He says he doesn't like the term "country rap", because he feels it's confuses people, so maybe it's more like the talking blues. Colt says he wants to be called a country singer, though he can't sings and that's why he raps.
Reggaeton, a selection of academic essays edited by Raquel Rivera, Wayne Marshall and Deborah Pacini Hernandez, was released in April by Duke University Press.
50 Cent says he's going back to hardcore hip hop with a quote that sounds like Jay-Z talking about his own most recent projects, ""When I start writing music to my core, I'm talking about the way I came up, the way I was raised."
Some artists, like Kanye West, can be part of what is happening now with the new waves of styles and trends while others just can't or won't make that transition. That's not a diss by any means and sometimes older styles can be modernized while retaining core elements, as RZA says he's doing with the production on Chamber Music, or even simply brought back and reframed by contrast.
Such moves can excite old fans and create new ones. It's a tricky thing but I have a feeling it will work out well for all these artists, as we're seeing with Eminem, because they seem to be following what matters to them and to their core fanbase rather than chasing trends. That focus puts them in a position of strength as folks seek out what feels solid during a time of great change.
The Southern Mothers - Olafur Eliasson (A Milli Remix)
Wow! These guys' lyrical inventiveness is quite impressive. And I've certainly never encountered so many sexual references in defense of public art.
You might want to check Gothamist for background on Olafur Eliasson. Most of the other art and architecture references are closer to common knowledge.
I wish more music videos had subtitles. I think they're meant as a joke here but I like them for their own sake.
The duo, The Southern Mothers, have at least one other video, Tracy Letts, playing off 99 Problems and focused on playwright Tracy Letts. Not bad but you can see they really stepped up their game with Olafur Eliasson.
Jon Carmanica makes the case for Gym Class Heroes as a band that is ""crossing under" and gaining credibility in the world of rap.
We'll see how much further their singles driven progress takes them into the realm of urban media but it seems more likely that the majority of these rap/rock hybrids, spanning the gamut from 90s style "heavy" rap/rock to Schwayze's gentle blends, are going to affect the rock landscape much more dramatically than the urban landscape and give rappers new opportunities in new arenas.
Here's a new Nerdcore tv spot for G4tv from MC Lars whose vocal stylings are what I had considered typical of nerdcore and why I haven't been so into the genre.
MC Frontalot for G4tv
MC Frontalot is also a big name in nerdcore and I've checked him out before but, though he sounds related to MC Lars if you listen without watching, this spot reminds me more of musicians that crossed over into performance art like Klaus Nomi whose excessive self-presentation is a particularly strong part of the act.
YTCracker for G4tv
I don't think I'd checked out YTCracker before and he comes across as the most "normal" rapper of these three. Juxtaposing them suggests that they're more connected by themes and beats than by vocal styles.
Given that the folks at GPtv are saying that Del the Funky Homosapien is next in the series and describing him as the "overlord of nerdcore", the nerdcore genre is starting to look and sound a lot more interesting.
Though reggaeton never melded with hip hop it wasn't for lack of trying on Daddy Yankee's part. His career continues with a starring role in Talento De Barrio which he also coproduced as well as featuring on the soundtrack.
I've been gathering links to hipster rap coverage as these colorful new players have made their appearance, for better or for worse, in the hip hop blogosphere.
If you've written something on the hipster phenomenon, please drop a link in the comments.
And if you care to share your definition of hipster, cause every one I've read to date kind of sucks, that will be especially appreciated.
All contributions will be considered for my upcoming post, Hipster Rap: Parade Music for Gangsta's Funeral.
Update: You can define hipster or hipster rap and we'll see what kind of overlap happens.
Here's a fascinating blog post from a while back on the business of Ghana's Hiplife, a combination of their Highlife genre and hip hop, with some interesting similarities to business here: These days, the biggest names in hiplife are making more money from product endorsement deals than record sales.
For more on Hiplife see The Hiplife Complex by thursdayborn who described his project: While living in Ghana, West Africa last year, I spent most of my time chasing around rappers, producers, engineers, fans, DJs, and anyone else involved in the local hip-hop movement. Clutching a DV camcorder and microphone, I pounded the pavement of Accra, Ghana's sprawling capital, from top to bottom reaching out to a huge variety of participants in this vital, evolving complex. The culmination of a unique combination of factors (eg socio-economic, politico-historic, and technological advances), hiplife represents the next step in both the development of African popular expression and a more than 400-year diasporic dialogue.
There are a number of interesting developments regarding white people and hip hop getting media attention but the one getting the most attention, ego trip's (White Rapper) Show, is probably the least important, though it may be the most successful as entertainment.
I'm not saying that the White Rapper Show isn't big news for the Ego Trip crew and I'm not saying that it isn't decent television. In fact, I'm glad that some good white rappers are getting a little extra attention as a byproduct.
But I am saying that there doesn't seem to be much new in the (White) Rapper concept other than being the first reality show organized around the idea. And, since rapper is the last job category in hip hop for which the idea of a white man getting the job is most likely a joke, there doesn't seem to much more that can be done with it except, maybe, a situation comedy featuring a crew of white rappers trying to make it in Harlem.
Nerdcore Rising Teaser
I've been much more interested of late in two developments involving whites in hip hop that stand out from the (White) Rapper theme partly because they aren't trying to gain acceptance in rap but are building their own scenes and fan bases - nerdcore, a geek rap phenomenon that's been building since at least 2000, and glam rap, currently claimed by Mickey Avalon with many precedents.
