What is a Classic

    I often hear people offer up their opinion on what they consider a “classic” rap album. I guess until recently I never considered what it actually takes to make up a “classic” album. I know my perception of what is classic material is different than what someone else considers to be classic. Before I continue I would like to first give examples of what I consider to be “classic”: Straight out of Compton, Amerikka’s Most Wanted, Death Certificate, Doggystyle, The Chronic, Resurrection, The Diary, The Untouchable, Every Outkast Album, Soul Food, Ready to Die, Reasonable Doubt, and so on and so forth. There are far more than I listed, but I just wanted to scratch the surface. Some will look at this list and say what about….. But understand that this is just a snapshot of what I consider to be classic material, and what is considered the standard. Each album meets different criteria that put them in this category. And this is what I want to focus on. What makes an album a hip/hop classic? Now before some readers begin steaming about what albums I didn’t list, calm down. I’m going to narrow down the elements that give an album that “stank” if you will that It takes to rise above the rest.

    The first element that is essential to classic status is the beats. Much like a great New Orleans gumbo, you can add all the shrimp, and boudin you want, but without that love and the right seasoning you just have a pot full of ingredients and no soul. To me that’s what the beats are, the soul. This ingredient is tricky, because the beat preference vary from region to region and state to state. On occasion there is an album that transcends all bounds. Exhibit A: Doggystyle. Now this album is heavy with sho nuff west coast flavor, but for the time it was released the beats could be heard banging all over the country. Why you may ask, because the beats on the album were funky and contained a little stank! No matter where you grew up, you had to bob your head when it came on. Beats aren’t the only reason, but you have to admit without them you probably wouldn’t be jamming Doggy Dogg World some 20yrs later. Exhibit B: Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. Initially the album wasn’t accepted outside of the south. Outkast was even booed in ‘95 at the Source awards in New York while accepting the award for best new rap group. Funny how this album is largely considered a standard. In the south we always knew the truth, but it took the rest of the country a little time to warm up to it. The lyrical content was on point, but the beats made love to your soul. Once you have the soul, the body will follow!

    The next ingredient that can boost your album in to the next stratosphere are the lyrics. Exhibit C: Illmatic. Most hip/heads and even other rappers consider this album the mold by which all others are judged. Lyricism is the most basic building block by which rap was built, and there other greats out there who deserve some credit. But popular opinion rules out on this one. The beat pattern follows the New York boom bap style, which is an acquired taste for many outside the region. The lyrics are what make this album universally respected. Think I’m lying, just get the album and go to #3 Life’s a Bitch ft. AZ! Seriously go get the album if you don’t already have it and listen I can’t do this one for you. Exhibit D: Reasonable Doubt. I admit that initially I wasn’t the biggest Jay-Z fan, but once I went back, whew! The lyrics on this album have an adult feel to them. J’s lyrics have a subtle arrogance that isn’t too much, but just right. The song Friend or Foe epitomize his cool confidence. I would argue that his rhyme scheme and word choice are impeccable.

    The last piece to the puzzle has a dual purpose. The social commentary/ability to capture the moment. I present Exhibit E: Amerikka’s Most Wanted. Ice Cube’s best work in my opinion. He began with a strong voice against the machine. I remember the first time I heard the album in ’91 I didn’t whether I wanted to be a black panther or a gang member (if you do your history one evolved from the other). There was a focused anger that needed to be heard. Fueled by frustration with sell out radio stations, and street issues that were and still are plaguing the music. He simply let loose. It’s worth noting that his social anger was amplified by the fact that he went to New York and enlisted Chuck D and his infamous production team. Exhibit F: Resurrection. I must warn the reader that this album is straight anger no chaser! But to the right set of ears there is social commentary that is rivaled by few rap albums. Scarface, Willie D, Bushwick Bill hit you in the face with stories and commentary that are undeniable. Take that and add the phone conversations with Larry Hoover (infamous founder of the Gangster Disciples). I would go so far as to say that you don’t ever have to go to the ghetto and listen to this album and have a complete understanding of the anger that resides in many of the impoverished neighborhoods around the country. Willie D comes off as one the scariest rappers you will ever hear. If you think I don’t know what I’m talking about I dare you to listen to First Light of the Day! If you aren’t from the hood, you might have nightmares!

