Q Tip ‘Renaissance Rap’ Video and DJ Footage
Q-Tip – “Renaissance Rap” from Three/21 Films on Vimeo.
And this is how Tip gets down in the booth. If you look very closely you might see Fat Lace crew members in the club too. Definately check Tip and Rich Medina at Santos Party House if you’re in NYC.
Tweet
50 Responses to "Q Tip ‘Renaissance Rap’ Video and DJ Footage"
i have decided I no longer wish to hear any new hip-hop again, or any new music for that matter.
From herein I shall wilfully adopt the old-man idealism that only old music is any good.
real talk, that’s it for me. i’ve given it 29 years and it no longer serves any purpose to me. it’s been like this for a long time now but i have finally accepted that I am no longer a fan.
I will always like the old tunes but I literally have no interest in the idea of someone rapping, no matter how skillful it is.
Only a song can soothe my weary soul.
Forgive me for thinking that you’re a bit jaded dude. Don’t get me wrong. You’re well meaning and you’re right to a point. Don’t commit new music suicide and make way for the hipsters just yet. The Fat Lace crew aren’t and well if you met them, they old!!! Anyway something I don’t normally do on this site is post a bit of commentary and here’s a good opportunity so here goes.
Agreed these are sonically strange times, and like you and many others I feel our music changing course again. Even so, surely most rap cats are still fiending for real talk. Certainly here in London the general hip hop populace will go to some jam somewhere and expect to hear the very safe territory of MOP, Snoop, Em, Pharoahe, Premier, ’93 – ’98 rap etc. (much love but stretch, yawn, gurn etc.) , and the younger crowd I find are much more progressive now that there’s such a bigger blend of music being produced which falls within the world of the Serato hip hop DJ, be it b-more, grime, dubstep, Southern, Yay Area, guitar music, you name it, and I think this is what’s possibly causing the problem for most thirtysomethings like me and I’m sure many readers of this blog who might need a bit of a leap of faith.
Here we go with the ‘I remember….’ bit. Casting my mind back to my young young youth; with such a distinctive voice that was quite different to anyone else’s at the time, Tip undoubtedly raised himself a huge bar from the get-go (so he’s a lucky sh*t for holding it down this long!). With the JB’s first two LPs and ‘Buddy’ there was a huge anticipation for the first Tribe LP to deliver and it did. I recall the excitement of hearing ‘Push It Along’ the same week as ‘Brother’s Gonna Work It Out’ on Radio One. There’d already been a couple of buzz tracks, and yes, you had ‘Cube in ’90, Digital Underground etc, and Tribe’s better two LPs were still to come but I was probably more excited about hearing ‘Travels’ than the first time I heard ’3 Ft. High.’ What was so exciting back then was that ’89 – ’91 was arguably the era where LPs broke through the major label acts rather than 12″s. And I speak to people who tell me that even up till a few years ago they still used to consider these LPs, and Breaking Atoms, Step In The Arena, Efil4saggin etc. as ‘new’ rap records (crazy talk).
Fast forward to now, and believe it or not I think you can draw some comparisons. There’s great hip hop out there. Granted it’s few and far between but The P Brothers LP had me really shook, and my guilty pleasure right now has to be Pitbull & Lil Jon’s ‘Krazy’. It shouldn’t be but it is! So there’s two extremely varied examples; one of which I can’t really defend. But just like when I was a kid I was way more excited about hearing ‘The Renaissance’ than anything else right now. And again I think Tip’s delivered. Okay we’ve seen the best of him. It’s missing any quotables and a definable lead single, and yes these are big flaws but I have to say that’s still nitpicking. He’s not a has-been like KRS. He’s always kept it contemporary and he’s made a dope but not groundbreaking LP. By his own admission he found it hard enough back then trying to get ‘Bonita Applebum’ airplay between PE and Guy, just as it is ‘Gettin’ Up’ between TI and T-Pain now and I can make that distinction.
I learnt a silly but valuable lesson from a very good friend of mine a few years ago. I was hating on some big record I heard in some club somewhere and my man who was spinning (and he’s a good few years older than me) turned round to me as if I was being precious, and he said something along the lines of ‘well what would cats from ’79 – ’80 be saying about ‘You Gots To Chill’ or ‘Strong Island’ when they came out?’ A c*ntish response? Meh, but he was right and it helped me be a bit more forgiving of current music and trends, to always look back and take interest in the past, but in the true maverick spirit of rap, to keep excited about what lies ahead. (OK it’s getting less and less exciting but stay with me.)
