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Hip Hop is at it's prime bee. All the famous rap artists are stinking rich and those nice big booty gals in there videos make hot. Don't get me wrong punk and rock is aought but rap and reggae are making a comeback with hot artist like elephant man and G-unit rap is going to take over. No doubt.

G-unit sucks and the great majority of the artists who are stinking rich and have "those nice big booty gals in there videos," as you put it, are complete morons. But tell me... When in the last 5-10 years has hip hop not been the big thing?

Hip Hop dominates pop culture right now because it makes good party/dance music. But hip hop heads actually need good lyrics and flow too, not just a catchy beat. G-unit gets to work with good beats so of course their songs are catchy and big hits with teens and popular at parties and stuff.. but to actually sit down by yourself and listen to a g-unit album is a very bland experience.

Exactly, in fact maybe even further back than that. Grandmaster Flash was making hip-hop popular in the early 80's.

And it (hip-pop) already pretty much dominates popular music. I mean how often do you see a rock band that isn't Green Day, Franz Ferdinand or The Killers in the charts. It would be a shame, but I don't think many serious music fans care anyway.

"Eut" by my brothers friend

oops from frigging thread lol

Hip Pop dominates the charts. Hip Pop is a genre particularly dominated by artists who used to make Hip Hop but decided the cheque was mightier than the pen and bent over to take a shot for the money.

Hip Hop isn't in the charts, not real Hip Hop. There's more "real" Rock in the charts than there is Hip Hop. Although most of those bands have Pop sensibilities. Franz Ferdinand consider themselves Brit-Pop, as do I. The Killers aren't really a Rock band either.

-AC

No Alpha u got all wrong rap rules. U can't say hip hop is dieing when every day u hear 1,2 step or How we Do on the radio or when a car passes by.Oh and Darth Raven I can tell u listen to punk and u should apreciaet different types of music no matter who makes it. And 50 percenet of the pop chart right now is rap and hpi hop.WHAT ARE U TALKING ABOUT.

Were saying that Mainstream hip hop sucks. It all sucks. Period.
Listen to hip hop like Immortal Technique, MF doom, Chino Xl, Mos Def.
The pop Charts mean nothing, its quality that counts.
Mainstream hip hop is all crap and no quality, all they say is bragging. "I've got more money than you," or "I've had more sex than you."
Its dumb.

or " im so dumb i got shot 9 times " / " i got shot more than you "

Mos Def is a mainstream rapper.

good luck guyz trying to explain real hip hop.

i give up

*listens to Mr. Lif*

Alright I admet rap those have some cumbersome moments but u have to listen to the lyrics to understand where they are coming from. Some of them grew up in the slums where people sll drugs a killings are a daily thing. U have to put yourself in their posistion to get a better understanding.

It's Darth Revan, and I hardly listen to punk at all. I listen to all different kinds of music, most likely more than you. I happen to love hip hop. Just not the shit that shows up on the billboard charts. As Afro Cheese so aptly put it, listening to a G-unit album at a club or party might be almost enjoyable, but sitting down and listening to a G-unit album straight through is very boring. 50 Cent is a complete moron.

"He had a difficult childhood" is not an acceptable excuse for stupidity. There are gangster rappers I respect because they at least put some creativity and thought into their lyrics.

Like the song "How I could just kill a man" by Cypress Hill... It's about living on the streets and talks about violence a lot, but it has a great beat, innovative lyrics, and is interesting to listen to.

"How do you know where I'm at, when you haven't been where I've been, understand where I'm comin' from?" dj

hey man, elephant man is NOT reggae, not close, never will be..
it's dancehall, which i can't stand.. same goes for sean paul, i can't stand him!! and all thoes other artist nowdays who claim to be playin reggae but they're not just coz they're from jamaica, all they're talkin about is shakin thier asses..

reggae has MEANING to it..
want real reggae? listen to bob marley!

as for 50 cent.. i can't believe he got this big.. he's as bad as sean paul.. and that's BAD.. he's pathetic

Ah man you just made my day. Thats one of my favourite songs from the "Hill". I gonna go listen to it now.
Im not sure whether to take Cooties seriously, he seems to just to be saying dumb shit to get a rise out us. Revan i've found you to be knowledgeable on all sorts of music so im not sure where the "punk only" theory came from. Hip Hop is bigger now than its ever been but like any music it has good a bad (and 50cent who defies description). Like most other forms of music the best is made for the love of it, as soon as you start making music with money being the inspiration it all goes horribly wrong. Hip pop may be all over the charts but that doesnt make it good or inspirational music IMO.

Well said man, Bob Marley would be spinning in his grave if he heard some of the shite that passes for reggae nowadays.

garbage hip hop:

50 cent
G-Unit
D-Block
Dipset
Lil Wayne
Lil' Jon
Lil' Flip
(any other mc with the name Lil')
Fabolous
Jay-Z
Beanie Sigel
Benzino
D12
Cash Money
Nelly
Ja Rule
Snoop Dogg (old snoop was good, doggystyle album was classic)
Neptunes

and MANY more

koolruningz i like the avatar.

