I honestly think the next album to look for is gonna be Kabinet Gang's shit. E-40's kid Droop-E and his partner B-Slimm. Droop got beats AND rhymes and Slimm is a tight, funny, lyricist.
Sorry, none of them are on MC Pooh level. Fuckin With Dank just can't be beaten.
I will give E-40 credit for bringing his affinity for food to the rhyme game, although, somehow the thought of him marinating in italian dressing for a day or two and then be roasted on a charcoal grill seems really appetizing. All we have is Bone, and really, they never talked about marinating anything and even if you could marinate them, I don't think they'd taste very good.
I will give E-40 credit for bringing his affinity for food to the rhyme game, although, somehow the thought of him marinating in italian dressing for a day or two and then be roasted on a charcoal grill seems really appetizing. All we have is Bone, and really, they never talked about marinating anything and even if you could marinate them, I don't think they'd taste very good.
honestly archaic, i'm not sure you even know what you want. you're up in arms when half your underground heroes don't get any mainstream recognition and when the other half of them do get recognition you call the mainstream that giving them recognition within their limitations out for not being informed or for having inappropriate motives. no shit, that's the nature of mainstream media. deal with it.
for one, a regional scene is never going to be wholly uprooted and dropped into a mainstream market. certain artists have the appeal (or drive or connections or a whole host of other factors) to succeed on a national level. others just can't do it. and that's why you're not going to see k-rino on mtv, as much as he may deserve it (correct me if i'm wrong, i've only caught a few of those houston specials, maybe they did spc day? i doubt it).
and it's not fair to put the blame on jazzbo or sway or anybody. when you get on a level as big as mtv you cannot do anything but a broad picture. you write, you must realize that you need to write to your audience and write to certain space limitations. if they did a feature on every moderately significant rapper to ever come out of h-town it would be six hours long and completely overwhelming and dull to an outsider. the differences between lil keke and fat pat are intuitive to you or i, but nobody has that capacity initially. instead mtv looks at a broad scale - a couple legends, a couple artists who are about to blow, all of whom are distinct and charismatic. i don't think there's anything wrong with that approach. it's not like they act like this phenomenon came out of nowhere, they loosely frame it in a historical context by covering ugk, etc. there's always a need for a canon. without that there would be no frame of reference to write or read about music. it's a shame that some great artists get left by the wayside in this process, but it's a sacrifice that needs to be made.
as for the bay - man, i don't know if they're properly equipped to blow. there are some great artists, but like what has been mentioned there's not quite as obvious a unifying sound and there's no real figurehead artists like a mike jones or ugk to lead the way. 40? the fact that he hasn't blown yet makes me believe that he never will. It's not like the opportunity hasn't been there. And younger new bay dudes like turf, federation are dope but I don't think will immediately grab the attention of mainstream attention. but the bay created and sustains perhaps the most successful model for a regional rap scene and should be comfortable with their current status.
as for the blowed thing. would you really be happy if nga fish ended up #1 on trl tomorrow? or would you be on some "but why aren't they recognizing tray loc, those carpetbaggers weren't even at the blowed"? you can't have it both ways.
ps:
I honestly think the next album to look for is gonna be Kabinet Gang's shit.
I actually liked the MTV special. They played a clip of a Devin song, they spoke with Cham, they mentioned Z-Ro...all in all it was not bad at all. I thought the NOLA=bounce=fast, Houston=Screwed=slow comparison was way too simplistic and indifferent to the fact that the 2 scenes overlap like a mug. Aside from that, my only other criticisms were what I mentioned: that it was bizarre for 2 Bay folks to willingly act so ignorant of cruising/swanging/sideshow culture. And if Matt really didn't manage to get paid by MTV for his efforts as offered, then I definitely don't like that...but again overall I was glad more than anything to watch the piece.
Can't say that I'm ever gonna concede to the idea that the media outlets with the biggest budgets and biggest platforms should be expected to reduce everything to a cursory summary. Again I think of it as lazy journalism instead. And that goes out to the Source, XXL, New York Times, and whoever else wants to predict the future by reading the treadmarks in 50 Cents drawers but when it comes to anything else in the rap universe they only mention names in passing paired with poking not-so-slightly-veiled fun at the "strangeness" of attached local scene.