There’s an old issue of Big Daddy magazine back in ’02 I think with a DJ Format interview. I laughed when I read it. He was complaining to a chap he knew who was also playing before him at this club one night, saying how he wasn’t feeling much new major label hip hop because it was lacking any soul. And the chap asked him well where’s the soul in, say, Just Ice or Ultra’s first LPs? And Format didn’t know how to reply!!
If you need a good song then I reckon you should play ‘Life Is Better’ again and again and again. Norah’s dope, Tip’s roll call is dope, the music on it’s dope. Hopefully that’ll start mending things a tiny little bit. Also I ain’t gonna give the game away but be on the lookout for the killer break to ‘Manwomanboogie’. Zulu shit. Ill as fuck.
Rant over.
Nice one Mr Dentist and shout out to Can.
thanks WD for your considered and sober sentiments.
however, i’m not trying to have a go at new hip-hop, i’m sure the kids love it etc and i’m sure they’re all very talented etc.
it’s just that i’ll soon be 40 and have 2 kids and i’m a teacher and after a days work, the sound of a ‘rapper’ doesn’t really give me what i need to make me feel relaxed or spiritualised. furthermore, the kids at school be playing it all day and it just seems, i don’t know, like it’s not music for grown/middle aged men.
when i’m exercising and when i’m going out with the lads i will listen to hip-hop but when i’m driving or in the crib i’ll be listening to fucking classic gold (60′s, 70′s and 80′s pop) or radio fucking 3 rather than 1 xtra!
perhaps it’s just a phase i’m going through…
i’ve even stopped buying trainers and just wear straight Clarks. Now i know clarks are also hip-hop but i can’t picture ever paying 60 quid on some trainers ever again wheras 20 yrs ago i got a crisis loan from the dole to buy some nike boots for 80 pounds and that seemed like a totally rational and worthwhile decision.
there’s mad soul ultra and just-ice’s 1st LP’s…soul in music soesn’t ghave to mean ‘uses soul samples’ it just means from the soul, from the heart, whether that’s some deep lyrics or some battle raps or gangsterisms, something deeper than just a commercial pop record, some major label rap records have ‘soul’ some are souless. Tip oozes soul and defies the old and new genres, it’s just timeless Hip Hop.
Ps the old cats would have loved ‘you gots ta chill’ more than some crappy TI record, becuase A)E&P had lyrics and style and they used some great breaks, you can’t front on Zapp if your a B-Boy, but you can front on some (not all, I like Toomp) of TI’s sonic backdrops.
Also, time and time again people forget that there’s a middle ground between that commercial shit youill hear at meatmarket style club and the ultra-white new jack stuff which is not really very Hip Hop in my opinion (most dubstep, that b-more shite etc.), the middle ground is stuff like Tip, and some more stuff true to the spirit of older Hip Hop but still progressive in terms of the production and MCing, I too hate to go to a jam where DJ’s are just playing MOP, play it safe mid-late 90′s shit (as much as I love those tunes), but the alternative doesn’t have to be some wanky student shit, you could hear some of the recnt Big Boi stuff, the Tip stuff, some tracks off new albums by Jake One, Black Milk, the great Love Cat’s sampling gem by Invicible, some new Busta, a bit of Lil Wayne, some UK stuff, it don’t have to be either old play it safe or new ‘not very hip hop’ stuff, there’s still a few DJ’s who play ‘proper’ tunes and draw from the best of all styles around like a good Hip Hop DJ should, drop the odd classic here and there, fuck it!
Christ.
In reference to what Weezy’s Dentist said. I was that bloke that Format was talking to that night and the conversation sprung up as I was playing stuff like ‘Ante Up’ and the early Freeway Just Blaze joints. It’s amazing really that at the time I think Matt thought that was ‘jiggy’ or something – lol. I wonder what he’d make of the new Young LA joint.
