KRS ONE on Language, Symbolism, God and Immortality

a reply to: FamCore
You are welcome - it is a good one.

a reply to: Itisnowagain

I thought this was a nice relatable piece as well

Cheers friend!

a reply to: Edumakated

Well, hopefully this is the cycle starting to repeat itself. In the beginning, acts were underground until they showed that they could sell. Now those that sell have completely sold out, and the only reason that they sell is because the microwave producers tell the apathetic consumers that it is what the want to hear (or should want to hear).

At some point, America will wake up and realize that they let the pop world of music take a mile when it should only have had an inch. At that point, hopefully things will get reset.

As someone who grew up on hip hop I've tried to keep current and not turning into that "uncle" complaining about new music, but I just can't listen to the crap we call hip hop nowadays. IDGAF. Most of it is garbage.

Man, it's that way with everything. I moved on from hip hop to ska and punk in the mid-90s and later (with a few years of overlap), and even getting deep into that, you realize that the original stuff (the 50s and 60s for ska, 70s for punk) is the most meaningful. Punk kind of followed the same timeline as hip hop as to when it was good, then got best, then went downhill fast. Ska barely ever went mainstream, but still has the same basic pattern, just with less of a bell curve.

I think it's this way with all musical genres--we just seem to be finding ourselves stuck at the bottom of the end of the bell curve right now.

originally posted by: Edumakated

originally posted by: SlapMonkey
a reply to: FamCore

yeah, I see the 90s (early and mid, not late) as having the lyrical purity of 80s hip hop, but taking the accompanying music to a level that matched the lyrics. That was missing in the 80s, for the most part.

By the time I graduate high school in '97, hip hop was on the decline...I blame much of that on Mase and Sean "Puffy" Combs.

KRS1 is a dying breed. The sad thing is that in that era he wasn't alone. Plenty of artist embraced philosophical thought, positivity, education, etc. We had KRS, Rakim, X-Clan, PE, etc. The thing was many of these acts got mainstream acceptance. Being positive was the norm, not the exception.

Now it is the reverse. You have to find underground acts that get little to no real exposure if you want to hear something other than the typical trap stories that pervade hip hop nowadays.

I would agree with you that the Puffy era pretty much ruined hip hop. It basically turned it from a true art form to just a hustle to get out of the hood. It really got overly commercialized, over produced, and one hit wonders are becoming the norm. Out of control materialism. Everyone is on youtube or instagram trying to be the next Slim Jesus and get their five minutes of fame.

No one will be having discussions about how great lyrically Chief Keef was 20 years from now or how Trinidad James developed new rhyme patterns or how Young Thug was so philosophical. We basically have disposable MCs now. Microwave production as I heard one hip hop producer say.

When I listen to my favorite MCs now from the 80s / early 90s I truly realize how talented a lot of these guys were then. They had an ability to create memorable lines that often had me hitting rewind going WTF? Or an ability to distill a simple lyric that would bring shivers or tear in how they told a story. The beats were simplistic and sampling creative. you nodded your head, but the production never over powered the lyrical content. Even the DJs had to truly now how to cut and scratch and would often do solos at concerts to show their skills on the turn tables. Nowadays they just hit "play".

As someone who grew up on hip hop I've tried to keep current and not turning into that "uncle" complaining about new music, but I just can't listen to the crap we call hip hop nowadays. IDGAF. Most of it is garbage.

Hip Hop is on its way to being like jazz imho.

There are a few guys that walk the line between being mainstream and having skills but it'll never go back to being as good as the loud/rawkus stuff from the 90s.

This is the last guy I checked for that was truly great, his newer stuff not so much but mid 2000 he was killing it.
youtu.be...

and here's a shameless plug for my friends, the accent might be hard to get around for anybody outside the UK though.

youtu.be...

Peace!

originally posted by: MagnaCarta2015

originally posted by: Edumakated

originally posted by: SlapMonkey
a reply to: FamCore

yeah, I see the 90s (early and mid, not late) as having the lyrical purity of 80s hip hop, but taking the accompanying music to a level that matched the lyrics. That was missing in the 80s, for the most part.

By the time I graduate high school in '97, hip hop was on the decline...I blame much of that on Mase and Sean "Puffy" Combs.

KRS1 is a dying breed. The sad thing is that in that era he wasn't alone. Plenty of artist embraced philosophical thought, positivity, education, etc. We had KRS, Rakim, X-Clan, PE, etc. The thing was many of these acts got mainstream acceptance. Being positive was the norm, not the exception.

Now it is the reverse. You have to find underground acts that get little to no real exposure if you want to hear something other than the typical trap stories that pervade hip hop nowadays.

I would agree with you that the Puffy era pretty much ruined hip hop. It basically turned it from a true art form to just a hustle to get out of the hood. It really got overly commercialized, over produced, and one hit wonders are becoming the norm. Out of control materialism. Everyone is on youtube or instagram trying to be the next Slim Jesus and get their five minutes of fame.

No one will be having discussions about how great lyrically Chief Keef was 20 years from now or how Trinidad James developed new rhyme patterns or how Young Thug was so philosophical. We basically have disposable MCs now. Microwave production as I heard one hip hop producer say.

When I listen to my favorite MCs now from the 80s / early 90s I truly realize how talented a lot of these guys were then. They had an ability to create memorable lines that often had me hitting rewind going WTF? Or an ability to distill a simple lyric that would bring shivers or tear in how they told a story. The beats were simplistic and sampling creative. you nodded your head, but the production never over powered the lyrical content. Even the DJs had to truly now how to cut and scratch and would often do solos at concerts to show their skills on the turn tables. Nowadays they just hit "play".

As someone who grew up on hip hop I've tried to keep current and not turning into that "uncle" complaining about new music, but I just can't listen to the crap we call hip hop nowadays. IDGAF. Most of it is garbage.

Hip Hop is on its way to being like jazz imho.

There are a few guys that walk the line between being mainstream and having skills but it'll never go back to being as good as the loud/rawkus stuff from the 90s.

This is the last guy I checked for that was truly great, his newer stuff not so much but mid 2000 he was killing it.
youtu.be...

and here's a shameless plug for my friends, the accent might be hard to get around for anybody outside the UK though.

youtu.be...

Peace!

Yeah, it doesn't getting any purer than the loud/rawkus joints. I still bump my Black Moon. Soundbombing II was probably one of the best hip hop albums ever. E.V.E.R. Pharoahe, Common, Mos Def, Sadat X, Rugged Man, and Eminem (b4 most had heard of him on that Anyman track). Good god.. that CD stays in my car.

a reply to: Edumakated

Soundbombing 2 was incredible! 1999 and bboy document was my $@!€. Am gonna have to dig it up again and listen to it now.

Back then everything that came out on those 2 labels was quality.

Lyrically and philosophically he's ok. He's no NAS.

Or The Roots crew.

originally posted by: FamCore
a reply to: Itisnowagain

I thought this was a nice relatable piece as well

Cheers friend!

The true meaning of knowledge is power.

You meme driven son of a brisket eater you.

a reply to: Rosinitiate

I've never been called a meme-driven son of a brisket eater,

but i Loved it haha thanks for commenting and participating