C-Rap
Modern rap is crap, isn't it? I can't think of a decent rap song in the past five years or so. And, I don't mean the rap or hip-hop which is essentially rn'b with a bit of a rap thrown in. Hey Ya! is probably one of the better songs released by a Hip-hop band but it (and the album) owed much more to Prince than to rap. I started, in my nerdish way, while listening to an old A Tribe Called Quest song on my ipod today, to make a mental list of my favourite 10 rap songs, which were pure rap songs - just rhyming over backing music and came up with these. Feel free to disagree or to make nominations.
"Can I Kick It?" by A Tribe Called Quest - I know, I know, I've been unduly influenced by listening to them today, but this is a great song. Funny, intelligent and with great singalongability. ATCQ have been a favourite of mine for a while. I remember asking my friend Gita to buy their first album for me for my, I think, 18th birthday. I remember giving her the title and getting this look as though I was a bit mad. But she dutifully bought it for me and I played the record continuously until I left the vinyl in the sun one day and the album warped.
"What's Going On?" - the Jungle Brothers. Fantastic sample of Marvin Gaye's classic. Best line: "If I should die before I wake, take me to heaven cos I need a break". My friend, Pete recommended the jungle brother's album to me when we were at school. Pete was always into these obscure (at least in my naive public school eyes) reggae and hip hop artists and I remember driving through Tunbridge Wells in his ford fiesta blaring "Fuck Tha Police" by NWA out of the car stereo. We were such rebels. Anyway, this recommendation was spot on.
"Guilty Conscience" by Eminem and Dr Dre. It's always the lyrics with Eminem. How to say "social commentary" without sounding too pretentious?
"Gin n Juice" by Snoop. Preferably the version played on Radio Nova. Although it does have the line about it being "six in the morning and my momma ain't home" - real hardcore, having a party while mum's away...
"So Watcha Want" by the Beastie Boys. Hammond Organ, white boys shouting - what more do you want?
"I could just kill a man" by Cypress Hill - "I got the clearance to run the interference" best lyric that means absolutely nothing... (props to my bro on this one)
"Nouveau Western" by MC Solaar - come on, I had to get some pretentious French rap in there.
"Eye know" by De La Soul - I know I'm showing a bias towards the acid jazz type rap but really that's just a personal preference. But it doesn't take away from the fact that this is the song that brought rap to the masses.
"The Missing Link" by Del tha funky homosapien, featuring Dinosaur Jr. From the soundtrack to "Judgment Night", a very crappy film with great music. Obscure-ish, but absolutely superb. Del is one of the most distinctive rap voices ever; I had a bet with Sandy B that it was Del who rapped on that Gorillaz song - I think it was Clint Eastwood, but I could be absolutely wrong - and, of course, I won.
"The Next Episode" by Dr Dre/"Typical American" by The Goats. A paen to high living vs a Philly rap band with a social conscience. They both have a punch like Mohammed Ali and can't be separated. The Goats probably sneaks ahead on the basis that it is a true rap song without any of that rnb singing in the Dre song.
anyway, those are my ten; please disagree.
"Can I Kick It?" by A Tribe Called Quest - I know, I know, I've been unduly influenced by listening to them today, but this is a great song. Funny, intelligent and with great singalongability. ATCQ have been a favourite of mine for a while. I remember asking my friend Gita to buy their first album for me for my, I think, 18th birthday. I remember giving her the title and getting this look as though I was a bit mad. But she dutifully bought it for me and I played the record continuously until I left the vinyl in the sun one day and the album warped.
"What's Going On?" - the Jungle Brothers. Fantastic sample of Marvin Gaye's classic. Best line: "If I should die before I wake, take me to heaven cos I need a break". My friend, Pete recommended the jungle brother's album to me when we were at school. Pete was always into these obscure (at least in my naive public school eyes) reggae and hip hop artists and I remember driving through Tunbridge Wells in his ford fiesta blaring "Fuck Tha Police" by NWA out of the car stereo. We were such rebels. Anyway, this recommendation was spot on.
"Guilty Conscience" by Eminem and Dr Dre. It's always the lyrics with Eminem. How to say "social commentary" without sounding too pretentious?
"Gin n Juice" by Snoop. Preferably the version played on Radio Nova. Although it does have the line about it being "six in the morning and my momma ain't home" - real hardcore, having a party while mum's away...
"So Watcha Want" by the Beastie Boys. Hammond Organ, white boys shouting - what more do you want?
"I could just kill a man" by Cypress Hill - "I got the clearance to run the interference" best lyric that means absolutely nothing... (props to my bro on this one)
"Nouveau Western" by MC Solaar - come on, I had to get some pretentious French rap in there.
"Eye know" by De La Soul - I know I'm showing a bias towards the acid jazz type rap but really that's just a personal preference. But it doesn't take away from the fact that this is the song that brought rap to the masses.
