Hip Hop Thread

Okay a lot of people probably aren't gonna read this, but I'm just making it for the hell of it.

In a couple days I'm probably gonna start doing reviews and ratings of albums as I listen to them, and I'm gonna make a Top 100 list when I listen to enough. I mean actual good albums, not mainstream hip-pop shit. I have 40 albums at the time of this posting for my Top 100 list, so I still have a bit of listening to do.

I'll start the thread out with this

To kick this mutha mutha off, I'll start with a pretty fun album.

The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride 2 the Pharcyde (1992)




Now I'm no good at verbose descriptions or things like that, but I'll try my best.

Basically when this came out, the west coast was mostly known for the gangsta rap era that NWA started in 1988 with Straight Outta Compton. This is an album that would be described as "alternate rap" or just alt rap for short. They strive away from the (at the time) mainstream subjects and sounds and go for something different and usually more conscious and refreshing. This is probably one of the best examples of that type of rap.

You can tell by the cover that this isn't really a "serious" album, and that's exactly what you get. It's wacky and light hearted, and it's evident throughout the whole album. So those critical of rap for being a plethora of nigger shit and hardcore stuff might actually enjoy this.

Favorite Five: Soul Flower(Remix), Ya Mama, Passin Me By, Otha Fish, Return of the B-Boy

Rating: 4.5/5

Note I actually listened to this quite a while ago, but the next review is going to be a new album I haven't listened to (at the time of posting). Gonna try to do AT LEAST one of these a week. The titles are going to have links, if anyone is interested in downloading and listening to them themselves.

LMAO!

My comment expressed my objection towards this form of music as talent... You delete it and call me close minded in a warning after banning me(Unbanned by charles)... Oxymoron?

Priceless . I needn't say more...

Now, I repeat my view: Hip Hop can not be considered music and it's a failure. Ban me again . Delete this post.

Why can hip hop not be considered music.
It's far better then hardcore, metallic rock crap where people shout alot.
And rape there instrument.
And hardcore is even worse that just trash

Hiphop is not the only music I listen too but its deffently somthing I listen alot
Then again I don't know if your commends are for real or your just trying to get under enel's skin

Wow, Pride, You're smart! I'll respect that .

I do listen to some hiphop. Rarely though... very... rarely...


It's mostly went downstream after it went hiphop=Sex/Drugs/Thugs/Gangsta. Thats when I lost all interest.

But, talent wise, I acknowledge stuff like Three Days Grace and breaking benjamin as way more talented than something like eminem. The difference in the level of music ability's and the required stuff is incomparable. Vocal Ability's which are nonexistent in hip hop. Music instrumental talent which are also nonexistent in hiphop excet for a beat that doesnt' change the entire song. The only talent is the lyrical and the ability to say those words in a weird fashion.

Of my favorite hip hop: Eminem(of course) - till I collapse, run rabbit run.

I agree with some of your points.
Like alot of rap with the gangsta stuff can get kinda boring.
I can understand why you would consider etc to be better arist in a way, then lets say 50 cent, his rap's a slow not impresive and pretty much always the same.
And I must also admit these days there more bad rap artist then good.
I pretty much listen to older stuff with a few exceptions


But lets say eminem for example he can rap extremly fast in a way it's still understanbell wich in my opinion takes alot of talent and hard work on the same level as a band, they dedicated themself to a instrument as much as a 'good'rapper does too his skills.

Yeah, I agree 100% with those words.

That's what I explained in my post. This album I posted is alt-rap. It doesnt talk about SEX DRUGS MONEY GANGSTA SHIT. Try listening to it before saying something.

Hip-Hop is definitely a form of music. Sampling from other songs is actually one of the key points in making beats, so a lot of producers have FAR more musical knowledge than rock n' roll bands. As for the actual subjects involved, it varies a lot. You act like rock bands don't talk about drugs and stuff too. Hell, the Beatles actually ADMITTED to using drugs when making some of their songs.

