Alliedassault - View Single Post

Tripper · 07-06-2005, 02:55 PM

It's a combination of things, IMO....

Just to clear up a few things - I'll start with explaining some differences:

Hiphop is still a relatively young genre....It only found it's footing in the 90s, and because of the excess of commercialism in the new millenium, has taken an interesting turn.

Jay-Z and people like him, 50 Cent etc, have really scribed a new sub-genre laying hiphop's focus on materialistic values and street credibility. Some say that's intune with where hiphop started (Tales of hard life in the street - 'The Message' etc), whereas others disagree and think hiphop was more of a community thing, about having fun in the face of all that, as opposed to rapping about it.

As time went on gangsterism merged out of hard street life tales as more and more violence pushed the envelope of what was accepted, and sold records.....At the same time, the b-boying - hiphop for fun side, took the reigns of both of the original styles, turning the 'The Message' type stuff into what's today known as 'Conscious Rap' and just generally kept on having fun as well, denying the exaggerated violent stories, and mysgonistic values.

As time went on, the commercial sector caught onto the gangstafied stuff, because of the boundaries it was pushing with social acceptability (Like rock in its early stages) and because that sold records. Meanwhile, the otherside of hiphop (the non-gangsta stuff), lost its public appeal because it wasn't really pushing boundaries, and because they were both known as the one genre (apparently there is no room for widely respected sub-genres in hiphop - rock get's metal, punk etc - But hiphop has always just been hiphop/rap - THAT'S where the problem lies IMO)

So "hiphop" became what was selling records within the genre, despite there being a huge division and strong differences....So all the crap (imo) took the limelight and represented the whole genre as one.

Gangsterism slowly merged to what commercial hiphop is today, Jay-Z, 50 cent, lil john etc.....Only groups like BlackStar (Kweli and Mos individually), Jurassic 5, The Roots, have found major commercial success since then as a part of the other half of hiphop....

The rest, (there are just as many of that half still going at it as the commercialised side) are part of the "underground" (kind of a buzz word now) and independent label scene, which involves little pay, but generally far better focus on lyricism. I call this, the Alternative side....Because it's the alternative to what's shoved in your face through the media as hiphop and rap....(Which infact is a whole other genre).....

So anyway, these top ten things don't really work, because within what are clearly (to me anyway) two different genres, are different focuses on what makes a good emcee.

My personal list would go something like this:

Nas
Guru
MF Doom (Mainly when he was part of KMD)
Big L
Buckshot
Planet Asia
J-Live
Main Flow
Pharaohe Monch
Elzhi

....I chose these based on these factors: Lyrical skills, voice (how it sounds), how they flow with a beat.

I also take in mind these factors, on varying degrees for each emcee listed....: Nice sounding beats, how they represent themselves (are they too cocky or racist to bother listening too), and am I interested in what they have to say.

....Those factors are more varying between people, because in those factors, different people look for different things more so than what is generally obvious to most people (Lyrical skills, flowing with a beat)....

....and that's me. Remember, the above is all pretty much my opinion, so don't get your panties in a knot with me if you disagree - This IS music after all.

....Forgive me if this post has a few holes, it's fairly early - Saw the thread and just *had* to post. the_finger:

	(#20)
Tripper is Offline General of the Army Posts: 18,895 Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Auckland, New Zealand	07-06-2005, 02:55 PM It's a combination of things, IMO.... Just to clear up a few things - I'll start with explaining some differences: Hiphop is still a relatively young genre....It only found it's footing in the 90s, and because of the excess of commercialism in the new millenium, has taken an interesting turn. Jay-Z and people like him, 50 Cent etc, have really scribed a new sub-genre laying hiphop's focus on materialistic values and street credibility. Some say that's intune with where hiphop started (Tales of hard life in the street - 'The Message' etc), whereas others disagree and think hiphop was more of a community thing, about having fun in the face of all that, as opposed to rapping about it. As time went on gangsterism merged out of hard street life tales as more and more violence pushed the envelope of what was accepted, and sold records.....At the same time, the b-boying - hiphop for fun side, took the reigns of both of the original styles, turning the 'The Message' type stuff into what's today known as 'Conscious Rap' and just generally kept on having fun as well, denying the exaggerated violent stories, and mysgonistic values. As time went on, the commercial sector caught onto the gangstafied stuff, because of the boundaries it was pushing with social acceptability (Like rock in its early stages) and because that sold records. Meanwhile, the otherside of hiphop (the non-gangsta stuff), lost its public appeal because it wasn't really pushing boundaries, and because they were both known as the one genre (apparently there is no room for widely respected sub-genres in hiphop - rock get's metal, punk etc - But hiphop has always just been hiphop/rap - THAT'S where the problem lies IMO) So "hiphop" became what was selling records within the genre, despite there being a huge division and strong differences....So all the crap (imo) took the limelight and represented the whole genre as one. Gangsterism slowly merged to what commercial hiphop is today, Jay-Z, 50 cent, lil john etc.....Only groups like BlackStar (Kweli and Mos individually), Jurassic 5, The Roots, have found major commercial success since then as a part of the other half of hiphop.... The rest, (there are just as many of that half still going at it as the commercialised side) are part of the "underground" (kind of a buzz word now) and independent label scene, which involves little pay, but generally far better focus on lyricism. I call this, the Alternative side....Because it's the alternative to what's shoved in your face through the media as hiphop and rap....(Which infact is a whole other genre)..... So anyway, these top ten things don't really work, because within what are clearly (to me anyway) two different genres, are different focuses on what makes a good emcee. My personal list would go something like this: Nas Guru MF Doom (Mainly when he was part of KMD) Big L Buckshot Planet Asia J-Live Main Flow Pharaohe Monch Elzhi ....I chose these based on these factors: Lyrical skills, voice (how it sounds), how they flow with a beat. I also take in mind these factors, on varying degrees for each emcee listed....: Nice sounding beats, how they represent themselves (are they too cocky or racist to bother listening too), and am I interested in what they have to say. ....Those factors are more varying between people, because in those factors, different people look for different things more so than what is generally obvious to most people (Lyrical skills, flowing with a beat).... ....and that's me. Remember, the above is all pretty much my opinion, so don't get your panties in a knot with me if you disagree - This IS music after all. ....Forgive me if this post has a few holes, it's fairly early - Saw the thread and just had to post. the_finger: