Okay some people need to get their head out of their ass. Mainstream hiphop/rap is mainstream because it appeals to the masses. There are certainly quite a few "mainstream" rappers who are loads better than most of their "underground" counter parts. Do you really believe that Little Brother would not continue to rap if he made it onto TRL (although i think trl is dead so bad example)? People dont intentionally sell less records to keep their "underground" status. Many rapers just dont have commercial appeal or the club/dance beats to make their songs popular in that scene.
Talib Kweli's music does not appeal to as many people as Little Wayne. Therefor he does not sell as many records. That doesnt mean he's better than Wayne... Drought 1-3 were fucking sick.
"Mainstream" and "Underground" are just a distinction people like to make to make their favorite rappers sound cooler.
It's not about sounding cooler, I already said that. Its just a genre distinction. Just like Mainstream is dominated by rap and not so much hip-hop. And vise versa for the underground. The problem is you guys can't seem to tell the difference and lump it all into one. You can't even compare Lil wayne with Talib at all. I mean you don't put classic rock in the same category as emo rock do you?
As far as being able to tell underground from mainstream, I could probably get 95% of it correct without having previous knowledge of artists.
Selling records and making pop-rap is obviously worse (which must be the matter of interpretation you guys are speaking about) because they are not in it for the music, just the shit I mentioned in the previous post.
It's like they are just taking advantage the situation while doing the minimal musically and putting their effort into the business side of it.
The fact of the matter is this is a 'Best hip-hop songs' thread. Obviously some corporate controlled agenda money making song is not the best, it just uses the best advertisement and exploits the sheep who wanna get 'crunk' at a party or to look hard rollin down the street with the homies. I'm not saying people shouldn't have songs to dance to or whatever, but these are obviously not the best hip-hop songs when it's not even hip-hop. It's a joke if you say otherwise.
The fact of the matter is this is a 'Best hip-hop songs' thread. Obviously some corporate controlled agenda money making song is not the best, it just uses the best advertisement and exploits the sheep who wanna get 'crunk' at a party or to look hard rollin down the street with the homies. I'm not saying people shouldn't have songs to dance to or whatever, but these are obviously not the best hip-hop songs when it's not even hip-hop. It's a joke if you say otherwise.
Hip Hop originated as party music. Personally im not a fan of the snap bullshit or everyone being on T-Pains jock and trying to use a talk box and synthesizers but that doesnt mean thats not hip hop. Im a big Nas fan....but i couldnt listen to him all day and everyday because it gets stale and hes more dark and depressing. Sometimes people want happy or upbeat songs...or songs like 50 cents GET UP to get pumped up to when you are going to work out or play a game or something. Most "underground" is underground because it sounds bad and they suck. Quite often their flow is fucking horrible and they have annoying voices. Just because you can write metaphors and similies and great multis doesnt mean you have the voice to pull them off....not everyone should rap and its just that simple.
Now I like some "underground" artists but seriously this whole idea that mainstream people suck is fucking retarded. Quite a few of them can rap even if you dont like them at all. I dont care for Eminem bitching about kim and his daughter and whining about shit....but in terms of rapping ability his multi's are pretty damn sick. Nas is mainstream...jay-z....big pun....Biggie..Tupac... seriously. Are you telling me TI cant rap? I mean fuck.
this is by no means a great song, but i feel it nessary to post. even though i've already posted one nike fanboy song.... get some taste boy http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=c4vM2BQxouI
The fact of the matter is this is a 'Best hip-hop songs' thread. Obviously some corporate controlled agenda money making song is not the best, it just uses the best advertisement and exploits the sheep who wanna get 'crunk' at a party or to look hard rollin down the street with the homies. I'm not saying people shouldn't have songs to dance to or whatever, but these are obviously not the best hip-hop songs when it's not even hip-hop. It's a joke if you say otherwise.
Hip Hop originated as party music. Personally im not a fan of the snap bullshit or everyone being on T-Pains jock and trying to use a talk box and synthesizers but that doesnt mean thats not hip hop. Im a big Nas fan....but i couldnt listen to him all day and everyday because it gets stale and hes more dark and depressing. Sometimes people want happy or upbeat songs...or songs like 50 cents GET UP to get pumped up to when you are going to work out or play a game or something. Most "underground" is underground because it sounds bad and they suck. Quite often their flow is fucking horrible and they have annoying voices. Just because you can write metaphors and similies and great multis doesnt mean you have the voice to pull them off....not everyone should rap and its just that simple.
