The Hip Hop Thread

[Baz]

My Logic tickets have arrived so I've been listening to a lot of him lately. April 23rd baby. I've realised that it'll be a complete and utter letdown if he doesn't do Nasty and, really, I don't think he will.



It's ridiculous how pumped that song gets me, nevermind live.

When I saw B.o.B. live, it was okay but as soon as Beast Mode started it was out of this world. Four minutes of amazing. I wanna have that with Logic.

Instead he'll probably just play stuff off his newest album, which I don't really like. Hopefully he'll at least perform Bounce from his last album, but even then it's unlikely.

Nasty would be GOAT. Ballin' and On The Low would be pretty good too, I guess.

For £14 I shouldn't really complain, but I just know one song could make it from a fun night to an awesome one.

It's like the second time I saw Chiddy Bang, he didn't do Truth and it was such a let down compared to the first time.

Also the tickets say it's at The Ritz but I was under the impression it was at Academy 2. Thankfully you have to walk past the Ritz to get to Academy, but it's a bit weird.

Googled it. Seems to be The Ritz. Also found this:

[Bernanke]

I'm back to spinning Pilot Talk 1 and 2. Legitimate classics.

Tearin thru the city
Snatchin' bitches top of the building
King Kong ain't got shit on me

[CJay]

Macklemore's new album is weird. Some really bizarre features. Nice enough production as usual, but most of the tracks are forgettable. Falling in love with Chance, though.

Speaking of - anyone got any suggestions of recent stuff similar to Sunday Candy? Love dem vibes. That and Waves make for great 'driving to work in the morning' music.

[CJay]

[Waffdon]

That was stonkingly good.

[Baz]

Ouch! Some swipes at OF, huh. Good on him.

[Bernanke]

Better than the Kanye version

[Spoonsky]

Does anyone know Flavor Flav? He was on the lawn at my school today.

[Bernanke]

New Kendrick EP tomorrow?

[Reg]

Flavor Flaaaaaav

Public Enemy are great Spoon, have a listen.

New Kendrick EP tomorrow?

Looks like it.

[Spoonsky]

Oh, I've heard of Public Enemy. I guess his brother is our athletic director or something.

New Kendrick.

This just popped up on Youtube's suggested videos, I quite like it:

[Spoonsky]

I'm not sure how cohesive New Kendrick is as an album, but there are some fantastic songs on there. untitled 6 and 8 are funky as fuck.

[simon]

Tyler.

[Reg]

Untitled 8. All kinds of funky. Untitled 7 is cool too, hearing him improvise and draft a song...wonder if anything more ever came of that.

That Tyler was great.

[phonics]

Oh, I've heard of Public Enemy. I guess his brother is our athletic director or something.

New Kendrick.

This just popped up on Youtube's suggested videos, I quite like it:

INI are the shit. Get on that and Pete Rock & Cl Smooth.

[Alex]

InI, I haven't listened to that record in years. So good. That Deda album too, "Original Baby Pa". That was another all-Pete Rock produced gem that got shelved in the nineties. He made them both in '95 in fact. BBE (these guys always released good stuff, I don't know if they still exist though) ended up putting them both out as a double disc like ten years ago or something.

[Spoonsky]

http://mashable.com/2016/03/05/flavo...k#o5m7smzJuPqp

Hehe.

[Baz]

That Tyler was great.

Extended mix with Kanye's part

Radio 1xtra had a #KendrickListeningParty () on Friday; played the whole album, sans track 4, at midday. Was a good move, but I bet Kano was pissed off because his actual album came out that day too.

[-james-]

LEVlTATE LEVITATE LEVITATE LEVITATE

[Bernanke]

LEVlTATE LEVITATE LEVITATE LEVITATE

GET TOP ON THE PHONE.

[Alex]

LEVlTATE LEVITATE LEVITATE LEVITATE

That track (or the first half of it you're referring to there) is probably my favourite on the whole record. That is 7 I think? The first section of that is my highlight.

I also like untitled 5 a lot. I think I mean 5 anyway, I've been playing the whole thing on repeat a lot and it's sort of blended into one. "I got 100 on my dash, got 200 in the trunk". That one.

Obviously 8 is cool as fuck as well.

