"30+ years of hearing rappers..." Wed Jun-19-13 09:09 AM by imcvspl
talk about how dope they are, in progressively less clever ways.
I realized that's the problem with my rap ears these days. Do you know how many ways I've heard rappers do this?
WIth this I also realized how as much as I'm the biggest fan of the blackout baddest motherfucker alive verses, in fact I think it's a prerequisite to being a talented MC, but in the realm of music and *gag* songs it really is so irrelevant.
And I mean this mostly in the irrelevant to my day to day life. There was a time when learning the best of those verses felt empowering to me (that sounds cheesy as fuck but fuck you). The thought was that it was in those verses that new flows were developed and those new flows could in turn inspire new modes to accompany those flows (ie music) which would push the scope of what hip-hop could do.
I've taken off those colored glasses though, because they aren't where the new flows are coming from any more. But rather basic rehashes of the same old flows, using the same old clichés in the same old way over the same old beats.
It's really hard for a mofo to impress me on the mic these days. And so sadly I've stopped listening for it. Kinda makes it sweeter when it lands in my lap, but the whole objective has changed.
5. "point me in the direction of something" In response to Reply # 4
which showcases style and flow both strong and unique for 2013.
I've got a couple contenders but wonder what you'll come up with. I've expressed my own bitterness enough around here, but oddly this doesn't come from that place. I'm more apathetic towards it at this point having given up hope that things could be some other way. Besides there are enough handfuls of treats per year for me to think those handfuls will persist.
10. "it's so wasteful to do that" In response to Reply # 5
I could name a 100 acts I think fill your needs, but then you're ready to disdainfully shoot them down based on your earlier points...which, frankly, I don't disagree with.
But it just makes suggesting stuff tough in these arena.
********************* www.dumhi.com -- We are ALL dumhi
6. "On the flip almost 40 years of listening to soul/r&b" In response to Reply # 0
10 years of that married I've come to have an even greater appreciation for the depth of possibilities available in the form. So engulfed in the expansiveness of this which extends forward and backward in time I can completely ignore whatever is happening now, knowing that the strong stuff will stand up when I need to hear it.
13. "you can clown (and probably should), but this is why Kanye and" In response to Reply # 6
Drake are hugely important for the future of the music. They bring a vulnerability to the music that's been badly badly needed for a while now. I grew up hearing rappers never lose in their rhymes. These cats are filled with regret about a lotta shit and write about it.
15. "People always talk about these guys and their sensitive sides" In response to Reply # 13
Why do they so much effort to compensate for them though? And I'm making a point of this, because they aren't the first or only ones who've done this, only the most successful, and because of said success they have to fall back into faux gangsterisms like it's their menstrual cycle.
For what you say to have the desired affect I think they'd have to own it much harder.
7. "post up your contenders" In response to Reply # 0
this is why i really like Hefna gwap he seems like a 'stylist' to me
who would dare come with a style as left field as saafir was in '94 today?
_______________________________________ When discourse of Blackness is not connected to efforts to promote collective black self determinism it becomes simply another recourse appropriated by the colonizer
9. "i think this is where the "tmi" rappers fill that void" In response to Reply # 0
b/c you are right about there being a dearth of ways to say "i rap/fuck/slang/smoke well, or at least better than 'you.'" it's all been done and most attempts at doing it now result in diminishing returns
i believe you made a post about the ab-soul album, stating that you felt that you knew way too much about him after just a few songs. this could be the pendulum swinging the other way, i.e. the exaggerating/outright lying style (see: fat joe, big, jay, any number of NY post-OBFCL {or post-Kool G Rap} acts) being replaced by a more down-to-earth/"honest" post-kanye style. i don't know, really. just spitballing here
maybe that one-upsmanship style has something to do with the competition of that era? i imagine it was much harder to get a record made and distributed in 1993 than it is in 2013. and i'm sure it was much easier to get a record made in 93 than it was in 87. but i'm also sure more rap records were being released in the 90s than in the 80s. so perhaps there was a sense of "i really need to do better than the next guy if i want to get this deal" whereas the sense today is probably more like "let's make some tracks on our pc and put them on youtube/bandcamp/soundcloud. hopefully we'll get some listens"
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