Doubtful, at least in the form of weekly-grind webcomic posting – he’s got all sorts going on.
I do need to post his stuff more tho.
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We forked a threat for that!
But that song was a huge hit and was entirely socially conscious, yeah? I think socially conscious music can be popular… it’s actually more likely with musical forms associated with black culture, I think.
[ETA] FYI - the ATL Creative Loafing had an article not too long ago on the dj for Arrested Development, Headliner and it talks about what happened to them and how they developed their style:
http://clatl.com/atlanta/headliners-revival/Content?oid=16908922
I just don’t think Vanilla Ice was a good rapper, is all.
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I would like to see more socially conscious music, sure. It is still out there, but it just isn’t mainstream. I am partly at fault for not actively seeking stuff out like I used to. I still listen to the pop stations on the commute, and most of the stuff that hits the main airwaves is about basically self indulgence and having a good time - but it seems to take itself too seriously.
That 1st Arrested Development album was great. I loved it. One of my favorite lines was:
Most of the persons follow the serpent
Cause the serpent preaches all for self
But why follow someone in search of something
When you’ll get nothing
Serpent’s all for self
Have to read later, I should be busy. I did catch up to him like 10 years ago and downloaded a few DJ sets he did. I liked his out look and his stuff. I think he was trying to make a positive change.
Not really, no. Decent dancer. But what is “good” and “popular” are often two different things.
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No mention of Nerdcore yet?
As @AcerPlatanoides points out, MF Doom is not white, but much of what I’ve seen is certainly white… Does MF Doom consider himself part of the nerdcore scene?
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Add to that, good being subjective, too.
you’re not wrong. within the culture, the 90s is called the “golden era.” we had Nas’ Illmatic, early-to-mid Wu Tang, Biggie, early Jay-z, Mobb Deep, early Outkast, Souls of Mischief/Hieroglyphics crew, Pharcyde, Tupac, all the Native Tongue (Tribe, Black Sheep, De La etc). there’ll always be good rappers, but there’ll never be anything like that time just due to the pioneering is all gone. And the beats. I miss the beats, but they’ve been done, the pioneering is gone, the fragmentation of sub-genres or else sounding retro on purpose is all that’s left.
more white boy shout outs:
For good reason…
I keed, I keed.
Though really I only seem to appreciate MC Chris and maybe Professor Elemental. But the whole genre is sort of a novelty.
Dunno. But IMHO, UK artists, both black and white, tend to have a different “voice” than American artists. Probably because of different cultures and experiences. Same with artists from other parts of the world. There is one hip hop artist I listen to from Mexico, who is sort of both a rap and dance fusion, Mexican Institute of Sound.
Similarity, I feel that my favorite forms of dance and electroncia peeked in the mid-late 90s.
YES! I don’t know if newer artists don’t know what they are doing, or just trying to find something new, but so much of it I am like… wtf?
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I think that the most successful and respectful white rappers are those that are able to do hip hop while respecting the culture at the same time. Look at the Beastie Boys – they started out as a hardcore punk group and only released their first rap record as a joke. I think that a main reason why the Beastie Boys managed to stay respected despite being a complete anomaly in hip hop when starting out is a few things: they had creative lyrics with good beats, they respected hip hop culture, and never tried to downplay their whiteness. The same for 3rd Bass and Eminem.
Consider Vanilla Ice. He actually wasn’t a terrible rapper. Not saying he was great or anything but he wasn’t bad at all. The mistake was his portrayal as some sort of hood from the streets of Miami which couldn’t be further from the truth (as he was a suburbanite from the Dallas area). One unforgivable sin in hip hop is not being “genuine.”
Take the Beastie Boys – they never tried to come off as anything more than a few white Jews from Brooklyn and The Village.
As another example, you could argue NWA weren’t genuine because they weren’t actually doing drive by shootings on a daily basis (they are what you would call “studio gangsters”) but they did at least grow up in the hood and had first hand experience and perspective to project their point of view.
I think my long meandering point here is that it’s perfectly reasonable and respectable to be a “white person in hip hop” as long as you have good lyrical flow, respect hip hop culture, and don’t try to be something you’re not.
Disclaimer: I am a white person but I’ve been a life long hip hop fan and amateur historian.
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I totally agree. Hip hop tends to be locationally specific. I do think that British hip hop has more international influence from places other than the US (Jamacia, France, the Indian subcontinent, etc). I’ve been thinking lately that maybe we should see instead of development here in the US and then going global, more a case of shared cultural influences at similar times and shared development of the genre in different places at the same time. Not to say that the US scene isn’t influential, but it’s not the only point of influence.
And I’m getting bitched at for talking too much by the system now…
but I’ll be back!
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Eh… while I would say the Beastie Boys didn’t take themselves seriously, their lyrics, especially some of the earlier stuff, painted them as gun toting, women banging, booze drinking, hard asses.
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This is true, and I would argue this was largely satire. One of the reasons they stopped performing Fight for Your Right (To Party!) was because it was meant to be a parody that was instead taken seriously by those not in on the joke.
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I hate that I can’t tell how good that their lyrical skills are, but the beats and flows coming from China these days are dope as hell, judging by these guys:
V.N.P. Crew 點心星球 Dim Sum Planet
(my upload. not on Youtube anymore. Chinese censorship?)
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He appears onstage in a Doctor Doom mask, exclusively. He was a pioneer, doing his own thing at the time.
Then this came along:
I can see why you like it. Has that sort of retro jazzy sound.
Well, here is Mexican Institute of Sound. He is known of mixing obscure records for his loops and beats. His sound varies though, here is a sample of a few.
Note this video has some graphic images if one is squeamish. Like you I regret not knowing the lyrics, based on the visuals, I am assuming they are quite heavy.
More of a dance song vs rap, but how I found them:
Loungy vibes. Those fish have to be like - WTF?
Dig the Addidas.
ETA - Bonus track. Not related. Collaboration between UK Artist Overseer doing the music, and Jakk Frost rapping.
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I’ve long been impressed by the skill of the rappers coming out of South Korea.
Seo Taiji is a musical icon and considered the godfather of Korean hip-hop. Here’s perhaps the original Korean gangster rap song (from 1994):
This song was incredibly subversive for its time as its subject matter was regarding teenage runaways and drug abuse. Korea was and still is an incredibly conservative country and this song (and the whole album) was extremely controversial as a result.
Here’s an oldie but goodie from Drunken Tiger (the MV version I can find on YouTube has terrible audio but it was also controversial as it portrayed Seoul’s underground red light districts and sex trade):
For something a bit more contemporary, here’s G Dragon and CL collaborating with Skrillex and Diplo:
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Hell, we could probably fork this thread to discuss rappers from Eastern countries – or even predominately foreign language (read: non-English based) rap music if there’s enough interest.
I maintain that Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues is rap.
(OK, it’s “talking blues”, but no reasonable definition of rap excludes the talking blues form)
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I guess one more thing to talk about since I’m discussing Asian rappers on a “white rappers” thread is to mention Nice Guy 人 (aka Nice Guy Jin, his name being a pun on “gaijin”) – a Japan based white rapper that raps in Japanese. Unfortunately I can’t find any good videos of his stuff.
