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The state of hip hop in 2001

  
 
No star here laces
09:50 / 24.12.01
Several interesting things were going on this year...

Firstly this was the year that hip hop went synthetic in sound and in content.

Secondly the south was representing in force.

Thirdly, as a counter-trend to the synthetic sound, some people went retro.

Fourthly this was the year hip hop showed its intellectual side.

And, fifthly and finally, some people showed us what could happen next.

Synthetic

Ecstasy culture invaded hip hop. We had Miss E's name change. We had Ja Rule's dismal ode to getting high and having crap sex. We had the Outkast album. Everybody namedropped X on at least one album track.

This was echoed in the sound of the music. That 80s electro/early 90s techno overdriven synth noise was everywhere. Notable offenders were Beanie Siegel, Jay-Z, Timbaland, Redman and, par excellence, the Adam F album.

Finally, in terms of lyrical content, to me the dominant trend of 2001 was that actual experience no longer seemed to matter. The Wu flung themselves into the furthest reaches of their gangster sci-fi kung fu fantasy. MOP and DMX repped a thuggish street existence a million miles from their day to day lives without the standard apologias of " this is the way it was when I was coming up" or "this is how we do it in the hood I live". It didn't matter that it wasn't "keeping it real" - I didn't even hear the phrase mentioned...

The south

The south made all the running. Timbaland, Outkast, Ludakris, Bubba Sparxxx and Missy released many of the year's outstanding (or at least ever-present) tracks.

Timbaland repped the south far more overtly on his own tunes and used almost exclusively southern rappers on his own album, which was in parts one of the year's most innovative (at least as far as the instrumentals were concerned).

The things the south had been known for all along - sexual content, fast rapping and bumping bass became fashionable at long last (I think some of this is due to the long-time props that the UK garage scene has given to miami bass as an influence and source of samples).

The southern style also made a natural companion to the synthetic sound (again - miami bass is a touchstone here). Notable examples would be T.I.'s "Serious", Timbaland's "Indian Carpet" (which is gonna get it's own thread - deserves it!), Outkast's "I'll call before I come" and Missy's "Get UR freak on". (most bootlegged record of the year?)

Retro

This was fascinating to observe. Jay Z's "The Blueprint", Mystikal's "bouncin back", some of "Iron Flag" (notably "Pinky Ring") and the original mix of "Ante Up" had an overtly 60s soul sound to 'em with lots of horns and James Brown-esque instrumentation.

I dunno if this was a deliberate reaction against the mass takeover by the synthetic sound, or the emergence of a new keyboard versus sampler divide in mainstream hip hop (the underground has long been religously devoted to the sampler as opposed to the keyboard). Certainly it's particularly interesting wrt the Wu and the New York axis generally, as the west coast has usually been the more naturalistic sounding tradition, but the traditional polarities look like being reversed. Dre and Snoop are looking particularly marginalised here as they don't appear to be moving with either trend - 2001 was a massive album at the start of the year, but seems curiously irrelevant now...

Intellectual

Not really an area I follow, but the whole college radio hip hop scene seemed to explode this year with Company Flow, Cannibal Ox, the Infesticons, clOUDead (is that right?) et al getting mucho props and airplay.

This is self-consciously not 'street' or 'urban' music, and stuff that is deliberately divergent from the tastes of hip hop's (largely illusory and irrelevant) core demographic. DMX has long been a rapper primarily for the white suburbs, but these guys became rappers for only the white universities in an interesting departure.

I'm tempted to call this stuff hip-hop derived music, not hip hop, as it seems to me that hip hop is defined by it's attachment to the black urban demographic and culture (certainly not by the 'four elements', whatever the recidivists might claim)

Is this the beginning of the end? Does this mean hip hop will do what rock did and leave it's roots behind completely? Is that a bad thing? Fucked if I know...

What could happen next

Timbaland.

The man continues to blow us away.