Blackalicious are incredible

there's so many rappers out there today, you can't tell who's who

they all look the same, sound the same.. and talk about the same shtuff.. i have no idea how they got record lables, or why people buy thier stuff..

Thanks man, ive got you to thank for introducing me to them and many others.

thank MF D00m. he got me into listening to Blackalicious.

Thanks all round then.

Blackalicious

if u can, get

Latyrx- Album

incredible also

its Lateef and Lyrics Born, they are on the same label with Blackalicious

The bigger the mianstream is, the bigger the underground is. Hip hop's success on the charts is good for everyone because underground and mainstream hip hop are interdependent. With a big mainstream, the scene all together gets bigger.

It inspires more poeple to become rappers, and it helps recruit new hip hop heads. What hip hop head can honestly say the first hip hop they liked was underground? Most of us can't. The underground is getting so big because of 1) the internet 2) more and more hip hop heads becomes fed up with pop rap. I started out listening to Master P and Coolio and shit. My first hip hop album was Jay-Z's Vol 2. I didn't get into any underground shit until about 3-4 years after I started liking hip hop.

i got into underground during 7th/8th grade, but not much. i started listening to Coolio and Tupac...i heard Tupac diss a guy called Chino XL...and immediatly i got hooked. then came Big L, Ras Kass, and so on...also got great recommendations from here.

Damn in 7th/8th grade I was all about gangsta rap. Middle schooler who likes underground rap is pretty impressive to me.

i LOVED tupac^ but i always wondered who Chino XL was

my friends told me Chino XL was a japanese gangster



i was sooo confused

Jeez im showing my age here, the first hip hop albums i bought were Ice T - Rhyme Pays, BDP - By all means necessary and PE - Yo! bumrush the show, all on vinyl.
I agree with you Afro Cheese (do you have an afro? I've always been curious) the mainstream does help the underground but it can also paint a false picture and get people trying to be emcees for the wrong reasons. Sure everyone wants to get paid but people like 50cent have made millions from everything BUT being a good emcee.

12 year olds are the key target the mainstream tries to appeal to. cuz they got the most $$$$

That reminds me..

http://www.vaxtvshow.com/video/yougotbeef.wmv

yea i've seen that

HILARIOUS

No, everyone asks me that I just got stuck trying to come up with a screen name and when you're desperate weird things come about. It was a nickname I made up a long time ago, it originated from when I was working in a grocery store and there was this microwave mac-n-cheese type thing that was called alfro cheese or something. I just thought it sounded funny so I started saying it.

genius!^

The main reason i asked is because i've got a mean Ben Harper type afro myself (which in New Zealand makes you stick out like a spot on a domino).
Anyway back on topic, have any of you heard Lyrics Born's album? I am thinking of buying it based on reviews that ive read but i thought you guys would be better judges.

Call me out of the loop but I've never even heard of em.

He's an asian dude. I first heard him on Blackalicious's Nia album (do this my way). I think he is signed to Quannum with Blackalicious and DJ Shadow.

Me

Really.. what was your first hip hop album? Guessing you found it on the internet?

Me too,
Teh first hip-hop I really liked was Immortal Technique.
Hey what can I say, im into the rebel, socialist thing.

haha listen to Jedi Mind Tricks ......now thats interesting hip hop or tech nine

not the best hip hop^ but JMT and Tech N9ne are alright. JMT's album Violent By Design was their best.

i love Public Enemy- Yo! Bum Rush The Show

its not their best album, but its still great.

Technique was one of my first underground emcees too. I think the actual first underground rapper I liked was Eyedea though. I'm fairly new to the underground stuff... I only liked it for a short while before I came on this site. For a while I was into the better mainstream hip hop. Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Kanye West(production mostly), Old Mobb Deep, old Slick Rick, Wu Tang, Nas, Big L, Older Eminem, shit like that. But once I heard Dance with the Devil I started looking for any underground shit I could find.

first time i heard MF Doom- Doomsday, i had to search for more.

the mc i listened to alot was Big L. non-stop

i knew most of his verses

r.i.p

I never heard that album.. is that like a new one or something?

its old...very old.

The name sounds familiar but I haven't heard it. Their old albums are impossible to find for me. I keep looking at best buy but they only have like a greatest hits and a new one. I'm scared to buy an album that I haven't heard any of the songs on. But as soon as I find fear of a black planet or it takes a nation of millions I'm buying that shit.

Immortal Technique- Revolutionary Vol. 1. Yep, found it on the internet.

I started out listening to mainstream hip hop because pretty much all of the school I went to listened to it, although rock was still what I listened to most. As I got older I started listening to underground hip hop from aol radio and this local sports show that played underground hip hop, although I didn't know any specific artists. Then I found this site and Hock recommended Immortal Technique to me, I tried Rev 2 out and loved it and I've been hooked on underground hip hop ever since.

