'Too Many Emcees...

…take the word Emcee lightly.'

  

Greetings… 

Now musically speaking, I’m a HipHop head. As I’ve grown, my musical tastes have also aged & due to the declining state of this music & the culture (yea, I said it!) I find that HipHop now takes up roughly 30% of my music, as opposed to the 75% it used to take up! Now some may say that’s a good thing & I wouldn’t disagree completely. In order to appreciate any music, you should experience as much different genres as possible. Then you can truly appreciate your favourite sounds without having a closed off opinion…

  

So, today I’m going to deal with my favourite section of HipHop. The Emcee! More importantly, The Emcee vs. The Rapper. If you’re reading this blog, I won’t insult your intelligence by explaining the difference… HipHop is NOT rap. End of… But there is a real gulf between the Emcee’s of old (read Golden Era) & today’s budding mic technicians. The main reason why I & most of my peers stopped listening to & buying a lot of HipHop is simple. We stopped relating to it. Back in the 90’s we were blessed with a nice mix of styles & opinions. I could listen to the gangster lyrics of G Rap alongside the teachings of KRS.  For each couple of jump up records we had at least one conscious banger from Tribe or the ultimate duo Gangstarr (RIP G).  Balance was important back then because we were still enjoying everything HipHop as a culture gave to us.

  

Now I’m not like a lot of old school/golden era fans. I can see the skill in a Lil Wayne track like Milli or the slick lines in a Fabolous (I think that’s how he spells it!) joint. I still make my female friends laugh when I accuse them of committing Shoe-a-cide! My problem is the ones that are constantly being played without no real talent or skill at all. Now I do not expect the next rapper to come out of Young Money to be nearly as tight as Pharoahe Monche… not gonna happen. But as a fan, I still want to be able to hear more than just the same 3 subjects in the whole song. Emcees are not just good at wordplay or maybe have a slick delivery. They’re not just cool sounding voices… they’re supposed to be all of these things. And more…

  

In my world, an Emcee was a mouthpiece for me & my peeps. We could relate to Strobelight Honey & it was done with a certain amount of humour, honesty & skill. We felt Common’s truth throughout almost every album he ever put out. The Heiro Crew always brought it…. Black Thought & The Roots are masters of that balance… Even down to the likes of west coast giants NWA gave me something to think about as well as just nod my head to. These guys were thousands of miles away but I could still appreciate their truth. Their reality.

 So fast forward to 2 thousand & now & ask me how many rappers on the radio spitting shit you can actual relate to? I cannot relate to Black & Yellow. I just can’t! But I can relate to a few Drake tracks. I can feel the honesty in Chipmunks latest radio joint. Unfortunately they are small pickings on the global front… We’re stuck with Rap being played constantly on the radio by DJ’s who need to keep their job so they play what everyone else is playing. Everyone else is playing what MTV is showing so the youngers being influenced by Rappers who have only listened to the surface level of Rap music & can only go by what they know… which ain't much… A copy of a copy will lead to the quality being depleted constantly.

  

Thankfully, we still have a few Emcees out there still willing to fly the flag for real HipHop. Here’s a sample of some current HipHop without the radio friendly fluffy bits!

HipHop’s not dead, she’s just on vacation… Jean Grae.

Jean Grae + The Roots

 The Roots, Mos Def, Jay Electronica 

 Pharoahe Monch

Hating...

‘…hate is so familiar to me; I’m slowly embracing it…’ Drake

What’s good peeps?!

Now I know this one is going to have some mixed responses but it’s a pet peeve of mine… At what point did telling wak rappers they were wak become against the HipHop law?!

As HipHop fans we do have some really strange ideas about most things but hey! Follow them through & they generally become trends! My main issue is if you’re not very good at what you’re doing then it’s only fair that you accept criticism for being, well, not very good…

I get the whole swagger thing… HipHop has always been intertwined with bling, fast cars & the cliché champagne lifestyle. I didn’t particularly appreciate that then or now but who in their right mind would disrespect Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick or Rakim for some of the imagery they put across? Not Me! To me those dudes are legends. This is where I think the old school & the new school draw a line in the proverbial sand…
Most of these emcees & singers in the game these days do not have that talent or skill, but they are able to hide behind the ‘oh, you’re just a hater…’ phrase when pulled up on said lack of ability.  The emcees I mentioned rocked crowds, made genre defining music & showed off like no one’s business! They have earned that standing… but with the exception of a few top businessmen/rappers, there are not many out there that should be allowed to escape!

This hating phenomenon has blurred the lines so much that if you earn money from the music you make, then you are officially a don! A great! If you’re grinding all year promoting your weak material then that’s commendable… go do your thing! Unfortunately, the fact is, it doesn’t make your music good. The Birdie Song made loads of money but no one is saying that The Tweets were musical geniuses! In the same breath, commercial radio music makes a lots of money for most involved but does not mean you’re Quincy Jones.

