Hip-Hop Purists

[DaveC]

Black Star is getting back together??!?? Wow, I would give my left nut to be at one of those shows. Black Star is the group that's more or less responsible for getting me seriously into hip hop. Before I had heard of them, I generally thought that 99% of hip hop was garbage (now revised down to about 85%), and listened almost exclusively to Kanye West (Late Registration was the only rap album I owned) along with a couple Tupac songs, a Gang Starr track, a Chamillionaire track ( ) and an obscure song with killer lyrics that my buddy's friend recorded. One night I was awake at 4 am (drunk and stoned) and Rapcity was on Muchmusic. For some unknown reason I left it there, and the video for Respiration came on. My mind was blown, and I downloaded a few Black Star tracks the next day. Then a few Mos Def tracks, and a few Talib Kweli tracks, and a couple Common songs for good measure. The rest, as they say, is history.

[onebloodonelife]

Sounds like you got into hip-hop on the right foot!

[If you shout...]

Fuck you, if you ain't feelin' the Dips.

[onebloodonelife]

I've been getting into Madlib a lot over the past few weeks. My favorite of his is Shades of Blue, which is a remix album made up of samples from Blue Note Records, and it was actually released by Blue Note in 2002.

Dude's freaking amazing!

YouTube - Madlib - Slim's Return

[martha]

I was listening to this^ a few days ago at Fingerprints. I ended up not getting it. I really like Beat Konducta #3/4 India.

[onebloodonelife]

You should get it. Cause I know you need more albums to buy.

I haven't heard Beat Konducta #3 and 4 yet. I've got #5 and 6, which are his tributes to J Dilla, and they're amazing too. Blunted in the Bomb Shelter is a fantastic reggae album of his too. Seriously, he's done so much, and it's all fantastic.

Oh! And I forgot, he did a collaboration album with Talib Kweli called Liberation. So good! That one was a free release online, I believe.

[martha]

I didn't like #5/6 as much as I wanted to.

But I'll think about Blue Note.

I also have WLIP AM: King of the Wigflip, which I remember liking.

[onebloodonelife]

I haven't heard WLIP AM either. He has too many releases to keep up with.

[DaveC]

J Dilla: Greatest producer of all time.

YouTube - Pharcyde - Runnin

YouTube - J Dilla - Think Twice

YouTube - J Dilla - So Far To Go (Feat Common & D'Angelo)

YouTube - Q-Tip "Move"

And that's the realness.

[onebloodonelife]

One of my favorite J Dilla-produced tracks:

YouTube - Common - The Light

I just listened to Donuts for the first time the other day, and I liked it. It needs a few more listens though. I've also got Ruff Draft and Welcome 2 Detroit on my plate. I've dug Champion Sound, with him and Madlib as Jaylib, and I really like Slum Village.

R.I.P. J Dilla

[DaveC]

YouTube - classified- Oh Canada

This guy's from Halifax. His new album is called Self-Explanatory, and it's his first major label release even though he's got about a dozen albums out on local labels (he's been around since he was in high school in Enfield). Produces and rhymes over his own beats, and there's even a track on this album where one of my army buddys raps a verse about the boot camp we went to.

If you see this in stores, check it out, I guarantee you will love it.

[LemonMelon]

Probably not worth bumping the thread over, but...



Madlib is absolutely fantastic, some of the best beats in the game. It helps that jazz-inflected hip-hop is one of my favorite sounds in music as a whole.

Can anyone here recommend to me some jazzy hip-hop (besides Tribe, they've already won me over) or possibly instrumental hip-hop? It's finals time, and I need something to chill/study to.

EDIT: Haha, just noticed Cassie wrote about Shades of Blue months ago. Oh well, verification of its awesomeness.

[onebloodonelife]

Originally Posted by LemonMelon

Can anyone here recommend to me some jazzy hip-hop (besides Tribe, they've already won me over) or possibly instrumental hip-hop? It's finals time, and I need something to chill/study to.

EDIT: Haha, just noticed Cassie wrote about Shades of Blue months ago. Oh well, verification of its awesomeness.

It's all good, glad you're enjoying Shades of Blue so much too. It's my favorite Madlib album.

As for recommendations, I know you're already into Madvillain and J Dilla. Have you heard Slum Village's early stuff? Fantastic Vol. 1 and Fantastic Vol. 2 both heavily feature Dilla producing, and in his somewhat more jazzy-era, versus the more Motown stuff he was doing on Donuts.

