Quote:
Originally Posted by the tax man
Let me first acknowledge that I am being deliberately argumentative here.
I'm not saying they are bad by any stretch. However, I grew up resonating with the def jux el-p, now thematically, he's more about smoking weed and ****ing--which is cool, and im sure relatable to a much wider audience.
Ever since he hooked up with killer mike its been down hill in my view. Targeting Ronald Reagen? Really? Who cares anymore? They get to propagate this collective, conscious, political minded image in the most diluted and unfocused manner, hence brining zach de la rocha into the mix.
I'm poor at gathering my thoughts, but it's almost like the hip hop equivalent to green day in pandering to a younger demographic---especially caucasians who still think any association with a black person provides some type of hip hop credentials.
It's just a trip seeing these guys in jack daniels ads and on espn now.
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Not bad points and I even sort of agree with you about Killer Mike. I feel like El runs circles around Mike as far as intellect goes. And ultimately their collaborative social commentary comes off as a little half-baked because of this.
And as someone (like maybe everyone?) who also came up on Def Jux it's disappointing that this had to happen in order to break out El-P.
That said, I think Killer Mike is a dope rapper with a much cooler voice and delivery than El, and that alone justifies the collaboration. As for selling out, I actually think selling Jack Daniels is a cool thing to do, I would do it myself if I could, so no argument there. And being on Nas's label (distributed by Sony) seems like something El would have always done if he had the opportunity.
Mostly I disagree that El sold out because I feel like a major consistent theme in his lyrics is his determination to stay in control of his music and his life, which seems to be precisely where he is today.