"The Missing Link" by Del tha funky homosapien, featuring Dinosaur Jr. From the soundtrack to "Judgment Night", a very crappy film with great music. Obscure-ish, but absolutely superb. Del is one of the most distinctive rap voices ever; I had a bet with Sandy B that it was Del who rapped on that Gorillaz song - I think it was Clint Eastwood, but I could be absolutely wrong - and, of course, I won.
"The Next Episode" by Dr Dre/"Typical American" by The Goats. A paen to high living vs a Philly rap band with a social conscience. They both have a punch like Mohammed Ali and can't be separated. The Goats probably sneaks ahead on the basis that it is a true rap song without any of that rnb singing in the Dre song.
anyway, those are my ten; please disagree.
posted by Akash at 6:35 PM
15 Comments:
not quite the rap connoisseur that you are, i shant proffer my own ten, as i doubt can improve readily,
i would say one thing, i have had recent phases of hipping and hopping, and thouroughly enjoyed some of teh more offbeat stuff....kind of funny, moody, check out the stuff by Hi-Tek, Madlib and Quasimoto.....or just wait til you get back to londres, and i'll lend them you.....Madlib does a lot of old blue note cut ups, lifting whoel long sections, its quite relaxing i find....
anyway, have been offered a ticket for the V Fetsival at Chgelmsford, which is not my fave, but the saturday line up is interesting enough, with Radiohead headlining......alternatively its the US PGA and come oooooon Tiger..
Looked at your list again, and stop the press, glaring omission of any Missy Elliot....its boundary pushing, and ya know it.....more teh singles than the albums, but thats my two cents.....
I don't claim to be a rap connoisseur but I did use to be pretty heavily into it. Missy Elliot is of course groundbreaking - I agree - but I couldn't find room for her in my top ten. Also, no Public Enemy, no Ice Cube, Ice-T or NWA. Obviously a very subjective list.
Sandy, go to the V Festival - I had a brief look on the website and you could also see Bloc Party (excellent), Echo & the Bunnymen and that new orthodox jewish rapper, Matisyahu which would be interesting to say the least.
You said to me that you didnt like the Bloc Party album (on a previous post)..?????
line up is interesting on the saturday, which is when the ticket is for.....only thing is, my mate who has the other ticket will want to see every band on the second stage, while i want to see the bands on the main stage.....yes that doens eman passing up on Keane and Kasabian, but i think i'll live...anyway, will keep you posted (tee hee)
I've changed my mind about bloc party since I bought a dvd of Jools Holland's show and saw their live version of "Helicopter" which was, I have to say, an absolute genius performance. Listened the album again with a new found appreciation. Bob admits he's wrong, what's going on?
Erik b and Rakim; Ghetto Boys
Big Daddy Cane - they were all great in their time.
on my list would have to be: Rolling with the Lyench Mob by Ice Cube; How do you want it - Tupac; Ain nothing but a G-thing, Dre and Snoop; and Bob - come you used to love this - i lost my ignorance - Dream Warriors; Hammer Time - MC Hammer :)....
The admission is duly noted, and taken on board.....the first i saw of Bloc Party was in fact on Jools H....and yes it was a cracking performance.......
they certainly show promise, that i'd say......what do you think of the Killers? guessing that the Arcade people didnt light your fire?
car is here....waiting til sep 1st to pick it up and register it....oh, the pain of waiting......
Since I am a recent pursuer of rap; I will leave here with what I think are porbably 10 deecent or memorable rap songs. To be fair, I mostly listen to Eminem, and as Bobby B said, some of his lyrics are profound.
Anyways, here are what I think are my top 10, in no particular order.
1. Missiy Elliot - Pass that Dutch. Great beats, awsome base!
2. Gangsta's Paradise - Coolio. Slow-ish rap, great background (soundtrack of some film)
3. Lose Yourself - Eminem. great lyrics. Truly amazing.
4. Baby got back - Mix-A-Lot. Not an amazing song, but good dance-ish tune. It was in The Shark's tale theme tune as well. I think!
5. The Way I am - Eminem. (again!) awsome video and great lyrics. They probably potray his real life, who knows!!
6. Without me - Eminem. Great, peppy song!
7. Guilty Conscience - Eminem. Again, really funny lyrics!
8. Brain Damage - Eminem again! Profound words. Worth a listen.
Thats it I think. I can't think of any other great rap songs other than that by Eminem. I guess I haven't really opened up to the rap world.
Start a discussion about Hard Rock/electronic/ Metal, and I can make a huge list.
Also, Silent Alarm - Bloc Party's album is great! esp. Blue Light and She's Hearing voices. The latter one gets quite exciting halfway!
I'll second that, She's Hearing Voices is a cool track, i love it.
What sort of electronic music do you like then? I've been playing around with some in the last couple of years. Post a list of your faves if you get a chance.
My personal electronic fave discovery are Lali Puna, a german band, who make more song based electronica, all rather beautiful, and have a lovely lady lead singer.