Now I like some "underground" artists but seriously this whole idea that mainstream people suck is fucking retarded. Quite a few of them can rap even if you dont like them at all. I dont care for Eminem bitching about kim and his daughter and whining about shit....but in terms of rapping ability his multi's are pretty damn sick. Nas is mainstream...jay-z....big pun....Biggie..Tupac... seriously. Are you telling me TI cant rap? I mean fuck.
Anyway..just my little rant =-)
A lot of people are just like you, that have this distorted biased view of how all hip-hop/rap should sound. That's wrong imo, but its also fine. You can like whatever you want, you're missing out though.
IT raps off beat as fuck and slug and eyedea and all those guys have horrible voices and delivery. Im not missing out on shit. It makes my ears bleed.
I dont have a distorted view at all. I dont care if its underground or mainstream or whatever the fuck if it sounds good. They just sound like garbage.
OK let me clarify a couple things as I understand them, and a couple things about me.
I love hip hop,( i have a couple albums lost everywhere, and some on my PC, mainly classics on pc though.) and hip hop is a culture bboying graffiti and rapping. now a days rapping has been transformed and the term is now used to describe Gangster rap spewed out of retards mouth, I.E little wayne, it isn't like that rap is all forms of lyricism with a beat, it's the verbal component to hip-hop .
there are a lot of different categories you can split rap into; battle rap ( Em), Conscious rap ( common), gangster rap ( mobb deep) etc. all of these now fall under two big categories as well, underground and mainstream.
IT was underground and is going mainstream, he has lyrical intensity, his own flow, and a compelling style ( to some). now why isn't he the greatest rapper ever? well it's quite simple, his flow is passable, and his message is pretty mundane. I will give him this, he is much better than most of the mainstream crap that is played, and thus when some people hear him they immediately think OMG he is soooo much better than lil wayne (self proclaimed best rapper alive XD) , he must be the best rapper ever, and his beats are soo cool. WRONG, but it's a step forward.
I like EM for his unique flow, his ability to transmit feeling through his voice very clearly, and his wordplay. unfortunately he has been consumed by greed for a while and his songs reflect it. and here is why i posted 2 Em songs that weren't his best, 1 they demonstrate his wordplay, and 2 they show his capability to transmit feelings, ( mostly anger ) through the mic. Em's songs were reflection of self.
I, and apparently CharlieMurphy as I understand it, respect the integrity that goes with doing the music for itself and not for the money, though i am not against them making money from it, just as long as it doesn't consume their focus.
now contributing to OP with a classic Wu-tang clan- C.R.E.A.M
Edit: @ Sadist: IT, eyedea, and slug aren't the best of the underground.. at all...
and thank you CharlieMurphy, i hadn't listened to mos def-mathematics, i love premo and ninth productions, but who doesn't. and here you guys go an example of an MC that made money but doesn't do it for the money. he is mainstream to an extent and not crappy, thus not Commercial
Etherone they just all sound the same to me. Almost none of them have any semblance of a flow. They arent unique at all in their message either. 90% of them are just bitching about the industry and stuff like that. Its like what happened to Talib Kweli (obviously hes not underground) You say the same thing for 4 albums and eventually it gets old. Stop bitching and make your own original songs that are great. He seems to have lost that.
On January 31 2009 23:25 PhorClayton wrote: Hip/Hop music is like a programming loop — Some guy does shit with his life, then sings about the shit he has done to sell shit-filled CDs to kids who inspire to do that same shit. Then those kids become shitheads themselves and do shitheaded shit, then sing about the shitheaded shit they've accomplished so they can vocally fling shit onto CDs so they can make money singing about shitheaded shit to other shitheaded shits who want to become shitheads, and on and on; while thousands of like-minded shitheaded shits wither into poverty and alcoholism/jail/death.
It's like watching a dog chase its tail for decades; the small difference being that the tail is an actual piece of shit.
Words used containing some form of the word "shit" = 18 What do I win?
sub the word hip-hop with rap/rock and you are correct.
