I guess that's the case. It's not that I haven't tried more modern Hip-hop, I have lots of times but I just feel they lack these melodic, R&B-like qualities of the 90's and early 00's.Originally Posted by Offshore Toon
Rap these days is either A) A little too much auto-tune (Drake balances on a fine line here) or B) Trying to be "Old school" by trying to replicate more classics such as Illmatic in style. I'm pegging Kendrick Lamar in the latter category, but it's just not the same.
Newpaged by Maz being an old fart
The video you posted was absolute nonsense anyway. Good riddance.
I can't say Illmatic sprung to mind when listening to any of Kendrick's albums, but Nas did kinda set the blueprint for hip hop albums with Illmatic. Have you listened to Section.80?
Hmm no, I kinda gave up on Kendrick Lamar after everyone raved about his first album and I just didn't see it.
I gave all the songs a quick listen just now though (usually don't need more than 10-20 seconds of a song to determine whether it's good or not), and there didn't seem to be any good songs on it. The best one was Keishas Song, which was OK but not much more.
The "Illmatic" style is for me basically slow, minimalistic beats, minimalistic choruses & bridges, and little vocals. Basically mostly about the rapping itself. For me, good Hip Hop is just as much about the beats, the samplings and good choruses. So while Illmatic excelled at this style, Nas got better later on. Stillmatic is better.
Songs like "If I ruled the world", "Staring at the world through my rearview" and "Fu-gee-la" is the type of Hip Hop I like and almost noone seems to want to do that anymore.
I will admit though that looking at the rapping alone, not that many people are very good either. The flow is just off, and a lot of people do this super-stuttery style these days, they rap in "bursts" of 3-4 words which is weird (a bit like that Big Boi song you posted, which is absolute shite compared to his rapping on "Ms. Jackson" for instance).
Sounds like you're looking for r'n'b infused hip hop, so yeah, I don't think Kendrick is going to be up your street. I think you're looking for something very specific (rnb hook, straightforward flow) which hip hop has left behind as its evolved. No doubt there's still stuff out there for you, but I wouldn't bother too much with popular artists currently as they all veer towards trap.
I love that MTV Base era, late 90s-early 00s, all shiny suits, Hype Williams and guest verses.
I forgot all about this until recently, especially that one of them's called Brian
I can't tell if I only like Nelly because of nostalgia or not.
Like, there's no way that's a bad song, right?
I stand by that entire album. Nellyville was too bloated though, lost interest quickly from there.
Ride Wit Me is an all time classic.
Really? Surely you'll never broaden your tastes if you don't give songs a chance. You must be missing out on so much music.
If you skip the intro then 10-20 seconds will give you a good idea of what the song is like. Its not the best way to go about it, but its probably more worthwhile than sitting through one or two songs and sacking off the album because you didn't like them.
Yeah exactly. Its usually what I do to get a general idea of an album. If I hear something that sounds a bit interesting, I'll listen to enough of the song, or all of it, to get a better idea of it.
Not sure why but YouTube has started upping live music streams to me which seems highly illegal but incredibly useful.
Like this guy who just plays lofi/chill hip hop instrumentals to put on in the background while you work
Hook of the year right here.
These songs are genuinely starting to blend into each other.
I'm not really a fan of GoldLink. His flow is monotonous and I can't help but think of that song where he mentions hitting his girlfriend (verse 1, line 5).
Enjoying Brother Ali's new album. Anyone listened to it yet? Very Atmosphere-esque at times.
Listened to the singles. Feels like he's lost any aggression he once had which is a huge shame.
Ali's Five Fingers of Death is very good.
Weird character. He has talent but his projects are mostly boring. Picket Fence.
I think most of his work is excellent. His voice is amazing. Sometimes the beats let him down, but on some of his early albums his aggressive flow on those guitar loops.
The new Brother Ali seems quite good. I agree with Offshore and Max to an extent though, in that he's definitely a very talented bloke but he over plays the whole "man of the people/conscious poet" card to the point of it becoming boring at times. Sometimes you just want him to jump on some harder beats and really tear them apart. It's all a bit too mellow sometimes.
Ant, as a producer, is more than capable of giving him that too. Exhibit A:
Incredible album, that.
This has such an obvious answer that it's really bothering me. Where is the guitar riff in this from originally?
