UKFF Hip Hop Thread

[SuperBacon]

I look forward to that... I know the actual skills aren't unbelievable. I'll have you know that one of my best mates growing up is a former DMC champ *clang*

 

Shame about Rick, I heard terrible things from people. Couple of things coming up which I refuse to believe will be shit. Beatnuts & Jeru next month, and then Oddisee. Both will be fantastic. Was going to do the Cut Chemist/Charli 2na but can't afford it.

[Chest Rockwell]

Beatnuts / Jeru should be good. I'm out of the country, otherwise I'd definitely be there.

 

Who is your mate; it's not Woody is it? I saw his winning routine live, it was awesome.

[SuperBacon]

Beatnuts / Jeru should be good. I'm out of the country, otherwise I'd definitely be there.

 

Who is your mate; it's not Woody is it? I saw his winning routine live, it was awesome.

DJ Blakey, won UK DMCs in 2004. School mate, we then set up a crew (Crewcuts

[Chest Rockwell]

Here, in full is my review of the slick Rick gig as sent to my mate. I think the only backstory you need us that it's censored because I sent it from work, and that going in we weren't sure if there was going to be a full live band, which is my most hated thing in live hip hop:

 

 

 

So to set the scene, you gotta remember we were tentative going in. Was there going to be a full live band or not? Would it be a complete disaster?

 

As we walked in, there was this crusty old troll doing sh1tty fast raps. White guy with long green hair that was receeding really badly. Looked like a dishevelled clown. It was like old school 90s rap revival.. he was of that class of 90s British MCs that were just apeing US rap badly at the time. Diggity-riggidty this and that, couldn’t understand a word he was actually saying. But it was like… uh, this is kinda interesting, because you just don’t hear this kinda rap live ever.

 

He was followed by a bit of Djing of a similar wannabe Public Enemy kinda schtick, with some rubbish beat juggling that, whilst technically proficient, was pretty unlistenable. The the guy who I assumed was some no-talent compere just doing rubbish shoutouts over the dj started rapping and he was actually good. I think he was from Hijack. So still that fast rap style, but actually technically proficient with good diction. It was really fun even if I wouldn’t sit at home listening to it, because like I said it’s not a style of rap you really ever get a chance to see live.

 

So then they say they’re gonna have a b-boy demo. I thought, cool. That sounds fun and in-keeping with the spirit of the event so far. Let’s watch some cool moves. These guys came out and man… it was so hokey. Like proper, Step Up 2 The Streets, Kentish Town Community Centre Dance Troupe bullsh1t. Really hammy “battling” with some big choreographed sections and they didn’t even have any good moves. It was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen sneak its way into what I thought was supposed to be a credible hip hop show. It really belonged in some teen movie or on the X-Factor.

 

Another DJ came on after this and played some good music and got the crowd back up. It was pretty busy at this point and whilst not totally raucous, pretty live.

 

Rodney P came on and he absolutely killed it. He was getting great reactions, engaging banter between songs and just performed really well. I don’t really listen to much of his stuff but I really enjoyed his set. Also, after having watched that recent hip hop documentary he did on BBC, on which he came off really well, I felt quite chuffed for him on a personal level for what he was showcasing and the reaction he was getting. He got the other MCs out there for a cypher and it felt like a big deal one-off UK 90s rap revival. It was cool.

 

All of this of course was leading up to the main event. There was a grand old curtain.. suspense! The curtain comes up – DJ, drummer and a couple backing singers. Lime green sofa in the middle of the stage facing away from the crowd, it slowly rotates to reveal Slick in all his finery. The crowd goes wild!

 

So what follow here was a slow realisation for me through the gig but –

 

* Slick Rick is not very slick. His whole flow is supposed to be this smooth talking style we’ve heard on albums, but he didn’t do that at all. He was just shouting his lines, and barely finishing them at that, relying on the crowd to finish them for him. He is not a good rapper. Even tracks without guest spots he wasn’t finishing. Just doing like one verse and on to the next.

 

* The drummer and the backing singers didn’t do anything. They were entirely there for show and spectacle. The poor drummer drummed along to the beats for the whole show but basically had his volume turned all the way down. The “singers” just did a bit of backing dancing, despite having microphones infront of them. I think the only time I saw them sing a long was the “it’s all because of you..” bit on La di da di.

 

* There was also a big video screen to add to the spectacle, which played some pretty entertaining clips. Also he had a costume change, and a very special additional super gold chain at one point. I’ve never seen so much costume jewellery – must have been tens of pounds worth!

 

I would compare it to wrestling where you have some old guys in a match who can’t go anymore but still have name value, so they throw every shortcut in the book at it and you go “wow – that was half decent”. Except he didn’t even play Children’s Story, so it’s like his hip was too broke for the Atomic Leg Drop. But still, the shortcuts worked.. despite the rubbish show, when it ended and they cannoned tickertape and confetti at the crowd whilst Frank Sinatra played I felt genuinely moved for a moment. I’ve never been in a tickertape parade. Then I remembered I’d payed almost 30 bloody quid for this.

 

I did feel good seeing at the end that all the Rodney P merch had shifted, but Slick Rick stuff still remained. Also, when we went outside there was some guys cooking jerk chicken in a drum which was a fantastic way to round out the evening.

 

All in all, a bizarre rollercoaster experience that I’m glad I had.

Edited January 25, 2017 by Chest Rockwell

[Dead Mike]

Thanks for that. It sounds exactly like I expected tbf & why I didn't go.

[SuperBacon]

Sounds shit. What a shame.

