Hippa to da Hoppa, you just don't stoppa - The Bear and Badger

nick_md

Spent the weekend listening to a fair whack of Viper. Don't hate.

nick_md

Brooks is to blame for this, I used to just listen to Holla at me Fam but that's disappeared off YT, so now I'm working my way through back cat.

nick_md

The beats are sick bruv

Facewon

dynamiteReady wrote:

With Grafh, his problem is the fact that he's never dropped a good album. All his studio stuff is brass'.

Jesus. You weren't kidding. Awful.

Moot_Geeza

Playing catch-up with the mixes. Never even heard of three of Jon's selections.

Beatnuts track is what I'm gonna call 'the JonB sound' of old school sample drums loop 'n lyrics. Good stuff, this sort of 'of the era' thing just sounds right. Black Sheep was interesting, if I bought something from the mix it'd be this - didn't like it as much as everything else, but I'm still intrigued to hear a full length. The Crow is a big track, I'd need to listen a few more times but it's got potential to be something extra special - I think I'm gonna love it. Blahzay Blahzay, to repeat the 'two thumbs up' level praise I gave the Beatnuts track, just sounds right. It's the sort of thing I can't fault really, so why try - it's not setting the world alight but it helped me get in the groove when I washing up. The female vocal sample is the glue that makes it all work. Never heard Blood of Abraham but bouncing bass loops and slightly speedy flow almost always grabs me, so I enjoyed this one too.

Full house then, great playlist.

I find it enjoyable to to visit here with Jon's stuff in particular. Will get on the next one this evening.

dynamiteReady

Aye. One of my favourite sites, that.

Facewon

That blazhay album is good, btw.

Gremill

Black Sheep are great. I had completely forgotten about Blood of Abraham.

What’s the rules for this 5 track playlist malarkey then?

Moot_Geeza

Any rules are self-imposed. Face has done themes, I've just been cobbling stuff together.

Moot_Geeza

Face's mix:

Oooft, drrrty bass in track one. Never heard him, very good. It's a shame it switches to a shout-out soap-box thing, would'e preferred a fade-out but it'd probably work on an album (I guess it's a rarity track though, unless he's just called an album The Lost Tapes?). The first 2/3rds of the track is superb. Let 'em Live has haymaker beats too, bowel loosening stuff. Kool G verse a definite highlight, preferred track one but still enjoyed. Oh No...big club sound and three MCs making the most of their spots - top drawer collab, sounds like no-one even considered phoning it in. Lyricist Lounge eh? I'll definitely check those out. Big Pun track pretty good, I like the layering of doom as the sound builds, beats are great when it's at its busiest. PRhyme I'm not sure about yet but I'm having a nose at the Wikipedia page. Production is obviously a labour of love. Good work.

Facewon

Chino track one is a rarity thing, although his second album was all but vapourware, so it's a moot point, lol.

Big Pun track: please tell me you know its a "cover?"

And please tell me you know who's in pryhyme.

Moot_Geeza

Facewon wrote:

Big Pun track: please tell me you know its a "cover?"

I don't recognise the Dre track he's rhyming over, Whosampled told me but I wouldn't have known myself. Isn't it just new raps over an old track, a bit like dynamite's C.R.E.A.M freestyle?

Edit: the 'and you don't stop' bit has been sampled/repeated a few times, but I'm listening to the original Deep Cover now and it's not this track I recognise it from.

Facewon wrote:

And please tell me you know who's in pryhyme.

Nope. Well, yes, but only after Wiki'ing earlier. I know DJ Premier and Adrian Younge, but only know Royce on a 'recognise the name' level.

Facewon

Man, am I showing my age?

Pun is a cover of this

https://youtu.be/Op9Ml7pS6uA

From the deep cover soundtrack. Wonder how that film has aged.

Royce is fucking amazing. And premo, well, he's premo.that album is a must to listen to.

Moot_Geeza

It's more likely to be gaping holes in my hip hop history than an age thing. Until Eminem my collection consisted of Ice Ice Baby on tape and The Magic Number on vinyl (minus ten points for the fact that I collected it, along with the Thunderbirds theme, from the front of a Frosties cereal box). Most of my listening has been catch-up, and the majority of that fairly recently - for example, I only discovered Eric B & Rakim after someone (you?) put a track on a curated thing a couple of years ago. Consider me an avid learner.

Facewon

So the first ep of a new podcast by rick Rubin and Malcolm gladwell (called broken record) features em talking about walking on water. Rubin produced it, which I didn't know.

Yes, it's kinda an extended ad, but it's really cool. 15 minutes total, ends with the song itself.

Moot_Geeza

Dynamite's mix...

