Rap records that have transcended Hip Hop
Phill_Most
4,594 Posts
The "Message Appreciation" post got me to thinking... what rap records have transcended Hip Hop in their significance? "The Message" clearly is one... other old school choices would be, of course, The Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" and Bam's "Planet Rock". As you go through rap history I can think of other examples, but I'll just chill and let y'all add on if you so desire. What's the most recent record that you'd say has transcended Hip Hop? Has there even been any in recent history? Thoughts, plaese.
Comments
I walked into a bar at a Marriot hotel in Maryland when this song was big and saw a room full of middle aged white people dancin' and singin' the chorus! "It takes two to make a thing go right." That had me laughin'!
on the other hand, to me transcended means becoming just good music above and beyond any sort of genre (e.g., A Love Supreme, What's Going On). that takes time and therefore, new music cannot really qualify.
If by transcend you mean 'changed hiphop as it was', then:
Me Myself & I and the whole 3ft high and rising LP did.
i'll raise you
Cool and quiet, but quick to start up a riot
I write the rhyme, bums assist to bite it
I wear no gold around my neck just black medallions
And sold the home of true black stallions
I don't care for fair 'cause fair-fair's meat
Out of 10 ways of dying, the first might cheat
I'm harder than the hardest, hardest, hard can get
Africa and I, while Sammy B's on the set
I kick the rhyme to the girl and she became my pet
I lend some sucker some juice and now he's in debt
The sucker said he wasn't scared but still in all he sweat
A poor man became rich because some meeky bet
My brother's searching high and low, they'll looking for me
Where will they find me, in the J-U-N-G-L-E
And:
Pretty sure this is what he means here... tunes that ANYONE would hold up as classics, regardless of whether they're a rap fan or not
"Paid in Full" would qualify I'd say
Did you mean hip hop is still as good as it was back in the days /or/ hip hop without which we wouldn't be where we are today /or/ hip hop that is higher regarded today than what it was when it came out /or/ somethin else..
We're not talking about crossovers - I mean, what was the "significance" of hey ya? great pop record? I don't think that's what's meant here. When you say transcending hip-hop, I guess that means the kind of song that would show up on the non-hip-hop layperson's radar over the past 30 years.
I would say, "Fight The Power" - this record reached a huge audience through "Do The Right Thing", way beyond hip-hop, and had the significance of showing that side of hip-hop that was serious, intellectually challenging, revolutionary both sonically and lyrically to those people, who had never heard Public Enemy before.
I think OutKast as a group definitely, but what was their most "significant" song (NOT their biggest seller necessarily)? "get up, get out"? "rosa parks"? I'm trying to think of what defined them as a conscious group with depth. "ms jackson"?
I think, as far as Jay-Z goes, "Izzo" was pretty significant. He encapsulated (no pun instended) his basic points as an artist - his struggle, his motives, his rewards - as well as dropping some jewels on early exploitation of rappers. For a nationwide smash, that's pretty significant.
Definitely "Choice Is Yours", when coupled with the video.
NWA, "Fuck The Police", "Express Yourself"... Cube "It Was A Good Day".
transcend :
exceed or excel
exceed: go beyond; "Their loyalty exceeds their national bonds"
exceed: go beyond; "She exceeded our expectations"; "She topped her performance of last year"
so were looking for records that 'changed the game'; made hiphop better or changed it direction.
It is catnip for white people?
hilarity
now i have to explain to the (white) person next to me why i'm laughing.
I don't think I can take credit for that one; somebody else--possibly my girlfriend--is the originator.
I always hated that song until I saw a room full of college girls dancing to it on repeat. Then I REALLY hated it.
Good call on the 'catnip' reference. I love it.
I don't think anybody does. Except Oliver (No, he didn't...)
I can't take credit for it, either. It sounds like something Matt or Andy would say.
This was a big album for me and Jadakiss in our respective "journeys" as a consumers of hip hop:
"Rappers Delight" is an obvious one- it introduced rap to the world and I would guess that if Sugar Hill had kept accurate books it would be the highest selling rap single ever. "The Message" because it was the first true look at the realities of ghetto life ever put on wax (there were, of course, other songs in other genres before this that dealt with ghetto life, but it's almost impossible for a singer give as much explicit detail as a rapper can) and it inspired a lot of music that came after it in hip hop as well as other forms of music. "Planet Rock" gave birth to electro, house, techno, etc. etc. NWA's "F--- tha Police" (the whole "Straight Out Of Compton" lp but that song in particular) has influenced so much of today's music... after that record it was pretty much open season to say whatever the f--- you want to, any WAY you f---in' want to! When I hear Gwen Stefani cursin' all over the radio and my little 6 year old girl singing "Oooo, this my shh, this my shh", in someway I feel compelled to thank NWA for this change in what is now considered to be acceptable.
So, basically, that's what I was talking about with this thread. But feel free to throw your own thoughts out there, it's all good. It's all about conversatin' on it, mane!
Here's some obvious ones.. but anything that fits your description is going to be obvious, right?
RAISING HELL
ENTER THE 36 CHAMBERS
THE CHRONIC
and I'll add
LICENSE TO ILL
early LL
DOGGYSTYLE
READY TO DIE
Okay... well, judging by that answer (as well as a few of the others) I don't know if folls are getting what I meant by transcending. Maybe you are, though. It's "saulgravy" either way, mane! Anybody feelin' like there's a Mike Jones or Chingo Bling song that has transcended hip hop? Let it be known, holmes!
Here are some rap records that I think transcended hip-hop:
-"Self-Destruction"-Stop the Violence Movement.
-"One Love"-Whodini.
-"Umi Says"-Mos Def.
-"Can You Feel It"-Original Concept.
-"Rebirth of Slick"-Digable Planets.
-I cosign on a number of the previous ones such as P.E., Beastie Boys, and other landmark groups (not the crossover hit makers).
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
By being in a Nike commercial?