Generalizing rock with mainstream shit on the radio is like having hip hop generalized by Soulja Boy when that's not even related to hip hop at all. And otherwise you probably couldn't name one good metal band =/ so why write it off ? pretty fakeshit for someone who's "trying to keep it real" unless you're proud of being this elitist ignorant "hip hop music genre only kthx" good music is good music; doesn't matter the genre.
Just to make this known from the start, I don't really listen to rap/hip hop/r&b or whatever other genre you can lump into this. I like a few songs here and there, but I mostly dwell in the metal/progressive category.
I was wondering how you distinguish between rap and hip hop? I remember this one guy I knew a while back who got mad when someone called Immortal Technique a rapper, claiming he was hip hop through and through...like he literally took offense and got butthurt about it. Now I know he was probably retarded about it, and was more making the underground vs mainstream distinction...however, that still led me to wonder what the differences between the two are.
From what I've gathered so far, hip hop seems to be much more lyrically oriented. The rapper is the primary focus, and the musical arrangement is there solely to lay out the beat and to sort of illustrate it a bit (more than just the rhythm).
Rap, however, puts a bit more into the production, and takes some emphasis away from the rapper and puts it back into the musical arrangement, and also makes greater use of hooks and whatnot.
Ok, someone mentioned T.I I'm not even going to bother looking back. T.I,50 Cent, Soulja Boy,Flo Rida, and all other main stream is all about making fucking money. If any of you watched 50 cents show on mtv ( lol ) all he talks about his money and business opportunity. I doubt he gives a damn shit if his music makes sense or not. Not me, but is my friend and he plays starcraft too :D He knows what he is fucking talking about, shit he introduced me to underground 3 years ago in school. Fuck without him I would probably be listening to Young Joc, who is also all about making "doe"
On February 01 2009 15:43 Clasic wrote: Ok, someone mentioned T.I I'm not even going to bother looking back. T.I,50 Cent, Soulja Boy,Flo Rida, and all other main stream is all about making fucking money. If any of you watched 50 cents show on mtv ( lol ) all he talks about his money and business opportunity. I doubt he gives a damn shit if his music makes sense or not. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxMt1XwwxGU Not me, but is my friend and he plays starcraft too :D He knows what he is fucking talking about, shit he introduced me to underground 3 years ago in school. Fuck without him I would probably be listening to Young Joc, who is also all about making "doe"
TI can actually rap. His multis are nice and considering whats on the radio IMO hes the best of the "mainstream" popular rappers atm. You cant compare 50 cent, Soulja boy, and Flo Rida to T.I..
Ludacris is good too if it isnt his own song ;D
of the guys who actually get radio play id say.
#1 lupe fiasco #2 T.I. #3 Ludacris
at least currently.
Lupe doesnt get MUCH airplay but enough to not be in the talib kweli/little brother/etc category
On February 01 2009 13:33 Sadist wrote: no...they have annoying voices and cant rap.
IT raps off beat as fuck and slug and eyedea and all those guys have horrible voices and delivery. Im not missing out on shit. It makes my ears bleed.
I dont have a distorted view at all. I dont care if its underground or mainstream or whatever the fuck if it sounds good. They just sound like garbage.
Congratulations you only named the most famous underground guys, and guess what I already said I don't like these guys. PS- they are pretty mainstream being on MTV2 and shit. So you still don't even know what is really underground.
PH, about your friend getting mad about calling him a rapper. I can sort of relate, A rapper is one who raps. Being that hip-hop and rap are different nowadays it doesn't really make sense. I try to avoid the term whenever possible, MC is the correct term. Also MC's don't 'rap' they 'rhyme'.
It a subtle and arguable distinction but that explains it.