Anyway, here's a recent interview with Ellay Khule (translated from French) that actually speaks directly to some of y'all's previous questions:
as for the bay - man, i don't know if they're properly equipped to blow. there are some great artists, but like what has been mentioned there's not quite as obvious a unifying sound and there's no real figurehead artists like a mike jones or ugk to lead the way. 40? the fact that he hasn't blown yet makes me believe that he never will. It's not like the opportunity hasn't been there. And younger new bay dudes like turf, federation are dope but I don't think will immediately grab the attention of mainstream attention. but the bay created and sustains perhaps the most successful model for a regional rap scene and should be comfortable with their current status.
I'd agree with much of this. I'm not sure I'm convinced that the Bay isn't "properly eqiupped". What makes a scene blow up (and note, I try to break similiar shit down in the Fat Joe thread) is a lot of different factors, none of it's a particular science, much of it is luck. Even right now, who's to say all the Houston hype won't blow over in about three months?
The only really successfuly regional "scene" if you can either call it that is just the South, writ large, but that, of course, is just a series of overlapping scenes all throw together into the all-purpose (but actually rather non-descript) category.
People say NY is dead but really, is NY ever that dead? I just think it has some slow periods, but the thing is, for NY to get revived can happen in a heartbeat whereas it seems to take most other regional scenes years before anyone notices.
I'd agree with Noz though that there's no one really iconic driving the scene but I think that's actually a good thing. It's been cool to see so much hype about the Bay based on an IDEA rather than a single artist. It's amazing how a single term, like "hyphy" can become this catchphrase that becomes representative of a larger scene. I also think it's dangerous - look at "crunk."
Josh & Ross mix CD is off the chain. Whassup with a volume II fellas?
There are a number of Bay Area artists working on national deals. E-40, Done Deal Fam, Keak, and Turf are all being talked to. There is a huge amount of industry buzz around this right now, but those of us who'd rather grandstand are probably too busy talking to hear it.
I think the 2 biggest problems with the Bay scene are 1. isolating ourselves, thinking all-bay instead of national; you'd be surprised how hard I've had to lobby just to press up a Bay record for NYC DJs (you'd think dudes would jump at the chance), and 2. lack of savvy when dealing with labels. We know how to slang records hand to hand or out of the trunk but groups sign their future away all the time with some boo-boo operation. I think The Team (sadly) signed to some bullshit label, effectively killing their chances to go national.
Am I the only person that's not convinced that Houston is actually legitimately "the current big thing"? I mean, sure, Mike Jones is doing his thing, and Lil' Flip has been popular for a while, but they're the only Houston dudes making any real, real noise, right? Slim Thug's album has been delayed like crazy (unfortunately) and UGK isn't making any huge noise or anything. Am I missing something here?
Maybe I don't watch enough 106 and Park.
But, mostly, I think a lot of these little regional things in the mainstream are just momentary trends that don't have much mainstream staying power... which isn't commentary on how good the music is, of course. I'll be absolutely shocked if Mike Jones isn't a footnote in mainstream hip-hop in a year or so.
Can't say that I'm ever gonna concede to the idea that the media outlets with the biggest budgets and biggest platforms should be expected to reduce everything to a cursory summary. Again I think of it as lazy journalism instead. And that goes out to the Source, XXL, New York Times, and whoever else wants to predict the future by reading the treadmarks in 50 Cents drawers but when it comes to anything else in the rap universe they only mention names in passing paired with poking not-so-slightly-veiled fun at the "strangeness" of attached local scene.
