Hip-Hop Purists

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DaveC

DaveC

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Rakim
Nas
KRS-One
Jeru the Damaja
A Tribe Called Quest
Ice Cube
Binary Star
Jadakiss
Pete Rock
Gangstarr
Bone Thugs 'n Harmony
Eazy E
The Fugees
Hieroglyphics
Mos Def
Eric B
Classified
Brand Nubian
Cunninglynguists
Chino XL
Gravediggaz
Beastie Boys
DJ Shadow
RJD2
Del Tha Funkee Homosapien
Cypress Hill
Onyx
Ice-T
Talib Kweli
Atmosphere
Outkast
Jay-Z (pre Kingdom Come)
Mobb Deep (pre 2001)
NWA
Dr Dre
MF Doom
K-OS
Cormega
DMX
Eminem (1996-2002)
Pharoahe Monch (Organized Confusion)
Big Daddy Kane
Jedi Mind Tricks
Run DMC
Kool G Rap
CL Smooth
Xzibit (pre-2001)
Public Enemy
Grandmaster Flash
DJ Kool Herc
Redman
Canibus
Kool Moe Dee
Kurtis Blow
Royce Da 5' 9"
Immortal Technique
AZ
Big L
The Notorious BIG
Big Pun
Tupac
Common
Lauryn Hill
Afrika Bambataa
De La Soul
EPMD
Blackalicious
Busta Rhymes
Scarface
Raekwon
Ghostface
GZA
RZA
Inspektah Deck
U-God
ODB
Method Man
Digable Planets
Arrested Development
The Roots
Jurassic 5
Lupe Fiasco
Kanye West

Discuss.
 
love the topic but how do you possibly expect that to start a discussion. it's like a non-alphabetized list from the rap section at a record store.

:shrug:
 
dr. zooeuss said:
love the topic but how do you possibly expect that to start a discussion. it's like a non-alphabetized list from the rap section at a record store.

:shrug:
Click to expand...

I guess see how it goes as a loose hip-hop discussion thread. It's a genre that actually rarely gets discussed around here - but often gets random shots fired against it as a whole ("Rap sucks") - which for many people who love hip-hop generally I assume is read under the assumption that the poster who fired the shot is mostly only exposed to the mostly awful MTV/commercial radio world of hio-hop today.

Sooooo... general 'good' hip-hop discussion thread/introduction thread kicked off by a required listening list for those who may be interested.
 
Earnie Shavers said:
Sooooo... general 'good' hip-hop discussion thread/introduction thread kicked off by a required listening list for those who may be interested.
Click to expand...

Yes. Exactly. Thank you. :up:

Early 90's Producers: Pete Rock, Large Professor, Hi-Tek, or DJ Primo (or others)?
 
Can I state for the record, before this thread gets underway, that I want to kick Young Dro in the ball sack?

Carry on.
 
Why don't you define Hip Hop "purists" first. I definately think hip hop is an incredible artform, but the word "purists" is not one that many would use in describing hip hop. Also, given my definition of hip hop purists, a few on that list don't even come close.
 
The big problem with the way a lot of people see hip-hop is that it is percieved as one static type of music. You hear the phrase 'rock music', and you don't know exactly what that's referring to because there are many different kinds of rock music, but you hear 'hip-hop' or 'rap' and you only get one picture in your head.

There's this whole group of 'MTV' hip-hop artists - 50 Cent, Lil' Jon, Bow Wow, Ja Rule, etc etc, any of these hip-hoppers that are all about the bling bling(what an idiotic word) and how many times they can use the words 'nigga' and bitchez' and the like. They are awful and they give the whole genre a bad name.

I don't even like Kanye. People rave about him being some big genius, and I just don't see it.

My favorites are the Beastie Boys and Eminem. I always hesitate to say that because I'm afraid people will hear it and say 'racist'. I don't care about black/white. I just think these two hip-hop artists are incredible and they both happen to be white.

I also like Wyclef Jean, Tupac, Dr. Dre, et al. Some Run DMC and Public Enemy isn't bad either.

But then you have people like Puffy/Diddy/whatever the hell he's calling himself this week. His biggest hits ever were I'll Be Missing You(Every Breath You Take) and Come With Me(Kashmir). Much of his success is built on the riffs of two of the greatest rock groups in history. Or you Vanilla Ice who blatently stole Queen's Under Pressure bass riff. Of course, sampling is prominent in all hip-hop music, but there is a difference between sampling to enhance hip-hop and building an entire song around a sampled riff.

I'm rambling, but I guess my main point is, today more than ever, there's a lot of posturing that goes on with a lot of hip-hop artists, with the bling, the shades, the demaning attitude towards women, the glorification of drugs and violence, etc etc. Hip-hop as an artform, at its core, is poetry put to a beat. Seeing some guy acting like a total dumbass screaming 'nigga' and 'bitches' and 'hoez' with unwarranted attitude while wearing jewlery that was apparently designed for the giant from Jack And The Beanstalk is not poetry put to a beat, it's just posturing to idiots who think that shit is cool.

