UKFF Hip Hop Thread

[wandshogun09]

This isn’t a new song but I’d never heard of Thorough until this year. I really liked this;

He brought out an album called King Articulate early this year as well and it’s one of the better albums I’ve heard in 2020.

Well worth a listen. 

[SuperBacon]

Haven't really heard anything grabbing last few weeks so I've just been listening to lots of Edan, and remembering how great he is/was. I have listened to the 21 Savage album a couple of times, which is pretty decent. Never really heard him before, so made for a decent change of pace. Saying that, I found the production much more interesting than the rapping.

On a different note, a new hip hop focused podcast has launched, from a very decent writer, Thomas Hobbs, and the first episode is excellent and well worth a listen.

It features a really interesting discussion about homophobia in rap with openly gay rapper Mista Strange.

If I'm honest, I have always struggled with many aspects within the music, misogyny, homophobia etc, and how to be able to park that aside when listening to it, and am still not sure if I've found a solution, so it's good to hear this being discussed.

Elsewhere, they have a chat with Chris Crack (never heard of him), and chat about the aforementioned 21 Savage album and about whether Drake is one of the greats (Spoiler: He's fucking not), but all in all it's the most decent hip hop pod for a while, as a lot of them tend to focus purely on old albums/debates which is cool as well, but it's good to see something new being attempted*

Here if you're interested: https://www.exit36chambers.com/

Oh, and Ice Cube is working with Trump. Not the biggest surprise, but still disappointing.

*Sorry if this seems a bit pluggy. It's not, I just want to support independent writers, podcasts, writers etc, and the podcast is really fucking good.

[Chest Rockwell]

48 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

Oh, and Ice Cube is working with Trump

Huh? For what? In what way? That is hugely disappointing. Why is that not a surprise to you?

[SuperBacon]

55 minutes ago, Chest Rockwell said:

Huh? For what? In what way? That is hugely disappointing. Why is that not a surprise to you?

That is a lot of questions

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/ice-cube-donald-trump-platinum-plan-1075709/

I suppose I'm not surprised, as he was sharing some very ropey anti-Semitic stuff in the very recent past, but still very disappointed.

[Chest Rockwell]

Cheers for that. I'm not surprised if he's anti-Semitic, there's a lot of that in rap. His position on working with the Trump admin is surprisingly naive.

[Arch Stanton]

Run The Jewels performed RTJ4 live for the first time for Adult Swim's 'Holy Calamavote'. I fucking love this album, probably my favourite of the year. Well worth forty five minutes of your day... 

 

[SuperBacon]

Nice one @Arch Stanton, I completely forgot that was on so will look forward to having that on before the football later.

Few album releases on Friday. Firstly, the Benny The Butcher album Burden Of Proof, which whilst still never hitting exceptional levels, is the best Griselda album of the year out of the 784 there have been.

Hit-Boy producing the whole thing makes it different to any of the other ones they've had, some of it is VERY Rocafella 2000s, and Benny is a fucking excellent rapper. Sly Green is one of the standout tracks, but I always love hearing Lil Wayne and his verse on this is wicked. 

Black Thought's album Streams Of Thought Vol 3 is boring. He's a fantastic rapper obviously, but he's just dull these days.

Actually, the best bits of the album is when he teams up with bloody Portugal The Man, and does something a little bit different. This track has the potential to be huge for instance.

There were also albums by Homeboy Sandman & Quelle Chris, and Open Mike Eagle which have got great reviews, but I haven't had time to listen to them yet. 

Finally for something a bit different, have this massive Birmingham grime scene cypher. The energy on this is fucking ridiculous. "I don't wanna Google Maps no one" is such a modern day threat, I love it.

 

[wandshogun09]

Hit Boy’s had a strong year. Loved this Benny album and that ‘Fear Of God’ track with Conway. Plus he got Nas sounding better than he has in a long time. 

[wordsfromlee]

The new clipping. record is an absolute banger. I think if they weren’t so experimental, Daveed Diggs would be an absolute mega star. But I don’t want them to change. 

[wordsfromlee]

Lex Amor has an album out and it’s a great record full of ridiculously laid back rap with some brilliant production. 
 

It’s a shame that the majority of the time when people talk about UK hip hop, they’re talking about grime because most of it is dog shit. There’s some brilliant stuff here that’s going completely unnoticed because of the strangle hold grime has at the moment. 
 

 

[SuperBacon]

1 hour ago, wordsfromlee said:

It’s a shame that the majority of the time when people talk about UK hip hop, they’re talking about grime because most of it is dog shit. There’s some brilliant stuff here that’s going completely unnoticed because of the strangle hold grime has at the moment. 

I'm pretty sure that you don't mean it to come across as such, but this comes off a bit 'UK hip hop purist' esque.

The irony being, that the track you posted above owes more to 'grime', than it does to 'traditional UK hip hop' (if there is such a thing). The off kilter beat, the way she comes in and over the bar and doesn't just use a conventional pattern, all things that grime has been doing, and doing well, for years now.

Grime has never been healthier IMO. In the last few years, you've had genuine classic albums from Dave, Ghetts, JME (again), great ones off Skepta, Giggs, Kano, new D Double E one out today should be wicked, clashing is still healthy, Birmingham and Manchester have great scenes and talent, and there is a load of people out there that are consistently doing great things.

Ghetts, is for me, the best rapper in the world at the moment. No one is getting anywhere near him, and what he is doing with his flow and pattern is IMO incredible and he deserves everything he gets.

To say "most of it is dog shit", whilst undoubtedly being an opinion of which you are quite free to express, seems a little unfair and sweeping.

