frat rap

j0rdan i know lupe & those guys are big w/ frat audiences too.

i think this is a break w/ that though ... these are artists who are frat-popular w/out being otherwise popular

this shit is appalling, want to declare 100% allegiance w/goon crew on this, but "more popular than odd future" = because of YouTube views? not sure that's really a reliable gauge of popularity, tyler's on national tv, these guys are Popular On The Internet

lol IOW co-sign w/deej's last post. frat types are into all kinds of lame shit that normal ppl are repulsed by

i know thats not proof but there is no proof of anything any more -- we're lost in a sea of non-evidence of popularity -- my pt in bringing up youtube views is to show that just because we hear a lot about odd future in our social world doesnt mean there isnt another world out there that is paying attention to different stuff

i think the odd future focus of our blogosphere lately has been a bit myopic

& jordan's dismissive "well thats just like regional rap else where" thing ... so?? do those ppl deserve less weight than us because some of us happen to have blogs or write for publications?

another world out there that is paying attention to different stuff

this has been the case throughout history though - as long as I've been listening to music I've been occasionally running across stuff where I go "really? people like that?" and then it turns out there's a whole huge demographic that just was off my general radar. yr right w/general observation that one's own focus tends to distort the broader picture but the broader picture has always kind of been more a conceit than an Actually Obtainable Thing

imo

but my main point was everybody otm this music is terrible

i guess i was teh one to big challenge on that since i claimed these guys are bigger than odd future but allow me to posit it this way then: "it is my theory that this stuff is actually galvanizing a really large group of people with considerably less media attention, a group of people the size of which is underestimated & may in fact exceed the popularity of a group like odd future, possibly"

i was the one to BEG a challenge

deej otm i know nothing of these frat rappers but i knew some frat boys and i've heard of like phish and widespread panic and the "underground" frat circuit is not to be underestimated.

these guys get youtube hits sure but would people really buy this stuff

like are people listening to this for reasons beyond the lol irony factor of white dudes rapping

yeah I can dig that, I mean what I'd say then is lots of popular stuff isn't really that interesting & that's why people who care about rap might have something to say about Odd Future but not about this -- it's just kind of a depressing albeit well-liked among some people thing, you know? I mean this is how I feel about pop & pop crit for the past 5+ years, myself, it's like lots of smart people wanna have something to say about Justin Bieber who I think deserves about exactly as much att'n as this stuff, because the music is garbage. And it always feels forced when mainstream critics are writing about what feels/sounds like a wasteland of crap in the pop world at the moment. You know? so odd future: if you love rap, you can sink your teeth into it, even if you don't like it you'll be able to get some riffs going about it, it feels worth talking. This? all you can really say is "yup...some people think McDonald's is great food to feed to your children, too" - food critics don't write about McDonald's, right

i dont think anyone's listening to this for irony except for us

i agree w that post, kurt novoselic of the band nirvana

I wasn't dismissing Kevin's point about Sam Adams, but the reality is that his popularity is prob skewed in the New England area -- I hear ace hood on the radio a ton here but I don't think it means that he's popular elsewhere

I think they're less deserving of our attention cuz the music sucks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_psMU63b7I

thing is like - unlike OF, these guys are not being pushed by critics...or rap blogs...or MTV or anything - yet they're still well-known among a certain cohort of ppl. that means something, i'm not sure what

sublime is also well known among a certain cohort of ppl, so is O.A.R.

idk yes the music is terrible (to my ears) but if they can garner some kind of following in this day of balkanized music taste and make a living off of this, and the music is harmless, more power to them I guess, even if they won't be blowing up on pitchfork anytime soon

oh fratrap.tumblr.com is a real thing... huh

yeah I mean like I say there's lots of music that's just kicking ass in the marketplace without much critical att'n. Creed, for several years, were selling out arenas & scanning insane numbers and nobody who cared about music had ever heard of them. Devotchka sells & draws like you wouldn't believe. world is huge, lots of populations/demographics that we don't even hear or think about because we do not dig what they're into

yah idk how much i have to say abt this as it relates to the rap game or w/e but its basically children's music - super simple, focus on repetitious sing-along chorus, void of introspection, v 'functional', its p tedious but understandable as party music.

like idk maybe theres something interesting in the way that college age kidz are making blithe & unthinking party rap music instead of dmb-esque acoustic guitar shit & how 'rap' is basically the dominant pop idiom now, & blah blah blah

thing is a lot of frats have like a 'rap dude'---some guy in the house that prides himself on a) his knowledge of the genre ('i'm pretty into hip-hop') and b) freestyles when he's drunk, and is actually ok at it.

throw in a frat brother that can 'make beats' (ie copy shit from the 90s) and some lyrics that are written expressly for the enjoyment of frat party attendees and you have an act that can book shows on a frat house circuit

they'll make no money on merch, get paid in beer and weed, but they'll make a ton of casual fans ("oh dude i totally saw these guys at AD when i was a sophomore...it ruled! totally smoked up the DJ") and possibly parlay that into a touring act that plays college towns exclusively.

our v own aerosmith has played on TV (great work btw), but widespread panic has sold out red rocks 35 times (according to wiki) and i'd hazard one of those gigs is more lucrative than the other, both in the short- and long-term

basically: OF on Kimmel and Kanye's twitter ain't shit.

omg so many truth bombs in that post

Only tangentially related but: I went to see Chromeo in Oakland recently - I know they're not especially liked on ILM but I love them - and was shocked at the percentage of fratty bros in attendance. IME frat dudes like Sublime, RHCP, popular rap, or around here Bay Area rap, but tongue-in-cheek French-Canadian 80s-style electro R&B? Who knew?