C.R.E.A.M - Never ever heard of Grafh before the last couple of pages. 'Best rapper alive', wow. Will have to listen further. At around 2mins on this track he really starts to impress. I'd usually dismiss a redo/rap over thing as throwaway, even if it works, but this definitely stands up to repeat listening.

Friend or Foe - I've never got on with Jay-Z. Never clicked with him might be a better way to put it. The only solo full-length I've listened to is The Blueprint, and I didn't see the fuss *ducks*. Both parts in this linked video are good; great (and varied) delivery in the first and I love the sample he's rapping over on the second. If this album is on Spotify I'll definitely check it out at some point.

Dare iz a Darkside - I've seen him pop up on other things but I've not listened to him or his Method Man thing. Reading the Wiki now, that's a huuuge list of guest appearances. Didn't dislike it but wouldn't say it had much that stood out for me.

Will do the other two on my break...

Facewon

Try muddy Waters for red.

The blueprint is solid, but let me do a Jay mix for you. You may still not feel it, but he's got some gold.

Moot_Geeza

Cheers. When I spent about £100 on Amazon a few years ago, hoovering up 40ish of the most loved albums from online lists, The Blueprint was probably one of the biggest disappointments. It wasn't bad by any means, but it was one of the albums that had been hyped so much from almost every source I used when compiling the long list. Maybe I should listen to it again, as looking back some of my scores were way off.

Facewon

Nah, it was a little bit of it's time. Some good stuff, but its kinda only solid.

Facewon

Between Jay taking all the blueprints off streaming sites and looking at the whole discography I'm just gonna list stuff. There is 3 and a bit albums to hammer and an album's worth from the rest.

Gremill

Jay Z might be one of the most over rated rappers of all time. Not enough style to distract from his lack of content.

MattyJ

Thing I find with Jay is that there are times when he truly is amazing... But there are lots of times he isn't. Most of his back catalogue is trash as full albums, but there are highlights on most of them.

He is a great guest MC though.

dynamiteReady

Reasonable Doubt is brilliant. Beyond that, I'm ambivalent to much of his other work, but from time to time, he says some extraordinarily clever shit that steps well away from rap, a bit like how Kendrick Lamarr does from time to time.

Moot_Geeza wrote:

Never ever heard of Grafh before the last couple of pages. 'Best rapper alive', wow...

Cheeky, yes, but I honestly think there's some truth to that.
He's so unusually good. Anytime I confront a rap skeptic, I wouldn't point out half the shit that I like to convince someone of the validity of the art form...

Wu Tang... Impossibly abstract, and highly colloquial.
JayZ... Money and drugs.
Redman... One of my all time favourites... curses like a fuck unnecessarily.

But when I introduce people to Grafh, they find it hard to argue against. Eminem is probably the only other rapper who can do that. So lucid in terms of wordplay and diction, that the complexity hides in plain sight... Big L too, was amazing, and Slick Rick also, though style wise not as interesting and extremely misogynistic. ...

I can't do top fives though, because that's a mug's game. But I think Grafh is exceptionally good.

Facewon

Shut it, Grem, that's my guy.

(Magna Carta is one of the worst things ever, though, and has the track Tom Ford, which is the single worst thing Jay has ever done. Fucking awful.)

Reasonable Doubt is amazing and pretty well worth a full listen.

Black Album also basically great from start to finish.

4:44 is, IMO, a great one too, but I need more time with it to work out where it fits in the cannon.

American Gangster, In my Lifetime Vol 1, and Blueprint 1 all very solid.

Basically, maybe a few dud tracks, but three quarters of all of the above fuckin great.

The Blue Print 2 shouldn't have been a double, but there's a ten track album that's worth it (and funnily enough, it's not the shorter version they released.)

The rest manage a banger or two.

Facewon

dynamiteReady

I liked that...

Comparing Migos to Das FX is actually a smart look...

I'm still on that Das Fx flex, and you can definitely trace a line from them to the likes of Heltah Skeltah, but them boys used to talk mad shit...

nick_md

Lads, I'm really digging Viper atm, This is How I Ball is a fucking beat man. I don't know what this makes me. You'll Cowards has tunes.

Speaking of which, the track that @Brooks linked, and which started me on this shit, ain't anywhere to be found on them nets no mo. Holla at me Fam just ain't nowhere. Love that tune. Anyone got a link?

Moot_Geeza

Low level internet mining gets me a couple of dead links, no luck I'm afraid.

Brooks

Yeah looks like he/The Man nuked his entire account.

He was the rap music Tonetta and I found him to be good times.

nick_md

Dang, will probably resurface at some point, cheers all the same.

Tonetta seems a similar vibe for sure.

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