'll be stuck with Kanye and whoever he produces and the good shoot-em-up rap when it comes around. What else are you listening to these days? I'm looking for new stuff.
Some recommendations:
-Blue Scholars from here in Seattle
-Dilla Donuts
-Aceyalone's new album is pretty nice, produced by RJD2
-Do you have Run the Road? It's Bristish stuff, Run the Road 2 just came out.
I honestly haven't been buying much hip hop lately, that's all the new stuff I could recommend.
It's interesting what you say about the dearth of quality "alt-rap." Remember, Rawkus went out of business and since Soundbombing II dropped the line between mainstream hip hop and underground hip hop really blured. Folks like Common, Kweli, Mos Def, Pharoahe Monch, Eminem all went mainstream. In a sense, the sound that was formely alternative has BECOME part of the mainstream, it's a natural progression. Since there aren't really all-star compilations like Soundbombing coming out these days, the good new alt stuff is much harder to find. The records that Stones Throw and Quannum put out are very nice, I recommend most of that if you don't have it already them.
of course, if you don't have it, Madvillainy is an essential piece of any hip hop collection
It's true that the late '90s indie-stars went either mainstream like Kweli--I think he still puts out good stuff, even that Big Ten commercial is banging, or hippie like Common (though it's now a little closer to easy listening than anything else, or just kind of went way out like Mos Def (I dig New Danger though). But they have definitely changed their sound, so I don't think we can say their style got adopted by the mainstream, I think it's the other way around.
As for new stuff, can't really escape Quannum living in the Bay Area. I saw the Coup with Lifesavas in November--fucking amazing show. Both have new albums out this spring that I can't wait for. I'll have to check out the ones you posted. I like RJD2's production on the new album, and Aceyalone flows well, but for some reason he doesn't excite me. I can't explain it, but it's the same way I used to feel about Dilated--technically good, but emotionally vacant. What I've been doing more lately is downloading random free shit from the blogs. I like beerandrap.com, somanyshrimp.com, ohword.com, and cocaineblunts.com. They've got a wide range of stuff, from crunk to crunchy. What was your favorite album of 2005?
"I'm sorry, I don't speak jive."
Favorite of 2005? Wolf Parade. But in the realm of hip hop? As I said, I didn't buy a lot. Blue Scholars, DangerDoom, and Kanye were the ones that got the most play.
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