Sometimes you forget what real hip hop is..some people never knew was it was..and there are people like me who know exactly what it is and used to be, and they take great pride in pointing it out to anyone who will listen. I do get caught up watching videos and listening to the radio every now and then, I am utterly unimpressed with most of the garbage I hear. There are a few newer artists who tickle my fancy, and a few more older ones who continue to put out stellar work, but for the most part I am left feeling horribly shortchanged by these modern hip hop offerings. I find myself turning to jazz more, althought to be honest I will never completely abandon the art form I grew up with. So allow all those sentences to be the lead in to the video I am posting below.
This is real hip hop. No needless hooks. No entourage. No wasted motions or lyrics, and no one distorting their voice like they have throat cancer. Just Eric B and Rakim telling a cautionary tale from a New York rooftop, about someone who got a little too drunk with power. I'm sure you've heard this song before, but on this Sunday morning, sit back and listen to it again, and let Rakim minister to you. Its a great story that only takes 3 minutes and 53 seconds to tell. And as a bonus, you get to see old clips of the movie Juice
5 comments:
You just described perfectly the reason why 75-85% of my listening is jazz now. When the quality of GOOD hip hop went downhill I bailed gradually.
Like you though, I can't give up on it completely. I loved it too much and keep waiting for the artists, record companies and the general listening public to get a clue. A "new" song is basically a stolen old beat. What happened to creative sampling? Unfortunately most of my listening is old material.
Rakim is king.
Yep - real hip hop.
devil's advocate here. i love old skool hip-hop, and not a fan of today's version...but then, you know how they say music is steadily evolving and "growing" and it has always been the case that the originators of an artform are not impressed with the current state of it. When rock changed and hair bands dominated in the 80s, i'm sure the fans of 60s rock were sick to their stomachs. and so it continues.
I prefer Rakim, McLyte, Brand Nubian and the like...they're still hip hop to me. But we have to face it...we're the OLDER hip hop generation...and just like with almost every other genre of music, the torch has been passed. We might not like it, but we don't have to listen. We can force our kids to listen to old stuff...like our parents used to do...and they'll hate a lot of it and think it's uncool...like we used to do...and then, when they hit our age, they'll revive it all over again because they'll shake their heads at hiphop in 2030.
Rashad you know how I feel on this issue. I bang classic Hip Hop like it's stylin' right now.
I can't get into what's the shit right now.
I tell you what though, both Nas and NYOil are putting Hip Hop on notice with work that is both conscious and entertaining.
Chuck D is working very closely with Nelly on his new project.
It will be very interesting to see how the flow goes from here on out.
Thank you much. I'll stick to my XM radio. I can't stand regular radio.
Although I have to say that I'm surprised that I actually like Lil Wayne's new CD. Sue me *shrug*
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