they have an audience they need to relate to, you are not that audience. things like chopping and screwing or gas breaking and dipping is not easily digestable to white middle america. to an outsider, it is strange, initially. is sway truly ignorant of sideshow culture? maybe, maybe not. either way he needs to act that way to create a rapport with the viewer who will no clue what's going on. again, i didn't see the piece in question (i tried checking mtv.com but all i could find was marques houston), so i don't know how extreme sway's repsonse was, but i've seen him act similarly in other segments (like when they did the bay area / "hyphy" news bit a few months back)
on the whole i understand what you're trying to say, but you really need to accept the fact that with the power of mass media also comes limitations. and i'm sure a jazzbo or a kelefah sanneh (sp?) would love it if their respective employers would give them three years to research a thirty thousand word/six hour piece on houston rap, but that's just not the way these things work. so instead they do a "cursory summary", a little shine is better than none, no?
it's not lazy journalism, it's realistic journalism. these people have jobs to do. they all can't just
put up a blog about it
(never that! blogs are some carpetbagging hipster shit!)
i do agree with whoever said that houston isn't really "the big thing" right now, but it is getting a ton of media attention, so we'll see where it goes from there.
and not to bring up an old debate, but doesn't this support my side of the argument pretty much perfectly:
Anyway, here's a recent interview with Ellay Khule (translated from French) that actually speaks directly to some of y'all's previous questions:
i think that the quality of some trax is the problem,,the clarityissue,,we were more concerned about..mastering the art of emceein gr just making a track,,not mixing & mastering it,,so the quality gets lost sometimes in the process
Am I the only person that's not convinced that Houston is actually legitimately "the current big thing"? I mean, sure, Mike Jones is doing his thing, and Lil' Flip has been popular for a while, but they're the only Houston dudes making any real, real noise, right? Slim Thug's album has been delayed like crazy (unfortunately) and UGK isn't making any huge noise or anything. Am I missing something here?
Maybe I don't watch enough 106 and Park.
But, mostly, I think a lot of these little regional things in the mainstream are just momentary trends that don't have much mainstream staying power... which isn't commentary on how good the music is, of course. I'll be absolutely shocked if Mike Jones isn't a footnote in mainstream hip-hop in a year or so.
-e
It never ceases to amaze me that on a board so concerned with unearthing rare, private pressers when it comes to funk and jazz that so many are so simultaneously reliant on platinum sales figures to legitimize in their minds current rap acts.
Anyway Houston has been on hit...from Scarface to Devin to Fat Pat to ESG to Big Moe and so on. And to merely call Houston a regional scene...partly true, but didn't Flip used to say that he could sell over 250,000 units in Houston alone?
For your purposes though, let's just say that Mike Jones is merely a mini-snack to get us over until the all-you-can-eat buffet of Chamillionaire's album comes out.
Am I the only person that's not convinced that Houston is actually legitimately "the current big thing"? I mean, sure, Mike Jones is doing his thing, and Lil' Flip has been popular for a while, but they're the only Houston dudes making any real, real noise, right? Slim Thug's album has been delayed like crazy (unfortunately) and UGK isn't making any huge noise or anything. Am I missing something here?
Maybe I don't watch enough 106 and Park.
But, mostly, I think a lot of these little regional things in the mainstream are just momentary trends that don't have much mainstream staying power... which isn't commentary on how good the music is, of course. I'll be absolutely shocked if Mike Jones isn't a footnote in mainstream hip-hop in a year or so.
-e
I think Paul Wall's album is gonna be huge... if Paul Wall didn't exist, somebody would've had to create him: a southern white dude who (unlike those that have come before him) can really rap. He's the perfect confluence of marketing factors.
It never ceases to amaze me that on a board so concerned with unearthing rare, private pressers when it comes to funk and jazz that so many are so simultaneously reliant on platinum sales figures to legitimize in their minds current rap acts.
In all fairness A, we're talking about two completely different value systems here. That seeming contradiction you're pointing out isn't a contradiction at all: a collector's mentality often times conflates rarity with quality whereas when we're talking about contemporary pop music, then populism is often the standard by which things are judged.
Unless we're talking about Quasimoto.
But I think what we're seeing with Houston is the classic cycle of:
No national hype but subcultural buzz --> National hype --> Subcultural backlash against national hype.