My Electronic preference kind of diverges towards metal! And unfortunately, I have not been able to discover any such bands (like Lali Puna) because I rarely tend to look for music myself. The music I listen is always recommended by someone, I rarely go out shopping for a CD I don't know about. So yea, I am not that much into soft-Electronica, even though some of such songs are great. Anyways, I will try to list my top 10 favourites:
1. Rez Cowgirl - Underworld. I was recommended this band and this song, from the album 'Everything, Everything' is quite nice!
2. Galvanise - Chemical Bros. Certainly deserves a place in the top-10. Nice beats!
3. Mishaps Happening - Quantic. Album by the same name, some of the songs are really good. Although this is of the soft Electro-dance genre.
Nice for mellowed listening.
4. Girls - The Prodigy. Great song, they have made better, but this is good never-the-less!
5. Action Radar - The Prodigy. Same album a sabove, Always outnumbered, never outgunned. Another good song.
6. Block Rocking Beats - Chemical Brothers. As the song says, great beats. Rarely any words though. True mark of an electronica!
7. Hey Boy Hey Girl - The Chemical Brothers. No Electronica evaluation is complete without this classic! Great video too.
8. Setting Sun - Chemical Brothers. Again, one of their really good songs.
9. Teardrop - Massive Attack. They have done some ground breaking work in this field. they are from Bristol (where I am atm) and this song is a proper classic! Soft-mellow tune though.
10. 'Smack my bitch up' and 'Breathe' - The Prodigy. Truly amazing songs. Breathe was the soundtrack for Charlie's Angels 2; and Smack My Bitch up had one of the most controversial videos ever! Firestarter's good too.
I really want to squeeze more songs into this list.
Anyways, some bands/artists I could recommend though. So, other than the conventional Prodigy, Chemical Brothers:
Saint-Germain - Great electro-jazz music. some french too!
Underworld - Songs from Underworld 1992-2002 are pretty good.
Autechre - German I think, and the music is influenced too, and quite nice.
I think this combines a lot of the electronic stuff I listen to. Nothing rare, and nothing most people wouldn't know!
Also, I know this is not teh right place, but check out 'Snakes on a Plane'. simply AWSOME!
Hey Bob, surely you must by itching to write something about the Heir fiasco and Pakistan???
it's difficult to tell what happened, although i am inclined to support the Pakistanis on this (along with Botham and Naser) - on a related note, couldn't recall that Bob Woolmer is Pakistan's coach - i myself was coached by him back in 1981 for a week in the nets at the St John's Y centre...
be interesting to see what happens on friday when a decision will be made re Imzamam and whether to punish him --
and that ball tempering - isn't that what you and Niraj do with the orange ball when we play in Plaxtol.....
I forgot to add earlier, Daft Punk is a really good electronica band as well.
And I know that this is not the place..but I support Pakistan quite strongly as far as this matter goes. I think they have been victimized here. But unfortunately, due to lack of any un-supported arguments, the decesion has not been ruled either way, although Inzi will be fined heavily, that's for sure!
And yes Manu B, that is indeed our dirty little trick with the orange ball. Atleast you now realise that we have been getting you out 'wrongfully' till now!
and Bobby B, please post something about this latest fiasco!
Yes, Akash, speak forth on the subject.
While i was ignorant of the days events as they happened, the golf was interrupted by constant cricket updates......not enough to ruin my enjoyment of the golf though, where Woods was simply ethereal......
Ok, here's a alternative theory.
There is no point ditinguishing between pure hip hop and rnb with a little rapping thrown in. Thats what rap is these days, unless you are prepared to venture away from what is thrown at us.
In my mind, the beginnings of rap never troubled the charts, save Grandmaster Flash, and grew up on the block partties of nyc.
rapping started to assimlate into other music soon thereafter. the wave of hip hop pioneers as i think we would call them, from Public Enemy to Digital Underground, from Rakim to LL Cool J, from DelaSoul to Kool Keith, achieived quite alot of recognition.
however, from the early mid nineties onwards, rap and hip hop have become desprately commercial, both in message nd form. The form consists entirely of female rnb singers (usually quite nice) followed by (signfifcantly less tuneful) male rapping. Live it makes for a toe curling experience, and on record the immediate repsone is to go listen to some proper rnb, coz in the main these ladies can sing alright.
The message is a monotone mix of bling, the search for respect, and well, more bling and women. It has made for brutally dull music, as judged by the charts. Even when the rapping is technically astute (Biggie Smalls, Nas, Jay-Z), the all out aggression can be wearing.
There's plenty of good stuff out there, just not on MTV or commercial radio. Yes, yes, this is a well worn argument, but it has merit.
I throw at you the following the by way of recent(ish) reccomendation......Madlib - Shades of Blue, Common - Be, The Roots - most, Hi-Tek, Quasimoto - The Unseen, Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele or Fishscale, Blackstar (mos Def and Talib Kweli)
All of these are strong long players, relatively recent, where i dont need to program out half the tracks....
Anyway, it could be that hip hop is just not as rich a musical form as we all thought it might be..
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