He nudged the funk/breakbeat rhythm into a radically different form over the last few years. This year, with "Indian Carpet" he broke it into a million pieces and reassembled it into something completely new. But, as Jay-Z proved on "party people" it's very difficult for today's mcs to cope with this kind of stuff. Is it accidental that Tim's records always have substandard mcing? Or will a whole new style of mc have to evolve to cope with these rhythms, much as the old skool "nursery rhyme" style was blown away by the evolution of off-beat rhyming in the early 90s?

Or do Limp Bizkit (and, to a lesser extent, Co Flow et al) point to a future where the hip hop aesthetic is permanently diluted by the atonal, grimy rock sound?

Kid 606? I think he's irrelevant, but I could very easily be wrong...

Overall

Tell me I'm an idiot, defend El-P's good name, proffer comments, offer alternative analyses, 's all good.

I have much more to say on the matter, personally, but this post is long enough already...
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
09:50 / 24.12.01
I think that Timbaland and Missy Elliot are two of the most vastly over-rated artists in music today. No, scratch that. They are THE most vastly overrated artists in music today. They are good for a few tracks here and there, but they are mostly just hacks with an annoying shtick, as far as I'm concerned. "Get Ur Freak On" is unquestionably my least favorite song of the year, and "One Minute Man" is close behind it. Why the hell didn't they put out "Old Skool Joint" or the Redman/Method Man track as singles instead?

I'm shocked, shocked and amazed that you make no mention of the Neptunes anywhere...they illustrate nearly all of your points (e, the south, weirdness, intellectual, electro, omnipresence, keyboards vs. sampler, the future) far better than an anyone else on your list.

I absolutely despise Bubba Sparxxx and Ludakris too.... really, to be perfectly honest with you, outside of Outkast, The Neptunes, and Quannum I have very little love for much of any hip hop that is not from the northeast, mainly from NYC. I'm a bit provincial that way.

I also have a healthy suspicion of the Company Flow/Cannibal Ox/cLOUDDEAD axis, the 'hip hop for nerdy white indie dudes' thing leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. Musically, it tends to be interested, but the MCs are TERRIBLE, across the board. At least all the Rawkus folks have tunes and rhymes... same goes for De La Soul and Tribe before them. Also, having heard all the Wu-Tang LPs before ever hearing Company Flow, it's hard for me to be impressed by cheap RZA knock-offs with lackluster rhyming. It's fairly easy to rip off Wu beats...but to match the quality of nine of the finest MCs in hip hop is another thing altogether.

I'm not into these 'state of hip hop' 'state of indie' 'state of rock' 'state of music industry' things. It's silly. It's cheap music critic talk, the kind made necessary because you need to fill the extra-long December issue up with something, or to cope with the small number of notable releases in Jan-Feb-March. These things usually look very dumb a year or two on, and history usually works in ways that you can't possibly predict based on what things *seem* like based on the small cross section of records you heard in one year.
 
 
bio k9
09:50 / 24.12.01
Nevermind Sparxxx and Ludakris, its Petey Pablo I can't stand. Lets all pray he goes away soon, ok? And make sure he takes his airbrushed denim with him.

Sexual content, fast lyrics and deep bass have been huge for a few years now... and UK garage is responsible? To paraphrase Kool Kieth: What does a British kid know about the rap game/ thats a shame.

I have Funcrusher Plus and, while I know its more than a little old now, and probably not representative of anything current, its on Rawkus and the beats suck. The problems with most indy hiphop records (as I see it) are:

1. The beats and/or samples suck. You may be able to spit rhymes but you gotta have the hook. I've got a friend thats taken a prize in nearly every poetry jam I've followed him to (even when he shouldn't have, the charasmatic bastard). His demo tape sucks.

2. The MCs are too damn serious. The WU are full of goofy shit, Jigga sounds like hes having fun, Outkast look like they're having fun, hell PE has Flavor fucking Flav... why don't the indy guys give the serious schtick a rest already?

My general rule about music: if I can't play it loud in the car, on headphones, or at a party, it sucks. Most indy rap sucks.
 
 
No star here laces
09:50 / 24.12.01
Flux, youse prolly right about the pointlessness of broad-brush summaries, but I just think there's loads going on that it'd be interesting to talk about.

Yeah, shit, why didn't I mention the neptunes? Jus' forgot... The Trackmasters, also... I was drunk.

Anyhow, Timbaland. D'you have the Timbaland and Magoo album? Cos you ought to... Missy, Sparxx and Ludacris I'm with you on, I mention 'em because of their success, although I do enjoy Get UR Freak On - 's just fun to dance to.

But Tim, to me, pisses all over any other producer in the game. He has a lightness of touch and a way with melody that is unequalled. And that's before you even start to talk about rhythm.

Yes, the Neptunes are very good. But they don't innovate in the way Timbaland does. Rhythmically they are very staid - just compare their mix of 'Bills bills bills' with the original (and the original is a Tim rip-off to begin with). I have to keep coming back to Indian Carpet. The way all the pieces of that track are slightly outta sync, but it still hangs beautifully. The way the groove mutates throughout the song so that by the end it has nothing in common with the way it started out, but still feels like continuity. The way the melodies are like little candied flowers dripping out the speakers.

That is not the work of an overrated hack. This is possibly an entire new idiom, the way that funk and syncopation were in their time.
 
 
Rev. Wright
09:50 / 24.12.01
UK Hip Hop took off with Roots manuva and Skitz album. Both of which represent the mature spiritual awareness coming to bloom with the United Kingdom. It forms a reconciliation with the 'original' Hip Hop ethics of Love, Art and Unity.
Scenario record label has also gained alot of attention with the Nextmen touring their sound.
Tommy Boys Record label tour represented the Old Skool, with the awesome Afrika letting the people know 'Who's gonna get on down?'.

Throw away the Crack and the Guns and pick up a spliff and put on ya dancin' shoes.
UK is in the house
 
 
Ethan Hawke
13:02 / 24.12.01
Oh, and don't forget that Jay-Z had a hit with the most misogynistic song to grace the airwaves in a long, long time. Coupled with the Limp bizkit et al. axis, woman-hatin' is all the rage.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
13:26 / 24.12.01
I fail to see how "Girls Girls Girls" is MORE mysogistic than many, many, many other songs. Why is that song MORE mysogistic, than, say, that "Area Codes" song when the only difference in content is that Jay-Z is wittier, cleverer and more humorous about his 'conquests'? How does that song compare to "Bonnie and Clyde 97" or "Kim" by Eminem? Christ, the list goes on and on and on, before we even move into the rock and country/western world. I'm not saying that song doesn't have its share of mysogyny, but I'd say that it is fairly soft and much less offensive than lots of other songs. The song is essentially saying "I love girls. I fuck all kinds of them!". It's a womanizing anthem. There's certainly much more mysogistic tunes that that, that have been recent hits, no less.


So, again, my question is: How is the MOST mysogynistic tune on the air? What is it about that song that puts it over the top, ahead of everything else from hip hop this year or any other genre? I'm curious. Because by this logic, "Shoop" by Salt N Pepa was essentially the most vicious man-hating rap anthem of 1993...

here's the lyrics of "Girls Girls Girls", courtesy of OHHLA:

[Jay-Z]
Course I love you.. I love all y'all
Hehehe, hehehe, f'real

[Biz] I love girls, girls, girls, girls
Girls, I do adore
[Jay] Yo put your number on this paper cause I would love to date ya
Holla at ya when I come off tour, yeah

[Jay-Z]
I got this Spanish chica, she don't like me to roam
So she call me cabron plus marricon
Said she likes to cook rice so she likes me home
I'm like, "Un momento" - mami, slow up your tempo
I got this black chick, she don't know how to act
Always talkin out her neck, makin her fingers snap
She like, "Listen Jigga Man, I don't care if you rap
You better - R-E-S-P-E-C-T me"
I got this French chick that love to french kiss
She thinks she's Bo Derek, wear her hair in a twist
_Ma cherie amore, tu es belle_
Merci, you fine as fuck but you givin me hell
I got this indian squaw the day that I met her
Asked her what tribe she with, red dot or feather
She said all you need to know is I'm not a ho
And to get with me you better be Chief Lots-a-Dough
Now that's Spanish chick, French chick, indian and black
That's fried chicken, curry chicken, damn I'm gettin fat
Arroz con pollo, french fries and crepe
An appetitite for destruction but I scrape the plate
I love