The minute Houston LANDS on MTV, haters are just waiting to say, "yo, FUCK Houston. They ain't shit," even though, a moment before, they were the same ones saying, "Houston is the shit. How come none of these dumb motherfuckers know?"
I think Paul Wall's album is gonna be huge... if Paul Wall didn't exist, somebody would've had to create him: a southern white dude who (unlike those that have come before him) can really rap. He's the perfect confluence of marketing factors.
Southern white dude with BIG OL FRONTS. Can't forget that, it's
It never ceases to amaze me that on a board so concerned with unearthing rare, private pressers when it comes to funk and jazz that so many are so simultaneously reliant on platinum sales figures to legitimize in their minds current rap acts.
In all fairness A, we're talking about two completely different value systems here.
I think Archaic may also be equating two different groups of people on this board; most of the guys that make the populism argument on here when it comes to contemporary rap would also be as quick to big up Marvin Gaye or EWF as they would to gush about some uber-raer funk 45.
it's not lazy journalism, it's realistic journalism. these people have jobs to do.
Oh, corporate America...constantly rising to the level of its incompetence.
i do agree with whoever said that houston isn't really "the big thing" right now, but it is getting a ton of media attention, so we'll see where it goes from there.
It's just now getting the media attention that it deserved at least 2 years ago. Major labels are flocking...Salih Williams (actually from Austin) just penned his own deal with Universal. Other littler-known artists such as the Gritboys are just starting to come around. Surely I can't say if the trendy New York types are still gonna be interested next week...but last time I checked capturing the rap market is what rap music is all about, with the pop market merely serving as gravy. Unfortunately some of y'all sem to be putting the pop market ahead of the rap market that is currently eating up Houston rap in bundles.
and not to bring up an old debate, but doesn't this support my side of the argument pretty much perfectly:
Your argument was that everything they've ever released was of sub=par quality...yet despite so many cd-r releases that's STILL not the case.
if Faux_Rillz[/b] didn't exist, somebody would've had to create him: a southern white dude who (unlike those that have come before him) can really serve poptarts[/b].
if Faux_Rillz[/b] didn't exist, somebody would've had to create him: a southern white dude who (unlike those that have come before him) can really serve poptarts[/b].
That is an interesting thought; if I had never found my way to SoulStrut, would somebody's creation of a comic faux_rillzesque alias have been an inevitability?
if Faux_Rillz[/b] didn't exist, somebody would've had to create him: a southern white dude who (unlike those that have come before him) can really serve poptarts[/b].
That is an interesting thought; if I had never found my way to SoulStrut, would somebody's creation of a comic faux_rillzesque alias have been an inevitability?
It never ceases to amaze me that on a board so concerned with unearthing rare, private pressers when it comes to funk and jazz that so many are so simultaneously reliant on platinum sales figures to legitimize in their minds current rap acts.
Dude, this discussion is about ALL ABOUT SALES. It's not about whether or not the music is any good or whether or not it's fucking legimit or not. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT WHAT'S NEXT TO BLOW (i.e. SELL RECORDS).
It never ceases to amaze me that on a board so concerned with unearthing rare, private pressers when it comes to funk and jazz that so many are so simultaneously reliant on platinum sales figures to legitimize in their minds current rap acts.
Dude, this discussion is about ALL ABOUT SALES. It's not about whether or not the music is any good or whether or not it's fucking legimit or not. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT WHAT'S NEXT TO BLOW (i.e. SELL RECORDS).
-e
Numbnuts, the streets still make things blow...the inflated sales are only indicative of wannabe followers.
It never ceases to amaze me that on a board so concerned with unearthing rare, private pressers when it comes to funk and jazz that so many are so simultaneously reliant on platinum sales figures to legitimize in their minds current rap acts.
Dude, this discussion is about ALL ABOUT SALES. It's not about whether or not the music is any good or whether or not it's fucking legimit or not. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT WHAT'S NEXT TO BLOW (i.e. SELL RECORDS).
-e
Numbnuts, the streets still make things blow...the inflated sales are only indicative of wannabe followers.
