What's Going on with Rap/Hip-Hop these Days?

Just curious how the popularity, charts and sales figures are for rap and hip hop theses days...... And is anything new, creatively, happening within the style?

 

In the words of Nas "Hip Hop is Dead."

 

On the commercial side still absolutely huge. I feel the proliferation of autotune is going to be to this decade what reverb was to the 80s. Getting T-Pain for a song on a top 40 album is almost required.

Production is where creativity seeps into the mainstream, but I usually look towards mixtapes and underground stuff for full blown, thought out stuff.

 

Rap is no different than any other genre. The crap rises to the top. You won't hear The Roots or Nas on maistream Clear Channel stations. There's plenty of creative stuff, it just gets bumped in favor of the "rims, hos and wheels" stuff on radio.

I'm streaming The Roots as we speak. Fantastic stuff.

 

Ghostface is still putting out really good stuff, and he's prolific too. Although he's not as big as he was in the nineties.

 

Hip Hop is alive and well in India. You can find some of the best there is on Bollywood soundtracks.

 

It is different in that there is no melody..............Not saying that's good or bad, but to say it's not different is not accurate.

 

Hip Hop is alive and it lives a Stones Throw away:

http://www.stonesthrow.com/

Can't go wrong with much of this label's stuff. Of course, there are plenty of folks out there that are only happy with Paul McCartney (and endless variations thereof) that take any opportunity to announce that they don't like rap.

 

LOL at the hip hop is dead.

hip hop isn't dead. the good stuff doesn't want to be mainstream. mainstream kills music. if you can't find any good hip hop, you aren't digging enough.

 

If you're considering posting a threadcrap in this thread, be prepared for a warning and/or a suspension. Threadcraps will not be tolerated.

 

stones throw is awesome....

also...

http://www.rhymesayers.com/ (label)

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Dälek (artist)

http://www.bullyrecords.com/ (label)

http://www.anticon.com/?js=yes (label)

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Buck+65 (artist)

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Sage+Francis (artist)

 

I concur. Except you left out Lil Wayne.

A friend turned me on to The Roots about a year ago. Fantastic stuff indeed.

Hip-hop is as dead as Rock.

 

didn't think my post was threadcrap but i guess it referenced the said threadcrap so it got the axe.

rap/hip hop as posted earlier has good stuff but most doesn't make it to your urban radio station from what i can gather. i got to see the Clipse two years ago and they were great. seen the Roots a few times and they were good. that Dave Chappell block party dvd was pretty good representation of some of the better modern soul and hip hop meeting.

 

Can anybody recommend where to start with The Roots?

 

Start with their first album Do You Want More??!!


Get Hard To Earn by Gang Starr while you're at it.

 

Check out some of the stuff on Quannum Projects if you want to hear some of the best underground/alternative stuff out there. One of my favorite groups on their roster is Blackalicious, which is comprised of Gift of Gab and Chief Xcel. Their music has relatively little in the way of samples, actually, but it is amazingly put together. As for lyrical content, Gift of Gab tends to focus on what used to be called "the positive tip."

I'd recommend The Craft (if only for the jaw-dropping title track) and then moving backward through their other albums, with a nod also going to Blazing Arrow.



The other big thing that Quannum's got going right now is a "supergroup" called The Mighty Underdogs, which is comprised of Gift of Gab, Lateef the Truth Speaker, and Headnodic. They put out an EP last year, and their first full length, Dropping Science Fiction just came out.

But just about everything on Quannum is worthwhile. Albums by Latryx also get a nod from me.


Now, if you like the darker side of rap, you really owe it to yourself to check out El-P (yes, it's spelled like a progressive rock group we all know and love). His latest album, I'll Sleep When You're Dead is just crazy. I guess I'll call it postmodern and paranoid, with a lot of political references. There's a lot of sci-fi in El-P's raps, too. If you prefer the instrumental stuff, but not the lyrics, then check out Boom Bip and his latest album, Seed to Sun. The aforementioned Buck 65 also appears on this album.



One last thing: The best stuff is usually not the stuff hitting the charts. Just because something's not a hit doesn't mean it isn't good, and vice versa.

 

here's the clipse website:

http://www.clipseonline.com/

 

They do have a "greatest hits" type package called History of The Roots V1 and V2. However, I find it a bit hard to listen to, as the songs flow better as an album IMO.

Definitely start with "Things Fall Apart". This album is absolutely essential. So many different styles and moods, it is pure genius. Give it several listens, maybe even a dozen before making up your mind. It still sounds fresh to me, 10 years later.


elektrikjester, I do have Blazing Arrow and really enjoy it. I'll have to check out The Craft, never heard about that one.

 

Kool Keith is one of most consistently innovated writers out there.

 

This is often (but not always) true with any genre. In country and rock and folk for example, if the really good stuff were to always really become huge, we would hear more Delbert McClinton or John Prine on commercial radio. Fred Neil wasn't a huge superstar in the 1960s either and to this day remains a cult figure. John Sebastian in the liner notes of his Collector's Choice Music 2 CD set of the Capitol albums of Fred Neil's said that Fred was the real folk-rock, not the commercialized version of folk-rock. Joe South wasn't really a superstar back in the 1960s either although he had several hits, but he is one of the most influential singer-songwriters of all time.

Many artists have ambitious periods when they start out, and then after a while, they become mainstream, and then the hits run dry and some continue on to serve their existing fan base, and others quit the business.

 

The above post from me does apply to hip-hop as well.

 

Well, I certainly agree that it's as true for country as it is for hip-hop right now. Country radio hits on the radio obscure a lot of great artists as much as hip-hop radio obfuscates the best of that genre.

Re: The Roots. They are one of the few groups that have some level of mainstream recognition, though not necessarily a lot of airplay. I do agree that the Beginner's Guides is probably not the best way to begin listening to the group. They're pretty album oriented, and quite frankly, just about any album by them is going to worth most listeners' time. If I had choose one or two as first picks, then probably Phrenology or Game Theory, as I'm more partial to their later work. YMMV.

 

I'm going to make another pitch for their first album. I probably prefer Illadelph Halflife and Things Fall Apart overall, but Do You Want More??!! is the basic template and it's really good. The Roots have changed with each album similar to an unmentioned forum favorite group. If I was asked where to start with those guys, I'd be hesitant to go with something from 1965 or 1966. That's how I see Things Fall Apart. I'd start with something early in order to get the essence of the sound first, then move on to the more advanced albums.

 

^^^^^^

you had to go and make the reference didn't you?

LOL


;o)

 

I didn't make the reference. You're reading into it. I could be referring to anyone from that decade.

Besides, I think the rap equivalent to that group is Wu-Tang.