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music_phantom13 · 07-20-2011, 09:42 PM

To throw in my two cents on the rap debate going on here, in a lot of cities you won't find the ****ty stuff unless you go looking for it. I, like Engine, grew up in a white surburban neighborhood near DC. But I also got into drugs and spent a lot of time in some of the worst areas in DC, Baltimore, and Richmond. I'm not sure how it is in the Bay Area, I've driven through a couple times since I've been there, but usually the worst areas tend to be ignored by most people, it seems everyone including cops in same places just avoid them and pretend like they're not there while the people living in them go through hell. Granted, it's not like walking outside you're going to find dead bodies on every street corner and armies of crazed crackheads running around while dozens of cars drive by firing automatics, but everyone that hasn't been there highly underestimates how much it actually sucks to live somewhere where every week someone you know dies or gets shot or beat to a bloody pulp or mugged or raped etc. Imagine you have no money, there's no employment, no way to get out of the ****hole you live in, dozens of people you know have been murdered or overdosed, and getting jumped walking a block to the store and back is entirely possible. You can't appreciate how bad what might seem to the rest of the world like a relatively small amount of violence until it's your life or you spend a lot of time in these areas and with these people. Still, I know tons of rappers are fake, just wanted to point something out to all the people talking **** about how it's not an urban apocalypse. It's not, but it's not really much better.

Anyway, for guitarbizarre, here's some really off the wall stuff that you might like.

Constructus Corporation may be a bit weird for you as I don't know your music taste, but as a huge fan of Deltron I enjoyed this album even more than his work. Ziggurat is a bizarre concept album from South Africa about a couple kids on a steampunk world in which Watkin develops and raps as multiple characters. Even came with a huge comic book story to go along with the album. Favorite song:

Black Sheep's "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" starts out with a track that is way over the top parody of the gangsta rap you're talking about, then he wakes up saying he had a dream and the album is jazzy, interesting lyrics, and fantastic beats.

Nine Leaves' "Peace in Death" tells stories through songs that all seem to focus on dealing with one's downfall and changes that you can't control, dealing with what life throws your way and learning to cope with what life really is. It's all over beautiful nostalgic beats that sound unlike what most other rappers I can think of are doing. For anyone else that's interested, I found this to be a better effort at Alias' Through the Looking Glass, instead of just being introspective it focuses on similar themes and a similar dark feel with more developed beats and actually stories through the lyrics.

The Streets' Original Pirate Material is UK hip-hop, highly recommended. This song is his more interesting take on the ghetto rap you were talking about, a bit of a dark parody on the topic and much different than any of those songs.

It wouldn't be right if I made a post like this and didn't mention Blue Scholars. They do a lot of political rap about fixing the problems in the ghetto. But Sagaba is quite possibly my favorite story telling rap song, just a simple very upbeat song about a guy talking to a girl he sees looking down with a super laid back mellow beat to back it up. The second is No Rest for the Weary, another fantastic song from them. He's really focusing on bringing hope instead of rapping about what he saw around them and embracing that culture.

Bike for Three is a band on anticon., which has been mentioned in here. Very different than most rap, the artists are often heavily influenced by electronic and indie stuff. This is another of my favorite story telling songs, it always reminds me of an old friend in a positive light.

If you can do stuff without lyrics, check out **** like Kid Koala... his turntable skills are otherworldly. He blends all sorts of different music into some unbelievable beats. The things he can do just completely blow my mind. Off my favorite, Some of My Best Friends Are DJs, is Skanky Panky.

In the instrumental world but not turntablism is Free the Robots, some glitchy hip hop, a fantastic album in its own. Here's the first song from their self titled EP, Listen to the Future.

Pete Rock & CL Smooth just make great funky, jazzy, and mellow beats with entertaining lyrics and a good easy to listen to flow. Here's Carmel City off The Main Ingredient.

Lastly, Atlas' Beauty and the Blues is probably worth checking out. Some faster paced sample based hip hop, his raps are fantastic, he can really ****ing rhyme. Memento Mori's not on youtube, but the way he chops and raps over the beat a bit of a ways into the song makes it one of my favorite hip hop songs, good melody, beat, flow, and lyrics.

Sorry for the long post, I'm tired of people complaining about **** like this without making any effort to track down any remotely good rap. I get it enough at work and here on base. Let me know if you like any of these and I'll give you some more stuff like it.

