Hip Hop is Dead. Long Live Hip Hop.

So I guess the first one is free. I made a Hip Hop CD for Josh. Seems like Rap music and Hip Hop in general ebbs and flows for me. Some of the groups I remember listening to from the early 90’s – the Pharcyde, Naughty by Nature, LL Cool J, MC Lite, Snoop, Dre, Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Eric B and Rakim, EPMD, Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy – lots of these guys found ways to re-invent themselves as time went by, either in new careers that were logical progressions from their lives as MC’s and DJ’s or through new and continually relevant music. Music, production, arrangement, vocals – all this stuff keeps changing, not to mention that listeners tastes keep evolving – its no small feat for some of these guys to keep making good music decade after decade.

Anyway, like I said, hip-hop finds its way into and out of my life at different times. At least for me, the past two or three years have been kind of a hip-hop renaissance. I’m sure there are some deep reasons for it, but I can’t explore that right now. But my renewed interest in it, made me want to share some of the goodness. To be honest, I was burnt out on hip-hop for a while. I wasn’t hearing anything new, or I was hearing new stuff that just wasn’t innovative. Maybe this has happened to other people, critics and the like – I do recall hearing people talking about how hip hop was dead a few years ago.

Anyway, what I was hearing lately was good, and I had to share, so I burned a CD for my friend Josh. I’m pretty sure he needed some hip hop in his life, so I sent him some things that were new, some that were old, but all stuff that I loved. I tried to include descriptions and explanations of why I chose what I did, for his benefit. Here’s the list:


Lupe Fiasco – Kick Push
So Lupe is kinda new on the scene, he’s from Chicago. Got popular maybe early 2006. Probably the only rapper I’ve ever heard rap about riding a skateboard. Connected with me since I used to ride mine all over the place. His lyrics are great, his style like a young Nas, but not so damn angry.

Nas – Hope
Still one of the best rappers out there – this song is just a story about how he came up learning how to rap, going to see shows, doin hip hop stuff like keeping your sneakers clean with a toothbrush. Plus he’s east coast just like you. You better reprazent!

Blackalicious – 40 oz
Bay Area hip hop – this is an older song, I think from early 1994 maybe. Gift of Gab on the mic. Blackalicious is part of Quannum, a collective of hip hop artists and DJ’s like DJ shadow, Lyrics Born, LifeSava’s and a bunch of others. DJ Shadow is on production for this one, quick and witty lyrics.

Talib Kweli – Get By
Another east coast guy – Kweli used to rap a lot with Mos Def in a group called BlackStar –back when we were in high school. He’s since gone off on his own and I think he’s way better than Mos these days. This song is just straight up inspiring. Reminds you of why you do shit every day – like get up and drive to work and do some job. Some mornings you get up feeling brand new, and you know you are gonna handle some business and everything is gonna be cool.

The Pharcyde – Runnin’
Just straight up dope. Nobody hears from the Pharcyde anymore, which is just a shame, but they made some great music in their day.

Beef Wellington – Threes
I just kind of stumbled across this group last year – not sure where they are from, but I like the beat and its unique.

Blue Scholars – The Ave.
Just came across these guys last year too. They are out of Seattle – I actually know the area that they are rapping about. They’ve got some pretty good lyrics and beats. Very independent – they are all up on public radio and college radio. They start off rapping about the rain coming down. The dude has a line “ I be like Prometheus Brown stealing fire out of heaven.” That’s dope. Like he’s some Black Greek God Superhero rapper. Dope.


Blackalicious – Paragraph President
This song is just a verbal attack. Gift of Gab again demonstrating serious vocal ability, very appropriate name considering this is an election year. There’s a line in here at the beginning of the second verse it starts like this: Hit you with the funk, its like “who cut the provolone?” That’s dope. The end of this song has a beat laid down by DJ Shadow that just gets your head nodding. It follows him as he tries to get home on the bus.

Mos Def – Miss Fat Booty
Mos Def is East coast too – he does really well rapping about women. I’d say this is him at one of his finer moments. Great story, plus there’s a part in there about him getting dissed in the club, which I know we could relate to.

Talib Kweli – The Perfect Beat ft. KRS One
More East Coast rap – KRS One is a classic, and the beat is actually pretty damn good. A whole song about making beats and rapping over beats and the power of beats? Hard to deny it. Kweli’s rap is dope as always. This is off of Eardrum – the whole album is ridiculously good.

Common – Nag Champa
Jay-z has a song where he say’s that he wishes he could rap as good as Common, but can’t since he’s sold so many albums. He’s been in a couple of movies too. Also from Chicago. He’s just kind of philosophizing about the state of hip hop and the people in the game and the way the music has changed people, and how people have changed the music. He’s kind of spiritual, but he cusses a lot – like me!

Common – Corners [Remix]
This is the first Common song I heard. It’s pretty dope. Its all about how people live, play, love and die all in one tiny area – hanging out on the corner. “to actualize scripture, the rich are gettin’ richer, the younger becoming thicker, summers becoming winter, hard times, hard liquor…” His word play is pretty dope. Scarface and Mos Def close this one out.

T.I. – What U Know About That [Ross Hogg - Remix]
Relatively new. This was released in 07. So I personally think the original version of this song was crap. But then this Bay Area DJ Ross Hogg got ahold of it. This version makes you think TI was from some Island when he’s really from Atlanta. Here’s some notes from an interview Ross did:
Introduce yourself in one sentence:
* My name's Ross and I have a Texas-shaped waffle iron.
* PS Lots of Texans hate Bush.
* PPS Most of them live here. [San Francisco]

Yung Joc – Coffee Shop
So the dude has a strange name. Ok whatever. This song is really just about dealing drugs in the hood – but the comparison to starbucks is pretty damn accurate considering how addictive coffee is. His album is called Hustlenomics – a play on Freakonomics I’d guess. It’s a fun song.

T.I. – Big Things Poppin
Occasionally when I need to get psyched up about making lots of loot and driving an Escalade, I put this song on. This song got mad radio play, but the chorus is great. Nobody has said “Just do it” so well since Nike.

Common – The 6th Sense
Might as well end on a high note. Common brings it back home with some deep lyrics and simple beats. Long live Hip Hop.