O.G. Original Gangster

[Xenolith]

I'm putting a bunch of my CDs on eBay after recording them to my hard drive.  I'm listening to Ice-T Original Gangster right now, which I bought my sophmore year in college.  At that time rap was still somewhat of an oddity where I lived.  The only groups or individuals making any headway into the midwest were teaming up with rock acts like Aerosmith (Run D.M.C.) or had party songs, like Tone Loc or the Beastie Boys.

When O.G. Orignal Gangsta came out is literally blew my mind.  Violence, drugs, sex, etc., you name it.  The thing I liked about it was that it was a look into a culture I was not familiar with.  The town I grew up in had less than 6,000 people!  It was a little scary for me to listen to the lyrics, and since I was one of the few people driving around campus playing it on  my car radio I always turned down the volume whenever one particular bad word starting with an "n" occured.

N.W.A. and Ice-T certainly knew they found a niche in the marketplace, and in subsequent years that evloved into gangsta rap which I  thought was a pile of garbage for the most part.  Unlike N.W.A. and Ice-T, it didn't really have a message, positive or negative, is just glorified a type of lifestyle.  The only exception in my mind is the Chronic, which is an excellent album.  Even one of my favorite artists, Busta Rhymes, sort of slipped into the genre.  A few groups took the high road, like A Tribe Called Quest, but they also fell off the radar.

I remember when rapping was about speaking clearly, rhyming with real words, cleverness, vocabulary, and flow.  Now, man I can't even understand half of the rappers, and they just make up words that make no sense.  I'm getting old.

Anyway, listening to this CD brings back a lot of memories.  It wasn't long after this CD came out that Ice-T got in a lot of trouble over his cop Killer song with his hard core group, Body Count.  Now the guy is on TV playing a cop.

No point, really, just rambling.  

[thanoson]

I agree completely. There are no Public Enemies, Tribe Called Quest, X-Clan, Paris, Boogie Down Productions, Gangstarr, Erik B. And Rakim, and Kool Mo Dee's anymore. Hell, give me Digable Planets and Dela Soul over anything on the radio now that is "hip hop".

[gengoro]

  Please please dont get me started on todays mainstream hip hop. Im very open minded when it comes to music but I just cant get into a lot of that southern stuff. Hell, I cringe when people turn on "hip hop" stations at work(which are really just r&b hybrids). I completely abandoned it years ago to trip hop, electronica, ambient, chillout, down tempo stuff. While it aint exactly the same it is a good replacement. Still check for Common, Wu-Tang, Percee P, etc. though.

[detourne_me]

I totally understand where you're coming from, but I think you need to look at some of the alternative hip-hop...   Del tha funkee homosapien joined gorillaz, and deltron 3030 is probably my favorite hip hop of all time (but i guess it's almost 10 years old now.)
Kool Keith and MF Doom are also standouts, but I'm not sure if they're still producing.

Guess I should also talk about my friend's friend's band Times Neue Roman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYtEwLgfOLs&feature=related
New rap.  it's referential to oldskool, but with electronic beats and a really tight flow.

[marhawkman]

Aw... I was hoping you were talking about something worthwhile, like the movie about Al Capone. that one sounds like it'll be interesting.

[MikeB7]

Yeah, the current state of popular hip-hop doesn't interest me at all.  It sucks that you have to actively search to find the good stuff.  De La Soul and the Roots are still around, Q-Tip just released an album last year which was much better than his first.  I really liked it.  Tribe Called Quest's first album was the one that grabbed me and made me a lifelong fan of hip-hop.  De La Soul, Busta Rhymes, Pharcyde, Digable Planets, Brand Nubian, Camp Lo's first album, Lost Boyz - that was the music that got me going.  Loved Ice Cube's first solo album, didn't follow him after that tho.  A good mixture of the harder subject of gangsta and 'my' kind of hip-hop was Souls of Mischief , also part of the collective Hieroglyphics (which also included Del, he gets around, heh)


A recent group that's been a bit of a throwback to great melodic grooves with a talented lyricist and more meaningful lyrics is Panacea.  If you liked groups like De La, Tribe, Pharcyde, etc - they're worth a look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utmjd-NJ81k

[Shogunn2517]

When Hip-Hop Was Fun

Seems right up you guys alley.

[murs47]

I recently found out that one of my clones is famous. I preceded to download one of his albums, "Murs Rules the World" and I was very impressed. I will admit, I'm baffled by his abundance of melanin. He easily has a higher count than the rest of us clones combined. As you can see in this video, he won "Best Hair" at our flash cloning graduation ceremony."

http://www.spike.com/video/she-wants-me-living/2990925

[Xenolith]

whoa!  i really like pancea.  nice find, mike b7.  i'll be picking that one up.  thanks  

i'm a pretty big Tribe fan, they are supposed to be making a new record.  I'll even buy stuff like Lucy Pearl, Chemical Brothers, etc., just for a Tribe fix. 

[MikeB7]

Cool, glad to be able to pass them on.  Ink is My Drink and The Scenic Route are both awesome albums.

[thalaw2]

Being overseas and in a country where i barely speak the language and foreign media is controlled it's hard for me to follow hip-hop.  I agree it's gone down hill anyway.  I used to love me some hip-hop and R&B, but now the hybrids are indeed intelligible and that "singing" is worthless...I needs some sangin!  I haven't really felt a new song for a long time now.  Any new song I hear i can all too easily take apart as a cover and I get sickened by how badly my favorite oldies are being abused.

I really think there is something to getting old and thinking that that stuff kids listen to is garbage, but heck it is garbage...isn't it?  Oh well...

My poses going Broadway! 
Come on Willy!

[Xenolith]

I ordered Panacea today.  the more I see you utoob the more I like.

Thanks again.

[detourne_me]

Thalaw2,  Here's a quick way to get your fix of new music and happenings from the western world
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Psfn6iOfS8&feature=channel

[MikeB7]

 

[lugaru]

Growing up in Mexico I loved rap around when Friday came out and everyone owned that soundtrack. I loved Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog around then but in particular everyone in Mexico was crazy about Cypress Hill. I think the moment I saw Puff Daddy for the first time I kind of lost interest in rap but here are some stuff I still listen to and highly recomend, please check out and duh, expect some adult language.

Abstract:

Subtle - Swan Meat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOEE_Yc6zZQ

Aesop Rap - Coffee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrsj653088E

Dalek - Tarsnished
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gD8RFHNYM4

Mexican:

Control Machete ? Danzon  (this is a killer track, but cut off around the middle)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7WSySqIOSs

Molotov ? Hit Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoKx7BTb0lI

Dyablo ? El Juego de la Vida
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DLMDJrzvCQ&feature=related

Calle Trece ? Pal Norte (basically regaeton, but still good)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCi3KFsbU_8

Political:

Sage Francis ? Crack Pipes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4vVH3hBfs4

Immortal Technique ? 3rd World (some tough words and images, but great stuff)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2Udzvij6VY

[thalaw2]

Thalaw2,  Here's a quick way to get your fix of new music and happenings from the western world
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Psfn6iOfS8&feature=channel

Still no Youtube in China....sigh!   

[detourne_me]

Really?  Crap.   They just prohibit posting comments from Korea on youtube.  but google made it easy to work around if you change the preferences to a different company.  they hate some of the legislation here.

[thalaw2]

Yep.  Youtube has been blocked for a long time now.  More recently Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites have been blocked...even my second most favorite forum is no longer accessible from inside China.   


I'm going back to Cali next week!