Yeah, e, sales to wannabe followers = not actual sales!
It never ceases to amaze me that on a board so concerned with unearthing rare, private pressers when it comes to funk and jazz that so many are so simultaneously reliant on platinum sales figures to legitimize in their minds current rap acts.
Dude, this discussion is about ALL ABOUT SALES. It's not about whether or not the music is any good or whether or not it's fucking legimit or not. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT WHAT'S NEXT TO BLOW (i.e. SELL RECORDS).
-e
Numbnuts, the streets still make things blow...the inflated sales are only indicative of wannabe followers.
Yeah, e, sales to wannabe followers = not actual sales!
Again why do y'all seem more concerned with sales figures in rap than quality music that is more relevant to the rap community itself than the darned pop dimwits?
if Faux_Rillz[/b] didn't exist, somebody would've had to create him: a southern white dude who (unlike those that have come before him) can really serve poptarts[/b].
That is an interesting thought; if I had never found my way to SoulStrut, would somebody's creation of a comic faux_rillzesque alias have been an inevitability?
The cosmic implications of this question weigh too heavily on my fragile mind.
Again why do y'all seem more concerned with sales figures in rap than quality music that is more relevant to the rap community itself than the darned pop dimwits?
Why do you assume we are more concerned with sales figures than quality music? We were just addressing the question that was posed in this thread which was about sales figures.
It never ceases to amaze me that on a board so concerned with unearthing rare, private pressers when it comes to funk and jazz that so many are so simultaneously reliant on platinum sales figures to legitimize in their minds current rap acts.
Dude, this discussion is about ALL ABOUT SALES. It's not about whether or not the music is any good or whether or not it's fucking legimit or not. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT WHAT'S NEXT TO BLOW (i.e. SELL RECORDS).
-e
Numbnuts, the streets still make things blow...the inflated sales are only indicative of wannabe followers.
Yeah, e, sales to wannabe followers = not actual sales!
Again why do y'all seem more concerned with sales figures in rap than quality music that is more relevant to the rap community itself than the darned pop dimwits?
Comments
Sorry, none of them are on MC Pooh level. Fuckin With Dank just can't be beaten.
I will give E-40 credit for bringing his affinity for food to the rhyme game, although, somehow the thought of him marinating in italian dressing for a day or two and then be roasted on a charcoal grill seems really appetizing. All we have is Bone, and really, they never talked about marinating anything and even if you could marinate them, I don't think they'd taste very good.
Ghostface STAYS hungry.
yeah, I wouldn't eat that fruitcake either. Look at him. He's probably eaten a few toddlers himself.
for one, a regional scene is never going to be wholly uprooted and dropped into a mainstream market. certain artists have the appeal (or drive or connections or a whole host of other factors) to succeed on a national level. others just can't do it. and that's why you're not going to see k-rino on mtv, as much as he may deserve it (correct me if i'm wrong, i've only caught a few of those houston specials, maybe they did spc day? i doubt it).
and it's not fair to put the blame on jazzbo or sway or anybody. when you get on a level as big as mtv you cannot do anything but a broad picture. you write, you must realize that you need to write to your audience and write to certain space limitations. if they did a feature on every moderately significant rapper to ever come out of h-town it would be six hours long and completely overwhelming and dull to an outsider. the differences between lil keke and fat pat are intuitive to you or i, but nobody has that capacity initially. instead mtv looks at a broad scale - a couple legends, a couple artists who are about to blow, all of whom are distinct and charismatic. i don't think there's anything wrong with that approach. it's not like they act like this phenomenon came out of nowhere, they loosely frame it in a historical context by covering ugk, etc. there's always a need for a canon. without that there would be no frame of reference to write or read about music. it's a shame that some great artists get left by the wayside in this process, but it's a sacrifice that needs to be made.
