Comments on: An Open Letter to Hip Hop

By: Mirel

Mirel — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 17:03:53 +0000

Here’s a 2 year late reply but I feel I have to say something.

You obviously aren’t searching hard enough to find good hip hop.

Here’s some contemporary hip hop you will enjoy. Great productions and even greater lyrics:

CunninLynguists – 2006 – A Piece of Strange
Atmosphere – God Loves Ugly
Saul Williams – Saul Williams & Niggy Tardust (2 albums) < the guy is an actual poet, he really writes poetry and reads it out in cafe's
Brother Ali – The Undisputed Truth
Aesop Rock – None Shall Pass < I admit I can't follow a word this guy is saying. Even after reading the lyrics
Dälek – 2004 – Absence < VERY experimental, you might not even like it. It's basically noise which slowly turns into a beat. The more you listen to it the more you will learn to appreciate it. The lyrics however are hardhitting and true. Mostly they're about society.
Sene – A Day Late and A Dollar Short
Atmosphere – God Loves Ugly
MC Hawking's Greatest Hits – A Brief History of Rhyme < a guy uses the computervoice MC Hawking uses to rap about religion. Antireligious and pro science rap, VERY original stuff in the hip hop scene.
El-P – I'll Sleep When You're Dead
P.O.S – Ipecac Neat
MF DOOM and all his alter ego's < raps about nonsense and cartoons. Very weird, but much appreciated by everyone because of his sillyness. In some songs he doesn't care about the rhythm and just keeps rapping on and on about weird metaphores.

Jedi Mind Tricks: Rapper Vinnie Paz can unusually aggressive, misogynistic and anti-catholic on all the club bangers, but the songs that are serious are really REALLY good. Check out these lines from I Who Have Nothing, they're very clever:

"Intersections in real time
The unbroken circles and dimensions of the mind
The tie that binds
The eternal tie that defines
The vanity of my insanity in due time
Will shine
Like the night seas under the moon
The haunted corners of familiar rooms
Yet i'm consumed
With vanishing into thin air
The realization that this shit is my cross to bare
So where
Did I think I could run away to see
The people that decided to leave without asking me"

As far as female lyricists are concerned.. I don't know a lot but I do know that YOU know about Ladybug of Digable Planets fame. There's also Dessa from Minneapolis' Doomtree label.

P.O.S is on that label too, and he's easily the biggest artist there. Doomtree works a lot with Rhymesayers, the label Atmosphere and Brother Ali are signed to. As far as labels go, be sure to check out the above mentioned, Definite Jux, and QN5 (Tonedeff and CunninLynguists are on that one)

Here are some youtube clips to help you on the way. These are not all on the mentioned albums though, the albums I listed are considered the best (or my favourites)

Also be sure on the lookout for Pharoahe Monch, from Organized Konfusion fame. He still puts out quality stuff.

I want to say Atmosphere and CunninLynguists are my favourite artists, also outside hip hop (I listen to a shitton of different genres). They're the ones who grew the most from the time they started. I've seen both groups live and it was great. People actually start pits with this kind of hip hop, and it's great when the rappers jump in with the crowd and give YOU, the fan a rough push deeper into the madness of the pit.

Please email me back if you happen to read this and tell me what you think! Take your time too I've just realized how much stuff I've typed down. PFFFFFFFF

By: glenda

glenda — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:32:13 +0000

you all kill me. okay, so when the rap videos stop, your kids are gonna be left with slutty looking white women to watch on videos, like britney spears. your kids watch miley and she has a grown ass boyfriend. you trust oprah an she been living in sin with that man for years. how children perceive themselves, should be based on values learned at home. so while you sit and judge rapper’s for your lack of parenting skills, stay at home your damn self an raise your own children instead of letting the television an radio do it for your lazy asses. now as martin(the comedian) said, run tell that! i’m out.

By: Elaine - Upcoming Concerts

Elaine - Upcoming Concerts — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:06:54 +0000

I truly love the beat of the music but the words can be so meaningless. Give it to me with some real meaning and I will be happy.

By: gg

gg — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 12:42:48 +0000

l love your article!!!

