27 June 2008
BEATS, RAPS, SCRATCHES
Roxanne Shante with Marley Marl, who also cut some dope shit with MC Shan.
Hard to believe how mind-blowing Cool J was when he first exploded on the scene. He never bettered that debut album, imho.
Schooly D: Just the illist shit known to man.
Basically, when it comes to Hip Hop, I'm an Eighties man. It was great before the fucking rare grooves started appearing. Great before they started adding bloody basslines, melodies etc. Just gimme an 808, some tight scratching and a decent MC and I'm happy. You say I should listen to more Crunk. Yeah probably, but y'know I'm perfectly content with this shit.
Sending this post out to all my home boys, fly girls, etc..
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"I use a microphone like a plumber use a tool! " Schooly D . Nice one. I'm somewhat inclined to agree with you, I love the drum machine, mc, scratch model for hip hop records. I think for live functions rare grooves were being used early on, but were just not showing up on records as much. I'm an Eric B and Rakim man myself. To me the "golden era" of hip hop is 86,87,88 and 89.
ReplyDeleteI like Eric B. & Rakim too! and of course my fave hip hop act ever were Mantronix. Thb, this post is more of a theoretical statement, rather than a statement of fact. I've got loads of rare groove tunes that i like. if i had to give a broad definition of my hip hop 'golden era' it would be anything pre-gangsta/conscious/daisy age, though even then there are exceptions. i had brief flirtations in the 90s with Snoop/Dre, Cypress Hill, New Kingdom et al.
ReplyDeleteBut still, that beats 'n scratches style always seemed like the most radical form, the way it completely trashed all western values of melody/harmony. i got the same kinda kick from the first Young Gods album - it's like anti-music based around drums and fx which was perfect teenage rebellion stuff. my parents found it utterly abhorrent, which was brilliant!
The perfect synthesis of drum machine and reverb. Some crew do a Sunday afternoon dubstep / hip-hop session in a pub with a system and a Schooly D joint sounded positively galactic up in that a few weeks back :)
ReplyDeleteLater on I dropped World Domination Enterprises' version of 'I Can't Live Without My Radio'. Not their best but I love the collision.
Massimo
I have to agree - my "Golden Era" would also have to be anything pre-gangsta'/conscious/daisy age, but of course there are always exceptions.
ReplyDeleteActually, I think "Rap" music diverged from "Hip-Hop" sometime in the early 90's with the birth of gangsta' rap - most of the mainstream stuff since has been "rap" in my view, but not really "Hip-Hop". Splitting hairs maybe, but I'm an old fucker now, so I allow myself the odd bit of stylistic griping...
The best thing about that Schooly D beat is all the reverb that's going on - sounds like they hooked it into the master out and applied it to the whole mix! Classic! Quite a few artists have sampled that beat since '85 too - didn't it even show up on a Siouxsie and The Banshees
record?
I'm in full accord with Gutters love of the Drum Machine, Scratch, MC, FX production model. Clearly one doesn't NEED anything else to make a tune(as shown by the Schooly D tune).I'll have to check for that Young Gods album.I got in to Hip Hop when Punk Rock started sucking. It seemed like Hip Hop kind of picked up the torch.Public Enemy's "It takes a nation of millions to hold us back" is one of my all time faves. Guaranteed parent annoying material. People complained that Punk Rock groups couldn't play their instruments. Hip Hop took it one step further... no instruments at all!(unless you count samplers, drum machines, turntables which no one did at the time).I like some of the later era Schooly D also .He did some very cool stuff with live instruments with Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo on engineering.
ReplyDeleteBIG exceptions: Nas, the Wu, Gang Starr, Pete Rock/CL Smooth. C'mon.
ReplyDeleteI'd extend that golden age mebbe 5ive years on. I just don't like the flow as much on the earlier stuff. I understand I'm in the minority among the hardcore.
Prince Asbo
Gang Starr? Yes.
ReplyDeleteWu Tang? I tried, I failed to get into it.
But nice to hear the voice of dissent! tbh, this blogging lark has got so boring that i'm now being mildy provocative just to see what sort of reaction i get.
You stick it to the man and go nuts with that mild provocation.
ReplyDeletePrince Asbo
Post-disco / pre-sampler hip hop gets into some really interesting areas as well. No samplers basically meant a drum machine, synths and a microphone. Some still futuristic-sounding shit, that (Whodini!!!).
ReplyDelete