    The albums I listed are only are few examples of what I consider to be classic. Also know that are many others. Some are personal preference and some are universally recognized. I just want the reader to understand that your classic isn’t necessarily mine. I also want to share with you what elements I find necessary to compose a classic. If you don’t agree, cool. Ponder this, how long has it been since a classic album has been released? Think about it!!!!

Hip/Hop Homework

This is entry is very simple. Instead of me doing the leg work I won't the reader (whoever that might be) to pull their own weight on this one. I am going to list three old school movies that revolve around the music and culture and hip/hop, and I want to began a discussion that hopefully educates and entertains at the same time.
Beat Street
Wildstyle
Breakin pt.1

I will pose this simple question. What is the common theme of these three movies as it relates to the culture?

There isn't necessarily a right/wrong answer, but I have  an answer and I want to discuss this. If you want to know my answer hit my comment section, and let's get the history lesson started. I will say that my answer will tie in  to the current state of the culture. And for those who don't like history, tough shit!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me Generation

            It occurred to me as I was riding around doing what grown people do, running errands. I’m on my way to the grocery store and it hit me like a brick. When is the last time you heard a group of rappers get together and rap about anything other than how much money they have or have spent? Think hard, because of the top of my head I can think of several tragic events that have happened in recent memory that deserved some sort of collective outrage. And I don’t mean just wearing some t-shirts or a quick line in a song. Of course I bring this up, because once upon a time “me” wasn't the entree’ of the day.

            Way back when I was just chillin in a place that in 1988 earned the distinction of being the “Murder Capitol” (look it up). That’s right Albany, GA! It was fun, but dangerous at the same time. The entire country was being ravaged by drugs and murder. Ask your older relatives what it was back then. I remember NWA “Straight out of Compton” was the new craze. It was as gangsta as it got! I remember watching YO! MTV Raps and they premiered something that hadn't been seen since “We are the World”. A group of musicians that decided to put “us” before “me”.

            Yep I can remember it like it was yesterday. The “Stop the Violence Movement” was something completely new in rap. Imagine that, rappers came together to rap about the destruction that was happening in our communities, what an idea. It was revolutionary then, and considering the current climate in rap it is as revolutionary now as it was then. I’ll give a couple of names: Boogie Down Production, Heavy D, Dougie E. Fresh, MC Lyte, D-Nice, Stetsasonic, etc. I’m not going to spoil you, so you can look up the rest. It almost seemed like a once in a lifetime occurrence, or was it?

            They say that lighting only strikes once in the same place. You would be wrong to believe that, because the very next year the west coast took a stab at it. This time it was “We’re All in The Same Gang”. This movement had just a little more credence, because at the time NWA was considered by the FEDS to be a serious threat to society, and they took part in the movement as well. The song also features Above the Law, who at the time was just as gritty as NWA. There again I won’t name all the participants, because I feel that I would do a disservice to the reader by spoon feeding this information.

            I just wanted to put this out there to illustrate that being gangster doesn't always mean irresponsible. It also doesn’t mean that rappers should neglect where they came from just because they have “made it”. Looking out for self can only get you so far. I think that selflessness should be honored and not selfishness! I just want this post, and all future post to be snapshot of where we can go, not how fast can we kill the culture. My apologies to my hometown of Albany, because my reference to it being the murder capitol wasn’t to shame the city, but only to help illustrate what was going on at the time. Peace!

Social Rant

                                            Social Rant

          It has been awhile since I wrote on my blog. I’ve had ideas of what I wanted to write about, and there have been many topics that I wanted to cover. Some of the topics that I have kicked around will be future entries, but for now I feel like this topic that is on my mind is the responsible thing to write about. I can only hope that this entry can serve to provoke thought and action. To end the mystery I’ve been thinking about a responsible way to move the movement that we refer to as hip hop in another direction.

