What are you listening to?

[theinevitable]

anyone into hip-hop? I want to like it, but I can never get past Wu-Tang Clan and Fear of a Black Planet. When I am in a hip-hop mood I listen to those two things, and then I am satisfied.

[greenkoolayd]

anyone into hip-hop? I want to like it, but I can never get past Wu-Tang Clan and Fear of a Black Planet. When I am in a hip-hop mood I listen to those two things, and then I am satisfied.

i like the idea of hip hop more than i like most things that fall into the category.  its not as easy to find the cultural expressions because the thugs and major-label people get most of the attention.  i dig:

fatlip
aesop rock
krs one

i hear good things about:

mf doom
atmosphere(his music isnt for me, though)
dead prez
whole wheat bread

[jay-ell]

Nerdcore will rise up, bitches.

I think you would like Jesse Dangerously. Just a feeling I have.

[pmcd9]

I want to like hip hop, mainly because I never want to be one of those old people that are assholes about what the kids are listening to.  They are almost as annoying as most kids that think music was invented the day they were born, or more correctly about 10-12 years after they were born.

But mostly I don't like too much hip hop.  I kinda got into the Roots for awhile.  There was a Wyclef album that I really enjoyed.  Some Beastie Boys stuff I like.  Snoop is pretty cool, I even saw him perform once (opened for RHCP), but in all honesty the only song of his I could name is Gin and Juice.  And of course I like a lot of the classic tracks such as Baby Got Back, Funky Cold Medina, etc...

I like how hip hop has become "real music" using instruments and shit and not just scratching on a turntable or whatever.  See, that last sentence totally reads like some old asshole talking about what the kids are listening to... Anyway, I've seen some hip hop acts on television in more recent times and thought the bands were fuck*ng hotter than hell.  The only drawback I could find was the MC him or herself.  You got this shit hot band jamming they ass off with this idiot spitting out a bunch of bs about guns and cars and women.  Hip hop has really evolved into an aggressive form of R&B with the MC a vestigial element held over from earlier times.

So yeah, I'm not a big fan of hip hop, but I'm not against it either.  And I'm certainly not one of those old assholes that is likely to say something such as "I love all kinds of music except rap.  I HATE rap."

I can never get past Wu-Tang Clan and Fear of a Black Planet. When I am in a hip-hop mood I listen to those two things, and then I am satisfied.

I have Wu Tang Forever, I should give it a listen to see if it still bores me.  I also recently got AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted.  Some of that sounded kinda interesting.  But I've only listened to a couple of tracks. 

[robot_god]

Hip hop was alive for years, but now it is officially dead.  It's too late to start getting into it, guys, it's all over.  Eminem just released the last relevant hip hop album and that caps it all off.

[greenkoolayd]

hiphop is dead.  books are irrelevant and wasteful.  [[sings]] ...and i feel fiiiine!

[Doc]

I'm not much into hip hop but I do love a melbourne group called Hilltop Hoods.

Scroobius pip also makes it onto every mix-tape I make.

For ages I associated hip hop with gangster rap and I care about lyrics too much so singing about bitches and shorties and drive bys just pissed me off. I like the non-gangster hip hop though and of course the nerdcore is the bizzledy.

[KeithHernandez]

I don't know if we are making a hip hop/ rap distinction here(don't really know what the difference is), but I really dig Illmatic by Nas, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is better than Black Planet, and ATLiens by Outkast could be one of the top ten albums ever made, you know, depending on the day.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRTH9D0epTs 

Oh and the new Big Boi album has a track with George Clinton.  It is pretty bad ass.  About dope:  smoke, don't choke seems to be the moral.

[theinevitable]

people keep telling me that about nation of millions, but I just don't get it. i need to listen to it again, obviously.

[KeithHernandez]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7MjgcNXZLs

This song alone makes it one of the greatest hip hop albums ever.  My favorite part is "stay strong sister."

[Carlos del Vaca]

Paul, I suggest you check out Mos Def.  Not just because white people like Mos Def, but because I like him, and I like the other hip hop acts you said you enjoyed.

Also, A Tribe Called Quest.

[Carlos del Vaca]

As to what I'm listening to:  the new National album, High Violet.  Oh yes, very much so.
http://vimeo.com/11653518

[greenkoolayd]

mos def and common are both rad hip hop dudes that talk about 'the streets' a lot, but dont glorify ignorance/negativity.

(rap is part of hip hop)

[pmcd9]

My friend Emma sings on this.

I told her the price was exorbitant, but I bought it anyway.

[Lister]

I can't recommend Jurassic 5 highly enough.  Literate MCs with real skills?  Oh yes, please.  Unfortunately their label is aggressive about takedowns and they've only uploaded 4 videos of their own to Youtube, but still.  They're good at what they do.

If You Only Knew
Quality Control (title track from an excellent album)
Concrete Schoolyard
High Fidelity
I Am Somebody