Let’s look at this practically for a second; whilst in Music College I was given a fact that explained everything I needed to know about the industry. Madonna had a number one single out that sold over 500,000 units when released. That same single was knocked off the number spot the following week but a band called Pulp with a song that sold less than 50,000 units. What this means is that on the initial release of these mainstream records, you have to promote like crazy to get the most sales in that time period. After that, it’s the next hot song that comes down the media machine. Hhmmmm… You have a reality TV program that creates a fan base for the next wanna be pop star by using phone line money to promote & distribute the winner. There’s a readymade fan base for said artist (I use the term loosely) & they can hit the industry ground running… Fact is, how many winners have you seen? Now count how many have actually made successful albums? Forget about whether the album was good…! And this is from a common denominator type of pop music that should appeal to the *general public (*sheep)! Hhhmmmmm…..

Once ‘the critic’ was reduced to being ‘the hater’, all quality control went out of the window. Truth has been replaced by Success. Back in the days if an emcee thought another emcee was wak, he would call him out… write a punchline or sometimes a whole song about the perpetrator & they would battle, accept his criticism & work harder or just stop rapping period. Now rappers are so afraid of being put into the hater bracket that they no longer take these weaklings to task.

Someone like Fiddy (who took Ja Rule to task quite commendably. Thank you!) has epitomised the hater syndrome. Where he (IMO) lacks mic skills, he has a certain business acumen & also a half decent acting career to solidify his status. Jay-Z & ‘Diddy/Sean/Puffy/insert nickname this month’ are also incredibly gifted men & deserve the praise they get for earning what they earn… but it has to stop there. There needs to be a new line drawn because I think way too many people that consider themselves to be fans of real Hip Hop or even just rap music in general are giving way too much love to subpar material.  And before anyone says ‘he/she is alright still…’ fair enough. But how many tracks on their album do you skip? When they came to your city, did you go? Probably not…

My point is this; I’m not knocking business or making money in anyway but one… Do not try to pass yourself off as some kind of musical genius because you figured out a nursery rhyme style hook, went on 106 & convinced a few million kids that you’re the shiznit! (while writing this the Teflon Don keeps jumping into my head!). I despise the ‘get rich or die trying mentality as it subconsciously develops an all or nothing/black or white mentality but the majority of peeps live in the grey area while we are Getting By & Living Fine Doing It…

Keep the quality up people. No artist, no matter how good anyone thinks they are is above criticism or reproach….

Peace / Guidance (& a lil bit o’ Haterade)

1ne
Log!c

‘The One’ Slaughterhouse’

‘Nah Mean’ Damien Marley & Nas

‘Respiration’ BlackStar ft Common

Inaccurate Obituary (HipHop Lives...)

What’s good people?!

I’m a big, big fan of HipHop and I’m always looking for that next act that will show me she’s still alive! Almost everyone with a voice has been proclaiming the death of this culture for a hot minute now. Unless you really don’t pay attention there’s a pretty solid argument for her untimely & equally premature expiration…

I get it too. Radio and subsequently video killing the quality of the music. The lack of the five (not four) elements being at the heart of the majority of most of the music out there. Lack of originality, intelligence, integrity & skill on display does make you wonder how long it can continue…

Tau & Pelt, two heads who have the same kinda love & appreciation for HipHop & just good music in general are my go to guys for these debates. They so happened to be part of what I consider to be my CSI HipHop month! While researching some new Kano/Mikey J  joints I stumbled  across some new Crusada joints. Some good stuff from Lowkey about the riots. New verses from Jay Elec via The Bullitts. Some new Common, some banging Talib that I never even knew about although he’s one of my favourite emcees. Then I found Chima Anya with his old school/new school vibe. Soweto ripping the guest spot too!

The incomparable LyricL also dropped her long awaited debut album and whilst being a fan as well as a friend, I couldn’t be more proud of the work! Launch party was off the chain & we enjoyed every second! The mighty Pharoahe Monch followed about a week later & that was probably one of the best shows I’ve been to (Check my review of both shows on Bravestar.tv).

The icing on this cake came this weekend just gone when I was introduced to Shad via YouTube. I’m quite a music snob & hyper-critical about most emcees in general but after hearing this dude’s tune ‘Yaa I Get It’ I was speechless! HipHop unadulterated! The vibe was tight, the beats bananas (Big up Oddisee for the remix) & the video is so simple but effective. I only realised how good it was after I gave up counting the punchlines! An extensive journey into his back catalogue was the most refreshing thing I’ve had in HipHop since I first heard Respiration by BlackStar…

Basically what I’m trying to say is that HipHop’s post mortem might be a little bit premature. She is out there & just judging by the living legends still showing the hunger in the live shows… the relatively unknown/new dudes who’s artistic integrity is borne out of a complete body of work devoid of ‘swaggar’ , with England & the rest of Europe still keeping it as real as they do we don’t need to worry too much.

But we DO need to support it. We DO need to share it. More importantly, we need to let these new artists & the ones still flying the flag for this culture that it’s appreciated.

So start sharing this shit!

Peace / Love / Guidance – Log!c