          When you take a look at the current climate of the financial world there has become this divide between middle class and the upper echelon. There is also this purposeful exclusion of those who have yet to obtain of this “American Pie”. I could go on and on about how the rich have rigged the system in their favor, or how our government has been bought. This alone is enough for me to stop capitalizing america in my writing. After watching a documentary called “Park Avenue” on Netflix along with my own struggle as an out of work veteran with a college degree  and no felonies I began to ponder……… What the hell is going on? Being that I alone wasn’t enough to spark this change, but I thought that there is a platform that is embraced by millions across the world that speaks to the souls of the masses. And that platform is hip-hop/rap.

          Now I will be the first to admit that rap has arrived at a place where even the diehard fan like myself has lost quite a bit of faith. It seems that selling drugs, embracing drug use, or the outright disregard for anything responsible has become the topics of the day. And to some degree I believe that there is a place for some ignorance, but shit now!!!!! This is especially unsettling when you find out that record labels are nothing more than puppet masters. More upsetting than the fact that rappers seem to endorse this bullshit behavior is that rappers happily sell their soul to the devil for a piece of change, or just simply a chain. They even have the audacity to say this bullshit about them doing it for the hood. I digress, because my purpose isn’t to hold artists responsible for the dumb shit that they infect our airwaves with, but to daydream about what would happen if they helped their communities participate in the voting process, education, and self pride.

          It is paramount for the disenfranchised to take part in the process that affects their lives. Many of the social ills that plague my hood, your hood, and the entire nation could be averted if those who are being screwed by this system actually did something about it. The one thing that we see every presidential cycle that has politician shaking in their boots is “did they vote?” or did they do everything they could to keep us from voting? Instead us responsible, decently informed hood representatives have to hear topics such as: throwing money away, selling something that has ruined at least one person in every family (molly,crack,coke,etc..), or other dumb shit that doesn’t help their families and neighborhoods.

          All I’m saying is in this country we participate in a lot of bullshit, but expect to be taken serious. Why not use the system the correct way, and fix our society. invest time in educating yourself, and stop letting what others that don’t look like you, or live like you dictate what you see as fact. Take a little time to learn more about civics. Most important make those who work for our money fucking earn it (rappers and politicians).

Album Review: Illmatic

It is time for another album review. I must admit that I am a bit nervous about this album review, because of its significance as it relates to the genre we call rap/hip-hop. I want to begin this week by reviewing Nas’s ‘Illmatic’! I had to consider many emotions and thoughts while writing this review, because this album is considered by many as the benchmark by which many albums released after it are judged. The emotions are a factor, because as corny as it may sound, this time period marked the time where I fell in love with hip/hip. To be exact Common’s ‘I Used to Love H.e.r (both albums were released in ’94) is when I actually fell in love with hip-hop, but that’s another story for another time! I was a huge fan of the genre, but I can remember when I first heard the album I didn’t know what to think, because Nas (in those days he was known as Nasty Nas) incorporated everything that I liked about hip-hop. He had a flow that was laid back. His lyrics left nothing to the imagination. And for the time period his production wasn’t lacking. That’s how I felt then, so fast forward eighteen years later. Now this is the vantage point I will use to review this album.

