What kind of basic rules do you think any future books would/should have to ascribe to?
Rule number one: do not involve Peter Shapiro in the process in any way
Spill. What's your issue? I thought Peter did a really impressive job with the 2nd edition of the Rough Guide to Hip-Hop and I've only heard good things about his recent book on disco.
My issue?
He obviously hates rap.
I think he approaches it with a completely inappropriate set of values. He sneers at any rap artist with aspirations of actually being heard. If his Rough Guide book was your only exposure to rap, you would have a very clear impression that Madlib was a more important artist than Jay-Z.
His disco book is one long wankfest. It purports to be a history, but it's really just a bunch of his unsupported musings. Vastly inferior to Love Saves the Day.
+E-40 (another case of an important artist but not necessarily an album-maker)
I>Federal/I>,I>In A Major Way/I> and I>Grit & Grind/I> all beg to differ. The Click's I>Down & Dirty/I> would be a pretty good choice as well.
At least as much of an influence as I>To Whom It May Concern/I> (which, as much as i love it, wasn't exactly a great album in itself). Although I probably don't have to tell you that, you're the one in the bay
Seriously.
Freestyle Fellowship over E-40?
WORD! Everyone I knew into rap music in the early 90s in our area was playin' all of E-40s records non stop. You could hear 40 blastin' out of cars all over the Seattle area. Some of us heard Freestyle Fellowship and said "This is real wack" and kept playin' 40s records. 40 is a West Coast icon and holds a unique style that never disappointed. I can't even name all the members of Freestyle Fellowship.
Yo, let me ask y'all southern rap dudes a question (and no, I'm not being sarcastic like some of my recent posts): as far as sales go, hasn't southern rap been more dominant overall than NYC-centric rap for a lot longer than just since 1998? Seems like I remember people talking about these down south dudes who I never heard of who were selling hundreds of thousands of records on the indy tip regionally way back when Brand Nubian and Kool G Rap were dropping hip hop classics and couldn't even go gold on major labels. What I'm wondering is has it really just been a thing all these years that the media was focusing on east coast artists when in reality most of the country (which is, indeed, country) wanted that down south schitt all along? I have a lot of theories on this, but I really don't have any numbers to back anything up and I know very little about the history of southern rap. Any educated insight is appreciated.
Well, aside from bass music, there really wasn't a distinct southern rap aesthetic until the early nineties. Except for Willie D, the Geto Boys didn't sound that southern to me. But bass music was definitely killing it saleswise--Magic Mike had a string of gold and platinum records--and nobody was writing about it.
Got a question concernin' Luda - the independent album he released prior to signin' to Def Jam South: how big was it in the ATL (i.e. did it blow up)? I left the city in '96 and picked up a copy on a return visit a few years later...
Well, aside from bass music, there really wasn't a distinct southern rap aesthetic until the early nineties. Except for Willie D, the Geto Boys didn't sound that southern to me. But bass music was definitely killing it saleswise--Magic Mike had a string of gold and platinum records--and nobody was writing about it.
Not a gold or platinum record at the time, but we played the hell out of it....
Got a question concernin' Luda - the independent album he released prior to signin' to Def Jam South: was it popular in the ATL? I left the city in '96 and picked up a copy on a return visit a few years later...
Pretty popular--I've heard all different numbers ranging from 20K to 60K for how many units he moved, but whatever the figure was it was large enough to attract the interest of Def Jam. They were playing "What's Your Fantasy" on the radio--and not just on the station where Ludacris worked--before the Def Jam deal.
That all happened pretty quickly, though--I think the original release and the Def Jam re-release were only about six months apart.
Got a question concernin' Luda - the independent album he released prior to signin' to Def Jam South: was it popular in the ATL? I left the city in '96 and picked up a copy on a return visit a few years later...
Pretty popular--I've heard all different numbers ranging from 20K to 60K for how many units he moved, but whatever the figure was it was large enough to attract the interest of Def Jam. They were playing "What's Your Fantasy" on the radio--and not just on the station where Ludacris worked--before the Def Jam deal.
That all happened pretty quickly, though--I think the original release and the Def Jam re-release were only about six months apart.
Also, I gotta admit that I initially slept--I knew him as a radio personality and thought the whole rapping thing was just gonna be a little vanity project for him.
Also, I gotta admit that I initially slept--I knew him as a radio personality and thought the whole rapping thing was just gonna be a little vanity project for him.
FR -
Thanks for the breakdown - Luda to me has a distinctive enough voice and delivers his punchlines effectively/emphatically...
UGK can Ri-I-I-I-I-ide on that. The biggest song they'll ever be on. So if the South has been running things for however long, why's that the case. Bun Bs verse was sick, no question, but don't let it blind you to who's really president.
The pendulum has swung fully in the other direction. Why do you think most of the suprise Hov verses these days are for dudes like Jeezy, Mike Jones and Aztec???
I think a whole lot of folks nationwide are eagerly anticipating some new UGK at this point
Hov has always been open to north south east west ghetto conscious rock soul r&b. Cause jigga wants to be on every radio station in every market, and he's done that.
I totally admit the South is big. Sure Cash Money/No Limit were selling millions in the late 90s/early 00s (I'm not even talking Rap-a-lot), but now it's across the board. The south before seemed like an island with the occasional glass bottle finding it's way to the national scene. Coming from a very new york-centric position, I used to listen to the radio ALL the time, go to clubs some of the time, and the south was a blip. Things changed. But this shit about who runs shit is so false now. No coast or state or city runs things anymore. Who's selling? 50, Eminem, Kanye, Lil Jon, Game, Luda, TI. That's the whole country right there. So to come with an argument like any UGK album could hold a candle to the fucking heart of hip hop, to the rage of hip hop, to PE's It takes a nation... just makes me mad.
UGK can Ri-I-I-I-I-ide on that. The biggest song they'll ever be on. So if the South has been running things for however long, why's that the case. Bun Bs verse was sick, no question, but don't let it blind you to who's really president.
The pendulum has swung fully in the other direction. Why do you think most of the suprise Hov verses these days are for dudes like Jeezy, Mike Jones and Aztec???
I think a whole lot of folks nationwide are eagerly anticipating some new UGK at this point
Hov has always been open to north south east west ghetto conscious rock soul r&b. Cause jigga wants to be on every radio station in every market, and he's done that.
I totally admit the South is big. Sure Cash Money/No Limit were selling millions in the late 90s/early 00s (I'm not even talking Rap-a-lot), but now it's across the board. The south before seemed like an island with the occasional glass bottle finding it's way to the national scene. Coming from a very new york-centric position, I used to listen to the radio ALL the time, go to clubs some of the time, and the south was a blip. Things changed. But this shit about who runs shit is so false now. No coast or state or city runs things anymore. Who's selling? 50, Eminem, Kanye, Lil Jon, Game, Luda, TI. That's the whole country right there. So to come with an argument like any UGK album could hold a candle to the fucking heart of hip hop, to the rage of hip hop, to PE's It takes a nation... just makes me mad.
So to come with an argument like any UGK album could hold a candle to the fucking heart of hip hop, to the rage of hip hop, to PE's It takes a nation... just makes me mad.
I'm not sure anyone was making that argument... I was just saying I'm not sure that "Pimpin" will end up being the biggest thing UGK ever does...
Some of you guys are acting like it Olivers job to write some religious historical doctrine or something. Which means you are taking this wayyyy to seriously. And Oliver's got it made in a sense, how many of us could sit around and make a list of greatest hip hop albums, and ACTUALLY GET THAT SHIT PUBLISHED?!?!?! Not me, I know that.
