The Hip Hop/Rap Thread

so reading through this fucking thread got me so worked up that I had to make an account for the first time since the forum went down.

In short though I pretty much agree with Night Phoenix. Actually, make that I completely agree with Night Phoenix. I have no patience for a lot of the self-consciously "underground" rappers who go out of their way to stick to their underground aesthetic, which is often an especially ugly aesthetic. As such I have no intention of listening to their music. I could do a lot of ranting, trust me, a LOT of ranting on the subject but it's well-worn ground by now.

What I will say is that, especially in the last half or so of this topic, there's been absolutely no acceptance of any middle ground. I mean, I swear that posters like Encephalon and Capo are giving the impression that they think (say) AZ - AWOL is a shitty album, presumably on the grounds that it's actually listenable. What this thread should be, rather than just a chance for the anti-commercial kids and the anti-undie kids to flame one another, is a chance to introduce both people who only listen to the deep underground and people who only listen to the Billboard 100 to that rare middle-ground shit that has the beats, the lyrical content, the lyrical complexity, the wit, the flow, the swagger, in short the whole fucking thing. and a chance for people who already listen to a broad range of hip-hop to hear about more good artists they oughta be listening to. because if real hip-hop, you know, that Paid In Full, Illmatic, Daily Operation sorta shit still survives that's where it is.

with that in mind I'd like to second whoever said J-Live; dude's incredible. Smif 'n' Wessun? Blackalicious? Ghostface? GZA? Beanie Sigel? the Perceptionists? these all released strong traditional hip-hop albums in the past year or so... hell, if you're willing to step outside your comfort zone a little, be prepared to ignore subject matter and just appreciate what's being done with voice and rhythm and words (not to mention beats) people might even find something to appreciate in TI, Young Jeezy, Lil Wayne, and so forth.

oh yeah, Night Phoenix, what you've said in this thread quite frankly makes me want to hear your shit. I looked at the link in your journal and listened to the songs there but I kinda feel that those probably aren't representative of your solo stuff. But hell, I don't know.

sorry for the wall of text here.

Jam it back in, in the dark.