I still can't believe that I once liked Ludacris.

They just played one of MF Doom's beats on that And 1 basketball show. rockdroolio

First Hip Hop I liked was Public Enemy.

-AC

Was it when they were new? If so then damn... you been liking hip hop since before I knew what music was (besides the corny little songs they played on disney movies).

Ha.. you think that's bad, I own TWO trick daddy cd's. Ludacris isn't all that bad for a mainstream southern rapper. He aint anything special in the lyrics department but he's entertaining.

I first heard Public Enemy, consciously, in 92-early 93. My brother would play their stuff all the time and I didn't understand the lyrics then but I loved the music.

-AC

Mine was Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde

Ouch

I will admit that Ludacris skits are pretty funny and a couple of his songs have gotten a laugh out of me.

I actually started off listening to really good old school hip hop like P.E., Ice T, BPD, NWA, EPMD, Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, Masta Ace, Paris and loads more in the late 80's early 90's. Mainly because i heard about this wicked underground radio station in London that played "hardcore hip hop" as it was called in those days. I used to tune in every friday night and write down the tracks i liked and hunt them down all over London on viynl of course. My sad stage in hip hop came much later when i couldnt be bothered to find the good stuff and just settled for the shite thats on the radio. Luckily i found this forum and now im back on the righteous path. Its all about taking the time and effort to find the good music and not just excepting what you see and hear on MTV.

The first hip Hop i listened to was 2pac. A real gangsta, lrycists and inovator. My fax songs from him was Brenda got a baby, hey mama and the remix he did with Akon. The believe it was Ghetto remix. Oh and did ya see Game's video ''How we do''. That joint is tight

He was NOT a lyricist.

and Game is one of the worst mc's out there.

Not a lyricist how? Tupac wrote his own shit didn't he?

no he wrote his own lyrics

but he didn't have the highest lyrical skills.

Oh. Confused me there for a second. Yeah Tupac wasn't an incredible lyricist like people say. He was an incredible performer, but his lyrics and rhyme schemes and shit were simple for the most part.

I've never really understood the appeal of Tupac or Biggie.

Neither have I.

Oh Biggie is great fun to listen to in the same loud, shallow kind of party way as Cypress Hill. I have two of his albums, but I couldn't quote you a single verse of his lyrics, but like I said, he's fun.

Tupac is appealing in the same way as Kurt Cobain; since his death he's become a godlike figure. I don't like him, though.

Why not Deathblow

Biggie is one of the best MC's ever, given the small amount of time he had. He never tried to be anything he wasn't, so what he rapped about is what he lived. The man was selling crack, not going to poetry slams. His voice/cadence/flow is one of the best ever. Nobody around right now has the flow Biggie had. Even these knock off Biggie's.

The only thing that ****ed him up was Puffy's hip-pop influence, which made Biggie seem like he was among the hip-pop acts of his day, but he was much more than that.

I agree with Deathblow... he was fun to listen to. I used to hate biggie because everyone I know worships him and I don't think he's as good as they say but I admit he has good flow and is fun to listen to.

always loved his flow^

sucks that Jay-z bites soo much off B.i.g and people deny it.

on a side note!

anyone seen this MF Doom interview, i heard its crazy

http://www.skankyhoohoo.com/~forum/MF_DOOM.avi

IT DOESN"T WORK FOR ME!

Jay-Z bites so much it's unbelievable.. not only biggie either. I've never met anyone who denied it.. just people who say stuff like "he's just showing respect." I mean I know all rappers bite off eachother from time to time but Jay'z made a career out of it.

he even took a rhyme off Nas...NAS! his enemy!

pure comedy

I know.

That link don't work for me either.

I used to hate hiphop until I joined KMC and always heard everyone talking about Immortal Technique and MF Doom and all these other underground artists...after hearing them I loved it

I think Method Man has and has had the best flow in Mainstream Hiphop (one of the best overall) for the past decade.

-AC

That's good that you're open minded like that. 9 out of 10 times when I try to get my friend who like rock on hip hop it doesn't work. The two types of music are just too different for some people.. but I did get one of my friends hooked on Kool Keith from Ultramagnetic MC's. I just told him how he was a mental patient and immediately he was intrigued... lent him sex style and he got hooked. Which is weird cause he mostly likes punk rock like nofx and green day.

Hehe, I'm a rock girl all the way...but I'm open to all sorts of music, I'll listen to anything once.

true

but didn't like albums after Tical.

and Tical wasn't that great neither.

Yea Meth is nice. Too bad his albums weren't as good as you would hope they were going to be. My opinion, obviously.

all rapers are are really poets

Apparently you're not one.

Rappers are more than just poets. They have to apply their poetry to music and make it sound good. When they write lyrics they are writing poetry but they also have to keep in mind that it has to sound good to a beat which is something most poets don't really have to worry about.