I like my chicken fried, my women wide, GMC trucks is all I ride
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
legacy of J Dilla
Black Milk's dropping his first solo album Popular Demand on March 13th and its some solid, serious post-Dilla hip-hop - considering how much attention was paid to Donuts* this shit might end up getting a lot of that Urb/Scratch hype/attention (a la Lupe). Black Milk was in BR Gunna, the production trio (Black Milk, Young R.J. and Fat Ray) that did a bunch of Slum Village shit, so obviously the Dilla influence is strong with this one. The album is pretty consistent and he can actually rap, can hold your attention over a single track or even a couple tracks in a row, which (let's be real) is refreshing over unquantized neo-soul rap beats. (Here come a million several angry Elzhi fans)(haha ok, cards on the table, we only have five readers in 2007 and odds are none of them care about Elzhi). So the legacy of J Dilla is ...? Well, there's a lot of obvious 'good'-derivative but a fair amount of weak, boring shit came out of this sound too. And while there's no debate Dilla was a great producer in a unique and highly stylized niche it's hard for me to enjoy this shit is straight up 'rap music' mostly because so many of the dudes who took to it just. Can't. Rap. So boring! Sometimes I even wish Dilla's focus had been more R&B-oriented, more "Dollar," less Donuts, just because his style seems to have had more of a profoundly interesting influence on that end than it did for this style of hip-hop. Or maybe its an issue of context; generally when i'm out at your more upscale-chic-headwrap type clubs, its more fun to hear DJs who are invested in hip-hop as only one aspect of this Detroit aesthetic, who plays it as a balancing act between R&B, dance and Phonte, or whoeverthefuck, rather than hearing dudes like Black Milk as street narrative album auteurs or some shit a la gangsta rap or underground backpacker rap etc.
*while I understand the need to buy into the Dilla legacy was urgent it was just a beat tape(!) not A Love Supreme, vs. The Shining which I thought was, while flawed, a pretty good state-of-Dilla's last days rap/R&B cd
Believe it or not this is a video from Deric Angelettie and Ron Lawrence, then known as D.O.P. and Noble Ahmen Ra, later known as D Dot and Amen-Ra who you all should know for their work with classic and overhated Bad Boy releases throughout the 90s. They met at Howard U in the 80s and dropped an afrocentric album in '91 called From Pyramids to Projects and then disbanded, leaving behind only this silly video where "hoooo" is pronounced "Ho." Then of course a legacy of classic 90s hip-hop tracks. For Ron Lawrence this ranged from the most utterly glossy pop anthem "Been Around the World" to his work on Jay-Z's "Where I'm From," probably the best straight-up hard-as-fuck street track Jay ever released. Here is a youtube where he explains, kind of generally, how he made the beat:
Dropped on Koch which is cool and it looks like Kyleon is fucking with Slim again, he kind of backed off and started running with that Day 1 fam shit for a minute. Dudes got some of the best joints on here. Hell just hearing Killa on tracks is the main reason I wanted this album to come out. The album has some banging ass cuts on it which helps. I've been a fan of Recognize A Player since I heard it on Rapid Ric's After Da Relays mixtape, had that shit in my work truck and it was the perfect way to start a day at work with those horns setting shit off but man when that bass comes in it makes a motherfucker happy to be alive. If you ain't knowin you best to get up on this cause otherwise you're just a bitch.
Badge On My Neck Yeah it's about shiny cars and bullshit but it's Kyleon. Dude is so fucking brash with it he sounds angry even when he's telling you how rich he is. I'm a big fan of his delivery, his voice just hits with a punch that way too many motherfuckers lack.
Straight Outta Texas ft Killa Kyleon, P.J. and J-Dawg I'm feeling this beat, they need a remix with a Pimp C verse and shit would be fucking perfect. Killa and PJ got the strongest verses on here. J-Dawg is alright but could benefit from shutting the fuck up.
The one draw back of the album are them soft ass joints like Cheating. I can understand dudes getting their feelings hurt and want to speak on it but man if I wanted to hear a motherfucker singing I would have bought his album. I don't want to hear this low budget bubble bath and candles bullshit. Scrape that nonsense and give me more raps.
Something appropriate and timely in this, his pre-Young Dro barrel-heavy delivery an embrace of rap rap rap over Polow, the only new producer anyone's really looking for right now on the national stage (would you have ever thought things would be so weak we'd be looking to will.i.am??? Yet here we are), the last bastion of real hard g-rap music with the potential to go plat in a barren environment of rappers who can't sell without an Xmas gimmick, one of the few soldiers who made enough money to maybe weather this internet-killing-music storm, at least for awhile. Say goodbye to the bloated Vegas-era event albums of washed up NY rappers, the bloated Vegas-era mixtapes of washed up wannabeNY N'Orleans rappers, embrace the realness of dudes who struggle to go gold, the Gottis and Dros and Boosies and uhhh...Dogg Pound's, too, I guess (although that leadoff Dogg Chit single is...Dogg shit.) Eh. While I liked the first Buck album a fair amount, there's something about dudes whose personalities seem to have been formed in a riviting plant or a ford factory or coal mine, all rough rugged and raw, like he sounds unafraid to stab a dude at the source awards, that seems real appealing RIGHT NOW, after an era of Neptunes flashbulb glitz etc. Remember how boring G-Unit all looked on the cover of XXL in that group shot where they were all clad in leather jackets, washed up vets alongside overexposed rapping Al Gore's like Lloyd Banks? Well, they're mostly still boring (uhhh yay return of the mac, tho), but after a peek at the production credits - how weird is it that G-Unit, the supposed enemies of originality and creativity in gangsta rap seem like the only testing ground for new producers on their albums these days! its strange I tell you.
go read that shit because MOP needs a new album title and they need to drop some fucking raps for the world to hear because there is too much soft shit going down. I don't need to learn a new dance I fucking hate dancing. I want to go to fucking rap concerts and jump around til the motherfucking floor caves in. I want to see rappers that actually get hyped the fuck up during a performance none of this mumble mouth bullshit with towelboy on back up. If you've never seen MOP live I feel sorry for you. It is a crucial experience for any hiphop fan.
man I suggest you peep this dudes blog , And It Don't Stop, because shit is dope. No fancy fucking bullshit just links to dope albums, videos, or whatever. Dude doesn't stick to one thing either, fucking yaggfu front to awolone videos to planet patrol.
Older Criminal Manne track off of the Street Ways album from 04. I had forgotten I had this shit and one day it comes in on random and the song just hit the way I needed a song to hit at that moment so here you go.
Got this one on repeat right now cause it goes hard. It's off Southern Smoke 27, the DTP one. I don't know if v12 boys is a legit group or just some mixtape shit but you got Pimp C and Boosie on this one.
Off the Tell Me When To Stop Cause I Already Go mixtape, which happens to be a fucking incredible title for a mixtape. Little Oompa Loompa thrown in there for fun.