People have been talking about drugs and sex in their songs since the fucking SIXTIES. Hip Hop wasn't the first, nor the only kind of music to involve those subjects. Gain some fucking musical knowledge before you talk about a certain genre.

Look, this is an instrumental album created entirely from samples. Even rap haters would probably accept it since it doesn't actually have WORDS. So you can't complain about the lyrical content. Look at the list of samples contained in every song. That takes far more musical knowledge than just playing a guitar or something.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endtroducing.....

Note that I don't HATE rock. I can pretty much accept every musical genre except metal and country since I just find them ear grating to listen to. I'm down with Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles, and some other old school rockers. I don't discriminate man. I pretty much made this topic to get people to listen to QUALITY Hip Hop, but you can't even open up your mind enough to accept that.

A few points to clear out:

- The percentage of "Sex, Drugs blah blah blah" Is on a very different level between the 2 genres. That is a fact.

- I insulted that song just to get under your skin. I did listen to it, Felt indifferent.

- As I said... I do recognize Rap as talent. Only when it's done correctly like Eminem and such. But then again, it's almost never done correctly.

- I never listened to the Beatles...

Not really.

What song? I meant the whole album.

Eminem was okay in his older days. A lot of his songs are really retarded now. Try listening to someone that's not overly popularized and that you see on TV or hear on the radio. Those are both terrible sources to judge rap from.

What the hell are you waiting for? They're the ones that pretty much shaped modern rock. Most of the faggots you listen to wouldn't even be around without them.

I'll have to agree on the eminem topic, his olden stuff was far better. I hate TV and never listen to the radio FYI.

I just listened to the beatles... They're not my style. I know they were the starting point for most rock in a sense, but, Not my style o_O. I prefer harder stuff.

Well the Beatles have a variety of different sounding songs. Helter Skelter is actually considered the first metal song. But anyway, this is steering off topic, so I'll post another review in a couple days.

Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)



"Shaolin shadowboxing, and the Wu-Tang sword style. If what you say is true, the Shaolin and the Wu-Tang could be dangerous. Do you think your Wu-Tang sword can defeat me." En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style."

The opening words to one of the greatest, most important, and also one of my favorite hip hop albums ever. I'd personally rank this as the second best hip hop album of all time, right behind Nas's Illmatic.

Now as far as lyrical content, it's not as self-conscious or intuitive as something like any of De La Soul or the Jungle Brother's albums. But DAMN if they don't spit some of the greatest verses ever. The clan is made up of 9 members. RZA is the producer and the "leader" per say. Then there's GZA, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck, Method Man, Masta Killa and U-God. All the MCs have their own distinctive voices, flows, and rhyming skills. Now how successful each of their individual careers would be is a different story, but on the debut, every single one of them is on point.

Now there's more to hip hop than just the lyrics, there's also the production (which is something greatly understated that people need to learn to appreciate). RZA has gone on to produce soundtracks for movies such as Kill Bill, Soul Plane, Blade: Trinity, and the two Afro Samurai anime, but his humble beginnings start here. Honestly, the album feels and sounds a lot more dirty and "gritty" than future productions by RZA. But the cheap equipment used to produce the album actually makes sound more like a classic. It's laced with Kung-Fu movie samples, which I think sound really cool whenever they appear.

All in all, this is a pretty much must hear album for anyone that likes hip hop, and even non hip hop fans should give it at least one listen. Lyrically it's just a free-associative album, don't mistake it for trying to be "gangsta" when it's more in line with Run DMC type lyrics, but with an admittedly harder tone. It honestly took me a few listens to fully appreciate it, but it became one of my favorites after a while. This album pretty much paved the way for the East Coast Renaissance and mafioso era in the mid 90s for rap, and gave them the chance to outshine the West.

Rating: 5/5
Favorite songs: Bring Da Ruckus, Da Mystery of Chessboxin', Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthin to F' Wit, C.R.E.A.M., Method Man, Protect Ya Neck, Tearz

I know I picked like half the album for favorites, but it's really that good.