as for the bay - man, i don't know if they're properly equipped to blow. there are some great artists, but like what has been mentioned there's not quite as obvious a unifying sound and there's no real figurehead artists like a mike jones or ugk to lead the way. 40? the fact that he hasn't blown yet makes me believe that he never will. It's not like the opportunity hasn't been there. And younger new bay dudes like turf, federation are dope but I don't think will immediately grab the attention of mainstream attention. but the bay created and sustains perhaps the most successful model for a regional rap scene and should be comfortable with their current status.
as for the blowed thing. would you really be happy if nga fish ended up #1 on trl tomorrow? or would you be on some "but why aren't they recognizing tray loc, those carpetbaggers weren't even at the blowed"? you can't have it both ways.
ps:
Can't say that I'm ever gonna concede to the idea that the media outlets with the biggest budgets and biggest platforms should be expected to reduce everything to a cursory summary. Again I think of it as lazy journalism instead. And that goes out to the Source, XXL, New York Times, and whoever else wants to predict the future by reading the treadmarks in 50 Cents drawers but when it comes to anything else in the rap universe they only mention names in passing paired with poking not-so-slightly-veiled fun at the "strangeness" of attached local scene.
Anyway, here's a recent interview with Ellay Khule (translated from French) that actually speaks directly to some of y'all's previous questions:
http://www.asitarecordings.com/press/rifleman-wci-interview.htm
I'd agree with much of this. I'm not sure I'm convinced that the Bay isn't "properly eqiupped". What makes a scene blow up (and note, I try to break similiar shit down in the Fat Joe thread) is a lot of different factors, none of it's a particular science, much of it is luck. Even right now, who's to say all the Houston hype won't blow over in about three months?
The only really successfuly regional "scene" if you can either call it that is just the South, writ large, but that, of course, is just a series of overlapping scenes all throw together into the all-purpose (but actually rather non-descript) category.
People say NY is dead but really, is NY ever that dead? I just think it has some slow periods, but the thing is, for NY to get revived can happen in a heartbeat whereas it seems to take most other regional scenes years before anyone notices.
I'd agree with Noz though that there's no one really iconic driving the scene but I think that's actually a good thing. It's been cool to see so much hype about the Bay based on an IDEA rather than a single artist. It's amazing how a single term, like "hyphy" can become this catchphrase that becomes representative of a larger scene. I also think it's dangerous - look at "crunk."
A cinematic masterpiece
Josh & Ross mix CD is off the chain. Whassup with a volume II fellas?
There are a number of Bay Area artists working on national deals. E-40, Done Deal Fam, Keak, and Turf are all being talked to. There is a huge amount of industry buzz around this right now, but those of us who'd rather grandstand are probably too busy talking to hear it.
I think the 2 biggest problems with the Bay scene are 1. isolating ourselves, thinking all-bay instead of national; you'd be surprised how hard I've had to lobby just to press up a Bay record for NYC DJs (you'd think dudes would jump at the chance), and 2. lack of savvy when dealing with labels. We know how to slang records hand to hand or out of the trunk but groups sign their future away all the time with some boo-boo operation. I think The Team (sadly) signed to some bullshit label, effectively killing their chances to go national.
Maybe I don't watch enough 106 and Park.
But, mostly, I think a lot of these little regional things in the mainstream are just momentary trends that don't have much mainstream staying power... which isn't commentary on how good the music is, of course. I'll be absolutely shocked if Mike Jones isn't a footnote in mainstream hip-hop in a year or so.
-e
they have an audience they need to relate to, you are not that audience. things like chopping and screwing or gas breaking and dipping is not easily digestable to white middle america. to an outsider, it is strange, initially. is sway truly ignorant of sideshow culture? maybe, maybe not. either way he needs to act that way to create a rapport with the viewer who will no clue what's going on. again, i didn't see the piece in question (i tried checking mtv.com but all i could find was marques houston), so i don't know how extreme sway's repsonse was, but i've seen him act similarly in other segments (like when they did the bay area / "hyphy" news bit a few months back)
on the whole i understand what you're trying to say, but you really need to accept the fact that with the power of mass media also comes limitations. and i'm sure a jazzbo or a kelefah sanneh (sp?) would love it if their respective employers would give them three years to research a thirty thousand word/six hour piece on houston rap, but that's just not the way these things work. so instead they do a "cursory summary", a little shine is better than none, no?