Hip-hop is at its best when it is intelligent and meaningful, when it says something.
 
Forget the list. That's not what the topic is for. Just there to give an idea of the artists the thread's devoted to so that we don't get any "YEAAHAAHHH LIL WYANE IZ THA SHITTTT BSET RAPPER EVARRRRR!!!111!!!!11!" bullshit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbAMADh-l20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VCCPiiOpOc

Does this help?
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Fair enough.

Black Star was definitely a great group, with two of the best hiphop voices around today, imo.

some more:

Sugarhill Gang
Tribe Called Quest
Spearhead
Disposable Heroes of HipHoprisy
Common Market
MC Solaar
Saul Williams

I'm glad hip-hop seems to be (sort of) getting back on course.

I'm not sure why you have a qualifier up there by Jay-Z, but not Tupac.

And yeah, I guess we need to define "purists."

Jurassic 5 used to be one of my favorite groups but "Feedback" was a real disappointment and now they've broken up anyway.

Should be interesting to see what all we white guys on the U2 forum have to say about hiphop...


:wink:
 
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namkcuR said:


My favorites are the Beastie Boys and Eminem. I always hesitate to say that because I'm afraid people will hear it and say 'racist'. I don't care about black/white. I just think these two hip-hop artists are incredible and they both happen to be white.

I also like Wyclef Jean, Tupac, Dr. Dre, et al. Some Run DMC and Public Enemy isn't bad either.
Click to expand...

Take advantage of that list then, there's alot more good stuff out there.
 
Fairly recent (00's),ultra accessible/commercial sounding stuff from the above list that has not a bitch nor Bentley in site:

Talib Kweli - Get By
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77zxCAfVeD8

Blackalicious - Make You Feel That Way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH2bqTc88ns

Jurassic 5 - The Influence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9FbRN-w4Wk

Nas - I Can
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQMfGm8H9Lc

Kanye West - Jesus Walks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8feHCmNutj0

Lupe Fiasco - Kick Push
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQQbj9vmaI8
 
namkcuR said:
There's this whole group of 'MTV' hip-hop artists - 50 Cent, Lil' Jon, Bow Wow, Ja Rule, etc etc, any of these hip-hoppers that are all about the bling bling(what an idiotic word) and how many times they can use the words 'nigga' and bitchez' and the like. They are awful and they give the whole genre a bad name.
Click to expand...

Too true.

50 Cent in particular annoys the bejesus out of me-yeah, bragging about how often you got shot is really cool, dude, that just makes you so manly and tough :eyebrow:. And then he antagonizes people even more! I'm thinking, you know, if I'd survived a shooting attempt, I would be very, very careful about pissing people off. The others I've been fortunate enough to have not heard from in a while, or haven't heard much of anything at all. But you're right, people hear that stuff and don't bother to check out the genre beyond that, and it's sad.

That's the funny thing, though, I hear people who don't like rap say that the reason they don't is because rap's all about money, drugs, and women, and all I can think is, "So...I guess you aren't a fan of rock music then, either?" I also especially love the "It takes no talent to rap" argument. Really? You want to give it a try, then?

Yeah. Rap is just like any other genre of music-you've got your good stuff and your bad stuff, and it really doesn't make sense to dismiss a genre as a whole.

namkcuR said:
I don't even like Kanye. People rave about him being some big genius, and I just don't see it.
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I've only heard a couple of his songs here and there. I personally don't mind them ("Gold Digger" is insanely catchy), I think he's one of the more interesting current rappers around.

I wouldn't say it's racist to like the Beastie Boys or Eminem, they've managed to be liked by people of all races over time. And they've put out some great songs in their careers.

I've heard of a lot of these artists, but know songs from only a small amount of them (I really, seriously need to expand my album collection further). Probably my favorites out of that list are Dr. Dre, Tupac ("California Love" is a great song), Run-DMC (they were the first rap group I remember seeing as a kid on TV, thanks to that whole thing with Aerosmith), and I've heard Del Tha Funky Homosapien's guest spots on some songs and liked those. Outkast aren't bad, either, and I've heard one song from Common, and I liked it.

This is a good idea for a thread-I'll give some more of these artists that I'm not familiar with a listen, too :).

Angela
 
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Just another thought/question to throw out here...almost all of the hip-hop artists we are talking about here are men....who are some of the best female hip-hop artists?
 
Jurassic 5 - What's Golden
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ohi8NlxjtTQ

Public Enemy - Welcome to the Terrordome
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9WIeEuRtEW8

Beastie Boys - Shadrach
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YFolUn88q-o

Arrested Development -Tennessee
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUeRstpVsc0
AD - Miracles
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lceZYoaKZPo

Talib Kweli - The Proud
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aXiBRBZ1F2g

MC Solaar - Nouveau Western (en Francais avec subtitles)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=feXhd8e99do

Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=diiL9bqvalo
 
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For females, I think Lauren Hill should be singled out for her own solo album, which was a great blend of hip-hop and soul. Girl's got skills.
 
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