Also, for what it's worth, there has never been a time where to me, most people now do not differentiate between 'grime' and 'UK hip hop', and instead see it as one genre (Ocean Wisdom being a great example of this) but this might just be what I see and read. I wouldn't say that 'hip hop' is being ignored in place of 'grime' at all. 

In other news, I have the new Busta Rhymes album on. It's a bit mad and too long, and he sounds incredibly weird in places, but it is a lot of fun so, big up Bus-a-bus.

Edit: Definitely the stand out off the album. Never been the biggest Kendrick Lamar fan but his verse here is great, and Busta goes off in a Busta way over a really lovely Nottz beat.

 

Edited October 30, 2020 by SuperBacon

[wandshogun09]

There’s an Ill Bill album out as well with features from Vinnie Paz, Kool G Rap, Conway The Machine, Pharoahe Monch and others. Decent so far from the bits I’ve heard.

Here’s the track with Kool G Rap produced by Stu Bangas;

 

[SuperBacon]

13 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

There’s an Ill Bill album out as well with features from Vinnie Paz, Kool G Rap, Conway The Machine, Pharoahe Monch and others. Decent so far from the bits I’ve heard.

Here’s the track with Kool G Rap produced by Stu Bangas;

 

Completely missed that! Long time fan of Bill (always the best out of the Non Phixion and affiliated lot), so will look forward to giving this a listen.

Still get misty eyed over the time he used the words 'cunt rag' in a rap. Poetry.

[SuperBacon]

I have listened to a fair few things over the weekend and thought I'd flag a few up for anyone interested.

D Double E - Double Or Nothing

The only one I've played more than once, and one that I will revisit a LOT. I fucking love D Double E, a grime veteran, and he has always had a wicked flow, voice and charisma and now he's made a great album.

The beats range from claustrophobic stompers like Contact Us to almost electro in Grinding Away, and I'm pissed I don't currently have anything with any bass to it, as I'd like to play this album loud.

Ghetts pops up on Where Do We Come From with a typically introspective verse, but the standout is Tell Me A Ting with Kano. If i was 20 years younger and heard this live or in a club, I would've had a proper mosh to it. Now at 35, I just drink my latte and tap my toe to it, but I REALLY tap it. 

Absolute banger.

Dizzee Rascal - E3 AF

It's always been more about the energy than the lyrics with Dizzee, and he sounds better than he has for ages on this.

The bass on God Knows would sound sick on a decent system, and Body Loose (which samples The Architects Body Groove) would probably have been an absolute smash in the mid 2000s, but the problem is he gets outshined by all his guests, including Ocean Wisdom who goes a bit fucking mental on Don't Be Dumb. 

His verses after the chorus in particular are ridiculous, and Dizzee sounds good and keeps up (ish) but he does at one point say "I've been winning and flinging my willy at women" which sounds a bit problematic and biologically impossible to be honest.

Big fan of it only being 10 tracks and half an hour long as well. 7/10

Atmosphere - The Day Before Halloween

Really good, as is standard. Apparently comes with a movie that accompanies it but haven't seen it, but the album is great. I have always liked Slug a lot, so will always love anything they release, and this is all very 80s and synthy, so lovely stuff really. Will have to give it a few more listens but this was the standout on the first time round.

Also listened to Mad Skillz - From Where? for the first time which was great, and very 90s. Never realised just how much he reminds me of Big L. I guess it was the time, and a lot of rappers used the same pattern etc, but there are points where he sounds EXACTLY like him.

Really enjoyed the album though, stacked production credits, and this has always been a stone cold classic. 

 

Edited November 2, 2020 by SuperBacon

[Carbomb]

On 10/30/2020 at 11:33 AM, SuperBacon said:

I'm pretty sure that you don't mean it to come across as such, but this comes off a bit 'UK hip hop purist' esque.

The irony being, that the track you posted above owes more to 'grime', than it does to 'traditional UK hip hop' (if there is such a thing). The off kilter beat, the way she comes in and over the bar and doesn't just use a conventional pattern, all things that grime has been doing, and doing well, for years now.

Grime has never been healthier IMO. In the last few years, you've had genuine classic albums from Dave, Ghetts, JME (again), great ones off Skepta, Giggs, Kano, new D Double E one out today should be wicked, clashing is still healthy, Birmingham and Manchester have great scenes and talent, and there is a load of people out there that are consistently doing great things.

Ghetts, is for me, the best rapper in the world at the moment. No one is getting anywhere near him, and what he is doing with his flow and pattern is IMO incredible and he deserves everything he gets.

To say "most of it is dog shit", whilst undoubtedly being an opinion of which you are quite free to express, seems a little unfair and sweeping.

Also, for what it's worth, there has never been a time where to me, most people now do not differentiate between 'grime' and 'UK hip hop', and instead see it as one genre (Ocean Wisdom being a great example of this) but this might just be what I see and read. I wouldn't say that 'hip hop' is being ignored in place of 'grime' at all. 

 

I'm still in the early stages of my post-80s hip-hop/rap odyssey, so I don't know about the cultural and/or music industry nuances regarding the genre and related ones, but I can say that I really like the grime I've heard so far. Wretch32, Akala, Avelino, Bugzy Malone, Lady Leshurr, Kano, Skepta, Dave, Mic Righteous/Reckless, it's all great so far (I've held off on Ocean Wisdom for the moment, as I've heard so much good stuff about him, I sort of want to give his work sufficient attention and "main-event" it, so to speak).

My sister's a dancer (mainly hip-hop, popping, and locking, but does loads of other stuff), so she's overjoyed that her big brother's finally stepped out of his comfort zone, and has been sending me "all sorts of ill shit" (hey, fellow kids). Most recent one is this one: