Why I Love Gangsta Rap Music!

[El Pibe]

Whenever middle class English folk discuss hip-hop / gansta rap, I can't help but be reminded of the opening scene in Office Space where Michael Bolton surreptitiously turns down the music on the stereo and winds up his car window as he nears the black council worker raking the leaves at the road verge.

[????]

'tis true ;-)

But I guess the sanme could be said for Richards/Clapton/Jones/Korner etc etc and The Blues

[DJKillaQueen]

LOL I was being tongue in cheek with the gangsta bit ;-)

Can't believe my faux pas with the message :-$ doh!

Erik B and Rakim, more house than hip hop?

This is the real deal tho.....

2Pac Hit Em Up

[titch juicy]

eric b & rakim more house than hip hop?!?!

tell me you didn't just type that

[titch juicy]

 

[Undisputedtruth]

???? Wrote:

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> Come on, most of these aren't Gangsta

>

>

> how about

>

> ..I ain't new to this - Ice T

True, but these tunes, which laid the foundation for Gangsta Rap, are valid as DJKQ allowed them in her first post statement. Now what we need are threads on Swing Beat, Go Go, Upfront & Electro funk music.

[ibilly99]

Keepin' it real and local

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[Husker]

I heard this for the first time in yonks today and it made me think of this thread.

A seminal moment in the history of Gangsta rap IMHO.

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[ultraburner]

Loving this. Lots of truth in there. Local-ish too.

 

[grabot]

Rakim is the G.O.A.T. Fair play djkq, imho 'paid in full' laid the foundations of house. 1986, my mates are break dancing down town to Rakim et al. 1987, they switch seamlessly to house, year zero for dance music.

Hip hop in general. Nas, wu tang clan, talib kweli, outkast,kanye,lupe fiasco, pharoahe monch. All good in the hood.

[jelly]

Urgh. I can't stand 'gangsta rap'. It's larded with aggression and misogyny. Hardly the kind of thing you should play around young and/or impressionable kids.

[Undisputedtruth]

grabot Wrote:

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> Rakim is the G.O.A.T. Fair play djkq, imho 'paid

> in full' laid the foundations of house. 1986, my

> mates are break dancing down town to Rakim et al.

> 1987, they switch seamlessly to house, year zero

> for dance music.

>

> Hip hop in general. Nas, wu tang clan, talib

> kweli, outkast,kanye,lupe fiasco, pharoahe monch.

> All good in the hood.

Trying to rewrite history doesn't quite cut it with me, grabot. To say 1987 was year zero for dance music showed a lack of knowledge for dance music in general. Even in 1987. Rakim had nothing to do with house music. Not even laying its foundations. His music was hardly ground breaking in 1987 and far too commercial for my own taste.

Break dancing happened in London during the early eighties. Well before 1987, breakdancing was passe in the clubs.

jelly Wrote:

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> Urgh. I can't stand 'gangsta rap'. It's larded

> with aggression and misogyny. Hardly the kind of

> thing you should play around young and/or

> impressionable kids.

Worse than that, rap producers sampled the classic tunes in order to gain musical integrity.

I'm sure you won't agree with what I've just said. But then, I still have my huge pile of Blues & Soul magazines and music collection to backup my extensive knowledge of music around the time. Argue at your peril.

[first mate]

Real early stuff

[Undisputedtruth]

Here's the original footage.

They look like gangsters, under the guise as preachers, to me. ;-)

[titch juicy]

Undisputedtruth Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> grabot Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Rakim is the G.O.A.T. Fair play djkq, imho

> 'paid

> > in full' laid the foundations of house. 1986,

> my

> > mates are break dancing down town to Rakim et

> al.

> > 1987, they switch seamlessly to house, year

> zero

> > for dance music.

> >

> > Hip hop in general. Nas, wu tang clan, talib

> > kweli, outkast,kanye,lupe fiasco, pharoahe

> monch.

> > All good in the hood.

