Rolling 2006 Hip Hop Thread

on the whole I think the Juvenile album is pretty boring and unrewarding but I love "Holla Back." I really can't remember anything particularly good on the Youngbloodz album.

How come nobody ever talks about how much fun that Pitbull "Shake" remix is?

because Pitbull was on the original too? and the version with Elephant Man isn't anything special?

I think maybe the problem here is that a lot of rap fans are bothered by the way rap is treated as just another strain of the postmodern pick-and-choose style of crit/ILMing, where folks see it as another color in their listening spectrum which is weird when it seems so central to the pop music narrative right now. As if rap is a genre is as much a part of the spectrum as a certain style of indie rock or microhouse when it has so much more cultural resonance in this country than either of those genres (not a dismissal of either).

I definitely like the "Shake" remix (on Pitbull's remix album, which is way better than his non-remix album, and on the Ying Yang Twins' most recent outtake album, which is way better than their previous "real" album) better than any non-remixed version I've heard. But the true star of the song is George "Din Da Da" Kranz.

more like the world ------

Seriously, though, I'd actually deign to say the cultural influence of country (at least in America) is perhaps even greater than that of hiphop. Don't underestimate the red states.

"kidnap the president's wife without a plan" might be my favourite rap boast ever

June

Ice Cube-Laugh Now, Cry Later June 6
Purple City-The Purple Album June 6
Busta Rhymes-The Big Bang June 13
Field Mob-Light Poles And Pine Trees June 13
Mr. Lif-Mo'Mega June 13
Raekwon-Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II June 20
Obie Trice-Second Round's On Me June 20
JR Writer-History In The Making June 27
Pimp C-Pimpulation June 27
Lupe Fiasco-Food & Liquor June 27
Lloyd Banks-Rotten Album June 27

July

Hell Rell-Welcome To Hell July 11
J Dilla-The Shining July 11
Slim Thug-Still Platinum July 18
8Ball & MJG-Pure American Pimpin July 18
Freeway-Free At Last July 25

August

OutKast-Idlewild OST August 22
The Roots-Game Theory August 29
The Game-The Doctor's Advocate August 29

Summer

Ol' Dirty Bastard-A Son Unique
Pharrell Williams-In My Mind
Missy Elliot-Respect Me
Saigon-The Greatest Story Never Told
Project Pat-Crook By The Book
Masta Killa-The East Is In The House
The Fugees-Reconciliation
DJ Muggs & Inspectah Deck-The Rebel And The Assassin
Papoose-The Nacirema Dream
Ghostface & MF DOOM-Swift & Changeable
Clipse Hell-Hath No Fury
Mike Jones-The American Dream
Ludacris-Release Therapy
Young Buck-Bad Influence

Autumn?

Nas-NASDAQ Dow Jones
Pharoahe Monch-Desire
Kanye West-Graduation
Paul Wall-Get Money, Stay True
Sean Price-Jesus Price Superstar
Common-Finding Forever
Dr. Dre-Detox
Lil' Jon-Crunk Rock
Snoop Dogg-The Blue Carpet Treatment

I do kinda wish that it was all like the Just Blaze tracks though! Is that boring of me?

Chuck I want a new Field Mob album too! And I haven't even heard the much-feted Ciara collab-o yet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRg7PpKQLhw&search=field%20mob%20so%20what

But here is my favorie Field Mob video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-phGHkFU6c&search=field%20mob%20lonely

And here is an even better song called "So What":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzKMEqBoFys&search=anti%20nowhere%20league

backwudz is real dope, too bad they went w/ the novelty joint instead of picking from one of a dozen nicer tracks

I don't mean that it can't or shouldn't be an AO genre. I just mean that outside of the rappers I mentioned (and the so-called "underground," debatably), rap isn't known for its albums. Seriously--there are probably a couple dozen or so great rap "albums" (in the classic, rockist sense of album: a coherent, cohesive, unified statement) for all the thousands of incredible rap songs. It doesn't make it better/worse than rock (which itself is only thought of as an AO genre because of the 1970s, which is kind of lame).

Obv. there are exceptions on all sides. I don't mean, though, that rap is inherently song-oriented (although I think one could make a case), just that through the mechanisms of the industry and American culture for the last 30 or however many years, it has evolved into a largely song-oriented genre.