Some great dialogue going down here, good to see some intelligent comments. I’d like to chip in if I may…
During a recent car journey I played T.I. feat Rihanna ‘Live Your Life’ about 20 times. I love that track, not ashamed of enjoying a bit of pop music by gun wielding studio gangsters. Then just a minute ago I was enjoying obscure B sides I’d overlooked from Grandmaster Caz 12′s. Whatever floats your boat I guess. At the end of the day, a great song is a great song.
Tip album is cool, I’m a fan, it’s as good as it was ever going to be, it’s not ATCQ 1, 2 or 3 but I’d rather hear a tip solo record than ever hear an ATCQ comeback album, impossible to capture the magic they had.
I to the T, no shame in your game, there are no rules as to how, when, where you enjoy music. Rock those Clarks baby, listen to Jazz, don’t apologise, I’m in the same age bracket and I’ll be totally honest in saying that if rap music ceased to exist tomorrow, I wouldn’t lose sleep as a music fan, I have enough music on my shelves to last a life time but now and again a real gem emerges and puts a smile on your face, but hip-hop, rap, grime, b more, dubstep, whatever, ain’t going away. I imagine your parents got dissed for listening to the Beatles much like mine did. We’ve grown into a similar case-study but I remember many of my friends stopped listening to rap back in ’87 / ’88 as it no longer appealed to them, I could not get my head around that back then. They went heavily into dance music, took more drugs than me, got proper jobs, had kids but now like Kanye West and we’re on the same playing field again . Maybe I’ll become a techno DJ one day.
Ride the wave in anyway you see fit, there’s no right or wrong path.
Now ‘ante up’ is considered purist and boring by some people, but I don’t think these people are Hip Hop heads, it’s easy to be swayed by what’s popular, opjnion, music music opinion, but just stick to what you like, new or old, have the confidence to say ‘I think that’s a tune’ and if your a DJ then have the bravery to play what you feel and excite the croed whatever it is, whenever it was made, don’t cater for the treny’s just play from the heart and if you find it’s not going down well and your playing tunes you think are big and would normally appeal to a Hip Hop crowd then your obviously NOT playing to a Hip Hop crowd, if that’s the case then switch up at the cost of your integrity or just play to hardcore Hip Hop fans. Mentioning no names, but a well know DJ who plays a lot of primo, MOP etc. was DJing at a jam I went to recently and I was just itcjing to hear something new, even some NEW primo or whatever, but it was just old gangstarr, wu etc. it didn’t need to be, it was just play it safe, if I was up there I woulda smashed it with newness, surely that’s what being a Hip Hop DJ is about isn’t it, killing it with new heat.
Also, just wanted to say that I hate going to Hip Hop jams where everyone’s white. I am white, but I was the odd one out back in the day, now everyone’s white at some jams and I can’t see how that can be Hip Hop? The cultures gone from being hardcore ghetto music to a predominantly upper-middle class white thing now and I miss the jams of old. I got plenty of beat downs for being white and into Hip Hop and had to earn stripes, it was tough being accepted (or naot as was often the case), but now you can just turn up if your white and middle class and breeze on in, maybe Grime clubs are different, I dunno.
yeah that T.I joint is heavy though actually…
what the fuck is ‘B-More’ when it’s at home ??
I want to like this tune. I want it to be good. But it just sounds a bit flat. Co-sign on what i the t is saying. I’ve pretty much, though not totally, given up on new hip-hop. There are great tunes still emerging now and again, but they are few and far between. I guess when you’ve been listening to hip-hop for 20+ years it’s hard for someone to create something that sounds innovative, dope, soulful and hungry that stands up in comparison to all that has come before. Luckily for all of us there’s an almost infinite amount of amazing ‘old’ music out there to go and rediscover. I’m off to listen to some yacht-rock.
DJ Format and those Germans like Zeb Roc Ski are perfect examples of the Whiteboy Preservation Society – white Europeans who want to enshrine black American music to a period that the Black Americans who actually made the music have long since evolved from.
