Three Things That Killed Hip Hop...By Phonte of Little Brother
here's a blog that Phonte of Little Brother put on their myspace
'The three albums that 'killed' hip-hop.....
Notice 'killed' is in quotation marks, 'cause the shit is still obviously alive...but yeah.....here's my theory.....and this is not a dis against any of these records, as I am a fan of all three, but just a theory on the way these albums changed hip-hop forever...
The Three Albums That "Killed" Hip-Hop
by Dr. Tigallonious Wolfgang Flowers III, M.D. B.A., MS, PhD, BS, LLC
1.Nas- "It Was Written"
Columbia Records, 1996
Rating: @@@@
When compared to the lackluster albums that came later in his career ("I Am," "Nastradamus"), "It Was Written" shines like a diamond. At the time of its release, however, "IWW" was viewed as a slightly disappointing follow-up to a classic LP that showed so much promise. Jigga was right. The people had spoken and voiced their collective opinions: "Ehhhh......"
To me, this is the album that is mostly responsible for the ridiculous "underground" v. "commericial" split in hip-hop. In the summer of '96 you had two artists, De La Soul and Nas, who up until that point had a credible following in the "underground." Whereas De La continued in their left-field tradition with "Stakes Is High," Nas pulled a 180 and dropped "IWW." The result? "IWW" sold 2 million copies, and other "underground" MC's followed suit, often with disastrous results.
It's not that "IWW" was a bad album, it was just an ugly foreshadowing of things to come. Although if you're gonna blame "IWW," its only fair to take a step back and place an even B.I.G.ger blame on the album that inspired it. Yep.....you guessed it......I'm talking about....
2. The Notorious B.I.G.- "Ready To Die"
Bad Boy/Arista Records, 1995
Rating: @@@@@
Although death is unquestionably the greatest promotional tool any artist could have, you'd be a fool to deny Biggie's place among the greats for fear of posthumously overrating him.
Dude had it all: charisma, intelligence, a knack for storytelling, and a melodious flow that is still imitated and mimicked to this day. (If there is any question as to whether or not Biggie has influenced any of today's MC's, just listen to ANY song from "Get Rich or Die Trying" and imagine Biggie doing the hook instead. Scary ain't it?)
In addition to his talents as an MC, Biggie also had Puffy behind the boards (or shit, BESIDE the boards to let a Hitman tell it....). While Puff may not have been the traditional hands-on hip hop producer, homeboy understood one simple thing: how to make HIT ****ING RECORDS.
The thing that was so amazing about "RTD" was Biggie's ability to do a radio joint like "Juicy" or "One More Chance" without sounding forced or gimmicky. He could go from "Warning" to "Big Poppa" and not miss a step. His personality and charisma held it all together. Even Nas, for all his 80's loops and blatantly commercial aspirations on "IWW," simply could not compete with Biggie's natural charm as an MC. This was the simple fact that many MC's who unsuccessfully tried to duplicate "RTD's" formula (see: Mic Geronimo) failed to realize.
So Nas is making love songs, and Biggie is looping up disco. Where did the average head looking for some "true" hip-hop seek refuge? Even deeper "underground," of course.........
3. Company Flow- "Funcrusher Plus"
Official Recordings, 1997
Rating: @@@ anna half
The backpack generation is born.
I must admit that when I first heard "FP" I was alternately repulsed and amazed. The three-man team of El-P, Big Juss, and DJ Mr. Len made an album that was dirty, distorted, and "indy as ****."
The thing I admired most about "FP," and many other El-P associated projects, was that it had BALLS:
"What'chu mean a sitar loop ain't hip-hop? **** THAT!!!!"
("Fire In Which You Burn")
"What'chu mean these horns in the hook are offbeat and mixed too loud?" **** THAT!!!!!!"
("Krazy Kings")
This was not sweet, soulful music that you could play at your family reunion. This was music to piss your girlfriend off. Music to self-destruct to. And it worked.
With the release of "FP," Company Flow earned a cult following AND critical acclaim with 3.5 mics in the Source. Suddenly, a new breed of MC was born. Nerdy white boys had a place in hip hop. I can just imagine what must've been said at those A&R meetings:
"So you can't dance? Cool."
"You don't want to actually rhyme ON BEAT? No problem."
"You want to produce yourself even though you just bought an MPC, like, 2 weeks ago? Fabulous! You're UNDERGROUND, baby!!!!!"
Eventually, crews like Anticon, Rhymesayers, and even El-P's own Def Jux (RJD2 nonwithstanding....), came to symbolize "underground" hip-hop, or as most heads referred to it: "that backpacker shit." As a result, cats like Mos Def, The Roots, and Talib Kweli were running to work with "commericial" acts like Jay-Z, Jadakiss, and Kanye West in an attempt to distance themselves from a movement in which they were unfairly lumped in.
The end result?
Hip-hop became even more polarized and the music, sadly enough on both sides of the spectrum, grew even wacker.
__________________
Life is short and the art long, the occasion instant, experiment perilous, decision difficult.
As cool as Phonte is (or as I thought he was), he's not right. I don't think any of those three ''killed'' hip-hop, for one thing, LB themselves are living proof it's alive and kicking, duh. And that whole thing he wrote about todays indie hip-hop scene is pretty laughable (for one thing, two thirds of Co Flow weren't even white), saying they all rhyme off beat and are all white...that is literally incorrect, it's not even a matter of opinion, it's fact. Unless racial equality in hip-hop is wrong...yes, kill the honkies.
I'd love to see him call Stronghold ''nerds'' to their faces, I really would.
I think he was trying too hard to be moderate while he really had alternative motives. Basically think he wanted to seperate himself from the kind of underground artists that he usually shares a fanbase (us) with.
Company Flow was not your typical white boy music though, i don't know what he's talking about. El-P will beat some ass.
Now Sage Francis on the other hand....jk
What's up with all this racism in hip hop, it's making me sick, did Jimi Hendrix get this much shit when he picked up a guitar? I don't know much about him, did he?
__________________ "What have you bought into, how much is it gonna cost to buy you out?" - Saul Williams
Just like people saying that Eminem opened the door for white MC's, no he didn't. Anyone who comes through to the mainstream now will be forever compared to Eminem and even if he's a thousand times better, hailed as an Eminem wannabe.
I think what Phonte is really saying with his notice is 'I am getting to old for this rap stuff and its not as good as it was in the old days'.
Everyone is free to their own opinions but music changes, tastes change. It cannot be 1993 forever. I remember hip-hop back then and you still had older hip-hop bitching about how the glory days of hip-hop were the late 80s.
Hip-hop hasn't been killed just evolved like nearly every other music form, if Phonte wants to stay and play his Tribe Called Quest albums fine, but I think its better to move forward.
That's true. However, I don't see why some people can't enjoy older music and modern music. Nothing wrong with playing Tribe albums, my copy of Low End Theory is all but worn out, but then so is my copy of Hell's Winter.
Move forward, yes, but remember & appreciate the roots too
well i now one thing that killed hip hop is letting white people rap, inparticular vannilla ice and eminem, paul wall sounds good, and should be one of the few exceptions.
KMC Community Forums
Jan 27th, 2006 06:05 AM