>

> Trying to rewrite history doesn't quite cut it

> with me, grabot. To say 1987 was year zero for

> dance music showed a lack of knowledge for dance

> music in general. Even in 1987. Rakim had nothing

> to do with house music. Not even laying its

> foundations. His music was hardly ground breaking

> in 1987 and far too commercial for my own taste.

>

> Break dancing happened in London during the early

> eighties. Well before 1987, breakdancing was passe

> in the clubs.

>

> jelly Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Urgh. I can't stand 'gangsta rap'. It's larded

> > with aggression and misogyny. Hardly the kind

> of

> > thing you should play around young and/or

> > impressionable kids.

>

> Worse than that, rap producers sampled the classic

> tunes in order to gain musical integrity.

>

> I'm sure you won't agree with what I've just said.

> But then, I still have my huge pile of Blues &

> Soul magazines and music collection to backup my

> extensive knowledge of music around the time.

> Argue at your peril.

I'll argue against both of you

Eric B & Rakim had nothing to do with house music at any point in their career.

The music they made between 85-87 was absolutely groundbreaking and paved the way for (and arguably invented) modern hip hop.

The debut album was influential in so many ways, not least because of the use of james brown and other funk samples; and rakim's lyrical content and flow are still regarded as the best ever. His MC'ing on the first two albums, on tracks like 'my melody', 'i know you got soul', 'eric b is president', 'follow the leader', 'lyrics of fury', microphone fiend' still sound fresh today, over 25 years later- he's regarded as the best ever MC by his peers and fans of hip hop.

And they definitely weren't a commercial act, far from it- the debut album didn't penetrate the top 50 in the US or UK and it was only a remix of the 'paid in full' single by british producers/remixers Cold Cut in 1988 that brought them any kind of success in this country, and even that didn't trouble the top 10.

I don't have a pile of magazines to refer to, just my own records, memory and the internet for help with exact dates and chart positions.

[grabot]

My comments are based on my memories too, rather than an knowledge of music or history. But, I do have a sketchy memory of my cool friends, they wore Italian tracksuits and the like, moving seamlessly from hip hip to house and I recall hearing similarities between them at the time. I didn't, however grow up amongst London hipsters [i never have and never will own a pork pie hat], Chicago house didn't make it up north and I was listening to rubbish at the time; a big part of me feels that I missed out! My apparently controversial statement was designed to elicit a response as I am interested in people's personal experience of this period, rather than a dry historical treatsie. Also, loved the 30's rap, amazing.

[titch juicy]

Sorry, my mistake- I thought you meant Eric B & Rakim moved seamlessly to house music, but you were taking about your mates.

[Undisputedtruth]

grabot Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> My comments are based on my memories too, rather

> than an knowledge of music or history. But, I do

> have a sketchy memory of my cool friends, they

> wore Italian tracksuits and the like, moving

> seamlessly from hip hip to house and I recall

> hearing similarities between them at the time. I

> didn't, however grow up amongst London hipsters ,

> Chicago house didn't make it up north and I was

> listening to rubbish at the time; a big part of me

> feels that I missed out! My apparently

> controversial statement was designed to elicit a

> response as I am interested in people's personal

> experience of this period, rather than a dry

> historical treatsie. Also, loved the 30's rap,

> amazing.

I grew up in South East London and hardly saw anyone wearing a pork pie hat. With regards to the London hipsters I guess everything in our culture was so organic. We didn't have marketing idiots like Hugo telling us what was good. The street fashion and music just evolved organically. I do remember the Italian tracksuits such as Fila and Sergio Tacchini but again their novelty had worn off by the mid eighties. Trainers were also better made. Thinking back, I guess it was our generation who created the current youth culture. We were the first to electronic video games, bmx, skateboarding, hip hop, street wear fashion, house music, etc.

These days, youngsters are spoon fed by marketing idiots and it's such a shame. You see groups of youngsters wearing identical clothing. What is wrong with having a bit of individuality? Music is far to commercial and lacking in creativity. And labels means nothing these days with the infiltration of marketing idiots.

@titch juicy - no, grabot made the fatal error when he said 'paid in full' laid the foundation for house.

[Undisputedtruth]