Confessions of a ‘real hip-hop’ fan.
 

I have a difficult time with people who like Lil Wayne. He rambles on about nothing important, he doesn’t have a nice flow, and half of his rhymes don’t even rhyme. But for all of his flaws, I’m willing to accept that Lil Wayne has fans for the sheer fact that you can dance to his music and it sounds good at strip clubs. There is one group of fans, however, that I’m not willing to accept – and those are the ones who claim to listen to ‘real hip-hop.’

I must confess, from 2002-2005 I was one of these people (this was also one of the worst periods of my life. Coincidence?) So as a reformed ‘real hip-hop’ listener, I feel it is my obligation to give you some insight into the mentality of this dangerous subculture.
Believe it or not, you’ve probably already had a run-in or two with some of these people. The conversation usually goes something like this:

You: “Hey, did you hear that new Jay-Z album? It’s pretty good.”
Some douchebag: “Nah man, I don’t listen to that crap. I listen to real hip-hop.”

You may have been a bit confused by this, thinking “what the hell do you mean you listen to real hip-hop?’” Well let me translate it for you. “I listen to real hip-hop” means “I’m way too indie for mainstream rap. Instead, I listen to ****ty artists nobody has heard of because I ‘get it’ and you don’t. (I’m pretty sure Kanye West is a huge fan of ‘real hip-hop,’ and if 808s & Heartbreak is any indication, he might also be turning into a ‘real hip-hop’ artist.)

Want proof of the utter nonsense behind the music at hand? Here’s an excerpt from Coma, the hit single by one of ‘real hip-hop’s’ darlings, Aesop Rock:

“I’ve been a biplane dog fighter Henson invention.
Trooper burst result of Dragon Ball Z/Speed Racer gene splicing.Mach force, blind the extorted style from the common dirty. Destiny dream sighting, important as split the prints.”

I swear to god I didn’t make this up. And yet people will tell you he is the greatest rapper who ever lived. It reminds me of the story ‘The Emporer’s New Clothes.’ Aesop Rock is spinning invisible thread, and yet because everyone says how great it is, people follow along and support him. When is somebody going to finally step up and say, “but his music is terrible?”

Aesop Rock is a breath of fresh air for people who only know of Hip Hop through the radio and MTV. His stuff lacks the materialistic or gangstafied trite that flows from the Top 40's. Sure it's abstract, but so are a lot of other artists, namely Busdriver or Beck (who's gone on record stating his first few albums were just nonesenical). I think your beef lies with pretentious people who use music as a means of evaluating their self worth or people who are upset that artists they like do not receive the same attention that others do.

Aesop may be a bit overrated but his music is far from terrible. :nono:

There's plenty of mainstream hip hop that I consider to be just as good as what the underground is producing, but it's pretty clear where most of the quality material is.

It's called poetic license. He using the texture and inherent connotations of the words he uses to indirectly paint a picture. No it doesn't rhyme, thank god, and I like the fact that a lot of his lyrics don't make immediate sense. Aesop Rock goes beyond the limiting criteria ofwhat has defined hip hop for the past 30+ years and creates his own criteria. That's the definition of of a pioneer. So go home and listen to your "real hip-hop" followers.

'You: “Hey, did you hear that new Jay-Z album? It’s pretty good.”
Some douchebag: “Nah man, I don’t listen to that crap. I listen to real hip-hop.”'

If you have been a fan of rap for long enough you have probably played both sides of the fence on this. Personally, I used to be completely underground and old school. If it wasn't old school or considered 'underground,' I didn't have much intrest. I knew of it, I heard it at parties, but never liked the sound.

I can definitely say that lately I have been giving a listen to Lil' Wayne, Young Dro, Soulja Boy and some of these guys. They have a cool way of rapping. The beats really hit in my car and it's mostly about stacking money. Some people would say "oh but it's really crap because it has no lyrical substance..." To that I would say something about how the music itself is produced, they really can rhyme on beat and make it sound that much better, so really it's not about taste. You can't deny the production.

"I think your beef lies with pretentious people who use music as a means of evaluating their self worth or people who are upset that artists they like do not receive the same attention that others do."

To all the hip-hop elitists who think lyrics about "the system" are the bee's knees and rappers who double as theologians are pioneers, well sure they're good stuff. But aren't they just an evolved version of a Lil' Wayne?

I really don't give a shit if Aesop Rock isn't or isn't "real hip-hop", I like how he sounds and I find his lyrics entertaining even when they're silly as is the case with the ones quoted above.

Aesop definitely isn't a "great" rapper" by any means, but simply choosing one lyric from one song and using it to say why a rapper isn't good is foolish.

But anyone who says Jay-Z isn't real hip-hop is an idiot. Sure he's fallen off, but he's a legend and him fallen off is much better than the great majority of what's out there.

I definitely like Aesop Rock a lot better than Jay-Z but I agree that saying Jay-Z isn't "real hip-hop" or whatever is kind of dumb.

Eh, I won't argue with who you enjoy better because that's what you prefer....but Aesop isn't half the rapper Jay-Z is. And I don't mean the BS American Gangster Jay-Z, but the Reasonable Doubt Jay-Z is light years past anything Aesop will ever do.

I don't know, I haven't by any means heard all of Jay-Z's stuff but what I've heard doesn't do it for me. What is it about Reasonable Doubt that you like so much? I'm not familiar with the album.