I don't think it was obvious. Found it pretty quickly though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=1-b2ZU5RkG4
http://www.whosampled.com/Bob-James/...u-(Very-Much)/
https://www.vevo.com/watch/danger-mo...o/USSM21700751
Danger Mouse ft. Run The Jewels & Big Boi - Chase Me
What a line up.
Vince Staples keeps being dope:
Very much liked Brother Ali's new album. Really chilled and soulful, but that voice will always grab my attention.
Big Boi's Boomiverse is pretty disappointing. The three stand-out tracks are the ones with Killer Mike on. I'll give it another spin later, though, 'cause I'm not sure 8am is the best time to judge a hip hop album.
So I've started the new Young Thug album, which is supposed to be more singing and less rapping.
The first two songs were pretty blah but I just hit a few gems in the middle. “She Wanna Party”, “Daddy’s Birthday”, and “Do U Love Me”
Like Offshore says though 8am isn't the best time to judge an album so maybe I just need aand a
to enjoy the first few a bit more.
I was a bit harsh on Boomiverse. Its good. It just doesn't have too much diversity so half an album passes and you've barely noticed.
Prodigy is dead.
http://uk.complex.com/music/2017/06/prodigy-dead-at-42
What the fuck?
42 fucking years old. Jesus. I know he had suffered pretty much his entire life with sickle cell anaemia, which isn't a disease I know a whole lot about, but I know it can be quite serious. So I would guess it was something to do with that. He seemed really well in recent interviews though.
Fucking hell. Definitely one of the greats. P in the mid 90s is almost as good as it gets.
Died like a true gangster, choking on an egg.
I agree that it's not bad, but not particularly great either. There are a handful of really cool tracks on there (I feel like "All Night" should be some sort of monster, summer hit single, but it almost certainly won't be), but the rest of it isn't particularly great. It's just a decent album overall, but you kind of want more than that from Big Boi.
Staples, on the other hand, has just dropped a really interesting record. I love that kid. He's smart, good on the mic and willing to take risks. Which is exactly the way it should be when you're 23 and on the top of your game, I suppose. He's basically eschewed any sort of traditional rap production and made a quasi-dance record that's still very much rooted in Hip-Hop, it's great. It's also only like thirty-five minutes long and devoid of any filler, which I'm all for.
Also, we haven't discussed that the man himself is returning with a new album on Friday. I'm not really sure what to expect from a Jay-Z record at this point. I mean obviously it's Jay, so I'm excited. He definitely still has it in the tank, I'm just not sure what a full length record sounds like from him at this point.
But I really hope it's not just some boring, thrown-together collection of rhymes about his ever-increasing collection of Basquiat originals or something. Or just some bullshit, last-ditch attempt at propping Tidal up. Just sell it to Apple, put the kids in daycare and get back in the studio properly man. For fucks sake.
What did you think of Magna Carta?
I thought he managed to pull off something new for that album so there's a decent chance he can avoid rehashing old sounds and lyrics, I reckon.
Yeah, I actually liked Magna Carta. It seemed to get a bit of stick but it was pretty good in my book. Mid-level Jay, he's made worse albums that that. I just worry that, lyrically, he might become a bit of a dullard in his old age. Saying that, he can still absolutely tear it up when he gets a nice guest spot to murder.
Yeah, I think there's probably more chance of his lyrics letting the beats down than vice versa. First time he's stuck to one producer for an entire album, apparently. No I.D.
APPARENTLY there is a fair bit of personal stuff on there, fatherhood and the likes, which is promising. Would be good to get one more great (or at least good) Jay record before he becomes President or whatever.
Yeah, I read that No I.D. would be doing the whole thing, and that did make me happy. He's a brilliant, and vastly underrated, producer. He's generally very good at helming all, or the majority of, a project too. He's also responsible for one of my favourite, latter-day Jay-Z cuts as well. The "Success" track with Nas. Which I unfortunately can't link because none of his shit is on Youtube anymore.
Is it being released properly or just on Tidal or whatever he uses now? I still haven't bothered with Life of Pablo for that reason.
I think it's just Tidal.
Life of Pablo is available everywhere now, though.
It's kinda crazy that Gucci Mane dropped a better album than Vince Staples in 2017.
This Vince Staples album is boring and the drums are legitimately annoying.
TLOP has been on all platforms since like the 2nd week it came out lol wtf
Streaming yeah, but I mean to buy. Unless I'm really no good at finding it.
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