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hip hop was the new punk in 79. and I think there has always been an alternative scene after hip hop became mainstream. the goats "tricks of the shade" is a classic imo, mc 900 ft jesus. some great british crews: hijack, gunshot, son of noise. or the jungle brothers....... and all the new stuff that was mentioned.

I'm going to see dalek next friday!

slint

There is a pretty big underground rap scene, thank god the major labels don't see it as much of a cash cow yet. Sage Francis, El-P, Mr. Lif are very good. There's a whole wealth of good underground rap. Although its not very marketable since its not about bling and bitches.

Skronk wrote: There's a whole wealth of good underground rap. Although its not very marketable since its not about bling and bitches.

i see what you mean and i definitely agree for the most part. but its worth noting that the 2 most "marketable" rappers of all time (by far, in terms of album sales) were 2pac and eminem: neither rapped much about "bling," and yes they would use the word "bitch" but not in nearly the same sense (while most rappers these days have an attitude of "i have so many bitches its like im in a candy store," 2pac and eminem were more along the lines of "you fucking lied to me you bitch" (personal stuff)). 2pac and eminem were very passionate (though eminem was often very humorous) and often very angry and definitely indignant about something. 2pac was very political, especially in his early raps. he spoke on lots of serious socioeconomic issues. he also had some moments of being really compassionate (see "i aint mad at ya" and "life goes on"). basically, my point is, the cliche rap of the 2000s decade is not the be-all-end-all of marketable rap.

interloper wrote:This is a long shot, but does anyone have or no where one can find some somewhat old hip hop mix tapes? I'm thinking pre-95...Old Stretch Armstrong shows perhaps? Anyone?

http://konstantkontakt.blogspot.com/

Stretch's blog.

eephour wrote:

interloper wrote:This is a long shot, but does anyone have or no where one can find some somewhat old hip hop mix tapes? I'm thinking pre-95...Old Stretch Armstrong shows perhaps? Anyone?

http://konstantkontakt.blogspot.com/

Stretch's blog.

Yeah, found it after I posted. Big thanks though, that show is incredible. It made me dig into storage and pull out a handful of mixtapes that I thought were long gone....ahh the memories.

interloper wrote:This is a long shot, but does anyone have or no where one can find some somewhat old hip hop mix tapes? I'm thinking pre-95...Old Stretch Armstrong shows perhaps? Anyone?

Those Dr. Dre mixes from the '80s are floating around ("Rodium Swap Meet Megamix" and "1986 Mix") are really good, and worth looking for.



Here's a few for tunes I've listened to lately:


Devin the Dude - "Briar Patch"
My girlfriend and I spent a week with a rental car over the holidays and the only CDs we had were this Devin album and Karen Dalton. I was fairly certain we would tire of Devin, but the album kept repeating and we kept chuckling every time we heard his whisper/falsetto line, if you don't like it you can suck my dick.


WC & The Madd Circle - "Back To The Underground"
From the Ain't A Damn Thang Changed LP. If you're wondering, that is Coolio pre-Fantastic Voyage.


Tall Dark and Handsome - "The Bronx is Back"
All about who can roll on whose domain. What are you, on crack?


King Tee - "E Get Swift"
From the At Your Own Risk LP. E Swift was Tee's deejay. This is the compliment to the "Aladin's on a Rampage" tune I posted in our last hip-hop thread. The ones who talk shit while the record skips.


E-40 - "Hope I Don't Go Back"
"What we do this week on Soundscan?" An Ant Banks production. The underground hip-hip community has suffered a loss since Banks retired from music and started selling real estate. (Real estate, what part of the game is that?) I see Banks as hip-hop's Steve Albini (except Albini doesn't put sleigh bells and triangle on every song he records). Everything is so warm and punchy. Slangin' whut?


Ultimate Force - "I'm Not Playing"
On Ego Trip's criminally slept on list. I fucking love this song. Such great one-liners: "I got more hair on my chest than Chuck Norris," "You hear me ridin' in my car, you think it was a parade," "Emcees bitin' my rhymes like they was corn on the cob/ or should I say cake, from the bites you take."


The Coup - "Pimps"
Well if you're blind as Helen Keller/ You could see I'm David Rockafeller. From their Genocide & Juice LP. Boots Riley for president in 2008!



DJ Vadim - "This is How We Go"
From his Lettuce Propelled Rockets mixtape.


T-Love - "What's My Name"
A hip-hop song in 3/4 is worth a listen on it's own, but her delivery is great. From the Return of the B-Girl EP. If you missed the Rachel Raimist documentary on female rappers, "Nobody Knows My Name," it's worth hunting down. T-Love has a few tear-jerking moments.

Found this while looking for old mixtapes...

http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podcasts/69

The James Brown tribute shows/mixes at the top of the list are fantastic.