I like books like this because (and Oliver, prepare to be very unflattered by this) they are small and broken into small sections, so these are the perfect books to look at when you are taking a shit. So its like, you can squeeze a few out and read about the wu tang at the same time. Just like, flip to any page and start reading. I love that kind of format. But at the same time, there is enough information in there in case you're on the shitter for a long haul.
Plus its neat to know the guy who wrote it, you know? Maybe not personally, but still, its pretty cool.
So basically, O-dub is making real world moves doing shit a lot of us WISH we could do.
And this isn't directed at Faux. If anything I think he has been very objective in his criticisms (if you could even call it that). Still, I think Faux should write a book. I'd love to read why Mase was the greatest ever while taking a shit. I could be all like "PLOP... that was for you Mase..."
I like books like this because (and Oliver, prepare to be very unflattered by this) they are small and broken into small sections, so these are the perfect books to look at when you are taking a shit.
I'm not unflattered by that. I mean, I don't know who'd really sit down and read the whole book end to end. Even when I had to edit the whole thing, I never did an end-to-end read. It's not that kind of book.
So to come with an argument like any UGK album could hold a candle to the fucking heart of hip hop, to the rage of hip hop, to PE's It takes a nation... just makes me mad.
I'm not sure anyone was making that argument... I was just saying I'm not sure that "Pimpin" will end up being the biggest thing UGK ever does...
Faux said it about Ridin Dirty. My anger was only directed at him.
So to come with an argument like any UGK album could hold a candle to the fucking heart of hip hop, to the rage of hip hop, to PE's It takes a nation... just makes me mad.
I'm not sure anyone was making that argument... I was just saying I'm not sure that "Pimpin" will end up being the biggest thing UGK ever does...
Faux said it about Ridin Dirty. My anger was only directed at him.
You mad?
But seriously, that album is almost twenty years old--it's a great album, but you can't expect people that are a decade or more younger than you and me to feel the same way we do about it. That's all I'm saying.
There are people for whom Riding Dirty was their personal It Takes a Nation.... You may find that distasteful, but it's a fact.
What kind of basic rules do you think any future books would/should have to ascribe to?
Rule number one: do not involve Peter Shapiro in the process in any way
Spill. What's your issue? I thought Peter did a really impressive job with the 2nd edition of the Rough Guide to Hip-Hop and I've only heard good things about his recent book on disco.
My issue?
He obviously hates rap.
I think he approaches it with a completely inappropriate set of values. He sneers at any rap artist with aspirations of actually being heard. If his Rough Guide book was your only exposure to rap, you would have a very clear impression that Madlib was a more important artist than Jay-Z.
His disco book is one long wankfest. It purports to be a history, but it's really just a bunch of his unsupported musings. Vastly inferior to Love Saves the Day.
dub i'm a little shocked you cosign on that rough guide. i know he's your boy and all but it was downright embarassing read. i mean, i like labtekwon but i hardly think he deserves a mention in a rough guide to anything and the hip hop slang section makes you seem like the king of the streets.
if nothing else the book made me reconsider and refine my approach to my own website.
So to come with an argument like any UGK album could hold a candle to the fucking heart of hip hop, to the rage of hip hop, to PE's It takes a nation... just makes me mad.
I'm not sure anyone was making that argument... I was just saying I'm not sure that "Pimpin" will end up being the biggest thing UGK ever does...
Faux said it about Ridin Dirty. My anger was only directed at him.
Yo, let me ask y'all southern rap dudes a question (and no, I'm not being sarcastic like some of my recent posts): as far as sales go, hasn't southern rap been more dominant overall than NYC-centric rap for a lot longer than just since 1998? Seems like I remember people talking about these down south dudes who I never heard of who were selling hundreds of thousands of records on the indy tip regionally way back when Brand Nubian and Kool G Rap were dropping hip hop classics and couldn't even go gold on major labels. What I'm wondering is has it really just been a thing all these years that the media was focusing on east coast artists when in reality most of the country (which is, indeed, country) wanted that down south schitt all along? I have a lot of theories on this, but I really don't have any numbers to back anything up and I know very little about the history of southern rap. Any educated insight is appreciated.