It's basically all very good and worthwhile though. The only bit I can do without is the extended guitar jam ("head is the answer" etc) at the end of 7. Imagine being so on top of your game that you can throw your leftovers out there and it's better than 95% of other peoples actual shit.

Judging by this you could definitely imagine "To Pimp a Butterfly" being one of those records that gets the super-deluxe, 8 CD reissue in 20 years time so we can all listen to every single outtake from those sessions. That definitely sounds like something by future, middle-aged self would be all over.

[CJay]

I done made an Apollo Brown playlist on Spotify if anyone's interested. Is there anyone else around making similar consistently good boom bap? I know it's not exactly the popular sound at the minute, but I thought someone big might have given him a go at some point in the last few years. His stuff can be a bit samey at times, but you can't argue with the overall quality and consistency of the beats.

https://open.spotify.com/user/cromie...KMTzyImpsOTiTs

Hit me up with some of your hip hop playlists too. Trying to get a good mix to rotate in the car for driving to work.

[Alex]

Other people do it, but I don't think anybody churns it out quite as prolifically as Apollo Brown. Statik Selektah is the other obvious, big exponent of it I guess.

Oddisee, Damu, Marco Polo, Mr. Green, The Doppelgangaz, Gensu Dean. They all do similar sorts of things to varying degrees of success.

[Spoonsky]

LEVlTATE LEVITATE LEVITATE LEVITATE

I skip 5 and the second half of 7, but other than it's such a good little album. It really works all the way through.

[CJay]

I love the sample on this alternative version of I Love Kanye. I think it's fan made, but it's awesome.

https://soundcloud.com/ceejay92/09-i...e-old-kanye-og

[phonics]

This hitboy beat is just off the chain. He's definitely one of my favourite producers now:

[Alex]

I can't decide whether I like the Flatbush Zombies debut album or not. Well, that's not really fair. I do like it. I just can't decide how much I like it, whether it's legitimately great or just OK.

It definitely scratches that itch when it comes to no-nonsense, New York beats and rhymes. It's got that covered. I feel like the two mixtape's, Better off Dead in particular, were probably better though.

[Alex]

Also, on a more general note, I've really been listening to a shit load of Hip-Hop again recently. Which is nice. I never thought I'd lost interest, but I was definitely slacking off a bit latelys. I think Kanye and his car-crash of an album release pissed me off a little bit.

I watched the NWA film a few weeks ago though and it set me off again big time. The thought the film was great too, a lot better than I thought it would be. Ice Cube's kid is his fucking double. I was worried about that casting, but he's so much like him he couldn't have really failed.

I'm currently slap bang in the middle of a massive east coast phase and have revisited all kinds of shit I haven't played in ages, years in some cases. Just over the past couple of days Def Squad's "El Nino", Large Pro's "The LP", LL's "14 Shot's to the Dome" (I always thought this was pretty underrated), Pete Rock's "Soul Survivor". Good times.

[Multi]

Random realization, Lil Wayne calls himself a Martian because it's "the red planet" and he's all about that blood life.

[Alex]

RIP Phife Dawg.

That one really hurts.

[Baz]

Yeah.

It still amuses me that Tribe have received no money whatsoever for Can You Kick It? cos Lou Reed only okayed the sample so long as he got 100% of the profits.

[Baz]

Anyone listened to the new Lil Boosie album? He goes by Boosie Badass now, it seems, and the album is called Thug Talk.



I've never been a massive fan of his music (I admit he has some bangers) but he makes Instagram worth having because his life is amazing, and you can tell how appreciative he is of everything because of what he's been through.

[Alex]

One of the best opening verses in rap history? I don't know, but I would say it's in the conversation. Obviously they had made an album before this, but this always sounded like his arrival to me. Phife was never the greatest technically but the energy was ridiculous, and this is a great example of it.

I would also recommend anyone who hasn't already heard it checking out his one solo album, "Ventilation: Da LP". It's not a classic or anything, but it's a really solid album with a really cool line up of producers. Hi-Tek, Dilla, Fredwreck, Pete Rock and Supa Dave West. Really good, and really underrated, little album.

I always sort of assumed Tribe would get back together for an album, or at least a single, at some point. 45 is really no age to die. Pretty rubbish day all around.

[Spoonsky]

I love that verse, the second one on there is good as well. I think it took me longer to appreciate Phife but now I like him just as much as Tip.

"When's the last time you heard a funky diabetic?" has got to be his best line, although it's a bit sad now in context.

[CJay]

Randomly getting back into Kid Cudi. Does he make the most unique music in hip hop? A lot of it isn't very good, and in my opinion his albums are generally poorly realised and bloated, but when he gets it right it's amazing. I love that kind of dark atmosphere he seems to create on his best tracks. He posted a new track on Soundcloud the other day:

https://soundcloud.com/cudderland/the-frequency

[CJay]

Also it's funny (and cool) to see how your music taste has developed, Spoon. You used to be so dismissive of hip hop.

[Bernanke]

I'm finally "understanding" Future. EVOL is

[Bernanke]

https://soundcloud.com/futureisnow/n...-reign-mixtape

Goddamn...

[Bernanke]

TLOP releases for real today.

[CJay]

Lots of remastering and small changes to it since the original release. A better quality version of Saint Pablo has leaked too. It's amazing.

http://www91.zippyshare.com/v/HLiBXpzT/file.html

[phonics]

"IT'LL NEVER BE ON APPLE"

*looks at sales*

*Kanye gets the Crayons out*

"Dear Apple...."

[Alex]

I've been listening to the new Elzhi album quite a lot this last week, I'm pleasantly surprised by how good it is. This is the one where he funded it through Kickstarter and then subsequently pissed all of his fans off by disappearing off the face of the earth and never updating them on what he was doing. That actually seems to have given him a lot of good material for the album though, because he gets into the reasons a little bit. Depression, legal woes, drink and drugs seem to have the crux of it.

I was worried by the production line up, looked a little bit budget (for want of a better word) but he's picked his beats really well. I would definitely recommend giving it a shot.

Royce has just released a new EP (well, he calls it an EP but it's longer than a lot of albums) that is quite good. I couldn't find a tag-free version of it though, so you do have to content with the occasional "Datpiff dot com, WORLD EXCLUSIVE". I really wish they would stop with that.

[Baz]

ScHoolboy Q goes hard on this new "Groovy Tony" track:

[Baz]

More this time courtesy of mr nickel nine.



Pusha's bit is smooth but oh boy Royce's verse is GOAT #2016. Pity it's got Rick Ross on.

Them niggas wanna see me runnin', they know I won't
They say misery loves company, no, I don't
Ain't got no time for you to try on no Manolo Blahniks
All I got time to do is go back in time and pose with the Unabomber
Just so I can go back in time a second time to photobomb it
I live by a code of demonic, Illuminati, Obama, Hovanomics
Hold up, hurdles in life, I hop in a Turbo and roll around 'em
I'm Doug E. Fresh in the flesh, I beat box
I boo-boo-du-du between the sheets to seek the G-Spot
I'm in bed with three naked ladies holding hands
I'm in bed with three major labels
And I ain't talkin' 'bout wearing clothing brands
Underground locomotive man
Putting on a global show that no promoter can
I philosophize with wise words from learned lessons
In my world mistakes turns to blessings
The hate turned to destiny
I'm saying Lord Jesus while the Lord's most gorgeous creatures take turns blessing me
I got your baby momma down on all fours
When drama comin', I'm all for it
If it ain't about the money please let this be your last question
You players can jump if you want, but you half-stepping like Paul George
I make the yay invisible in like a day or two
That's how the players do, my nigga, there's layers to it

[Baz]

Three in a row.

Afrika Bambaataa is a dirty paedo.

[Baz]

What does everyone think of Travis Scott?

I can't help but like him.

[Spoonsky]

Help me out lads, I heard a song on the radio today. Pretty old school, probably from the 90s or early 2000s, the rapping seemed kind of Hispanic and it mentioned "Vallejo California" at one point.

[Baz]

Was possibly by E-40.

[phonics]

Yeah, it'll be E-40.

[Baz]

After hearing Tabernacle and Layers I have very high hopes for Royce's new album, also called Layers. Tabernacle is a storytelling masterpiece.

Anyone listened to it yet?