I wanted to make a post about some of the hardest lyrics in hip-hop, and it seems like a good day to do it for the anniversary of Biggie's death. Sadly, when he died I didn't know who he was, but I was just a 12 year old kid from Indiana so I'll give myself some slack. While image had a lot to do with 2Pac's fame (don't get me wrong, I love Pac), but BIG's seems to be strictly about his lyrical skills - he is definitely one of the best wordsmiths to ever come out of the hip hop game. There are definitely multiple songs that I could quote from, but my favorite has to be from Gimme the Loot:

"Nigga, you ain't got to explain shit I've been robbin motherfuckers since the slave ships with the same clip and the same four-five Two point-blank, a motherfucker's sure to die That's my word, nigga even try to bogart have his mother singing "It's so hard..." Yes, love, love you're fucking attitude because the nigga play pussy, that's the nigga that's getting screwed and bruised up from the pistol whipping webs on the neck from the necklace stripping Then I'm dipping up the block and I'm robbing bitches too up the herring bones and bamboos I wouldn't give fuck if you're pregnant Give me the baby rings and a #1 MOM pendant.."

What are your favorite grimy lyrics from all the hip hoppers out there?

• Permalink
• | Write Comment

After thebaldheadedfool's post about the redefinition of hip-hop (http://mog.com/thebaldheadedfool/blog_post/45587) and some of the music I have been getting into over the past few years, I've found that it has gotten harder for me to describe what I listen to in terms of genres. So much seems to be blurring together between hip hop, jazz funk, downtempo, etc, but it's hard for me to find people that listen to the same kind of stuff (before MOG that is). Lately I've considered how little genres really mean anymore, I don't really understand terms like post-rock and some other titles that I've heard lately, but thats another story. I think it's all sort of difficult to hear about any different artists here in the states unless you really actively look for it. I used to spend hours upon hours going through amazon.com lists, liveplasma.com searches and internet radio playlists to find more and more worthwhile music. At least it's paid off - otherwise it's easy to get burnt out on music altogether with the shit you hear/see everyday. Anyway, here are a couple artists/albums that have been a good bridge to exploring other sounding stuff:

LTJ Bukem's Journey Inwards I dunno how most Drum & Bass heads out there feel about this album, I'm one myself and I'm all about it. I think this is a good album to get people to listen to if to start getting them more in the mindset of listening to just beats without (for the most part) lyrics. This album is pretty jazzy sounding, but if you like these you might as well take a step further and check out his drum & bass. When I first heard this I couldn't find enough of his cd's to keep me happy, the same thing that happened when I heard DJ Cam.

DJ Cam - Mad Blunted Jazz Nothin but spectacular beats, I love this album. His Liquid Hip Hop album has a song with Dilla on it too so thats a must. After these two it's time to get the Soulshine album for something that sounds a little more electronic, but still very hip hopish excluding Summer in Paris, which rocks none the less.

Mark Farina - Mushroom Jazz Series (seeing a pattern here...) This sounds like hip hop to me, volume 3 has a song by Unspoken Heard and another by People Under the Stairs. Volume 5 has a song with Numark and Chali 2na which is bad as all hell. After these you might just check out his San Francisco Sessions mix to check out some housier stuff.

Fila Brazilia - Dicks I don't really know what to classify these guys as, but they are definitely my group of the moment. This is their 10th album, so there is a lot to get excited about when first getting into them. I actually have been making my way backwards through their music collection, I heard this album playing in a record store after only knowing the name. There was no way I could've passed this one up, especially with the "You are holding Fila Brazilia's Dicks in your hands" sticker on the front.

This list could go on for a while, too many artists to name really. Maybe I should pull a High Fidelity and organize my music collection autobiographically, hah! What artists or albums really got all of you delving into what you might find in new genres?

• Permalink
• | Write Comment

Comments

jackrabbit says:

thx for the post. for me the drum 'n bass theme mainly was influenced by goldie, the shut up and dance possee and the video to "brown paper bag" by roni size. as well as ltj bukem and cam ( for a different sort of music to classify in) were for me some sort of next steps into that scene, that broadened my fokus extremly.

in fact today as i am no longer a stundent the influences or the new things to find out are merely reduced, maybe to what is recommended on mog or can be found in the several online store. this lack of time that does not allow me to frequently go to concerts by choice if i want too, makes it more harder to find out. but actually i am quite happy the way it is because the number of new records to find is so high i would merely be lost. so i pick the few i read about, got recommended by friends (like the streets a few years ago), sneak into a track if possible or just buy them in the offline shop if the prizes are reduced (which mostly happens a few months after release). and believe me, even this gives me hard job!

and by the way the problem even gets worse if you try to get into something already started or if you have the urge to go back and check out what you missed! damn!

Posted about 1 year ago | Delete