This post speaks to my heart. I did my seminar in college on hip hop as literature. Here's a good one: http://youtu.be/7PK9-uIQyk0
Title track from GZA's Liquid Swords. Here without the extended movie clip introduction. ("The shogun just stayed inside his castle and he never came out. People said his brain was infected by devils...")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BONgL61snlM
I wonder which year will contain the most nominated songs?
Best rap song is sort of like trying to determine the best breakfast ever made. I'm not sure how one even tries to compare "Rapper's Delight" to "Fight the Power", for example.
Along the vein of 4, I remain very fond of Shimmy shimmy Ya.
7: It's just an opportunity for everyone to showcase their favorites. I don't actually have a trophy that I'm planning to give.
7
Absolutely. Get fifty hip hop lovers in a room and you'll get one hundred best song nominations.
Also, the mention of Shimmy reminds me of Brooklyn Zoo, which is bangin'. http://youtu.be/kcsEop0NPGM
One great hip-hop track that almost nobody else ever heard: Son of Bazerk's "The Band Gets Swivey on the Wheels".
Actually, the trophy definitely goes to whoever takes the thread, at the end of the day, and makes an actual playlist out of it, and shares it here. That would be awesome.
Also, members of Son of Bazerk introduced Chuck D and Flava Flav to each other, so bonus points awarded for that.
I have a soft spot for CZ hiphop. This one's a narcocorrida of sorts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlTsPoHaAsY
I like Knaan's My old home
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucTWCR1VJf8
I'll stop real soon, but it'll be tough. Shabazz Palaces is the new group from...well, you'll be able to tell. http://youtu.be/znDsRydk3_w
Dälek is pretty great in general.
I have five nominees.
"O.P.P."
"Me & Jesus The Pimp In A '79 Granada Last Night"
Xzibit, "Muthafucka"
DMX, "Damien"
Lyrics Born, "Hott People"
In last place is a tie between "It's Goin' Down" by Yung Joc, "I Know You See It" by Yung Joc, and whatever Chuck D did at the Grammys last night.
11: Good call - had never heard of them. The Bomb Squad produced for people other than Public Enemy?
7 gets it right of course. But the best song is Fight the Power.
No mix tape would be complete without "Helyet a fejedbe". I cannot believe someone uploaded this to Youtube.
And 11 really is great, thanks.
18 is true. I also have severe fanboyitis for Aesop Rock, who I think of as the white rapper version of John Berryman. And whose last album was made of pure awesome.
Also, I don't like Outkast very much for ... No very good reason. Just was a stylistic turn that never did it for me.
I was first introduced to hip hop when my elementary school friend's dad was signed up to be the publicist for the Egyptian Lover. I was leaving their house once from a playdate when the "street team" showed up, which left a lasting impression. Later I saw Krush Groove in the theater.
By "lasting impression" I mean I was terrified of course, just to be clear.
well, you'll be able to tell
At what point will I be able to tell?
I've already listened to the track.
This is still as far as I've gotten into hip hop, but I stand by it as a good effort (download).
27
I was assuming the voice would point you back towards Digable Planets.
28: Oh yes, Jurassic 5 deserves a mention in any discussion like this.
my favorite, as I am very sentimental:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGEIWs9XyBU
I am sure there's a word in German, and several at least in Eskimo, for the anxiety experienced by a white person of somewhat broad musical tastes that his inability to get into rap makes him a racist monster.
32
I always assume that someone who doesn't like hip hop just hasn't heard the right kind.
32: My nearly complete indifference to music generally allows me to feel smugly selfsatisfied about my non-racistness in this regard. It's about the only thing I get out of it.
28: Have you ever listened to the Kleptones' "A Night At The Hip-Hopera"? It overlaps with your list almost completely.
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Fuck. They're taking my mom off chemo and she's going on hospice.
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I endorse 4 (although "Pit of Snakes" by Gravediggaz is up there). But I'm pretty sure the greatest hip-hop song of all time is "Juicy".
Here's a question: best hip hop track of the past 10 years? I'm the wrong guy to ask, since I largely gave up hip hop around 2000 (and don't claim a super deep knowledge before then). I guess maybe the Odd Future guys but no particular track is coming to mind.
41 before seeing 38. So sorry to hear that, and best wishes.
Thanks for the green light, Heebie. It's aural nostalgia for a rap curmudgeon like me. Much respect, also, for starting things off with 'Kast; that cut is a particular favorite of mine.
Couldn't pick just one (or two)......
Rae, Ghost, Nas - Verbal Intercourse
Com Sense - I Used to Love H.E.R. (A fitting tribute to my generation, I think)
Outkast - Aquemini
Dr. Dre - Let Me Ride
Hieroglyphics & Souls of Mischief - Cab Fare
Wu - Winter Warz
Biggie - Everyday Struggle
Jay - Dead Presidents II
Pac - Pour Out a Little Liquor
Nas - I Gave You Power
An honorable, intergenerational mention goes to the boy Blu:
Blu - Amnesia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUv0S4CfvCs
Blu - Pardon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY1Y2AyD8wg
35 could have been written by me. I can barely identify hip hop when I hear it. Is it distinct from rap? A subset or superset of it? Inquiring minds want to... actually inquiring minds don't really care all that much. It's nice that people seem to enjoy it, though.
38: Oh, man. I'm really sorry to hear that.
So sorry to hear that, Blume. All best wishes for you & yours.
32: tedious. I don't know what it is in German.
In the category of great and obscure hip hop from Reagan's first time, CD III's "Get Tough" is my nomination:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfQkUUes-MU
I am sure there's a word in German
Given that its category in German is "Black Musik", I wouldn't be so sure.
