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A thread about hiphop...


Horus Ex Machina

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Yesterday 4 of the most lyrically gifted and possibly most overlooked rappers today dropped their first album Slaughterhouse under the same name. Former Eminem cohort Royce da 5'9", Def Jam-ex Joe Budden, Death Row casualty Crooked I, and Aftermath reject Joell Ortiz collaberated from different coasts and different circumstances to produce one of the most promising supergroup debuts rap has seen in a long time. I've already burned my Firm cd.

Being one who thought that rap was in it's heyday in the mid 90's and early 2000's it's refreshing to see 4 talented MCs realize that the key to success might be to combine their relatively regional followings and create something that might not only create buzz about them but change what the industry norm has been in the last five years. This album should sell well. I would love to have been a fly on the wall in the recording studio, bc it's amazing how well they trade lyrics off of each other as if they'd been rapping with each other since childhood. The production is far more memorable than I'd have thought for an album that was allegedly put together in 6 days. Each of them touch a bit on their pasts, but this is more an affirmative demonstration of lyrical poetry of the 90's. I may not have to break out an old Wu Tang Clan disc to keep myself satisfied if they can keep this up.

I downloaded my copy off of Amazon MP3 on my phone today and I can say that only one track can be considered a certified club jam. But the rock and roll riff in

keep it unique and not the carbon-copy of club beats that predominate these days. But that's okay, it's time for the industry to start worrying about making memorable lyrics and good music instead of worrying about how many clubs your songs will be played in.

So add in Method and Red's BO2, Eminem's latest, along with the impending release of Shyne by next year and we recently see lyricists making noise again in hiphop. For how long? Well Slaughterhouse is already making plans for a sophmore album next year.

So I know there are at least a few ppl on here who still follow hip hop. Thoughts?

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I will have to check that out.

The only hip-hop I've picked up lately was Ohmega Watts' The Find and the reissue of Company Flow's Funcrusher Plus, but those are 4 and 12 year old albums, respectively.

ETA: The Slaughterhouse samples on Amazon MP3 make me yet more interested.

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I will have to check that out.

The only hip-hop I've picked up lately was Ohmega Watts' The Find and the reissue of Company Flow's Funcrusher Plus, but those are 4 and 12 year old albums, respectively.

I find it quite funny how you are the first to jump on the Hip hop thread while Xray is the one pulling the metal thread together :thumbsup:

aaaand just disregard this if I misjudged how you are connected.

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I will have to check that out.

The only hip-hop I've picked up lately was Ohmega Watts' The Find and the reissue of Company Flow's Funcrusher Plus, but those are 4 and 12 year old albums, respectively.

ETA: The Slaughterhouse samples on Amazon MP3 make me yet more interested.

You should definitely check it out. The only downside is the three or four skits were all horrible. Considering that these four really haven't been really tight for more than a year, it seemed forced to try to set up interludes that made sense. As they get to know each other more and get into their group persona's that should be less annoying.

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The only downside is the three or four skits were all horrible.

I think skits rarely work anyway. Brief interludes have their place, but it seems to me that very few people manage to put together decent skits that actually hold up to repeated listens. The benefit of CDs and mp3s is that you can skip them easily, so long as they have their own track and aren't glommed on to a regular song.

What interests me most about the Slaughterhouse idea is that it is a group project. I tend to enjoy albums with multiple MCs trading lines much more than solo albums, as you get to hear the different styles playing off each other instead of having just one voice the entire time.l

I find it quite funny how you are the first to jump on the Hip hop thread while Xray is the one pulling the metal thread together :thumbsup:

aaaand just disregard this if I misjudged how you are connected.

:thumbsup: My guess is you have the connection correct. Of course, my knowledge of hip-hop is nowhere near as expansive as Xray's knowledge of metal.

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Skits are the downfall of almost any album I've ever heard (and that includes 36 Chambers). Interludes (like on Dr. Octagonycologist and ...So, How's Your Girl?) are OK, though. Depending on how the CD is ripped, I'll be deleting the skits off of this album (whenever Mr. X gets around to buying it).