07-20-2011, 09:42 PM	#83 (permalink)
music_phantom13 Music Addict Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 942	To throw in my two cents on the rap debate going on here, in a lot of cities you won't find the **ty stuff unless you go looking for it. I, like Engine, grew up in a white surburban neighborhood near DC. But I also got into drugs and spent a lot of time in some of the worst areas in DC, Baltimore, and Richmond. I'm not sure how it is in the Bay Area, I've driven through a couple times since I've been there, but usually the worst areas tend to be ignored by most people, it seems everyone including cops in same places just avoid them and pretend like they're not there while the people living in them go through hell. Granted, it's not like walking outside you're going to find dead bodies on every street corner and armies of crazed crackheads running around while dozens of cars drive by firing automatics, but everyone that hasn't been there highly underestimates how much it actually sucks to live somewhere where every week someone you know dies or gets shot or beat to a bloody pulp or mugged or raped etc. Imagine you have no money, there's no employment, no way to get out of the hole you live in, dozens of people you know have been murdered or overdosed, and getting jumped walking a block to the store and back is entirely possible. You can't appreciate how bad what might seem to the rest of the world like a relatively small amount of violence until it's your life or you spend a lot of time in these areas and with these people. Still, I know tons of rappers are fake, just wanted to point something out to all the people talking about how it's not an urban apocalypse. It's not, but it's not really much better. Anyway, for guitarbizarre, here's some really off the wall stuff that you might like. Constructus Corporation may be a bit weird for you as I don't know your music taste, but as a huge fan of Deltron I enjoyed this album even more than his work. Ziggurat is a bizarre concept album from South Africa about a couple kids on a steampunk world in which Watkin develops and raps as multiple characters. Even came with a huge comic book story to go along with the album. Favorite song: Black Sheep's "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" starts out with a track that is way over the top parody of the gangsta rap you're talking about, then he wakes up saying he had a dream and the album is jazzy, interesting lyrics, and fantastic beats. Nine Leaves' "Peace in Death" tells stories through songs that all seem to focus on dealing with one's downfall and changes that you can't control, dealing with what life throws your way and learning to cope with what life really is. It's all over beautiful nostalgic beats that sound unlike what most other rappers I can think of are doing. For anyone else that's interested, I found this to be a better effort at Alias' Through the Looking Glass, instead of just being introspective it focuses on similar themes and a similar dark feel with more developed beats and actually stories through the lyrics. The Streets' Original Pirate Material is UK hip-hop, highly recommended. This song is his more interesting take on the ghetto rap you were talking about, a bit of a dark parody on the topic and much different than any of those songs. It wouldn't be right if I made a post like this and didn't mention Blue Scholars. They do a lot of political rap about fixing the problems in the ghetto. But Sagaba is quite possibly my favorite story telling rap song, just a simple very upbeat song about a guy talking to a girl he sees looking down with a super laid back mellow beat to back it up. The second is No Rest for the Weary, another fantastic song from them. He's really focusing on bringing hope instead of rapping about what he saw around them and embracing that culture. Bike for Three is a band on anticon., which has been mentioned in here. Very different than most rap, the artists are often heavily influenced by electronic and indie stuff. This is another of my favorite story telling songs, it always reminds me of an old friend in a positive light. If you can do stuff without lyrics, check out like Kid Koala... his turntable skills are otherworldly. He blends all sorts of different music into some unbelievable beats. The things he can do just completely blow my mind. Off my favorite, Some of My Best Friends Are DJs, is Skanky Panky. In the instrumental world but not turntablism is Free the Robots, some glitchy hip hop, a fantastic album in its own. Here's the first song from their self titled EP, Listen to the Future. Pete Rock & CL Smooth just make great funky, jazzy, and mellow beats with entertaining lyrics and a good easy to listen to flow. Here's Carmel City off The Main Ingredient. Lastly, Atlas' Beauty and the Blues is probably worth checking out. Some faster paced sample based hip hop, his raps are fantastic, he can really ing rhyme. Memento Mori's not on youtube, but the way he chops and raps over the beat a bit of a ways into the song makes it one of my favorite hip hop songs, good melody, beat, flow, and lyrics. Sorry for the long post, I'm tired of people complaining about ** like this without making any effort to track down any remotely good rap. I get it enough at work and here on base. Let me know if you like any of these and I'll give you some more stuff like it.