I've lived in the south all my life and never really had an internet education on rap until now, so after Yo MTV Raps I missed everything that came from the rest of the country unless it was on the radio. I think my ignorance might actually further the supporters of the South in this case.
I've still never heard Company Flow, Cannibal Ox, Dr Octagon, Solesides, or most of that stuff (complete albums that is). UGK, 3-6, eightball & MJG, anything screwed, Goodie Mob, etc. was my idea of underground for a long time. The people I thought knew a lot about rap and who I was picking stuff up from listened to the new stuff by them.
When I used to DJ, I'd do shows that were almost exclusively bounce acts, and it seemed that the performers and people at the shows had a similar rap education to me. Most "old school" tracks went over well cause the people were familiar, but nobody was really dancing unless I was playing their flavor. Let's face it, most people don't scour the ends of the earth looking for music so they roll with what's available. It's like what you said, most of the country is country, and everything about artists like Underground Kingz speaks to them.
In terms of listing them in the greatest hip hop albums, first off it's a little early to be doing that because we really don't know the full impact yet of the southern maistream fad/trend/influence. I will say that most of these acts aren't consciously trying to make breakthrough albums that break new ground or tear down genres. Instead they make music their fans want to hear and everybody's comfortable with that. I can't remember which album but UGK says something like "This ain't hip hop, these're country rap tunes." That's all it is. It's local color, folk music. It's dope because the people making it are particular to where they're from.
Yo, let me ask y'all southern rap dudes a question (and no, I'm not being sarcastic like some of my recent posts): as far as sales go, hasn't southern rap been more dominant overall than NYC-centric rap for a lot longer than just since 1998? Seems like I remember people talking about these down south dudes who I never heard of who were selling hundreds of thousands of records on the indy tip regionally way back when Brand Nubian and Kool G Rap were dropping hip hop classics and couldn't even go gold on major labels. What I'm wondering is has it really just been a thing all these years that the media was focusing on east coast artists when in reality most of the country (which is, indeed, country) wanted that down south schitt all along? I have a lot of theories on this, but I really don't have any numbers to back anything up and I know very little about the history of southern rap. Any educated insight is appreciated.
I've lived in the south all my life and never really had an internet education on rap until now, so after Yo MTV Raps I missed everything that came from the rest of the country unless it was on the radio. I think my ignorance might actually further the supporters of the South in this case.
I've still never heard Company Flow, Cannibal Ox, Dr Octagon, Solesides, or most of that stuff (complete albums that is). UGK, 3-6, eightball & MJG, anything screwed, Goodie Mob, etc. was my idea of underground for a long time. The people I thought knew a lot about rap and who I was picking stuff up from listened to the new stuff by them.
When I used to DJ, I'd do shows that were almost exclusively bounce acts, and it seemed that the performers and people at the shows had a similar rap education to me. Most "old school" tracks went over well cause the people were familiar, but nobody was really dancing unless I was playing their flavor. Let's face it, most people don't scour the ends of the earth looking for music so they roll with what's available. It's like what you said, most of the country is country, and everything about artists like Underground Kingz speaks to them.
In terms of listing them in the greatest hip hop albums, first off it's a little early to be doing that because we really don't know the full impact yet of the southern maistream fad/trend/influence. I will say that most of these acts aren't consciously trying to make breakthrough albums that break new ground or tear down genres. Instead they make music their fans want to hear and everybody's comfortable with that. I can't remember which album but UGK says something like "This ain't hip hop, these're country rap tunes." That's all it is. It's local color, folk music. It's dope because the people making it are particular to where they're from.
Thanks for contributing--what part of the South are you from? New Orleans?
