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Best Posts: Fans of rap became lazy?

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Oldboy

May 11, 2016

WPG said

Okay, before we get into any of the finer points, this...

...is a totally reasonable opinion, and shouldn't be controversial. I assume, Koolo, that you're using "classic" here to describe a style, rather than to measure quality? And I totally get that. I love Pluto, doesn't mean I don't love Quelle Chris too. It's great to have diversity. But now into the weeds:

The first issue with this is that you're presupposing that an album that's more accessible has less artistic merit. Sure, Kendrick is a better rapper making more ambitious music than Drake (and in this example, I, a card-carrying TPAB hater, would agree that it's better than Views), but being more complex and tougher to get does not necessarily mean something is better. Homeboy Sandman takes a lot more careful listening than Biggie. Who's a better rapper?

Listenability is important, and listenability isn't synonymous with dumbing down. There are phenomenal, classic albums that are very difficult to parse, but there are also masterpieces that are easy listens. Conversely, you have bad albums that are tough to get through and bad albums that are lazy. I would hesitate before conflating "complexity" with quality.

This is a minor bone to pick in the broader scope of this thread, but Future doesn't belong here. It took a long time for some people to wrap their heads around Pluto.

When Madvillainy came out, not many people cared. It blew up a bit in the year following its release, due to Doom moving back into the public sphere and online word-of-mouth. But I have older friends who were in L.A. and actively engaged in rap in 04 who didn't hear it until much later. Which brings me to a point that I've seen other people make in this thread, just from a quick skim: hip-hop, and more specifically hip-hop fans, aren't trending any direction when it comes to what kind, or what complexity of music they enjoy. These divides have always been there. In hindsight, we imagine Wu-Tang and Naughty By Nature coexisting ("look how much rap had to offer!") but these myopic genre wars were always going on.

Again, you mean classic sounding as in it sounds like a certain group of '90s classics? I just think that's narrow, and a little unrealistic: Bizarre Ride didn't sound like Cuban Linx; In a Major Way didn't sound like Soul Food.

I guess I don't understand what exactly you're looking for--at least one album better than 2001 has come out almost every year since 1999 imo. Sounds change, artists move on. I can promise you that if the most talented rappers in the world were out here trying to replicate old sounds, we'd be a lot worse off, not better. Look at guys like Joey Badass--they're making utterly disposable music because they're trying to recreate something that can't be stripped from its original context.

Yeah don't f--king listen to this guy.

I don't see how you could possibly argue this. There are great albums coming out from every angle, exploring a bunch of different sounds.

lol, f--king what? Rap is more divorced from pop music today than it has been since 1997.

I'm sure HHTG and I will never agree on which rappers are worth listening to, but he's completely right: like I said, this divide--a perceived divide, I'd argue--has existed in every era and will continue to exist in the future.

See, I think this is a misreading of the current state of the genre. Look at some of the most popular rappers today: Kendrick, J. Cole, Earl, Vince. Even someone like Cole, who everyone knows I think can't rap, fits the bill of guys who are all about bars, man. He has a song on the radio--that's been on the radio for eight months, mind you--where he whines that he's not in the era where you could go platinum without singing on your hooks. (Even though he did that.)

Where are you hiding them?

That last sentence is such a ridiculous leap I'm not even sure it's addressing.

It's not, though? Earl is like a god to high school kids.

lol @ acting like Views needs a million lessons to be properly dissected

The irony here is that Compton was tailored to sound unmistakably like an album that came out in 2015.

I'm meeting up w/ YG today to hear this in full, mastered & sequenced.

@Koolo: To sum all this up, if you're looking for a list of albums that A. came out since 2010, B. are great, and C. sound like they could have come out in the '90s, I can give you that. But if you're wishing the genre writ large would revert back to that sound, I strongly disagree, as I said above. So far, we haven't seen classic albums released with the frequency we did in 93-96, but there are always going to be eras like that in a genres (late-60s with rock, early-70s with soul, mid-70s with funk).
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God d--- what a great post

Yes i meant sounds like 90s

#123

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WPG sxn80 Rory Gilmore

May 11, 2016

Koolo said

while we are at it, i dont consider thugger to fit "classic rap"
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People didn't think Wu-Tang did when they came out. Or Pac when he came out of jail. Or Outkast when they made ATLiens. Or Doom. Or Eminem, for that matter. Great artists redefine the genre, if only to accommodate their own work.

#120

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WPG sxn80 Rory Gilmore

May 11, 2016
no. ill post some thoughts when im home but im setting up offshore accounts with emma watson.

