If thereās good rap out there, Iām one person whoās never taken the time to sift for it through the piles of garbage. If any devotees would like to broaden my horizons, please recommend something. As a guideline: I strongly dislike violence, narcissism, misogyny, complaining, separatism, and machismo; other than that, itās pretty much open territory.
A whole youtube channel of rap humor, eh?
I liked this one.
Which reminds me of this, which I liked even better.
On another bbs I inhabit someone asked the same question and the consensus was Jurassic 5 was a good place to start. I got some from the library and it was good stuff. De La Soul is also pretty awesome for that kind of thing. Current stuff? Umm hell I dunno. Parenthood and middle age kind of ruin ones idea of current.
There is also Deltron 3030 which is more on the geeky side of things.
Entry point:
MC Frontalot
There is, but Iām with you. I realized how out of the loop on rap I was when Pitchfork praised Liāl Wayne as the most talented rapper alive, and all I could hear was a guy mumble-speaking about sizzurp. Sorry, Liāl Wayne.
Iād recommend checking out the previously mentioned Deltron 3030 and Jurassic 5 as well as Lyrics Born/Quannum. I dug the tune Jurassic 5 did with DJ Format a few years back.
Macklemore?
A Tribe Called Quest. Little dated, but itās great.
Why not Iggy Azalea? Or maybe heād like Vanilla Ice? I hear heās dopeā¦
Actually, Macklemore aināt so bad. He seems like a decent dude.
If thereās good rap out there, Iām one person whoās never taken the time
to sift for it through the piles of garbage. If any devotees would
like to broaden my horizons, please recommend something.
I suppose I keep peeking at Hip Hop Family Tree because I hope to one day encounter such a revelation. It hasnāt happened yet.
2015-01-06
ETA:
2012-04-23
If you canāt handle a little narcissism and bravado, then rap probably isnāt for you. Ego is a significant part of the art formāthe cultivation of a personal style is the essence of it. I recommend the documentary āSomething From Nothing: The Art Of Rapā as a good starting point, if youāre sincerely interested in understanding and appreciating rap.
Here are some rap songs I enjoyā¦ Iām not expert, but this is what I like, for what itās worth.
Queen Latifah:
Biz Markie:
OutKast:
Digable Planets:
De La Soul:
Grand Master Flash & Furious Five:
Arrested Development:
Killer Mike:
Sorry for any duplicates of other postsā¦
No mention of Public Enemy? (Showing my age.)
I was going to put PE on my list, but I didnāt think @SomeDude would approve. they are the standard bearer of politically aware hip hop, still to this day, I think.
Isnāt the latest Kendrick Lamar album meant to be good/important?
(I have it, but havenāt listened to itā¦)
It is, and it has some amazing stuff thatās very worth listening to. But like PE, itās sort of āadvanced studiesā political hip-hop; not the best entry point. Kind of like recommending Ornette Colman or Miles Davis to someone curious about jazz.
ā¦and I just started listening to Miles Davis to learn about jazz.