Hate those creepy pilgrims.
for further clarification of the above assertion see >
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/11/18/116-black-music-that-black-people-dont-listen-to-anymore/
yeah, but that stuff white people like is just stupid, it almost sounds like it was written by a white guy who is clueless to Hip Hop culture. The thing is that he is talking about US whites from rich colleges who have just gotten into ‘the old school’ (ie. NOT the old school, not even the mid school, just early 90′s stuff) and are trying to preserve that. You will find that a LOT of black people still do prefer the old school tunes and mid school whatever you wanna call it over new stuff and his statement about blacks liking commerical rap over underground new stuff or old stuff is not founded in reality, maybe in the mainstream of black people, but not amongst people who are deep in the culture. I know because I know black people who love Hip Hop and love the old shit as well as the choice new stuff, but I do agree about people like Format, Edan, Zeb Rock whatever his name is and a lot of others, usually white guys, but not always (PUTS, Insight etc) who wanna be stuck in a particular era. Thre other exteme doesn’t have to be only liking major label commercial rap, there is progressive underground stuff from all regions and that is what I consider the true heritage of Hip Hop, whatver size label it’s on, whoever makes it. Gonna check that TI now and then comment on it honestly.
ps. I also know black people who love edan, insight etc. and wanna keep that vibe alive…it’s not just a race thing.
JUst Heard TI and rihanna…Nah man. Greeny what are you on man! Maybe it sounds good when your in the car cruising round the Capital. Can’t help of thinking of that Harry & Paul sketch still but with Greenpeace pulling up at the lights and out blasting another car with this tune. Whatever floats your boat, I like some TI, but this to me is a pretty aweful tune. I liked the synth bass, that was about all.
3 points :
Let’s Ride from the first solo ‘Tip album is as good as anything from the first 3 Tribe albums.
Beats, Rhymes And Life is better than Stakes Is High as far as albums by Native Tongues groups breaking out of their production comfort zone for the 4th set go.
Other than T.I, Swagger Like Us is the laziest, most chemistry-less big-budget posse track of the decade so far.
no matter how much truth there is to the idea of ‘white people liking black music that black music don’t listen to anymore’ (or what zappa called the academic/intelectual viewpoint of ‘the only good black musics a dead one’);
i still think the following truisms are tenable –
-corporate marketing/mass media take the rawness out of music.
-increased standard of living in america (compared to 70′s and 80′s) decreases the hunger of mc’s.
-a rich rapper bragging on his riches is not as easy to appreciate as a poor rapper fantasising about being rich.
-craftsmanship/musical innovation has troughed due to ease of access to/low expense of recording equipment and finished product.
as for the beard-strokers, yeah, it’s ok to prefer listening to old skool hip-hop but it’s twattish to tell other people what they’re listening to isn’t hip-hop or to evangelise about a superior golden age.
and a final thought for the noncey pilgrims – it’s harder to make music that millions of people will love than to make music that thousands of people love.
THta last point is true in a sense, it is an art to make a good pop record, but a lot of the time these so called ‘op’ records are not very good and many people like them as they have forced down their throats by radio, tv, media who could sell coal to newcastle or snow to eskimos if they had to.
I meant ‘pop’, not ‘op’.
Sometimes I think to myself when I hear UK rappers make a real commerical chart topper…’great, you have made a pop record, you’ve acheived the excercise of making a commercial record that is glossy and poppy and that teenagers will love and grannies and fat birds doing step areobics…what the fuck do you wan’t, afucking medal?’. I like music that is hard hitting, raw, innovative, that moves me, touches me in the right place, I like ctachy stuff it’s got some integrity, but the goal of a lot of rappers now is to hit the charts and to compromise the music as much as they can to do that. Rhianna is no different to Britney to me. She is used as a sex symbol that is barely of legal age to have sex with, she can sing, but her songs are terrible, she’s a middle aged white record label managers wet dream and making someone $$$$$’s, but it’s all a bit sad, it’s nearly the equivalent of musical soft porn or something, but what’s the impact, I have a daughter, Rhianna’s still a kid and they have her all sexualised like that. It aint right.