That being said, you can pretty much tell a rapper from his lyrics which consist mainly about; being hard, being the best, how others are worse than him, how much money he has, how much dirt he's done, how many ho's hes fucked, how many niggaz he's shot, etc. Also the lyrics are usually ebonically spoken and words and phrases are never complex. Which is why it appeals to such a broad audience, any moron can understand it. Also the beats are generally more catchy and the song is less about the verses and more about the chorus which is the same phrase(s) repeated like 5 times.
example: Soulja Boy Off In This Hoe Watch Me Crank It Watch Me Roll Watch Me Crank Dat Soulja Boy Then Super Man Dat Hoe Now Watch Me Do (Crank Dat Soulja Boy) Now Watch Me you (Crank Dat Soulja Boy) Now Watch Me you (Crank Dat Soulja Boy) Now Watch Me you (Crank Dat Soulja Boy)
Now some pseudo underground, take slug for example, has really shitty annoying songs like this with repeated chorus, but you can tell by the lyrics it's not rap, but it's still trash imo. I hate this song so bad: Chorus (repeated)
It's nothing but sunshine It's all sunshine It's nothing but sunshine It's nothing but sunshine It's all sunshine It's nothing but sunshine It's nothing but sunshine It's all sunshine It's nothing but sunshine It's nothing but sunshine It's all sunshine It's nothing but sunshine It's nothing but sunshine It's all sunshine It's nothing but sunshine etc.
On January 31 2009 23:25 PhorClayton wrote: Hip/Hop music is like a programming loop — Some guy does shit with his life, then sings about the shit he has done to sell shit-filled CDs to kids who inspire to do that same shit. Then those kids become shitheads themselves and do shitheaded shit, then sing about the shitheaded shit they've accomplished so they can vocally fling shit onto CDs so they can make money singing about shitheaded shit to other shitheaded shits who want to become shitheads, and on and on; while thousands of like-minded shitheaded shits wither into poverty and alcoholism/jail/death.
It's like watching a dog chase its tail for decades; the small difference being that the tail is an actual piece of shit.
Words used containing some form of the word "shit" = 18 What do I win?
sub the word hip-hop with rap/rock and you are correct.
Generalizing rock with mainstream shit on the radio is like having hip hop generalized by Soulja Boy when that's not even related to hip hop at all. And otherwise you probably couldn't name one good metal band =/ so why write it off ? pretty fakeshit for someone who's "trying to keep it real" unless you're proud of being this elitist ignorant "hip hop music genre only kthx" good music is good music; doesn't matter the genre.
I didn't really mean this to be taken literally, I just used it as an example of how what he was saying wasn't applicable or could also be applied to any genre. I just worded it badly. And yea, even though I don't like metal I can name a few good bands easily. Children of Bodom, Iron Maiden, and my personal favorite AleStorm.
On February 01 2009 15:43 Clasic wrote: Ok, someone mentioned T.I I'm not even going to bother looking back. T.I,50 Cent, Soulja Boy,Flo Rida, and all other main stream is all about making fucking money. If any of you watched 50 cents show on mtv ( lol ) all he talks about his money and business opportunity. I doubt he gives a damn shit if his music makes sense or not. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxMt1XwwxGU Not me, but is my friend and he plays starcraft too :D He knows what he is fucking talking about, shit he introduced me to underground 3 years ago in school. Fuck without him I would probably be listening to Young Joc, who is also all about making "doe"
TI can actually rap. His multis are nice and considering whats on the radio IMO hes the best of the "mainstream" popular rappers atm. You cant compare 50 cent, Soulja boy, and Flo Rida to T.I..
Ludacris is good too if it isnt his own song ;D
of the guys who actually get radio play id say.
#1 lupe fiasco #2 T.I. #3 Ludacris
at least currently.
Lupe doesnt get MUCH airplay but enough to not be in the talib kweli/little brother/etc category
Nas is on the radio. You can't beat these lyrics, I have them memorized lol so I don't even have to copy and paste :
Freedom or jail, clips inserted, a baby's bein born same time my man is murdered, the beginning and end as far as rap go, it's only natural, I explain my plateau, and also, what defines my name first it was Nasty, but times have changed ask me now, I'm the artist, but hardcore, my science for pain I spent time in the game, kept my mind on fame saw fiends shoot up, and do lines of cocaine saw my close friends shot, flatline am I sane? that depends, carry Mac-10's to practice my aim on rooftops, tape cd covers to trees line the barrel up with your weak picture then squeeze street scriptures for lost souls, in the crossroads to the corner thugs hustlin for cars that cost dough to the big dogs livin large,takin it light pushin big toys, gettin nice, enjoyin your life is what you make it, suicide, few try to take it belt tied around they neck in jail cells naked heaven and hell, rap legend, presence is felt and of course n.a.s are the letters that spell.