State of Hip Hop

[zagreus]

Re: Lloyd Banks - "Beamer, Benz, Or Bentley" feat. Juelz Santana

First off, Aziz Ansari is amazing.

And, Snow created the greatest classic of all time, the name of the song....Informer.

Snow-Informer (By Alex3030)

And just to show you how classic it is, here's a nerdy looking guying doing the song too!

Chuck singing "Informer" by Snow

Even this Dutch dude is doing the song for Dutch Idols (clearly this song has a worldwide reach!)
Dutch Idols 4 Amersfoort audities : Ivo

 

[yraparla]

Moderator's Note: Split this topic off as it was clearly growing into a much broader discussion

 

[Billoo0]

Dunno if this fits here or not but ran acrosss it and thought I'd post

http://www.rapbasement.com/drake/031210-universal-records-previews-drakes-thank-me-later-album-showing-collab-with-dr-dre-and-eminem.html

 

[hsdeol]

Public Enemy 'Fight the Power',
NWA "F the Police',
Biggy 'Juicy',
Outkast 'Rosa Parks',
"Brendas Got A Baby"
Slick Rick's "Children's Story"
"I Used to Love H.E.R"?

+1000

if you read my other posts you'll see that our hip hop choices coincide pretty well. but unfortunately if we were to write hip hop history we would be including wayne. he's one of the biggest faces of hip hop right now and you cant gauge what kind of impact he made on hip hop until we see what it becomes in the next few years. regardless of whats on the radio and what not, i pretty much only listen to stuff made in the 80s and 90s. just because thats the hip hop that i enjoy and thats what i feel is "real" hip hop. i would hate for hip hop to continue to slide down the slippery slope its been on for the last 10 years, but we'll always have the old shit to fall back on.

i love hearing what peoples favorite ol time hip hop albums are. i can always listen to 36 Chambers (Wu-Tang) , Blunted on Reality (Fugees), and Criminal Minded (Boogie Down Productions)

 

[faizan]

Harman, you seem to think that a song about a serious topic, or a serious rapper can only be or make classics.


Amilli by lil wayne is a classic the same way it takes two to make a thing go right is a classic.


The blocks is hot is a classic just the same way one love by nas is.


Lil wayne has been in the game for about 10 years, he definately has dropped a couple of classics, especially if you are from the south.

 

[[Sher] Imran]

I think the term "classic" means something that anyone can listen to and appreciate. Listening to "a milli" or "back that arse up" may be a classic in that everyone knows it, but i think its staying power has to do with the lyrical content more than just the beat or flow. Tupac and Big had both in a lot of their songs, and thats why I think their songs are still around today. Brendas got a baby doesn't have some amazing flow or beat to it, but the content is still true today and will be true forever, and thats what makes it a classic. I don't think Wayne's stuff will get there. its good right now, but i dont think it has the staying power like Nas or Hova. A few years back Nelly was the next big thing, he had everything right. I'm sure a lot of us thought his stuff would be classic (Country Grammar, EI, its getting hot, #1, etc), but i think you could successfully argue that his stuff isnt classic. I'm glad we are kinda getting past that BS time in hip hop where you had morons dropping singles that didn't make any sense. Its still there, but i think its less than a few years back.

 

[faizan]

I think the term classic needs to be defined. I don't think it is possible to define it though.

 

[yraparla]

"Lil wayne has been in the game for about 10 years, he definately hasdropped a couple of classics, especially if you are from the south."

this is especially true. You get a lot of different opinions on classics and classic artists depending on region you are and how far back you look at thing

I don't consider 90s hip hop old school. I might refer to something as an old-school beat, but really when I talk about old-school hip hop I'm talking about 80s stuff, it's narrow-minded to claim that a small period is the only good period of hip hop. 90s stuff came only because of the artists from before that they built on.

We all owe so much to 2 Live Crew, just saying. No one would claim they have lyrical genius, but the group and their songs are classic. What about Salt N' Pepa? Remember when Hip Hop was FUN, it's fun again (minus soulja boy).

Yes, I know it can be fun and lyrically intriguing, but those artists still exist (BOB and KSparks for instance) and I think just because they're not mainstream isn't indicative of hip hop dying, it's always been about the grinding artist, the radio is simply for the masses.

 

[COMTONDAJATT]

any tribe fans? i can listen to them for days.