Yo, let me ask y'all southern rap dudes a question (and no, I'm not being sarcastic like some of my recent posts): as far as sales go, hasn't southern rap been more dominant overall than NYC-centric rap for a lot longer than just since 1998? Seems like I remember people talking about these down south dudes who I never heard of who were selling hundreds of thousands of records on the indy tip regionally way back when Brand Nubian and Kool G Rap were dropping hip hop classics and couldn't even go gold on major labels. What I'm wondering is has it really just been a thing all these years that the media was focusing on east coast artists when in reality most of the country (which is, indeed, country) wanted that down south schitt all along? I have a lot of theories on this, but I really don't have any numbers to back anything up and I know very little about the history of southern rap. Any educated insight is appreciated.
I've lived in the south all my life and never really had an internet education on rap until now, so after Yo MTV Raps I missed everything that came from the rest of the country unless it was on the radio. I think my ignorance might actually further the supporters of the South in this case.
I've still never heard Company Flow, Cannibal Ox, Dr Octagon, Solesides, or most of that stuff (complete albums that is). UGK, 3-6, eightball & MJG, anything screwed, Goodie Mob, etc. was my idea of underground for a long time. The people I thought knew a lot about rap and who I was picking stuff up from listened to the new stuff by them.
When I used to DJ, I'd do shows that were almost exclusively bounce acts, and it seemed that the performers and people at the shows had a similar rap education to me. Most "old school" tracks went over well cause the people were familiar, but nobody was really dancing unless I was playing their flavor. Let's face it, most people don't scour the ends of the earth looking for music so they roll with what's available. It's like what you said, most of the country is country, and everything about artists like Underground Kingz speaks to them.
In terms of listing them in the greatest hip hop albums, first off it's a little early to be doing that because we really don't know the full impact yet of the southern maistream fad/trend/influence. I will say that most of these acts aren't consciously trying to make breakthrough albums that break new ground or tear down genres. Instead they make music their fans want to hear and everybody's comfortable with that. I can't remember which album but UGK says something like "This ain't hip hop, these're country rap tunes." That's all it is. It's local color, folk music. It's dope because the people making it are particular to where they're from.
Thanks for contributing--what part of the South are you from? New Orleans?
Yo, let me ask y'all southern rap dudes a question (and no, I'm not being sarcastic like some of my recent posts): as far as sales go, hasn't southern rap been more dominant overall than NYC-centric rap for a lot longer than just since 1998? Seems like I remember people talking about these down south dudes who I never heard of who were selling hundreds of thousands of records on the indy tip regionally way back when Brand Nubian and Kool G Rap were dropping hip hop classics and couldn't even go gold on major labels. What I'm wondering is has it really just been a thing all these years that the media was focusing on east coast artists when in reality most of the country (which is, indeed, country) wanted that down south schitt all along? I have a lot of theories on this, but I really don't have any numbers to back anything up and I know very little about the history of southern rap. Any educated insight is appreciated.
I've lived in the south all my life and never really had an internet education on rap until now, so after Yo MTV Raps I missed everything that came from the rest of the country unless it was on the radio. I think my ignorance might actually further the supporters of the South in this case.
I've still never heard Company Flow, Cannibal Ox, Dr Octagon, Solesides, or most of that stuff (complete albums that is). UGK, 3-6, eightball & MJG, anything screwed, Goodie Mob, etc. was my idea of underground for a long time. The people I thought knew a lot about rap and who I was picking stuff up from listened to the new stuff by them.
When I used to DJ, I'd do shows that were almost exclusively bounce acts, and it seemed that the performers and people at the shows had a similar rap education to me. Most "old school" tracks went over well cause the people were familiar, but nobody was really dancing unless I was playing their flavor. Let's face it, most people don't scour the ends of the earth looking for music so they roll with what's available. It's like what you said, most of the country is country, and everything about artists like Underground Kingz speaks to them.
