The Hip Hop/Rap Thread

I'm not much of a hip hop/rap fan, but a cursory perusal pretty much confirms previous conclusions that have been made here, primarily that: a) "alt" or "indie" hip hop is generally more concerned with lyrical complexity and envelope-pushing production and b) Mainstream hip hop is generally concerned with image, appealing to the masses, and monetary aquisition.

There's a deep earthen casm - or all-emcompassing rift of n-dimensional space-time if you will - that seperates me from the realm of the Surface Dwellers. We're both cool with the notion, though. I could go on about how mainstream music typically is devoid of creativity and innovation (views that I personally hold) but I'm realizing more and more that maybe that's not the primary objective in the first place. I've learned that one does not always listen to music to be challenged - to be taken to the ever-stretching boundaries of composed and improvised music. Sometimes it is appropriate just to shut your brain off and shake yo' a$$ - something that I'm not sure I'm capable of doing.

With all that said I tend to believe that a lot of hip hop - the "underground" stuff I mean - suffers from a lot of the "Inside the Box" thinking that makes mainstream music so unappealing to me. With a few exceptions they pretty much all start running together and becoming indistinguishable after a short while. I'll also have to agree somewhat with the guy who said he preferred VGM hip hop over "actual" hip hop. I'll admit that musically, some of the best hip hop I've come across have been that which has appeared on soundtracks (as well as non hip hop artists who happen to take the style and do pretty interesting things with it). All in all - listen to what moves you and all will be right with the world.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Heh. Curse OV Dialect is pretty interesting. Dalek, music-wise at least, can keep my attention for a decent period of time. Alias and Busdriver are also of particular note. I mainly go for the instrumental stuff, though (Prefuse 73, Nobody, Fat Jon, Nujabes, Daedelus, Dabrye, etc).

There's nowhere I can't reach.