 

[HarmanSingh]

Harman, you seem to think that a song about a serious topic, or a serious rapper can only be or make classics.


Amilli by lil wayne is a classic the same way it takes two to make a thing go right is a classic.


The blocks is hot is a classic just the same way one love by nas is.


Lil wayne has been in the game for about 10 years, he definately has dropped a couple of classics, especially if you are from the south.

Rap has always and will always have a place for party music. 2Live Crew, Biz Markie, Salt n Pepa...all of them were needed just as much as NWA and Wu Tang. But the point I am making is these artists provided something fresh, new, creative and positive that hip hop was lacking. Was Lil Wayne's "A Milli" really that revolutionary? Does it have staying power? Will "The Block is Hot" really be conisdered amongst the greatest songs of all time? And should "Bling Bling", a song that pushed rap into the bling bling era of excess and debauchery which has very little lyrical content and added nothing creative be considered a classic song? I look at Outkast and the party music they made as classic because their lyrical content was on point, their flow is ridiculous and the music they made was revolutionary and unique. Wayne's elementary lyrics make him lose credibility in my mind.

Like Imran, I consider a song a classic if it has staying power, stays relevant beyond its years and introduces something new and creative.

I think claiming Lil Wayne's "The Block is Hot" is comparable to "Me Myself and I" is like saying Imran Khan's "Amplifier" is a classic comparable to Bindrakhia's "Yaar Bolda". Two different leagues even if they are popular songs with mass appeal.

Compton- "The Low End Theory" is one of my favorite albums of all time...sick group.

 

[HarmanSingh]

BTW I think one of the biggest indications that Wayne is not in the league as these other rappers I have listed is that the #1 or 1A thing people say about Wayne is his "swag". Not his lyrics. Not his creativity. Not his content. Not his flow. His "Swag". Why a grown man would care about another man's swag I dont know and how this is a sign of a good artist I don't know. But it is a telling sign.

 

[faizan]

Lil Wayne can't touch any of the greats, but he is still the most popular hip hop artist for the last two years or so.

 

[Varun]

BTW I think one of the biggest indications that Wayne is not in the league as these other rappers I have listed is that the #1 or 1A thing people say about Wayne is his "swag". Not his lyrics. Not his creativity. Not his content. Not his flow. His "Swag". Why a grown man would care about another man's swag I dont know and how this is a sign of a good artist I don't know. But it is a telling sign.

hahahahahhhhhhhads;kasdds;kl.

 

[siddyp]

any tribe fans? i can listen to them for days.

i love tribe. award tourrr is one of my favs

 

[faizan]

Varun, I love your swag. 8)

 

[Varun]

another classic MC who fell off. thank god for swagger, though, or else his career would flop as hard as the cinematic classic Deep Blue Sea

 

[hsdeol]

Lol siddyp remeber when I lost my wallet at your house and only listened to "I left my wallet in el segundo" for months?

 

[hsdeol]

Also I got to go to the 2k tour las year. It was the most amazing concert I've ever been to. It was general admission so we were right against the front center of the stage. Qtip headlined and the cool kids opened. Ahhhh

 

[Kush]

i'm not even sure what this discussion is about anymore. Drake needing Wayne? Wayne needing Drake? Wayne being a talented rapper? Wayne being a talented entertainer. Kanye being a musical genius (2nyce, i will debate the crap out of this with you. Kanye is good, but FAR from great. On EVERY cd. one word: Recycle and Reuse. The difference between Diddy's production and Kanye's production? Kanye took it up a notch by sampling every type of song imaginable. In terms of ORIGINAL PRODUCTION, he gets wrecked. He's GOOD, but not GREAT. AS A LYRICIST, sure he's GOTTEN better, but once again, hes OKAY, NOT GREAT. EVERY CD you called fire had signifcant short comings, in my opinion)? What is considered a rap classic? What is considered a HIP HOP classic?


how about WHAT IS HIP HOP, WHAT IS RAP, WHAT IS DANCE MUSIC? How about the fact that all these lines have been blended to the point that it is difficult to differentiate? Sigh... endless debate.

 

[siddyp]

Lol siddyp remeber when I lost my wallet at your house and only listened to "I left my wallet in el segundo" for months?

that was like 4 years ago mann. hahaha