Wednesday, January 22, 2014

D-Strong- The Gathering, ft John Robinson and Leif Erikson

Smooth flows,plus a jazzy vibe. I like it. Adding the video footage was a nice touch. Nice work.

Monday, January 13, 2014

HQ- Here I Am (Cartoon)



Just in time for the beginning of your work week, HQ reminds us to seek more outside of working a nine to five.




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Chi-Smoove



I happen to be one of those people who listen to hip hop for the lyrics.  A great beat and nice lyrics are a huge plus. For a while it seemed like finding both was a challenge. These days that isn't a case. Chi Smoov does both here:



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Saturday, January 11, 2014

Dom's Sketch Cast interviews Myke C-Town of Dead End Hip Hop

Myke C-Town (of Dead End Hip Hop) chops it up with Dom's Sketch Cast where they discuss the mindstate of artists in general, growing up, religion, success in the music industry, and much more. They also touch on artists that aren't in the hip hop genre as well. Check it out and see for yourself.




Thursday, January 9, 2014

Women Rappers. Where have they been you ask?

They say there aren't many female emcees, or "femcees" worthy of being noticed. I find that's hardly the case. Women have been rapping for quite some time now, it's just that they don't get noticed for some reason. In order to get noticed in the first place, it seems they have to get a new a$$ OR their subject matter gets in the way. Rap is very male dominated, especially more so with fans. A male fan doesn't want to hear about how she got "dicked down" (lack of a better phrase) by her man, nor does he want to hear about various things that only a woman can speak on, or metaphors geared toward that. I remember somebody saying something along the lines of "If a chick is ugly, she will be judged on talent alone". That says a lot right there. All in all, lady emcees  don't seem to get marketed well in general. Bahamadia was dope back in the day. Jean Grae struggled for a long time. Nitty Scott is dope so is Boog Brown,and Rhapsody but they don't have the marketing that Nikki Minaj had, and she had to get a fake butt and breasts to get noticed. This article sums it up best," Currently, the genre of women mainstream hip hop is monopolized by one or two female rappers now. In order for a woman emcee to break through the glass ceiling, she has to a) create or initiate beef with an already established artist, b) be white and co-signed by a major black rapper or producer (i.e. Kreyshawn and Iggy Azelea) or, c) as Erykah Badu once stated in an interview, “do some ho- sh-t.” Emcees like 3D Na’Tee, Nitty Scott MC, Farrah Burns, and Rapsody won’t be heard or seen in mainstream media because they’re not perpetuating the stereotypes of female rappers that have been around for almost twenty years."  That's pretty telling, if you ask me. Why is that? Whenever I ask this question, they always say that the artist "didn't bring anything to the game," as if (insert any sex fueled woman rap artist) has added "something different" to the game. When I say, they aren't selling their asses to get noticed, then here comes the, "What are they doing musically that's different"?  Really?  Rap styles come in waves. There are a million rappers who sound the same. What are they doing  musically that's "different"?  For example, gangsta rap has been done over millions of times with the same story, but different flows and beats. Club music has been done over and over. What's different about these is the person rapping them and that's it. Jean Grae has been doing her own thing and she is seriously dope, but hasn't gotten the shine she deserved over the years, and as a result, she's done with rapping and is on to different things. Why couldn't she get that support? Her story in the rap industry, (among many other women who came before) is pretty upsetting.  That being said, here are a few artists that have been doing it for a minute now, but haven't received much shine:

Tiff The Gift



StaHHr




Honey the Hippie



Neiva Eure


Nitty Scott, MC (already mentioned, but I had to add this song)



Thoughts?

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Boom Bap Playlist

Artists have been recreating that 90s Boom Bap sound I loved the first time. Here's a playlist of artists who are bring it back. I'll keep adding more to this as I find more great artists.

Germany gets down!

Simple One (the emcee) & Captain Crook (the beat maker also known as Klaus Layer) remind the US how to represent real hip hop!  Boom Bap happens to be my favorite genre of rap music. This sound is why I say the early to mid nineties was a very strong period for hip hop.