Many years have passed since the release of ‘Illmatic’, and you could still make the argument that it is one of, if not the most lyrically sound hip-hop albums of all time. I would co-sign either argument. While writing to this review I have listened to the album twice, and I’m considering a third time. On this album, Nas has a flow that is laid back, yet gritty at the same time. Even on songs were you would think he should be yelling, I get the feeling he is lounging sipping coughee (reference 420 ya dig!). Me personally, I can listen to song #3 “Life’s a Bitch” ft. Az quite literally all day, and believe me I have! First Az gives you the analytic side of why times are hard, and the affect they have had. But the reason this is my favorite song on the album is all due to Nas! He begins with a timeless flow that is nothing less than spectacular!  His rhyme on this song is complemented by the sample from the Gap Band’s “Yearning for Your Love” perfectly! I’m not sure Kanye or 9^th Wonder could have done a better sample. The very next song “The World is Yours” uses what I believe the montra that Tony Montana lived and died by. There is even a scene in the video where Nas is sitting in a similar tub as Tony Montana while smoking a stogy. The picture that he paints on this track is one of an ex d-boi looking back on the street life, translating that into a rap. There isn’t a lack of classic material to be found on the album, and I’m sure I could do this review on every song on here and it would all be positive. I won’t spoil you though, because I want you to listen for yourself. What I will do is tell you what songs that you can’t ignore. My second favorite song on the album is “One Love”. The concept is quite simple; Nas is debriefing one of his homeboys that’s locked up on all the dirt that has happened on the streets since he has been locked down. If you listen to the third verse you will notice that a scene from the movie “Belly” is taken from the song almost word for word! (holla at me if you figure it out) To round out the album Nas leaves you with “It Ain’t Hard to Tell”. And actually the premiere of the video for this song was the first time I heard of this rapper called Nasty Nas. “It Ain’t Hard to Tell” is Nas’s thesis on why he is such a great emcee. Ironically enough by the time you get to that song, you don’t really need any proof that he is an elite emcee, but it is the

If you reference my previous post ‘Myth of the Top 5’ I mentioned that some rappers excel in a particular area. Well after this review I’m left conflicted. The reason is that many consider Nas to be a lyricist, and he is. The problem with that observation is that he uses his lyrics to paint poignant pictures that tell stories that are vivid!  This leads me to believe that Nas is often typecast as a lyricist when in actuality he is a storyteller as well, and not just your run of the mill storyteller, but someone in your top 5 storytellers has to move down, and possible out of the top 5. I in good conscience couldn’t place him lower than 3 on the storyteller list, and once you listen to ‘Illmatic’ you will see why. It ain’t hard to tell!

The Myth of the 'Top 5'

This particular post has been a long time in the making. I want to discuss the myth of the ‘top 5’ emcees/rappers of all time. The way I see it, and think you will agree is that rap has many sub-categories. Under each sub-categories there are artist who epitomize that particular category. So in actuality it would be more efficient to break rap down into sub-categories. I say all of this, because I have become extremely frustrated when my peers try to compare for example Scarface and Jay-Z. This is impractical since Scarface excels in the area of painting a picture of the ills that plague the ghetto thru story. Jay-Z on the other hand excels at bragging about what he has achieved through clever word play and innuendo. This example should illustrate that the two artists don’t belong in the same list, but at the same time both could be at the top of a particular list. I hear people all the time say that my ‘top 5’ consists of so and so. But when I listen to their argument it makes no sense. You can’t compare a car to an airplane. Now if you’re thinking “Keith, how should I break it down?” I would say that the categories would be as follows: lyricist, storyteller, game-changer, gangster, entertaining. My list serves as a loose guide, and I will go as far as to give examples for each category just to make my point! Under lyricist I would go with Big Daddy Kane/Rakim/Krs-1/Nas, for storyteller I would go Slick Rick/Scarface/Biggie, for game changer I would go Andre 3000/Method Man, for gangster I would go Ice Cube/Bun B, and for entertaining I would go Doug E. Fresh/Biz Markie/Devin tha Dude. This example also should demonstrate something else that I want to prove, and that is if you make an all time list and you don’t have one of the pioneers of that category then you list is invalid. I say that with conviction, because I hear people make these comparisons without acknowledging the people who may have discovered that particular style. The second tier to this post is the concept of the hottest emcee in the game. I have a problem with a particular network presenting the ‘hottest’ emcees in the game, because ‘hot’ doesn’t necessarily equate to quality! I feel that this list is driven by listeners who have no real appreciation for the genre known as ‘rap’. I often see the idea of the ‘hottest’ to be driven by who has the most drama, or who has claim to have sold the most drugs, or who has the biggest crew, or even who has the most jewelry. Hey douche bags you’re making us all look bad, so kick rocks! This is the part of the show where I drop the microphone and walk of the stage! Peace!