By: LavishChic

LavishChic — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:24:25 +0000

Well, here’s some good music to listen to if the regular ‘ole hip hop is getting you down.It’s not all perfect, but it’s alot better than the “popular” stuff…

Download Lavish Magazine’s FREE summer music mix:
http://www.zshare.net/download/lavishbrooklynsummer1-m4a.html

1. Roy Ayers- Searching
2. Harlem River Drive- Bobbi Humphrey
3. Mos Def- Universal Magnetic
4. Lilly Allen- Smile
5. Fela Kuti- Lady
6. Ladies Love Cool Jay- Around The Way Girl
7. Talib Kweli- The Blast
8. Babel Gilberto-CÃ©u Distante (DJ Spinna Mix)
9. ZhanÃ©- Hey Mr. DJ
10. Faith Evans- Lucky Day
11. Shakara- Fela Kuti
12. Bonga- Sa Ka Mache
13. Magali- Source Band ft. Abdoulaye DiabatÃ©
14. Senegalese Mbalax
15. Senegalese Mbalax
16. Les Nubians- Sourire
17. Gregory Isaacs- Rude Boy Dub
18. Collie Budz- Come Around
19. Dead Prez- Hip Hop
20. DJ Cam- Mad Blunted Jazz
21. The Roots- Proceed
22. HiTek w/ Mos Def ft. Vida- Det ta Steppin’
23. Tribe Called Quest- Find A Way
24. John Legend- Heaven

http://www.zshare.net/download/lavishbrooklynsummer1-m4a.html
http://www.lavishmagonline.com

By: sunsail

sunsail — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 13:00:29 +0000

Hi Bella, I just found this article over at racialicious.com. Seems like some really BIG wigs of the industry were gathered. I wonder what, if anything, came of the meeting?
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/scandals/imus_fallout_russell_simmons_hiphop_and_record_industry_leaders_call_closeddoor_meeting_in_new_york_57260.asp

By: Nichelle

Nichelle — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 14:46:45 +0000

Thanks Bella.

It’s really hard avoiding a lot of rap with good music because the lyrics are so vile. No one is perfect, but is it really that hard NOT to be so degrading?

Oprah is having townhall meetings on the Imus debacle and tomorrow, the rap community will respond. Common and Russell Simmons have been named as guests so far.

I’m immediately apprehensive because I have the feeling that these things will happen:

1. A lot of lip service is going to be paid to the degrading images/lyrics and chalked up to the rappers just “expressing” what they feel and see everyday.

2. Black women as a whole will be blamed for the black women that choose to perpetuate the bitch/ho image – either as rappers/singers themselves or willfully participating in videos. Since they elect to do this, it’s as if other black women don’t have the right to complain.

Remember the Spelman women? Why aren’t black women lumped in with them more instead of the women who elect to do videos?

3. The whole thing will be dumped in the lap of white people.

Yes, racism is alive. Yes, Don Imus is responsible for what he said. Imus is also responsible for every other vile, racist thing he’s said for the last 30 years. Did you know that Howard Stern was once his intern? Ignoring him wasn’t doing the trick because look at what he spawned.

My issue as far as we (black people) are concerned is that we will not hold our own accountable. If we do, we are being “disloyal,” and I find that troubling.

By: bella

bella — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 13:11:59 +0000

Nichelle, your article is a fantastic read, and I learned A LOT from it. Bellas, definitely click on Nichelle’s link, it will open your eyes. I was JUST listening to Tupac bash the hell out of C. Delores Tucker on one of his tracks, too. Now I’m rethinking everything.

By: Nichelle

Nichelle — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 05:32:27 +0000

Nicole: I loathe most,if not all rap music and it is making me loathe Black men.(I do loathe Black men.)I just cannot believe so many Black women try to defend them.

Nichelle: Don’t fall into that trap. I think Niki (@ April 14, 2:16pm) makes some good points about American society growing increasingly more hateful.

That said, here’s my take on it:

http://55secretstreet.typepad.com/anovelista/2007/04/the_weary_blues_1.html

By: Niki

Niki — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 18:16:26 +0000

I think we should follow Rutger’s coach C. Vivian Stringer’s lead and make this argument not just about Don Imus, Not just about hip-hop, not just about the entertainment industry, or about black women–if we do that, we leave a whole lot of people out of a very important conversation: how American society has grown increasingly coarse and hateful. Post 9-11, America had a brief window of time in which to unite and really take a moment to examine our place in this world and how to relate to each other. It didn’t take more that 6-7 months before we were back to business as usual. Then everybody started to get all “extra”–”ghetto” parties, racial attacks, degrading content in the media, etc. began increasing at an alarming rate. We are at a crossroads and if we don’t start taking thesee kinds of things seriously (man or woman, black white, whatever) it will surely be our downfall. Switching gears, I, too, was appalled when songs like “The Whisper Song” and “Getting Some” were played on mainstream radio. Back in the day, if you wanted to hear “Throw that D—” or “Freaks of the Industry” or the latest Luke jam, you had to go to the club for that. Now I see young fathers driving around with their 3 year olds in their carseats blasting these songs. I think that is where the problem really lies.