Since you're into A Tribe Called Quest (who are fucking incredible), I'd say to check out any of the other Native Tongues groups: Native Tongues - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. They were one of the collectives most concerned with using jazz influences in their sampling and beats.

[u2popmofo]

Originally Posted by LemonMelon

Can anyone here recommend to me some jazzy hip-hop (besides Tribe, they've already won me over) or possibly instrumental hip-hop?

De La Soul and Jurassic 5 instantly come to mind, if you aren't already into them both.

[cobl04]

wasn't there a band who sampled Black Cow in one of their songs?

also, is The Streets' A Grand Don't Come For Free worth getting?

[GirlsAloudFan]

The shit I've been into lately is old school Wu-Tang. One of my friends used to have (36 Chambers) in constant rotation on the car CD changer, but I only realized how fucking awesome it is. Inspektah Deck's opening verse in Protect Ya Neck is probably my favorite thing in music right now.

YouTube - Wu-Tang Clan - Protect Ya Neck

YouTube - M.E.T.H.O.D. Man (original cut)

YouTube - Wu-Tang C.R.E.A.M (Music Vid)

[LemonMelon]

Originally Posted by onebloodonelife

It's all good, glad you're enjoying Shades of Blue so much too. It's my favorite Madlib album.

As for recommendations, I know you're already into Madvillain and J Dilla. Have you heard Slum Village's early stuff? Fantastic Vol. 1 and Fantastic Vol. 2 both heavily feature Dilla producing, and in his somewhat more jazzy-era, versus the more Motown stuff he was doing on Donuts.

Since you're into A Tribe Called Quest (who are fucking incredible), I'd say to check out any of the other Native Tongues groups: Native Tongues - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. They were one of the collectives most concerned with using jazz influences in their sampling and beats.

I would love to hear something like Donuts, but more fleshed out. That record (as well as Jay Get Paid, the other of his I've heard) is a thrill when you're not concerned so much with raps at the moment and just want some chill beats. I'll definitely check out Slum Village. Probably soon...I don't want a whole label dedicated to jazzy hip-hop swallowing up my time before I can get to them.

Originally Posted by u2popmofo

De La Soul and Jurassic 5 instantly come to mind, if you aren't already into them both.

Quality Control is the big one I've been meaning to listen to, thanks for the reminder.

Originally Posted by cobl04

wasn't there a band who sampled Black Cow in one of their songs?

also, is The Streets' A Grand Don't Come For Free worth getting?

Dunno about Black Cow, but De La Soul samples Peg in Eye Know and it's amazing.

And it is indeed. But it doesn't sound a damn thing like the hip-hop we're discussing, so keep an open mind.

[onebloodonelife]

Originally Posted by LemonMelon

I would love to hear something like Donuts, but more fleshed out. That record (as well as Jay Get Paid, the other of his I've heard) is a thrill when you're not concerned so much with raps at the moment and just want some chill beats. I'll definitely check out Slum Village. Probably soon...I don't want a whole label dedicated to jazzy hip-hop swallowing up my time before I can get to them.

Definitely agree, though I'm still warming up to Donuts, to be honest. I like Vol. 2: Vintage of Dilla's the most, of what I've heard. Not jazzy, per say, but a solid set of beats from 1995-1998. He's got so much work out there, it's hard to keep up.

Another artist I thought of for jazzy hip-hop was Oh No, who is Madlib's brother and also records for Stones Throw Records, probably my favorite hip-hop label, along with Rhymesayers.

[onebloodonelife]

Also, not related to the jazz hip-hop discussion, this remix of Lil Wayne's "I Feel Like Dying" by Flying Lotus is fucking incredible. Check it:

YouTube - Flying Lotus - I Feel Like Dying

And, related to the jazz hip-hop, I'm listening to some J Dilla now, The Shining Instrumentals. Digging it, per usual for Dilla's stuff.

Here's one of my favorites so far from it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrUpxLXVRzk

[DaveC]

I know I posted it above, but they shot an amazing video for this song and just released it today. Shot on Granville St, in downtown Halifax. Many friends of mine were there and one or two actually made it into the video:

YouTube - Classified - "Oh... Canada" [Official Video]