One of my favourite musical genres is hip-hop; beats, rhymes and life as the saying goes. A big part of hip-hop culture is the MC battle where two or more MCs spit freestyle venom at each other, sometimes in a good-hearted manner, other times less so. This battling can also be taken onto plastic, resulting in so-called battle tracks or diss tracks. Sometimes this whole scenario gets out of hand; think the whole east-coast vs west-coast rivalry of the 1990′s or more recently Nas vs Jay-Z, 50 Cent vs Ja Rule. Well, a whole new battle may just be breaking out on UK shores and this one promises to be a lot more, well, polite. Continue reading →
Haven’t blogged for a while now, been busy doing other stuff, but saw a minor abuse of power today which reminded me of a tune and prompted me to wonder and hence blog, and thanks to the wonders of YouTube, here is that tune and, thanks to the wonders of wordpress, my associated ramblings: The tune was KRS-1 with this classic bit of hip-hop, the sound of the police. You may not agree with all he says, but you have to admit, the power of music combined with a skilled lyricist is awesome to behold. Compared with a large proportion of mainstream (US) hip-hop of today, this was fresh and had meaning and, importantly, was still an absolutley banging tune; something to think about and dance to. It’s good to see UK folks like the Mitchell Brothers and Kano keeping the UK end up, doing similarly pointed material today, Routine Check for example; raising issues through a storming tune. Talking of the Mitchell Brothers, couldn’t not post Harvey Nicks also; love this tune! Again, thought provoking points based on keen observation, banging tune and some classic lines from Sway and the boys. And finally, couldn’t have a post talking about music that makes you think without posting the grand-daddy of all conscious hip-hop tunes; the message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Love those outfits, boys; i can just see fiddy in the cowboy look for his next video Anyway, enough rambling and back to that pile of draft blog posts that have been accumulating since last year…
KRS-1; The sound of the police
The Mitchell Brothers; routine check
The Mitchell Brother; Harvey Nicks
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five; the message
Not only did it finally knock Umbrella (ella… ella… ella…) off the number one slot, this tune rocks. I’m not knocking Rihanna or the Umbrella tune, but hey, it gets pretty irritating when played absolutely everywhere…
Featuring Keri Hilson, Timbaland has produced a stunning track and the lyrics are like a breath of fresh air. I’ve been listening to The Way I Are quite a bit these past few weeks and would vote it number one of the number ones of 2007 to date.
Chorus (Keri Hilson): “I don’t need the G’s or the car keys
Boy I like you just the way you are”
Verse 2 (Timbaland): “I ain’t got no Visa
I ain’t got no Red American Express
We can’t go nowhere exotic
It don’t matter ’cause I’m the one that loves you best”
Verse 3 (DOE): “Baby girl, I don’t got a huge ol’
house I rent a room in a house
Listen baby girl, I ain’t got a
motorboat but I can float ya boat”
When was the last time a major player (who’s not short of a bob or two) wrote a tune from this perspective? Carefully crafted to remain ’street’ yet at the same time, self-deprecating and about love and soulmates over cars and money (oh and a bit of stripping and tipping to ‘keep it real’). A well balanced follow up to Give It To Me, featuring Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake; Give It To Me is another amazingly well produced tune which also rocks (those percussion patterns are pretty hot) but whilst taking your argument with a fellow producer into the studio is not uncommon (Tim: I get a half a mil for my beats you get a couple grand…, vs. Scott Storch), getting the intimidating duo of Justin and Nelly to back you up seems plain bizarre. Where’s Magoo when you need him…
Anyway, enough rambling and back to that pile of draft blog posts that have been accumulating since last year…
