There's hope for Hip Hop yet...

[H20nly]

been slowly loosing hope about the future of Hip Hop, and this was a totally refreshing video. Love all these artists involved in the video.

I hope more guys like theze take Hip Hop back from the masses. Good hip hop these days is too sparse, I feel bombarded by shit, even from groups that I use to like.


Here's another hopeful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t1iG8KlJys

Also peep DoubbleEdge from the UK.

+1

that Ise Lyfe youtube link is dead on. The little kid with the pistol at the end is the ugliest truth he touches on - without saying a word about it. The other one is the lyric "girl what you dancin for? We callin you a bitch". I've often wondered...

[H20nly]

big deal..

you want to hear some real shit thats going to save hip hop?

right here.

http://soundcloud.com/tiredofsighningup ... ed-out-mp3

should I write what I'm thinking?

I'll choose the high ground and say: It illustrates my point from the opposite end.

[JuanSOLO]

I like most of his last album, another good track is "Oakland Stand Up."

However Hip Hop still seems stuck in a rut with lyrical content and ways of expressing it. I understand thats kind of what makes it "Hip Hop," I would just like to see someone really innovate, LIKE FO REALZ innovate. And as with the original post, I always like seeing 90's hip hop hero's reintroduce themselves with a new album, i.e Prince Paul is AMAZING.

I think Ise Lyfe and other newcomers are nice and refreshing as opposed to Jay Z or whatever, but they still struggle to WOW me. It's like the underground is to busy being underground to embrace lessons by main stream, and the main stream is to busy worrying about what is "IN" on the big market. However at least the mainstream is willing to be influenced by the underground a "bit", they just water it down so much.

ALL and ALL I think Hip Hop as a whole is a dying art and would be fine listening to classics while it's current state gets overshadowed by artists willing to innovate into something Santogold-ish.

I would be FLOORED if I heard a new Hip Hop track and actually felt moved forward and not nostalgic. BamBaataa used to play and eclectic blend of good music and people called it Hip Hop, now days Hip Hop is just this small little box of writers block with imaginary handcuffs arresting its creativity.

[JuanSOLO]

if Hip Hop, like Rock N Roll, will never die

It's definitely in it's bad hair metal stage rivaling Poison as a chart topper.

Completely forgettable in my book.

[H20nly]

hmpf... agreed.

The Dirty South needs to get a clue (listening to Cee Lo could help). Positive evolution should be embraced not the antonym. Consider all that it has been, literally fought for, marched against and given up to gain so little, yet so much... and still they revel in selfish back peddling. *sighs*

I went to a Jay-Z show a couple of weeks ago (free tix). Not normally my side of the genre when it comes to Hip-Hop, but Jay Z is way more savvy/respectable than most in that vein. His accomplishments speak for themselves. Still, here is one man with a mic in front of an arena full of people... he was dogging auto tune, saying things like 'how the hell you expect me to believe you're a gansta when you're using auto tune' in his lyrics. I knew exactly what he was getting at, shit leave a hip hop or pop radio station on for about 3-5 tracks if you're not sure, but easily half the screaming crowd were oblivious... When they left, they got in their cars and flipped through their auto tuned pop hits and new age "gangsta" tracks to find something they like to list-list-listen to on the way home.

to keep from

these people can vote.


If more people actually listened to, not just heard, what was being said before deciding which songs were good, it could be a completely different genre.

So here's to The Grouch, The Gift of Gab, Pep Love, Joe Con, Black Thought, Brother Ali, Cee-Lo, Zumbi, Common and any other MCs trying to crack open all those mind's eyes shut tight with sleep and eye crispys in em...

*cheers*

[Tone Deft]

as long as people remember and love what early hip hop music sounds like they'll still be making it.

nathannn you should be ashamed for posting that track, even as a joke. <shudder>

[JuanSOLO]

So here's to The Grouch, The Gift of Gab, Pep Love, Joe Con, Black Thought, Brother Ali, Cee-Lo, Zumbi, Common and any other MCs trying to crack open all those mind's eyes shut tight with sleep and eye crispys in em...

*cheers*

Agreed, however I still like I get more and more disconnected from them over the years. It could be my tastes are changing with age, maybe I am to "white" and unrelated, or maybe I just remember when I grew up on a Hip Hop that was like "whats gonna happen on the new album."

Lots of times I hear great MC's and think, why do they try so hard to be creative, poetic, profound? It no longer sounds like it comes from the heart, sounds more like an attempt to be heart felt, or shock value MCing type shit. It no longer sounds like the "content" comes naturally, seems forced. Not saying my favorite MC's dont have skillz, I just think Hip Hop as a whole needs something real fresh and creative to step up to the plate and change things up, or at least shake them up.

[JuanSOLO]

Does Hip Hop's undergound have a "Sonic Youth?"

Where is the mainstreams "Nirvana" syndrome?

[H20nly]

@ Tone Deft agreed.

@ JuanSOLO... I see what your saying, but I just got to thinking... remember early-ish 80's when Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, hell even Cyndi Lauper were what was on the radio... somehow I would feel better about my kids listening to that than Lady Gaga or Britney Spears... I've heard little girls (7, 8 years old) singing shit like "don't your wish your girlfriend was hot like me" and shaking their ass... their moms just laugh and think its funny while they eat all the cookies! Fucked up..

So really, maybe its not just hip-hop??? I mean even country music has got all trendy, flashy, look-at-me-o-fied. I think its more a statement of humanity. 100 years from now the abundance of copies of this music that was floating around and sold (the penultimate measuring stick) will leave a trail that says... 'Look what was in their souls 100 years ago'.

I guess for humanity's sake I'd rather them be shaking their heads going "those fools!", than praising us for this.

[JuanSOLO]

I guess for humanity's sake I'd rather them be shaking their heads going "those fools!", than praising us for this.

No doubt.

Years ago I used to do a lot of hard drugs. One day I went to the dealers house and this girl had her daughter who was about 2. Her 2 year old was doing moves like you'd see in a strip club and her mom was laughing. I remember thinkin I was from a way different side of the tracks so to speak, it was like the experience was reminding me how disconnected I was from black culture, being white. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not passing any judgment on others, It was just as if the universe was trying to make a statement to me about what I thought I knew about my life.

I think your above quote is somewhat articulated in Ise Lyfe's "Oakland Stand Up." It's the very last lyrics of the song.


Country music and Hip Hop are like brothers from another mother fer sure. They have more in common with each other than either of them do with Rock and Roll. They are the theme music for thew world becoming like the movie "idiocracy". Reminds me of high school when I used to see these red neck rodeo club guys with mini trucks and bass systems, rocking vanilla ice hair-doos, listening to sir Mix A Lot and hating black folks.

[H20nly]

^ Word.

[Joshua Boden]

This is from a couple of years back.... but it's a modern underground classic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNJFq6VjHJI

[H20nly]

^ he said "signed to Rawkus, I'd rather be mouth fucked by Nazis unconscious"

Thats a bit harsh... but I get what he's saying... I feel the same way about some of those labels... or at least some of the poo they flush into the stream.

[tlennon]

@joshua - That is freakin' deep man. Loved it.

[H20nly]

Country music and Hip Hop are like brothers from another mother fer sure. They have more in common with each other than either of them do with Rock and Roll. They are the theme music for thew world becoming like the movie "idiocracy". Reminds me of high school when I used to see these red neck rodeo club guys with mini trucks and bass systems, rocking vanilla ice hair-doos, listening to sir Mix A Lot and hating black folks.

I see you're in Texas... you're not from The (Rio Grande) Valley are you? I swear I used to walk through that same parking lot.