#94

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lil uzi vert stan

May 13, 2016
@BigDickBastard limit urself to threatening to r--- @Narsh, could u... he strives to be paul's side piece/downass chick online , so should have the same affect

#647

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Goku187

May 11, 2016
T-minus 3, 2, 1...

@TimmyT: Women being trafficked, molested, and otherwise exploited simply so I can get rid of this pesky boner is actually extremely good

#431

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lil uzi vert stan

May 11, 2016

BigCountry said

Is it @TimmyT or @Arch Dogg?
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Lmao doesn't arch doggs girl strip? And Tim is actually the true expert here. Good catch on my wording tho that's funny

just bein' a goof thinking about Paul scouting for the next dr millionaire while some damaged valley girl offers to give him a happy ending

#429

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WPG sxn80 Rory Gilmore

May 11, 2016
"I'm fine with music about sex if you can't tell it's about sex"

#370

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lil uzi vert stan

May 11, 2016
^now he loves radiohead.

What kind of hhh/blocks someone on every form of communication? how can we respect @Narsh's take on rap when he's sooooo soft he cant take a little ribbing now and again

this coming from a poster who LITERALLY TRIED KISSING ME last time we hung out.

#365

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lil uzi vert stan

May 11, 2016

MaliktheJamaicanStan said

I sense a strong presense of awesome with you
can you teach me?
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yes, listen to this

then follow me on twitter. together we will destroy narsh, who ftr has blocked me on:
s80
twitter
and now facebook.

u can run but u cant hide curri

#358

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aquaberryares one time I made sex

May 11, 2016

WPG said

Tech Nine is for socially maladjusted middle schoolers
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MaliktheJamaicanStan said

i call it whatever the f--k i want
want a d*ck in your brain fakket
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Seems to fit the bill to me

#354

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Loyalty we go hard on earth

May 11, 2016

WPG said

lol d--- I wish I knew, I would've written all the papers

(BTW...that WPGHive section sounds like a good member group, no?)

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Consider it done @WPGHive

#145

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Loyalty we go hard on earth

May 11, 2016

WPG said

Okay, before we get into any of the finer points [...]
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I really could've used your help in my history of hip hop class...

#139

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WPG sxn80 Rory Gilmore

May 11, 2016

Michael Myers said

Did you just say eminem redefined the genre?

OT: would love to hear some albums you wanted to mention to koolo. My Krazy Life is amazing and anything that comes close to it is welcome
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lol nah I was just throwing a bone to Koolo cause he loves Em. But it's true--Eminem wasn't considered "classic rap" when he came out, and now when someone comes out sound like Eminem it's a welcome point of reference for some listeners.

#128

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Skippy vr

May 11, 2016

Narsh said

yeah super violent song about taking shrooms at a frat party defffo too scandalous for 2016
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Weeknd made a song like that and got the kids choice award.

#52

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DKC shortygonletmecrush

May 11, 2016

Koolo said

i think i have a solid point tbh

any support from @BigCountry and @WPG so i can feel good about my self?
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I think the difference is that rap in general is less concerned with straight up rapping in the traditional sense and the rappers that still are (em, slaughterhouse, etc) feel like relics. There's a lot more experimentation with melody and using their voice as an instrument rather than being 100% focused on lyrics. Have you listened to 1999 by Joey Badass? You might like, sounds very 90s.

Also piñata if you haven't listened. Same producer as madvillainy.

Tha Story said

Hip Hop has become such a "safe" genre now.

Too many fans would much rather hear their favourite artist drop 3 projects in one year that sound the same using a tried and tested formula, than listen to an artist that is willing to push boundaries and try something new with each release.
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Can you expand? Not sure if I agree with that statement.

#36

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Worm Big Perm Big Worm

May 13, 2016

Lamont said

i dont even know of any posters that do that

and neither do you
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That's just Narsh trying to keep the white man down so we fight with ourselves and stay blind to the truth

#612

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Goku187

May 12, 2016
my impression of a J. Cole fan while listening to a new J. Cole album: *clears throat* Wow this is extremely good. I'm going to have to pause it when The Big b--- Theory starts, but I can always unpause it during commercial breaks.

#498

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Soldier big cuntry's alias

May 11, 2016
Summer gonna be crazy. Vince, YG, Gates, and Future all dropping soon. Can't f---ing wait.

#470

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WPG sxn80 Rory Gilmore

May 11, 2016
Tech Nine is for socially maladjusted middle schoolers

#347

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Oldboy

May 11, 2016
Nelly >>> Drake btw

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