it's not lazy journalism, it's realistic journalism. these people have jobs to do. they all can't just
(never that! blogs are some carpetbagging hipster shit!)
i do agree with whoever said that houston isn't really "the big thing" right now, but it is getting a ton of media attention, so we'll see where it goes from there.
and not to bring up an old debate, but doesn't this support my side of the argument pretty much perfectly:
i think that the quality of some trax is the problem,,the clarityissue,,we were more concerned about..mastering the art of emceein gr just making a track,,not mixing & mastering it,,so the quality gets lost sometimes in the process
?
It never ceases to amaze me that on a board so concerned with unearthing rare, private pressers when it comes to funk and jazz that so many are so simultaneously reliant on platinum sales figures to legitimize in their minds current rap acts.
Anyway Houston has been on hit...from Scarface to Devin to Fat Pat to ESG to Big Moe and so on. And to merely call Houston a regional scene...partly true, but didn't Flip used to say that he could sell over 250,000 units in Houston alone?
For your purposes though, let's just say that Mike Jones is merely a mini-snack to get us over until the all-you-can-eat buffet of Chamillionaire's album comes out.
I think Paul Wall's album is gonna be huge... if Paul Wall didn't exist, somebody would've had to create him: a southern white dude who (unlike those that have come before him) can really rap. He's the perfect confluence of marketing factors.
In all fairness A, we're talking about two completely different value systems here. That seeming contradiction you're pointing out isn't a contradiction at all: a collector's mentality often times conflates rarity with quality whereas when we're talking about contemporary pop music, then populism is often the standard by which things are judged.
Unless we're talking about Quasimoto.
But I think what we're seeing with Houston is the classic cycle of:
No national hype but subcultural buzz -->
National hype -->
Subcultural backlash against national hype.
The minute Houston LANDS on MTV, haters are just waiting to say, "yo, FUCK Houston. They ain't shit," even though, a moment before, they were the same ones saying, "Houston is the shit. How come none of these dumb motherfuckers know?"
You can't win.
Southern white dude with BIG OL FRONTS. Can't forget that, it's
I think Archaic may also be equating two different groups of people on this board; most of the guys that make the populism argument on here when it comes to contemporary rap would also be as quick to big up Marvin Gaye or EWF as they would to gush about some uber-raer funk 45.
Oh, corporate America...constantly rising to the level of its incompetence.
It's just now getting the media attention that it deserved at least 2 years ago. Major labels are flocking...Salih Williams (actually from Austin) just penned his own deal with Universal. Other littler-known artists such as the Gritboys are just starting to come around. Surely I can't say if the trendy New York types are still gonna be interested next week...but last time I checked capturing the rap market is what rap music is all about, with the pop market merely serving as gravy. Unfortunately some of y'all sem to be putting the pop market ahead of the rap market that is currently eating up Houston rap in bundles.
Your argument was that everything they've ever released was of sub=par quality...yet despite so many cd-r releases that's STILL not the case.
That is an interesting thought; if I had never found my way to SoulStrut, would somebody's creation of a comic faux_rillzesque alias have been an inevitability?
Dude, this discussion is about ALL ABOUT SALES. It's not about whether or not the music is any good or whether or not it's fucking legimit or not. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT WHAT'S NEXT TO BLOW (i.e. SELL RECORDS).
-e
Numbnuts, the streets still make things blow...the inflated sales are only indicative of wannabe followers.
Yeah, e, sales to wannabe followers = not actual sales!
Again why do y'all seem more concerned with sales figures in rap than quality music that is more relevant to the rap community itself than the darned pop dimwits?
The cosmic implications of this question weigh too heavily on my fragile mind.
"In every generation, a faux rillz is born..."
Why do you assume we are more concerned with sales figures than quality music? We were just addressing the question that was posed in this thread which was about sales figures.
Sheesh.
-e
Because we are wannabe followers?
(nod to missbassie)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA