2004: rap feels the voib (more than ever?)

Have grown a little tired of the shitty synths 'n keys populating a lot of crunk and grime.

BubbleCrunk

I'm weirded out that critics jump on hip-hop now rather than 10 years ago. Or rather, that they're jumping on the RIGHT hip-hop finally - whereas ten years ago they were all about "Tennessee".

Or maybe ILM /= critics

DjDee, I think Mitch is saying that after a few years away from the limelight (2000 was the last peak) "b boys on e" has made a return this year. And i think you'll find that ILM has been "jumping on" hip hop since ILM started.

CUT CHEMIST - This Hollywood-bred mixologist and erstwhile DJ for the hip-hop group Jurassic 5 turns the microscope on his own back catalog in "The Litmus Test" (A Stable Sound), a mix of every song he's worked on. From his early tracks like "The Layered Laird" to his remixes for groups like Ugly Duckling, Cut Chemist (Lucas MacFadden) gleefully distills the music into 28 minutes of pure hip-hop heaven. The best part is a rearranging of a track from a children's exercise record into the mantra "If you're open, take off your `close.' " Take this crash course before his first solo album drops on Warner Brothers next year.

LIL' FLIP - Having paid dues for years behind other people's hot tracks (and his own warm ones), Flip finally snatches the crown with the hit single "Game Over." The cover of the LP, "U Gotta Feel Me" (Columbia), shows Flip striking a pose that recalls the rap pioneer Melle Mel, evidence of an emerging old-school revival within the traditionally forward-thinking aesthetic of Southern rap. Also surprising is the presence of reggae touches throughout the album, hinting that Lil' Flip may one day reach the evocative heights of Southern brethren OutKast or Cee-lo Green. Flip makes his album available in two versions: the original and the "screwed and chopped," a slow, psychedelic mix originated by his fellow Houstonian DJ Screw.

THE GIFT OF GAB - Temporarily splitting off from the rap duo Blackalicious, Gab takes advantage of a sparser soundscape to project deeply personal rhymes that resonate if only for their refreshing lack of hyperbole. His new album, "Fourth Dimensional Rocket Ships Going Up" (Quannum Projects), comes across as soulful, uncluttered and contemporary. "To Know You," a romantic come-on for the ladies, picks up where Common's hit "The Light" left off.

MICHAEL LIGGINS AND THE SUPER SOULS - Psychedelic funk was once relegated to the record collections of a lucky few. Now Again records has licensed this group's three extant 45's into a handy 12-inch EP, "Loaded to the Gills." Masterpieces of funky slop, the songs, recorded in 1970, are a welcome affront to what so many retro funk bands represent; it's not clean, it's not jazzy, it's not (structurally) complex. This is the real, seldom-heard sound of funk that still feels radical and urgent.

THE ROOTS - Just in time for the summer festival season, a new single has arrived from these hip-hop stalwarts. "Don't Say Nuthin" (Geffen) is a solid preface for what reputedly will be a less traditional Roots LP; less traditional in the sense that live instrumentation takes a backseat to straight-up beats and rhymes. Scott Storch produced the track, and it is the first song I've heard that uses mumbling as the hook. (At least, intentional mumbling. Tom Waits may have tried something similar.)

PITBULL - Another single making noise ahead of an anticipated album, "That's Nasty" features the Southern rappers Lil Jon and Lil Scrappy and precedes the full-length "M.I.A.M.I. (Money Is a Major Issue)" on TVT Records. Pitbull, a Cuban Floridian, vividly captures the fantasies of many inner city youth with dreams of 24-inch tire rims and neighborhood admiration; "but for now he's just grindin,' " putting in work ahead of what will undoubtedly be a big underground LP. Long live the prolific Lil Jon and his ever-expanding empire.

`KEEPINTIME: A LIVE RECORDING' - Take three legendary drummers. Add five hot D.J.'s. Mix well. The result is "Keepintime," a new DVD/CD package from Mochilla. On the drum side: Paul Humphrey and James Gadson, who between them have laid down beats for everyone from Marvin Gaye to the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. Also attending is Derf Reklaw, former percussionist for Earth, Wind and Fire, among others. The D.J.'s: Babu and J-Rocc of the Beat Junkies, Shortkut and Nu-Mark and Cut Chemist. It's essentially one giant jam session, recorded live at the El Rey theater in Los Angeles. What's interesting is how the improvised music evolves over time, and how different talents dictate tempo and establish structure. The CD features tracks created in the studio from portions of the show.

PRINCE PO - It's a joy to report that not all "old school" (or in this case, mid-school) rappers are mired in outdated beats and bitter attempts to right their place in history. Prince Po, who along with Pharoahe Monch defined early 90's rap at its most creative as Organized Konfusion, has put out a truly brave single, "Hold Dat" (Lex). Underground rap is finally emerging from its own conservatism and embracing the present, evidenced by the adventurous production on this single from Richard X. Early 80's electro bleeps work well with Po, who no longer seems burdened with having to separate himself from the more charismatic (and successful) Monch. Let's hope "Hold Dat" and the coming album will bring the kind of mainstream success that has so far eluded Prince Po.

DJ Shadow is Josh Davis, a hip-hop "synthesist" who on Tuesday will release "In Tune and On Time," a concert DVD and an accompanying CD.

Trife made a list of all the best rap albums from 1990 to 99, but I can't find it now.

I don't see why building on the canon requires smashing people who never foisted their greatness on us in the first place - how many times did hip-hop dominate the pazz and jop poll in the early 90s?

I do see yr point though - I think hip-hop is as strong as it's ever been, continually innovative and that the so-called "heads" are being left behind.

Shadow's statement on Prince Po has really pumped me for his album btw: Underground rap is finally emerging from its own conservatism and embracing the present, evidenced by the adventurous production on this single from Richard X.

91 to 01

(oddly enough I was re-reading this thread at the weekend and then went out yesterday and bought six CDs from the lists)

and i think i should've mentioned TRANCE in the thread intro, that's what i hear more of here than ever. trance. (and since we've brought up trife, he thinks the above is 99% attributable to 80s-and-onwards electro and booty bass 'influence' and i'm imagining the 90s dance connections.)(but i don't really want ppl attacking paraphrased versions of his arguments when he isn't even here to defend those).

it's "slow" by house standards but so is Funky Town!

Strongo, that interview in Scratch was GREAT, Lil Jon sez a lot of interesting stuff.

I think that people (Simon Reynolds, ILM et al) overdo the influence of european dance music on current hip-hop (timbaland lil jon et al), and while I think that house definitely had an influence on Lil Jon I think you need to remember what house music he's talking about.

I don't think people realize how little Euro-dance music really permiated the airwaves over here... either bcuz they AREN'T here, or bcuz they are a part of a social group (i.e. hipsters, avid music-heads) who intentionally have investigated European dance muisc in a way I don't think Timbaland or Lil Jon have.

Strongo, I think Lil Jon says a couple things related to this in that interview: one, that one of the main kinds of music he's listening to right now is miami bass which is clearly an important influence, and two, that he's listening to tons of dancehall - no mention of two-step or trance.

also noone's mentioned in this thread that Just Blaze has got a serious east coast ghetto house influence on some of his tracks, especially lately, Fire (Yes Yes Y'all), Party & Bullshit 2003, Shorty (Put It On The Floor), even Pump It Up has that horn riff that always reminded me of Baltimore club.

anyway, timbaland does check out lots of music you might not expect him to so maybe he is into IDM and euro house. supposedly he goes to honest jons and buys the entire shop then makes them have to renovate.

http://www.scratchmagazine.com/features/0504.LilJon/

(cf. Andre 3000 - "Squarepusher and Aphex Twin is sonically ten years ahead of current rap music! Hip hop is corny!" God, reading interviews with him is depressing - especially the incredibly patronising attitude towards Big Boi that inevitably surfaces. He's like an avatar for every rap-hating dick of a journalist ever!)

Re: "Move Your Body" - I don't think that it's really that slow, or maybe it's got a bit of a split time feel to it. I mean, you could easily loop the vocal over a smashing house groove without tampering with it timewise. In fact it's really just a matter of time before this starts happening innit?

you need to read the latest post on http://www.blissout.blogspot.com

and those sounds are definitely in crunk, no shadow of a doubt. he's not talking slick european microhouse or steve gurley-style vocal cut-ups or anything but scuzzy, bouncy house music that gets played in strip club, the sort of mass-market "dance" music you do hear all over the states.

And I assumed Lil Jon was talking about big booty ghetto-type house, not the mass-market "techno" sound or something. But maybe that stuff is more a chicago thing.

From a sex-pol angle, it’s interesting that Lil Jon first encounters and assimilates house music (hitherto regarded as gay in the hip hop imagination, and not without reason) in such a stronghold of heterosexism and armored male selfhood as the strip club. - Reynolds

Maybe it's a negative fascination, code-worded thing - you secretly want to interject music you see as gay into your hip-hop, so you channel it through pop, ghetto, strip clubs, etc. Great results, regardless.

In fact funky breaks and crunk are like weird inversions of each other staring across the cultural void.

http://www.ninjatune.net/videos/video.php?type=qt&id=67 quicktime

http://www.ninjatune.net/videos/video.php?type=ra&id=67 real audio

if you dont give a damn...

that's been going on in miami bass forever too.

This is what I'm saying...let's not let this get out of hand.

Miami Bass isn't really synthy in the same way as crunk. What appeals about crunk synths are how thick and viscuous they are, sorta flushed (with lust? drugs? hypnotic?). And, esp. with Lil Jon (not so much, say, Banner's productions) the drums are quite de-emphasised in favour of the bass lines and synth work, whereas Miami Bass is *all about* the beats. I'm not denying the obviously enormous link between the two, but I don't think crunk can be so easily reduced to just "southern hip hop + more miami bass influences". That was more true for Mannie Fresh-style bounce from five years ago than it is for Lil' Jon.

umm....

I think Reel 2 Real's "I like to move it" is a big influence on crunk.

But yeah, I don't think that the completely "American" (ahem) house music you're mentioning were 1) likely to get much strip club play (straight ones and definitely recently anyway) and 2) sound much like Lil Jon. It's hard to imagine most American house/techno/garage/bass music from the 90's developing in much the same way without at least some input from the euro-rave music (which had been totally infected with ideas from American house music which had been borrowing ideas from euro-house which had been stealing from disco, etc. . .)

So here's a (euro)crunk song that samples it. Pretty good except for the silly English spoken intro
http://s27.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3C98CAQGDDIRU2ZJQGP0XCXLSB

(the song reminded me of this thread so i thought i'd revive it)

(euro)crunk

burn in hell