[Tip] Girls, girls, girls, girls (uh-huh)
Girls, I do adore
[Jay] Yo put your number on this paper cause I would love to date ya
Holla at ya when I come off tour
[Tip] I love girls, girls, girls, girls
Girls all over the globe
[Jay] I come scoop you in that Coupe, sittin on deuce-zeroes
Fix your hair in the mirror, let's roll - c'mon

[Jay-Z]
I got this young chick, she so immature
She like, "Why you don't buy me Reeboks no more?"
Like to show out in public, throw tantrums on the floor
Gotta toss a couple dollars, just to shut up her holla
Got a project chick, that plays her part
And if it goes down y'all that's my heart
Baby girl so thorough she been with me from the start
Hid my drugs from the NARCs, hid my guns by the parts
I got this model chick that don't cook or clean
But she dress her ass off and her walk is mean
Only thing wrong with ma she's always on the scene
God damn she's fine but she parties all the time
I get frequent flier mileage from my stewardess chick
She look right in that tight blue dress, she's thick
She gives me extra pillows and seat back love
So I had to introduce her to the Mile High Club
Now that's young chick, stewardess, project and model
That means I fly rough early, plus I know Tae-bo
That means I'm new school, pop pills and stay in beef
But I never have a problem with my first class seat
I love

[Rick] Girls, girls, girls, girls
Girls, I do adore
[Jay] Yo put your number on this paper cause I would love to date ya
Holla at ya when I come off tour
[Rick] I love girls, girls, girls, girls
Girls all over the globe
[Jay] I come scoop you in that Coupe, sittin on deuce-zeroes
Fix your hair in the mirror, let's roll

[Jay-Z]
I got this paranoid chick, she's scared to come to the house
A hypochondriac who says ouch before I whip it out
Got a chick from Peru, that sniff Peru
She got a cousin at customs that get shit through
Got this weedhead chick, she always catch me doin shit
Crazy girl wanna leave me but she always forgets
Got this Chinese chick, had to leave her quick'
Cause she kept bootleggin my shit - man
I got this African chick with Eddie Murphy on her skull
She like, "Jigga Man, why you treat me like animal?"
I'm like excuse me Ms. Fufu, but when I met your ass
you was dead broke and naked, and now you want half
I got this ho that after twelve million sold
Mami's a narcoleptic, always sleepin on Hov'
Gotta tie the back of her head like Deuce Bigalow
I got so many girls across the globe..

[Biz] I love girls, girls, girls, girls
Girls, I do adore
[Jay] Yo put your number on this paper cause I would love to date ya
Holla at ya when I come off tour
[Tip] I love girls, girls, girls, girls
Girls all over the globe
[Jay] I come scoop you in that Coupe, sittin on deuce-zeroes
Fix your hair in the mirror, let's roll
[Rick] I love girls, girls, girls, girls
Girls, I do adore
[Jay] Yo put your number on this paper cause I would love to date ya
Holla at ya when I come off tour

[Jay]
I love girls, girls, girls, girls
Girls, girls..

[ 24-12-2001: Message edited by: Flux = Chief Lotsadough ]
 
 
No star here laces
13:45 / 24.12.01
flux, I think he's talkin about "Is that your bitch", y'know, the one that goes:

quote:

And my name is Jay-Z
She was all on my dick
Gradually I'm taking over your bitch
Coming over your shit
Got my feet up on you sofas, man
I mean a hostess for my open hand
You coming home to dishes and empty soda cans
I got your bitch up in my Rover man
I never kiss her, I never hold her hand
In fact I diss her I'm a bolder man
I'mma pimp her, it's over man
When I twist her in the Gold sedan
Like I'm Goldie man, you're bitch chose man
Jigga man, iceberg with the frozen hands
wedding bands don't make it rosy man
 
 
Seth
23:11 / 25.12.01
I’ve hardly bought any hip hop this year. It’s not that I’ve turned my back on it: just that I’ve been more excited by other stuff. I’m sure that’ll change, this kind of thing is always swings and roundabouts.

One thing I would seek to address is comments on this thread about “intellectual” hip hop. To begin with, we’re talking a lot of different artists from a lot of different places. Co Flow and Cannibal Ox are pretty close to a lot of Wu-Tang and Outkast stuff in terms of outlook and approach, although who influenced who is probably not worth debating, as we’ll never know. There’s just as much evidence to show that RZA changed his rhyme style after hearing El-P, given the radical overhaul of his flow in mid ‘95. The only people I’ve heard Co Flow namecheck as influences are EPMD and P K Dick.

Secondly, the comments on the audience being in white colleges says much more about the audience than it does the artists. Most groups (especially at the low end of the profit scale, as these are) wouldn’t turn down gig invitations. As usual, there’s a campus crowd hungry for black music without what they may see as ideological “baggage.” I won’t argue that their seeming inability to accept hip hop in all its wonderful Technicolor glory is a crying shame. I would say that I’m 100% sure that those two groups don’t aim their music at this market: they express what they want to express, and play where they’re invited. They certainly have interests outside of hip hop, which is shown in their choice of collaborations. However, their own music is always pure hip hop, and pretty fat free at that.

Most other comments are simply in the realm of taste. I actually find their music very groove oriented, funny and down to earth. I’ve always thought that hooks and tunes are unnecessary in a lot of forms of music, hip hop being one of the best examples. That’s “unnecessary,” girls and boys - I’m not saying I dislike catchy, melodic music (far from it). I just like a bit of variety. As far as MC quality, Cannibal Ox have dodgy flows but wicked lyrics. Big Jus and El-P have idiosyncratic deliveries that aren’t to everyone’s taste, but I’d rank them as some of the best and most individual there are (as well as first class lyricists).

I’m certainly not sold on the idea of the Wu being “nine of the finest MCs in hip hop.” Maybe nine of the most individual.

As far as the other artists that could be lumped in with this scene, I think they’re more in creative crisis than anything else. Mike Ladd is capable of stunning quality, but not for a whole album; Saul Williams promised a lot with his early singles (“Ohm,” “Twice The First Time,” and “Elohim” but again fell down when it was time to make the debut album; Anti-Pop Consortium can be fucking blinding, and can be cringeworthy; and it’s open season on cLOUDDEAD (bizarre group. They seem to be into the idea of mixing rap and prog rock, which might be alright had it not been for the fact that they should be banned from touching a mic). Mr Len’s album was pretty mediocre, an early glance at Big Jus’ new material shows some awesome, insane production, and some boring-as-sin feet dragging. One group who seem pretty pretentious but also make beautiful music are Sonic Sum - I’ve been playing their record since it came out, and it’s very pretty indeed.

All in all, the “scene” is made up of a lot of very different groups, and it seems most of them are having problems with identity, consistency and direction. The college scene seems to be the audience they’ve ended up with rather than anything they set out to capture. Some of the groups may dilute hip hop (which is rarely done well), some of them fit very snugly within the genre. I think the reason some of them fail a lot of the time is because they understand very little about any music outside of hip hop (while still trying to steal ideas from those styles). Perhaps they’re just simultaneously ambitious and inept. It’s the artists that they’ll influence that we’ll have to watch out for.

One of the things I love about hip hop is the fact that there’s such a bewildering variety of styles. More, please!

A final word on Indie hip hop:

“My peers I beg forgiveness
I just don’t buy 12”s
Too many Independents
They share the same resemblance” - Lyrics Born

[ 26-12-2001: Message edited by: expressionless ]
 
 
grant
12:08 / 20.02.02
 
 
grant
11:24 / 21.02.02
 
  
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