-- and what (an...) (webmail), May 28th, 2006 8:07 PM.

young buck & dj drama - case dismissed
balance - young & restless
trae & dougie d - year of the underdawgs
young joc & dj burn one - gorilla in da trunk 8
b.g. - heart of tha streetz vol 2
anthony hamilton - aint nobody worryin
styles p & supa mario - ghost in the machine
lil wayne & dj drama - dedication 2
bronze nazareth - the great migration
dem franchize boyz - on top of our game
dj chuck t - down south slangin blends
ras kass - revenge of the spit
ne-yo - in my own words
copywrite & dj 730 - hiphop disciples xvii
dj drama - welcome to the atl
louis logic & jj brown - misery loves comedy
the coup - pick a bigger weapon
bhi - the snap movement
aceyalone - magnificent city instrumentals

-- and what (an...) (webmail), May 28th, 2006 8:10 PM.

trilltown mafia - welcome to trilltown
lil boosie & silky slim - keep it gutta
nasty nardo - already famous
gilles peterson & jazzanova - kings of jazz
alchemist - the chemistry files
trae - restless

-- and what (an...) (webmail), May 28th, 2006 10:40 PM.

Yeah, and most rock albums are tedious, too.

I'm not any happier with the albums than you are, I just don't really expect them to be great--all I need is four or five great singles.

Yeah. My point (which has been made a million times before) is just that the "album" isn't some kind of ur-form of music that all genres need to partake in. I don't think rappers should be concerned with making great full albums.

OTOH, maybe I should judge them more harshly because they're trying to make cohesive &c albums...

Sorry if I'm not making any sense.

And although Frank is much wiser than me, I still think of albums as albums rather than EP fodder. I just like searching for hidden gold, I guess, rather than it being right there waiting for me on the altar.

Let me revise: I like albums. I like the album as a "statement," as a collection of songs, etc. I grew up listening to AO rock.

That being said, I recognize (as I'm sure everyone here does) that the album isn't and shouldn't be the be-all, end-all of music. Therefore, when I receive an album (like King) that comes across as bloated, overlong, incoherent, fragmented, it doesn't necessarily bother me, especially if there are--as on King--four or five absolutely killer, top-notch songs, or even eight or nine better-than-average songs. I don't feel the need to denigrate or dislike the CD because it isn't a great "album," nor do I think that hip-hop is worsening because its albums--judged as albums--are increasingly bad.

However, if an artist is presenting his or her work as an album--and T.I. is presenting King as an "album" rather than a "collection of songs" or whatever the alternative might be--I should probably be judging it based on whatever criteria I have for albums--coherence and so forth--and thusly judge it poor: too many bad songs, too many skits, too many guest appearances.

So, what I'm trying to say--the state of hip-hop: great. The state of the hip-hop album: shitty. But they aren't the same thing. AKA--I'm judging rap albums using a rock yardstick because I think the album is a rock thing, and yes, I understand I can judge them with a different yardstick but in the end I don't want to listen to an 80-minute album with 30 minutes of good tracks whether it's by T.I. or by Radiohead or whoever. So--that's to a large extent personal taste.

One last thing: the "rock paradigm" thing was sort of a dumb college-kid thing to say, I recognize that. But it's worth pointing out that in many ways T.I. is a different artist than, say, Yes--that T.I. is concerned more (at least from what I can tell, and obviously I'm jumping to conclusions) with creating specific, well-crafted songs, whereas Yes was concerned (and same caveats) more with creating specific, well-crafted albums. Obv. the role of singles and the Top 40 influences this--most if not all acts above a certain level on the "popularity" scale in the US (or at least, their labels) are probably more concerned with single/song creation than with "album" creation, b/c that's what gets play on MTV, etc. Note again that I'm jumping to conclusions all over the place and everything I say is probably refutable, but--I'm putting it out there anyway.

And FWIW--I have long albums, I've listened to them before, and bands I love make them. So I'm aware (and I'm sorry for not making this clear) that rock albums are and can be as boring as rap albums. Frankly, I don't think the "state of the rock album" is any better than the "state of the rap album." And I can't really say I care.

And it's Max, not Matt.