Need some Soul Food?

          Alright I'm back in the place to be, I got something to unload on your ass! I was thinking what could I hit you with next, and it came to me. In my previous post I eluded to Cee-Lo. Well here it goes. Soul Food, that’s right Soul Food. I had to do a piece on this album for several reasons, but the most important is that if I had to do a list of most ‘slept’ on rap albums, this would fall in my top five somewhere around #3. And if this one the most ‘slept’ on albums, I would also have to mention that the group that is responsible for the album includes one of the most, if not the most ‘slept’ on rap artist/mc/musicians/singers, Cee-Lo. I also have to mention that this album possess something that I find to be lacking in many rap albums after its release, that would be social commentary, and an accurate depiction of what I call the ‘Black’ experience. So if you’re ready let’s take this journey!
          In order to understand Soul Food, I must run down the list of players. Goodie Mob is a rap group comprised of Khujo, T-Mo, Big Gipp, and Cee-lo. I mentioned in the previous post that the first time you would have heard of them is on Outkast’s Southernplayalisticmusic. In 1995 they released Soul Food. The album was mostly a regional hit, but did branch out of the south. One of the reasons that it reached out of the south is because of their first single, “Cell Therapy” which was accompanied by a video that received descent spins on the video stations. Once you hear “Cell Therapy” you get the idea that their music wasn’t just about rapping for the sake of rapping, but like a good pot of gumbo it was also about taking multiple personalities, mix with social commentary to create something that was not only legitimate rap, but soulful at the same time. I would consider the album to the equivalent of a non-fictional autobiography for what young black Americans were going through at the time, and what they continue to struggle with. With tracks like the intro “Free”, where Cee-lo sings like a deacon on Sunday morning about how we may no longer be slaves physically, but are still slaves mentally! They follow that with what a song that contains “classic”, I do mean “classic verses by Cee-lo, and Andre 3000! The title of the song is aptly titled “Though Process”. I understand I may not mention the other members as much as Cee-Lo, but they do make memorable contributions. For example Big Gipp and T-Mo go off on the track “Dirty South”, which also features Big Boi. Oh yeah as far as I know, and are concerned the phrase “dirty south” was coined by Goodie Mob. The tracks on this album give you everything from how the system is working against us (Cell Therapy, Sesame Street, O.M.N.I, and Fighting) to family concerns and values (Guess Who, Soul Food, I Didn’t Ask To Come, and The Day After). For all the reasons mentioned above I believe this album is a classic, but there is one more element.
          Ok now I will talk about the 5^th element of this perfect pot of gumbo! I mentioned earlier that I may mention Cee-Lo more than the others, and there is good reason for that. Did I mention that on the track “Fighting” I’ve heard that his verse is a complete freestyle, and he stands on his soap-box like he is 20” feet tall. It is in this verse that he proclaims that Goodie Mob stands for the Good Die Mostly Over Bullshit, and if you take one ‘O’ away it says God Is Every Man Of Blackness. Not only does he hit with gems such as that, he has a plethora of memorable lines, and certified hip hop quotables. And don’t worry you will get at least three more reviews that include Cee-Lo, because his classic material doesn’t stop here. I have at least two more reviews for you to become better acquainted with mister Green. Make no mistake; I’m purposefully not going into too much detail, because I want you to go listen for yourself. If you don’t listen for yourself, then what I say will have little meaning. I want my words to spark a discussion on why my opinion is valid; yes I am being slightly arrogant! Overall the album covers where we have been and where we need to go, and I have to say now days too many artist just talk about mindless ignorance without addressing the social ills that plague the listeners of their music. For that reason Soul Food gets my vote for classic material, and once you listen I think you will agree. Just remember the Good Die Mostly Over Bullshit, the Lord has spoken through me and the G-Mo-B!