[Really Big Shoe]

What Primo is doing is live sampling the track and playing it back via his laptop. Back in the day they used either a MPC or a Synth and built it from there. Due to the tech limitations of the time early albums by PE for example show how they got a lot out of technology at the time. It's more so digital sampling now which in some ways makes it easy for wannabe produces to make beats as most people with a PC/Laptop, some old soul LPs and a music producing software can create something. Guys like DJ Premier et al did it the old school way though so I think when you're one of the originators you can rely on technology more. He's got nothing to prove, Gangstarr are of the all time great groups or duos to be correct and Premo was really the guy who Dilla, Madlib et al emulate.

 

Speaking of Hip Hop, I'm kinda out of the loop. I prefer listening to rare Soul/Funk and discovering new stuff there. Along the way I've heard familiar samples since guys like J Dilla really were digging in the crates for rare stuff to sample. There's a series of sampling/record collection videos on YouTube where producers go through their record collections and sometimes say which records they used in their samples. Some are super obscure which you'd think there would be nothing worth sampling from but they often have a bassline/drums etc which can be used as a foundation to build something new on.

 

If I find the videos I'll add them here as some are super interesting. I also think the more organic back to the roots hip hop is more appealing than the commercial stuff. Although stuff by Quik, Battlecat and Terrace Martin is worth checking out.

[SuperBacon]

Crate Diggers!!! I've literally just discovered that, and watched a good 2 hours of it. The Mr Thing and Cut Chemist ones are great.

Something I found from watching that was another series called What's In My Bag which is a more diverse range of guests, but still plenty of hip hop artists, shopping in this massive shop in LA I think. Well worth watching as well.

[Chest Rockwell]

What Primo is doing is live sampling the track and playing it back via his laptop. Back in the day they used either a MPC or a Synth and built it from there. Due to the tech limitations of the time early albums by PE for example show how they got a lot out of technology at the time. It's more so digital sampling now which in some ways makes it easy for wannabe produces to make beats as most people with a PC/Laptop, some old soul LPs and a music producing software can create something. Guys like DJ Premier et al did it the old school way though so I think when you're one of the originators you can rely on technology more. He's got nothing to prove, Gangstarr are of the all time great groups or duos to be correct and Premo was really the guy who Dilla, Madlib et al emulate.

 

Nah, that's not what he's doing at all. He's using Serato to play the tracks off his laptop. He starts playing Walk on By, and once that's going he cues up the next track (Full Clip) - you see him select it on the laptop and then cue up the track on the second turntable. Then when it gets to the point in Walk on by where the sample is, he triggers the hot cues that he already has set up on the file using the keyboard on his laptop to play out the beat, as he would have done when he originally sampled it and chopped it on the MPC. But he's not actually doing any sampling in that clip. Otherwise you'd see him setting the cue points as the loop plays through the first time. Which he clearly isn't doing. I hate to have to be a pedant about this but if you're gonna come at it all preachy like a KRS sermon you should get your facts straight.

 

Incidentally, Premo with a live band was one of the all time shittest hip hop shows I've ever seen. That doesn't mean I like Gang Starr or any of his other production any less. I don't know what you mean by having nothing to prove but if he's going to do new things I'll judge them on their own merit.

Edited January 25, 2017 by Chest Rockwell

[SuperBacon]

Chest, re: your hatred of live hip hop with a full band, does this mean you don't like The Roots live, or have you not seen them?

 

Anyhoo, let's get away from the pedantry, I'm genuinely sorry I posted the clip

[Chest Rockwell]

The Roots are a bit different because that's how the music was written and was intended to be played. I've never seen them live, but I do enjoy their music.

 

I was just checking out a bit of that Django. I tried a few tracks but I wasn't really feeling his flow. But I found this track which is by a French group called Joke, and is a track called Django, and it's really good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Drxo6ad6I4s

 

Some other good foreign hip hop if you'd like to check it out -

 

A compilation of French hip hop called Le Flow That should link you to a playlist of the whole thing (there's a number 2, but it's not as good)

 

One of my very favourite all time albums ever Orishas - A Lo Cubano Cuban rappers with French producers. Again, they have more albums. But this one in particular is a stone cold fucking classic.

 

And here is a cool German rap album Absolute Beginner - Bambule

 

None of this is new, though. That's stuff I used to listen to many moons ago. So if you do find good current stuff please share!

[SuperBacon]

Nice one Chest, much appreciated. I think I actually have that Le Flow album somewhere and heard a few tracks by Joke...yeah he seems pretty good, can't remember which ones, but they had Japanese names.

Also checked out PLN, who apparently had their album go to Number 1 in the iTunes chart. Was OK, but overly aggressive for me tbh.

 

I definitely want to expand on what I know, as I feel I get lazy and just go to what I know, and I want to see what else is out there as I have a tendency to stick to my 'backpack shit'. Having said that im sitting here listening to NORE cos he was excellent.

[wordsfromlee]

On the topic of French hip hop, I have a a really long shot question on the off chance someone here may know.

 

About 10 years ago I downloaded a French hip hop compilation album on Rawrshare with about 18 tracks or so. My hard drive died a couple of years later and I lost it and could never find it again. My favourite track was by some one called something like Prince Arabadee.

 

I've tried Googling variations of it over the years but came up with nothing. I can't remember his exact name but the first name was definitely Prince and the second definitely started with an A.

[SuperBacon]

Not sure mate, was it either of the Le Flow compilations? Have a look at their track listings. I know how frustrating this can be. I spent YEARS searching for a J Live remix that didn't actually exist.

I heard a track on Westwood when Prime Cuts of the Scratch Perverts was on it to discover he layed an acapella over an instrumental, so my "remix" never actually existed!!!

[Brock Goldberg]

Thanks Chest for the heads up on Orishas- A Lo Cubano.

 

Wonderful album, been playing it all day.

 

Cheers mate!