After some thought I also find it quite sad that such a respected DJ as Greenpeace would favor the dirge of TI & Rhianna over the marvelous Q-Tip album and just find that OK< not a much needed slice of heartfelt Hip Hop like I do. It’s not just Greenpeace though, a lot of DJ’s really sold out over the last decade and have become pop rap fans, I’d to see people stand up and say ‘enough is enough’ and take a stand for some decent music, but alas I think many of these DJ’s actually do prefer that commercial stuff or are into enough to champion it on radio etc. and that’s not just me being bitter or pro-everything underground, it’s just the sadness I, and many others, feel that people who do have the power to push some non-commercial Hip Hop music in this country favour tunes like TI & Rhianna or would play that when it’s already gauranteed to chart and make $$$$’s over stuff that people with no money for promotion or advertising make and thus help keep these people in obscurity and just fuel the commerialism of music. It makes so much difference if Big name DJ’s like Greenpeace play a tune, they don’t need to play TI, everyone’s playing that, Chris Moyles and Scott Mills play that shit, it’s pop. I don’t for a minute suggest that a DJ should play stuff he or she doesn’t like, but if you favour TI & Rhinanna’s record over the Q-Tip stuff you really have to question if you prefer Hip Hop or pop rap? I guess DJ’s like Greenpeace would never claim to be hardcore Hip Hip heads, but would call them selves Hip Hop & Rap DJ’s or summin’, embracing the whole spectrum, but there’s many people out there, of all skin colours, who would not even consider TI & Rhianna to be Hip Hop and some would find the record insulting to even be categorised as Hip Hop.
whoa, you seriously missed the point barmy cake. my reply was to I to the T’s comment about feeling a little unfulfilled about what’s on offer musically right now. For the record, I like TI / Rihanna as a pop song and I play it in clubs because I get paid to play it. If it were down to me I’d play the oldies to a thousand screaming clubbers, unfortunately that’s not a reality. you wouldn’t get more than 50 people pay to go to a club to hear eric b for president these days, believe me, i’ve tried. i like pop(ular) music (T.I.) and I like Q Tip, just not as much as I did 15 years ago, I’m still glad he’s around and pumping out music with a major backer so everyone gets to hear it. I wasn’t favouring one of the other.
As far as “DJ’s like Greenpeace” – I don’t have to defend my track record for a single fucking second dude, it is not even an option for you to judge my dedication and contribution to hip-hop.
In the mean time your favourite blog’s favourite bloggers will be listening to pop music and bringing you exclusive interviews with other pop DJ’s like Mr. Magic and pop talent like Greg Nice, YZ, Tony D and in depth appraisals of major label pop hit factories like Tuff City Records.
Now take a deep breath, chill on the comments for a minute, relax and nut off to one of our freaky fridays if you want to keep it real.
Now let’s not get tense here homosapiens,
As a music teacher (and best producer in the world), it is my civic duty to remind you that Hip-Hop, Grime, Reggae, Funk etc are all styles of POP music inasmuch as they all follow the basic pop structure of intro, verse, chorus etc. Some of these styles may be more popular than others but all are essentially different STYLES of the same GENRE , namely POP MUSIC.
Non-popular genres are things like Aleatoricism, Expressionism, Musique Concrete, Minimalism, Free-Jazz, Serialism and Neo-Complexity etc, music that has no social function but just rigorous intellectual and academic design.
As hardcore as it sounds even Levi 167 for example is really just straight pop. Just listen to the way he says his name 100 times, this is directly influenced by mass media and advertising which aims to be as popular as possible.
As for the bread-strokers/scenesters/hipsters/rucksack wearers, the reason they crusade and evangelise about the superior golden age is (i think) cause they’re emulators and not innovators. All they know how to do is replicate models but aren’t capable of bringing anything new to the table.
I, however, create rhythms and melodies that no one else has used yet. Unfortunately, I cannot show you at the moment cause one of my pupils discovered my myspace so I had to destroy it. But I digress…
That’s precicely the point, because you have such a great track record and you are regarded by me and many others as being one of the more discerning and in touch Hip Hop DJ’s in the UK it just made me feel a bit a bit wound up that you seemed a bit luke warm on the Tip but seemed proud to say that you listened to TI & Rihanna 20 times in the car! That’s just someone else who’s passionate about music questioning that and wondering if you, like many other DJ’s, have started to fall off. You don’t have to defend anything, I really just wanted to start some debate because I feel that people in positions like yourself are highly influential to the public and don’t have to just go with the flow for the £££’s becuase you won’t get a club full of people listening to eric b for president. I don’t doubt you’ve tried, I just think it’s sad that it has to be that way and want to try and stoke the rebel spirit in people, but it’s always hard when money’s involved and you hit the nail on the head, you can’t make a living playing old school or underground Hip Hop. I love the stuff you have on Mr Magic, Tuff City etc. it’s great, I wouldn’t visit this blog daily if it wasn’t. It’s precicely because of you and Drew Huge’s credentials that when you seem to champion rubbish pop rap made for purely commercial puposes it gets me mad! TI and Rhianna are both talented, but they are part of a rather sinister business that has no respect for music or musicians, only the dollar. I’d be suprised if I was the only person who thought this.
ps. i the t, I totallt get what your saying, substitute ‘pop’ with ‘commerical’, that’s what I’m getting at, I even heard TI on radio a few times saying things about his records like ‘ca-ching!’, it’s all about the $$$’s to him…this opens the whole debate about hustling and if he’s making money then why shouldn’t we support that…it’s not an easy one, there’s no simple answer, I just like music that is creative, heart felt, soulful over mere commercial ventures, that’s just me, but it’s different strokes for different folks.
In my mind TI & Rihanna is no different to Crazy Frog frog in terms of it’s intentions.
am i the only one who thinks that all broke and hungry underground original old skool rappers from 70′s the 80′s would have loved to have been able to make a multi-million selling pop song, regardless of however it may have tarnished their ‘integrity’ as a true artist.
i don’t think a song should be judged by it’s intentions, but rather just valued for what it contains in terms of innovation/memorability/craftsmanship of the melody/rhythm/harmony/lyrics etc.
if it so happens that I want to make as much money as possible from making a song that doesn’t matter, does it ?
Bohemian Rhapsody sold millions and is beautiful, there are countless other examples…
Hmmmm, see I wouldn’t agree that Bohemian Rhapsody is beautiful! I would say that ‘Lovin’ You’ by Minnie Ripperton is beutiful. Rhianna has a beuatiful voice, but this is not her singing from the heart like Minnie, it’s her singing what the producer has told her to sing, it’s a gimmick. That’s what I’m gtrying to get at about music from the heart or soul as opposed to it being the musical equivalenmt of Mc Donalds or KFC.
i the t…I think that the fact that Hip Hop heads used to diss commercial records back in the day may answer your quastion about broke rappers, I think it was more important to many to be the best at doing Hip Hop like a martial artist is the best at his or her particular martial art rather than to be acommercial success, it was more about having a name as being skillfull rather than selling out. That’s just how I rememeber Hip Hop years ago, maybe it wasn’t the case, but I think self respect was more important than compromising for the $.
do you work in my school or summat? i was just this minute listening to our singing tutor practising loving you with one of our pupils, and yes like i said theres countless other examples….
commercialism is a fact of western society.. i recommend ignoring it rather than fighting it. here’s a wake up call to divert your concerns to something a bit more pressing for humanity than the state of Pop music >
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com
look i hear all that KFC stuff
“i the t…I think that the fact that Hip Hop heads used to diss commercial records back in the day may answer your quastion about broke rappers, I think it was more important to many to be the best at doing Hip Hop like a martial artist is the best at his or her particular martial art rather than to be acommercial success, it was more about having a name as being skillfull rather than selling out. That’s just how I rememeber Hip Hop years ago, maybe it wasn’t the case, but I think self respect was more important than compromising for the $.”
and i think that’s a myth.
hunger for food is a basic instinct that is not preturbed by artistic values.
before hip-hop made any money it was for the love but at that point there weren’t even any records out. as soon as money became involved then money became integral.
I mean do you even think summat like Marley Scratch would’ve been put out if it wasn’t expected to make any return ?
Why do you think old skool rappers vocalised their fantasies about having a mansion and a yacht ? Do you think they wanted to stay hungry ?
No, I agree there, but Marley Scratch was obviosuly aimed at people who liked Hip Hop music, not the public at large ie. if the public bought it it was because they got on the side of marley and shan, not that marley and shan catered for the commercial market, a lot of commercial rap now is aimed at a mass market to begin with, the TI & Rihanna is aimed at comercial radio, TV, tv ads, ringtones etc. it is not the same as marley marl. You could agrue that ‘Gettin Up’ is quite a pop orientated record too, but the difference is that it is Q-Tip being Tip and doing that soulful catchy thing with natural mass appeal, it’s natural, it’s organic, it’s not a purely money making exercise.
This is hilarious.