In terms of listing them in the greatest hip hop albums, first off it's a little early to be doing that because we really don't know the full impact yet of the southern maistream fad/trend/influence. I will say that most of these acts aren't consciously trying to make breakthrough albums that break new ground or tear down genres. Instead they make music their fans want to hear and everybody's comfortable with that. I can't remember which album but UGK says something like "This ain't hip hop, these're country rap tunes." That's all it is. It's local color, folk music. It's dope because the people making it are particular to where they're from.
Thanks for contributing--what part of the South are you from? New Orleans?
Durham, NC
That's cool. I've always liked that Pimp C line, too, but it seemed to me that there was a little bit of anger there, like he was tired of getting hated on by NYcentrists and was just laying it out: we don't do what you do and we don't want to.
Not really. I did some shows where they were on the same bill 3 or 4 years ago. I only ever talked to 9th Wonder and he's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.
It's interesting you bring them up, because after they started to make a dent the scene around here really changed. The shows I mentioned earlier started to move more in that direction. There was a small window when it was nice to see all sorts of groups on the same stage but it's pretty much divided into two scenes now.
[quote That's cool. I've always liked that Pimp C line, too, but it seemed to me that there was a little bit of anger there, like he was tired of getting hated on by NYcentrists and was just laying it out: we don't do what you do and we don't want to. Exactly. Regardless of his intent, it's damn good example of the feelings down here. I can't really explain it but the sound of southern rap is just dope to me. It's heavy, rhythmic, insight disguised as ignorance. I even like some of the stuff considered extremely corny elsewhere. Dirty for example. Stupid as it sounds, the Hit da Floe 12in was one of my grails for a while. It was limited released and it if you didn't get it when it first came out you just didn't see it. I was so amped when I finally saw it in a dollar bin.
[quote That's cool. I've always liked that Pimp C line, too, but it seemed to me that there was a little bit of anger there, like he was tired of getting hated on by NYcentrists and was just laying it out: we don't do what you do and we don't want to.
Exactly. Regardless of his intent, it's damn good example of the feelings down here. I can't really explain it but the sound of southern rap is just dope to me. It's heavy, rhythmic, insight disguised as ignorance. I even like some of the stuff considered extremely corny elsewhere. Dirty for example. Stupid as it sounds, the Hit da Floe 12in was one of my grails for a while. It was limited released and it if you didn't get it when it first came out you just didn't see it. I was so amped when I finally saw it in a dollar bin. Hit The Floe is a hot track.
Not really. I did some shows where they were on the same bill 3 or 4 years ago. I only ever talked to 9th Wonder and he's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.
It's interesting you bring them up, because after they started to make a dent the scene around here really changed. The shows I mentioned earlier started to move more in that direction. There was a small window when it was nice to see all sorts of groups on the same stage but it's pretty much divided into two scenes now.
I never went to too many shows in Durham, just mostly whatever party Brian Dawson was putting on, or we would go to the Power Company or Tobacco Roadhouse when it was open.
I remember thinking when I first moved to North Carolina that the DJs were a little more open-minded than the DJs where I'm from in coastal Georgia...Namely, I remember thinking it was weird to hear reggae, go-go music, and New York hip-hop at the club ie, "Wow, people really dance to music like this outside of music videos?" In retrospect, I realized that clubs that play exclusively Miami bass and bounce and/or crunk music are the exception, even in the South.
Comments
My issue?
He obviously hates rap.
I think he approaches it with a completely inappropriate set of values. He sneers at any rap artist with aspirations of actually being heard. If his Rough Guide book was your only exposure to rap, you would have a very clear impression that Madlib was a more important artist than Jay-Z.
His disco book is one long wankfest. It purports to be a history, but it's really just a bunch of his unsupported musings. Vastly inferior to Love Saves the Day.
WORD! Everyone I knew into rap music in the early 90s in our area was playin' all of E-40s records non stop. You could hear 40 blastin' out of cars all over the Seattle area. Some of us heard Freestyle Fellowship and said "This is real wack" and kept playin' 40s records. 40 is a West Coast icon and holds a unique style that never disappointed. I can't even name all the members of Freestyle Fellowship.