OAR is freaky stealth popular. There's a whole scene of dave matthews diaspora stuff that is creepy big. I just saw a live thing of some oar type band that I'd never heard of and never seen mentioned on ilx or by anyone I know. The live footage was from a sold out madison square garden

The Arcade Fire aren't THAT bad.

OAR played my university's spring break festival xp

OAR/Widespread/DMB too imo et al are all part of what I consider the post-Dead extension - they came into existence when the Dead were still touring & a generation of mobile, connected college kids were starting to get into Dead shows but then Jerry died in, what, '95? and all these bands that were establishing a foothold sort of rushed to fill the space left by following the Dead all summer, and they had enough chops & affinity for the audience that they really managed to secure a spot

this is my half-assed ill-thought-through but long-held theory anyway

Yeah, that seems about right.

no that is pretty much true -- those bands are much more about smoking weed and nostalgia for things you never experienced (woodstock) than it is about frats or w/e

as an aside: who actually ~makes more money~ from music (not side ventures): kanye or the roots? like, seriously---i have seen the roots exactly twice and once was in 2002 (college show at sold out field house---so, thousands) and the other was at the x-games lol in 2005 which was broadcast live on espn

obv i'm guessing kanye makes more money (economies of scale), and more people have heard of him, but i guess my real question is: how much money can you make ~per fan~ by touring v. album sales? the frat-circuit (which extends waaaay beyond frats btw) is insanely lucrative, i'd think. college events boards and frat houses pay more than shitty dives, and if there's enough booze andno one's actively bored, then every show nets like 100% name-recognition

NB this may only apply to "small liberal-arts colleges that are relatively isolated."

wow I have never heard of OAR

also those bands that aero mentions & that we're talking about all go out and do festivals all summer & festivals none of us have ever heard of -- pretty much anywhere in the US where there is a large field or campground, somebody will organize a jam band festival, TONS of ppl will show up to get stoned, and tons of jam bands will play there -- and this happens every summer, all summer

OAR/Widespread/DMB too imo et al are all part of what I consider the post-Dead extension - they came into existence when the Dead were still touring & a generation of mobile, connected college kids were starting to get into Dead shows but then Jerry died in, what, '95? and all these bands that were establishing a foothold sort of rushed to fill the space left by following the Dead all summer, and they had enough chops & affinity for the audience that they really managed to secure a spot

this is my half-assed ill-thought-through but long-held theory anyway

― five gone cats from Boston (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Saturday, March 12, 2011 9:33 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Yeah, that seems about right.

― phantoms from a world gone by speak again the immortal tale: (Jenny), Saturday, March 12, 2011 9:35 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

no that is pretty much true -- those bands are much more about smoking weed and nostalgia for things you never experienced (woodstock) than it is about frats or w/e

― J0rdan S., Saturday, March 12, 2011 9:36 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

nah

yr all missing the point i think

xp wait maybe not: jordan--my point was that any 'fratty' band (jam or rap or w/e) can do that.

wait til ou find out what the name stands for xxp

kanye probably makes a good deal more per engagement right now, but because he's trading on celebrity, his arc is defined. bands like Widespread Panic can work for thirty years if they want and consistently make millions of dollars every year; often these bands own their own buses, have full gear sponsorships, etc. people who're into Kanye are into the narrative of when he got good & does he keep getting better or when does he "start to suck," etc -- this narrative doesn't appeal to fans of the bands we're talking about; these bands consist largely of "players" (jazz dudes use this term just meaning "guys who can really play") who can hit a groove & hold it and that's not really something you lose if you're always out there, really you just keep getting better as long as your health holds. when you're a pop star your days are numbered. people who go see Ratdog in 2011 first saw Weir sing "Truckin'" in 1978.

like, they're on the 45th edition of this one http://www.campzoe.com/schwagstock45.html

gbx there is a lot of truth to what you're saying

the fact that the majority of their acronym consists of words that you don't put in acronyms should have been reason enough for your school to boycott this band. they should just be R.

xp to dayo

also what do they sound like? I don't want to youtube it

bonnaroo is obv a huge festival & they get tons of huge acts now but they still bill the string cheese incident on the same line as lil wayne

that is real talk, aero

but i still think that the main thing as far as the jam-band/college lol issue is concerned w/r/t to 'frat rap' is that the dead extension kinda carved out a bunch of trade routes that lead to weird underground popularity that can outstrip, in money and devotion, the reach of 'main-stream' artists.

i mean ICP is the apotheosis of this shit---i'm guessin they are ACTUALLY more popular than the dead ever was

many xps lol saturday

(not to prompt a dead v. ICP popularity contest---just that ICP has, simply by existing ~when~ they exist, pushed more units and sold more tickets (maybe) than the Dead. )

OMG this shit is awful, just now hearing some of the youtubes posted. also- is that article whiney posted for real???

The group's third member is D.J. Kid Swift, a highly ranked professional disk jockey. "The d.j.of a rap album," Shecter explained, "is the guy who manipulates the record on the turntable to produce a scratching sound."

"They will probably be as big or even bigger than The Beastie Boys because they have total crossover appeal," Ratner said of the group.

"I've been interested in the music since rap came out, when I was around eleven years old," Shecter said in his Cabot House room, which is decorated with posters of rap groups Erik B. & Rakim.

like, this kid is explaining what a DJ is to harvard students?? eric b. & rakim referred to as "groups" plural? and bigger than the beastie boys/???? like.. fuck i dont even know what to say, this is so stupid

also- is "O.A.R." a play on the term "A.O.R."? never heard them btw but am v aware of their existence in the dave matthews fanbase world

O.A.R. (short for Of a Revolution) is an American rock band

looooool wtf

also what do they sound like? I don't want to youtube it

I think they have a trumpet player?

what ethnicity is he

he may have dreads

so he's white?