I'm so sorry to hear that, Blume.
41 - "ALL CAPS" by Madvillain, says the dorky white guy. Unless it was "Back Like That" off Fishscale.
51 s/b "first term". . . though I like to imagine him getting busy to it as a teenager.
Blume, I'm so sorry. I don't know if the rest of this is helpful or infuriating to hear, and I'm hesitant to post it, but: I hope your mom can gain some comfort & strength from getting a respite from chemo. I've heard that this transition can sometimes have unexpected beneficial effects, in the medium term, although maybe you know otherwise.
I still vividly remember being pregnant; I can only imagine what you must be feeling. All sympathy.
44: I was actually watching the Grammys last night, because Sally was, and was reminded of how opaque the categories are if you don't know much about the music industry. Pop vocal performance as opposed to Contemporary solo vocal performance as opposed to Rock vocal performance?
58: It doesn't matter how much you know about the music industry -- the categories still don't make any sense.
To echo 60, I was watching last night with someone who has spent the past 15 years in the music industry, who found the categories equally nonsensical. Or, really, they're not nonsensical, they're just designed to let certain people win Grammys.
Oh, huh. I figured this was stuff everyone who paid a normal amount of attention to music understood intuitively.
58 - It's as though you think that Jethro Tull wasn't he best hard rock/heavy metal performer of 1989.
63: As my teacher said the next day, flutes are metal!
57: Thanks, lk. I'm hoping that will be the case, or at least that she'll get some really good drugs.
Have you ever listened to the Kleptones' "A Night At The Hip-Hopera"? It overlaps with your list almost completely.
I haven't. Based on that recommendation I will plan to do so but, I just don't download much music -- I'm still pretty habituated to listening to music on CD.
Oh, Blume, shit, I'm so sorry.
The Grammys are easily the very worst of the industry awards shows.
And that's a very low bar under which to slink.
I'm hoping to use my insider connections to get a new category added for best duet between an animal and inanimate object, so my dog and her favorite squeak toy can win a Grammy.
The Grammys are easily the very worst of the industry awards shows.
Certainly true in terms of the legitimacy of any of the awards given. OTOH it's more enjoyable to watch, I find, than the Oscars because it's weirder and at least there are performances. I mean does anyone actually enjoy watching the Emmys?
I mean does anyone actually enjoy watching the Emmys?
24: That Aesop Rock record is really, really great, and the last track [audio] [lyrics] is something I would listen to a lot in a time of personal crisis, but because that still seems a bit unserious as a reply to 38 I'll just say I'm sorry.
74: I've found RapGenius to be a big help in making sense of AR lyrics. And yeah, that album is just amazing. I took my 15-yo son to see Aesop Rock when he came to the Cat's Cradle, right as Hurricane Sandy was killing the rest of his tour, and it was one of the best live shows I'd ever seen in any genre.
I mean, does anyone still wear a hat?
So sorry, Blume. I will echo what's been said about the potential benefits of hospice, but still it's so sad.
It's obviously Bust a Move.
Blume, the news about your mother sucks. Condolences.
74: Exegesis! Apo, that site is a big old birthday present; it's like the giant blue book that unpacks the puns in Finnegans Wake.
73: I think when it comes to television about television, the televisions can just watch themselves?
74: Exegesis! Apo, that site is a big old birthday present; it's like the giant blue book that unpacks the puns in Finnegans Wake.
73: I think when it comes to television about television, the televisions can just watch themselves?
Oh, that's how that happens. Come on, Perl.
Not rap, but this is the closest topic I'll get to having a spot to say that THEESatsfaction's QueenS was probably my song of the year last year and still pulls me out of a bad mood.
Sorry to hear about your mom, Blume.
Really sorry, Blume.
My pick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV0ghFUMhFE One of like 25 I could have chosen. One of the most startling.
I am terribly sorry to hear that, Blume.
Blume, I'm very sorry to hear about your mom.
Really sorry to hear about your mum, Blume.
Rap [others have already mentioned a lot of my faves], so, other than pretty much all of the peak period RZA productions:
Dr Octagon - On Production
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhi0ipMc1Fk
Maybe some British stuff:
Dizzee Rascal, Fix Up Look Sharp:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZGvnI37mxk
More, Dizzee Rascal - Pussyole
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFUCnEGVe50
I don't think it's a candidate for best of anything, but Plan B's Ill Manors is still a catchy recent one, nice strings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8GvLKTsTuI
Hip-hop is a group of things that includes rap (as well as, canonically, breaking & graffiti.) I guess there's a fair bit of djing that's not rap sensu stricto but is hip hop.
I suppose if I had to pick a best in the past 10 years it'd be a Kanye thing, I guess? No individual track screams out though. Maybe I Luv U for Dizzee, or some other super early grime. Although, man, that stuff's only just scraping in now.
djing
I looked at this and thought it was some word I'd never seen rhyming with 'bling'.
Thanks for the kind words, all. The hardest part of this is having really no idea what this means, timeline-wise.
But I had an ultrasound this afternoon, where we saw a healthy baby measuring about a week ahead. (Circle of life and all that stuff.) On the way home we ducked out of the rain into a classy bar I don't often frequent, where I had a very fortifying egg cream.
Sorry to hear about your mom, Blume. Best wishes to your whole family.
99: short for "djinning". Arabian ghosts are part of hip-hop.
sorry about your mom, blume. that's really awful. people say shitty platitudinous shit about how it's better if you at least have a chance to say goodbye and tell the person how you loved them, but...it is good to be able to tell someone how much they mean to you. of course, if they are unconscious, then that's just extra suffering all around. my best for the future blume-let.
Hmm. Is Girl Talk hip hop? Or is that something else?