Well, aside from bass music, there really wasn't a distinct southern rap aesthetic until the early nineties. Except for Willie D, the Geto Boys didn't sound that southern to me. But bass music was definitely killing it saleswise--Magic Mike had a string of gold and platinum records--and nobody was writing about it.
Got a question concernin' Luda - the independent album he released prior to signin' to Def Jam South: how big was it in the ATL (i.e. did it blow up)? I left the city in '96 and picked up a copy on a return visit a few years later...
Not a gold or platinum record at the time, but we played the hell out of it....
Pretty popular--I've heard all different numbers ranging from 20K to 60K for how many units he moved, but whatever the figure was it was large enough to attract the interest of Def Jam. They were playing "What's Your Fantasy" on the radio--and not just on the station where Ludacris worked--before the Def Jam deal.
That all happened pretty quickly, though--I think the original release and the Def Jam re-release were only about six months apart.
Also, I gotta admit that I initially slept--I knew him as a radio personality and thought the whole rapping thing was just gonna be a little vanity project for him.
FR -
Thanks for the breakdown - Luda to me has a distinctive enough voice and delivers his punchlines effectively/emphatically...
Hov has always been open to north south east west ghetto conscious rock soul r&b. Cause jigga wants to be on every radio station in every market, and he's done that.
I totally admit the South is big. Sure Cash Money/No Limit were selling millions in the late 90s/early 00s (I'm not even talking Rap-a-lot), but now it's across the board. The south before seemed like an island with the occasional glass bottle finding it's way to the national scene. Coming from a very new york-centric position, I used to listen to the radio ALL the time, go to clubs some of the time, and the south was a blip. Things changed. But this shit about who runs shit is so false now. No coast or state or city runs things anymore. Who's selling? 50, Eminem, Kanye, Lil Jon, Game, Luda, TI. That's the whole country right there. So to come with an argument like any UGK album could hold a candle to the fucking heart of hip hop, to the rage of hip hop, to PE's It takes a nation... just makes me mad.
soparochialrightnow
I'm not sure anyone was making that argument... I was just saying I'm not sure that "Pimpin" will end up being the biggest thing UGK ever does...
I like books like this because (and Oliver, prepare to be very unflattered by this) they are small and broken into small sections, so these are the perfect books to look at when you are taking a shit. So its like, you can squeeze a few out and read about the wu tang at the same time. Just like, flip to any page and start reading. I love that kind of format. But at the same time, there is enough information in there in case you're on the shitter for a long haul.
Plus its neat to know the guy who wrote it, you know? Maybe not personally, but still, its pretty cool.
So basically, O-dub is making real world moves doing shit a lot of us WISH we could do.
And this isn't directed at Faux. If anything I think he has been very objective in his criticisms (if you could even call it that). Still, I think Faux should write a book. I'd love to read why Mase was the greatest ever while taking a shit. I could be all like "PLOP... that was for you Mase..."
I'm not unflattered by that. I mean, I don't know who'd really sit down and read the whole book end to end. Even when I had to edit the whole thing, I never did an end-to-end read. It's not that kind of book.
Ouch...
I don't have those glasses anymore.
Faux said it about Ridin Dirty. My anger was only directed at him.
You mad?
But seriously, that album is almost twenty years old--it's a great album, but you can't expect people that are a decade or more younger than you and me to feel the same way we do about it. That's all I'm saying.
There are people for whom Riding Dirty was their personal It Takes a Nation.... You may find that distasteful, but it's a fact.
dub i'm a little shocked you cosign on that rough guide. i know he's your boy and all but it was downright embarassing read. i mean, i like labtekwon but i hardly think he deserves a mention in a rough guide to anything and the hip hop slang section makes you seem like the king of the streets.
if nothing else the book made me reconsider and refine my approach to my own website.
enraged
I've lived in the south all my life and never really had an internet education on rap until now, so after Yo MTV Raps I missed everything that came from the rest of the country unless it was on the radio. I think my ignorance might actually further the supporters of the South in this case.
I've still never heard Company Flow, Cannibal Ox, Dr Octagon, Solesides, or most of that stuff (complete albums that is). UGK, 3-6, eightball & MJG, anything screwed, Goodie Mob, etc. was my idea of underground for a long time. The people I thought knew a lot about rap and who I was picking stuff up from listened to the new stuff by them.
When I used to DJ, I'd do shows that were almost exclusively bounce acts, and it seemed that the performers and people at the shows had a similar rap education to me. Most "old school" tracks went over well cause the people were familiar, but nobody was really dancing unless I was playing their flavor. Let's face it, most people don't scour the ends of the earth looking for music so they roll with what's available. It's like what you said, most of the country is country, and everything about artists like Underground Kingz speaks to them.
In terms of listing them in the greatest hip hop albums, first off it's a little early to be doing that because we really don't know the full impact yet of the southern maistream fad/trend/influence. I will say that most of these acts aren't consciously trying to make breakthrough albums that break new ground or tear down genres. Instead they make music their fans want to hear and everybody's comfortable with that. I can't remember which album but UGK says something like "This ain't hip hop, these're country rap tunes." That's all it is. It's local color, folk music. It's dope because the people making it are particular to where they're from.
I'm feelin' that.
Thanks for contributing--what part of the South are you from? New Orleans?
Durham, NC
Cool!
Do you know these guys?
That's cool. I've always liked that Pimp C line, too, but it seemed to me that there was a little bit of anger there, like he was tired of getting hated on by NYcentrists and was just laying it out: we don't do what you do and we don't want to.
Not really. I did some shows where they were on the same bill 3 or 4 years ago. I only ever talked to 9th Wonder and he's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.
It's interesting you bring them up, because after they started to make a dent the scene around here really changed. The shows I mentioned earlier started to move more in that direction. There was a small window when it was nice to see all sorts of groups on the same stage but it's pretty much divided into two scenes now.
That's cool. I've always liked that Pimp C line, too, but it seemed to me that there was a little bit of anger there, like he was tired of getting hated on by NYcentrists and was just laying it out: we don't do what you do and we don't want to.
Exactly. Regardless of his intent, it's damn good example of the feelings down here. I can't really explain it but the sound of southern rap is just dope to me. It's heavy, rhythmic, insight disguised as ignorance. I even like some of the stuff considered extremely corny elsewhere. Dirty for example. Stupid as it sounds, the Hit da Floe 12in was one of my grails for a while. It was limited released and it if you didn't get it when it first came out you just didn't see it. I was so amped when I finally saw it in a dollar bin.
Exactly. Regardless of his intent, it's damn good example of the feelings down here. I can't really explain it but the sound of southern rap is just dope to me. It's heavy, rhythmic, insight disguised as ignorance. I even like some of the stuff considered extremely corny elsewhere. Dirty for example. Stupid as it sounds, the Hit da Floe 12in was one of my grails for a while. It was limited released and it if you didn't get it when it first came out you just didn't see it. I was so amped when I finally saw it in a dollar bin.
Hit The Floe is a hot track.
I never went to too many shows in Durham, just mostly whatever party Brian Dawson was putting on, or we would go to the Power Company or Tobacco Roadhouse when it was open.
I remember thinking when I first moved to North Carolina that the DJs were a little more open-minded than the DJs where I'm from in coastal Georgia...Namely, I remember thinking it was weird to hear reggae, go-go music, and New York hip-hop at the club ie, "Wow, people really dance to music like this outside of music videos?" In retrospect, I realized that clubs that play exclusively Miami bass and bounce and/or crunk music are the exception, even in the South.