Anyway, the album sounds interesting and I hope it'll bring back some of what makes hip hop great (excellent beats and rhymes), because the shit most labels are putting out now isn't even fit to line birdcages. So, so so fucking bad. I still want to cockpunch Nas for that POS he released two years ago. Gods, what a pathetic album that was. :(

ETA: I should add the caveat that hip hop never died, the underground, etc. No musical genre ever totally dies or stops producing quality music -- it may just take a bit more effort to find the gems. I stopping putting any effort into finding quality hip hop a few years ago, but I'm sure it's out there and easily found with a bit of research. :)

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So add in Method and Red's BO2, Eminem's latest, along with the impending release of Shyne by next year and we recently see lyricists making noise again in hiphop.

Funny, I thought Eminem stopped being a lyricist years ago. And from the evidence of his latest 'attempt', I wouldn't believe anything has changed.

As a side note, anyone who's looking for a great hip-hop lyricist, check out a guy called Sage Francis. I've been turned off rap for a while now, but I always have time for his music.

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Funny timing. There's an article in the culture section of the Göteborg Posten discussing

, who they're dubbing "hip-hop's new golden boy". Never heard of him before, to be honest, but his style seems pretty smooth (and references to Patrick Bateman and Wikipedia are certainly amusing enough).
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Skits are the downfall of almost any album I've ever heard (and that includes 36 Chambers). Interludes (like on Dr. Octagonycologist and ...So, How's Your Girl?) are OK, though. Depending on how the CD is ripped, I'll be deleting the skits off of this album (whenever Mr. X gets around to buying it).
I don't know about that, some ppl found some of the skits on "36 Chambers" to be part of what made that album so memorable. You couldn't find two ppl who heard that album who couldn't quote word-for-word the Torture sequence.

Anyway, the album sounds interesting and I hope it'll bring back some of what makes hip hop great (excellent beats and rhymes), because the shit most labels are putting out now isn't even fit to line birdcages. So, so so fucking bad. I still want to cockpunch Nas for that POS he released two years ago. Gods, what a pathetic album that was. :(
There was some good on that album but alot of what made Nas great suffered from compromise once he signed with Def Jam. Jay-Z was slowly dragging Def Jam into the depths of purgatory and it made my stomach turn sometimes.

Funny timing. There's an article in the culture section of the Göteborg Posten discussing
, who they're dubbing "hip-hop's new golden boy". Never heard of him before, to be honest, but his style seems pretty smooth (and references to Patrick Bateman and Wikipedia are certainly amusing enough).
Oh yeah, I'm familiar with Wale considering that we're both first-generation Nigerian-Americans, although he's Yoruba and I'm Igbo, not that that matters. Awesome skills, and it's just too bad bc DC isn't a strong launching point for hip hop. Most of the movers and shakers of the industry are gonna be in the Midwest, the South and the Northeast and they'll push the guys from those regions.

I have a cousin in DC who put me onto him.

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ETA: I should add the caveat that hip hop never died, the underground, etc. No musical genre ever totally dies or stops producing quality music -- it may just take a bit more effort to find the gems. I stopping putting any effort into finding quality hip hop a few years ago, but I'm sure it's out there and easily found with a bit of research. :)

So, if I understand correctly what you're saying here is that we shouldn't call it a comeback - they've been here for years?

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Hip Hop died when Dylan went electric.

And rap peaked in 1989-90 with Straight Outta Compton, Paul's Boutique and Sex Packets. And MC 900 Foot Jesus's immortal Hell With The Lid Off.

There's no coming back from that action.

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Oh yeah, I'm familiar with Wale considering that we're both first-generation Nigerian-Americans, although he's Yoruba and I'm Igbo, not that that matters. Awesome skills, and it's just too bad bc DC isn't a strong launching point for hip hop. Most of the movers and shakers of the industry are gonna be in the Midwest, the South and the Northeast and they'll push the guys from those regions.

I have a cousin in DC who put me onto him.

Nike Boots by Wale is probably my favorite hip hop song of the year. Altho adding him to my Nas playlist on Pandora totally screwed up the awesomeness of what was coming thru my speakers. Weird.

I've recently dled everything by Lupe Fiasco and liked most of it. He's got a lot of lyrical talent. Haven't discovered much of anything else newish in rap lately.

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