Rap has been, i quote, pop rap made for purely commercial puposes (this reads like something a 14 year old would type) ever since Rapper’s Delight.
not that marley and shan catered for the commercial market,
Peace to such hardcore Shan & Marley street bangerz like Left Me Lonely and Jane, Stop This Crazy Thing which were clearly aimed at da kulcha protecting real hip hop headz .
left me lonely was wack, jane wasn’t a commercial tune at the time, I bought it, it wasn’t a pop song like rhianna. I don’t disagree that most hip hop has had to struggle with record sales and artistic integrity, you only have to listen to or read many artists stuggle against record label bullshit to realise that, you will find that a lot of Hip Hop artists have been uncomfortable with the records that came out apart from the one’s they had a 100% say in, and when that is the case you hear something magical, not diluted, how can anyone argue that that is not the case in the face of so many testaments to that?!
All I was trying to get at is that obviously people want their records played, but years ago you did that by making a good Hip Hop record as DJ’s used to play proper Hip Hop tunes, now many play overtly commercial rap records so people have to compete with that to get played, it was a bit like that back in the day, but it’s much worse now. People seem to think that major label big budget shit is superior to idie stuff, same with films, not of of us like blockbusters with their product placement and merchandise, some people like something a bit more gritty and non-commercial, it’s still commercial in the sense that it’s in the market place, but it’s not just about the money, I don’t see what is so hard not to get about that argument?!
ps. I am 14 (honest!)
BARM CAKE B/COUNTRY BUMPKIN/100 OTHER NAMES
U NEED TO SHUT THE FUCK UP U ANNOYING RAMBLING FAGGOT
I think what’s so hard to get about your argument is that you express yourself like the most cliched 1998 era backpacker imaginable with a dashing of an angry teenager that’s mad at his favourite group becoming popular.
Rappers make songs to make money and have success shocker!
Who gives a fuck if the label talked them into making a song or not? The Furious Five wouldn’t have made The Message if Sylvia Robinson hadn’t pressured them into it. Biggie would’ve probably ended up being a generic sub-Black Moon Brooklyn rapper with shouted choruses about blunts and Timbs if Puffy hadn’t got him to record songs like Juicy and Big Poppa.
We also wouldn’t have around half the collected catalogues of Motown and Stax.
In short : loosen your Jansport straps.
Calling me a backpacker and faggot is lame.
Before all my aliases are out of here for good I just wanna say that I know some label intervention is gonna result in great records, I wasn’t really saying it didn’t, but it seems that more than ever people will make increasingly rubbish records to sell to the masses.
I do ramble, but if admitting I don’t like one particular aweful record by (the normally good) TI and saying I prefer Hip Hop as undiluted as possible, if possible, makes me a backplacker and faggot then I’m guilty as charged.
I’m out of here. Thanks to The Rock or whoever you are
Lame.
Hip hop is something you live, ceasing to post multiple comments at a time in disgust at a dj liking a pop record on the Fat Lace blog after getting pwned by someone named after a wrestler is something you do.
Nah man, I’m not ceasing to comment on just this topic, I’m ceasing with this blog in general. I think The Rock and probably even you, Brian, are alaises of people who are involved in this Blog, especially The Rock as he listed my aliases and made me feel unwelcolme here by his comment. Apart from heckling DJ Greenpeace for playing Rhianna 20 times (I’m sure I can do that as a long time fan of the Greenpeace and I apologise for lumping him in with other DJ’s who have most definitely fallen off) I don’t know why you hate me enough to call me a faggot in capital letters, it’s pretty harsh, I can take a bit of stick, I know I’m opinionated, but that just seemed a bit like saying that all my comments are basically worthless rambling and I think the person who said it has something to do with this blog so I’m outta here.
ha ha
the dust settles and i realise i haven’t even watched the video.
and after the sorry excuse for a recent 16-bar freestyle of his that i had the misfortune of witnessing on (http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshh0RfUbMno0MAl3rYV) the other day, i think i’ll take a honkey pass. Enough.
I never thought Tip was that great at freestyling, not consistent with it anyway, better at making records…oops, wasn’t going to comment again, but can’t resist, I love fatlace even if you all think I’m a fag and a backpacker. At least I masturbate over Fatlace Freaky Friday girls and not over TI & Rhianna records.
YEAH – REAL HIP HOP!!!!!!!!!!
I’m gonna hide from the pro-pop rap assault under my Umbrella-ella-ella-ella
Leave your response