Nerdcore got a big plug recently in Newsweek and is the subject of two indie documentaries, Nerdcore Rising and Nerdcore For Life.
Nerdcore For Life Trailer
What I didn't at first get about nerdcore is that it's not a parody of hip hop, at least that's what some of these folks maintain. Once that idea sunk in, it helped me recognize that something stronger than white people making fun of themselves by pretending to be rappers is going on here.
I'll be honest, I can't really stand to listen to a whole nerdcore track. They're just hard to take. But that doesn't matter, the point is that nerdcore appears to be an authentic representation of a subculture that's going to do its thing regardless of what the so-called hip hop community thinks. Whether it can blow up beyond its subculture remains to be seen, but it's steadily growing and there are all sorts of ways nerdcore rappers can have an impact without being a major movement.
Mickey Avalon Movie Trailer
Mickey Avalon has worked the glam rap concept all the way to an Interscope deal and I think its going to cause a lot of cognitive dissonance if he really does make it. As much as writers will focus on his relationship to hip hop, in many ways it's rock that establishes most of the aesthetic base for his act and it will be various permutations of pop and rock fans who dig rap that will make him a big star or not.
Mickey Avalon f/Dirt Nasty & Andre Legacy - My Dick [Live]
My first reaction upon encountering Mickey Avalon in the media was to think, "how will hip hop respond to this?" But the reality is that it really doesn't matter. Avalon can blow up without ever being accepted by the world of rap, a world that is simply too homophobic to ever accept Mickey Avalon.
The thing is, (white) rappers are always in danger of becoming novelty acts. Nerdcore and glam rap would be novely acts within hip hop but the fact that they operate mostly outside of the traditional world of hip hop allows them to set their own terms and build their own audience without the resistance of purist and pop traditions.
And if some of these cats blow up with toy beats, they certainly wouldn't be the first.
Disclaimer: Depending on who you ask, Clyde Smith is a white man in hip hop, a white man blogging about hip hop and/or a white man taking hip hop for everything he can. But, however you look at it, I'm white.
My friend and associate Adisa Banjoko was featured on the cover of last Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle for an article entitled 9/11: Five years later / TYPECASTING MUSLIMS AS A RACE by Matthai Chakko Kuruvila. The article is a portrait of Muslims in the Bay Area who stand as counter-evidence to the monolithic stereotypes many Americans have of Muslims.
Chronicle Photo of Adisa Banjoko by Eric Luse
Adisa also recently hosted a panel on Hyphy at San Francisco's Commonwealth Club featuring Mistah FAB, Tamara Palmer, Traxamillion & Eric Arnold. If you want to get past the mainstream media portrayals of hyphy, check out the audio for an hour of real talk on the matter.
Michael Miraflor declares the Pack's Got My Vans On to be the "summer single of the year" which, to be perfectly frank, was a surprising reminder that New York hip hop bloggers can write about successful artists from other regions without having to question their own status.
Miraflor also makes a telling point about why hyphy may not be taking off like many in the Bay had hoped:
If I were a label head, I would NOT have had E-40 introduce the Hyphy Movement to the rest of the country. Yes, 40 water is a Bay Area legend, but outside of California his credibility takes a hit. No disrespect, but dude must be pushing 45 years old and does not look like the Bay kids whose culture and style he is supposedly reflecting and perpetuating. Hyphy needs something younger, more authentic and representative.... like The Pack.
Although I can understand why e-40 got pushed first, his age, his shifting identity, and his odd mixture of respect for and dismissal of hyphy kids undermines the role of spokesperson. Eric K. Arnold's hyphy article for Vibe's July issue reveals 40's perspective on ghostriding and similar automotive stunts that are similar to his comments on the newness of hyphy more generally:
According to 40, the only thing that's new is the extra enthusiasm the younger generation brings to the scene. "Now they're on top of the hood, they're on top of the trunk, and they're on top of the roof. And, you know, they got all the doors open. But it ain't really nothing new; it's just new to the world."
While it's true that elements of hyphy may have a variety of precedents, youth movements tend to operate under the shared perception that what they are doing is totally new and without precedent. So E-40's statements aren't conducive to becoming a champion of hyphy. What 40 doesn't seem to understand is that the newness in contemporary youth trends and movements often reveals itself in how received culture is taken, remixed and renewed via unexpected combinations and juxtapositions, a process that cannot simply be reduced to variations on the same old thing.
In any case, comparing the Pack's video for Got My Vans On at the start of this post to E-40's Tell Me When To Go which follows, it's quite clear that the Pack's video displays youth movement energy while E-40's makes a strong regional statement, further support that the Pack might be the ones to break hyphy in ways that recent attempts by the music/media industrial complex couldn''t manufacture.
Too $hort, another older figure who's pushing hyphy, seems much more clued in to what members of various older generations can do to help the spread of hyphy. As he told Tamara Palmer while referring to himself in the third person:
I think 40 and Too $hort are going to endorse it, and I think that if 40 or Too $hort tried to take it to the masses we’re almost just like perpetrating a little bit. . . It shoulda been Mac Dre to be the one bringing it to the masses, but his life was cut short. I think it’s on the next generation. Me and 40, all we can do is help. It’s an endorsement, that’s all. 'Cause me and him sat around and talked about the youngsters and how much our songs influenced them, but me and 40 don’t jump out of cars and ghost ride the whip and go stupid hanging out of windows. We don’t do that s**t. Somebody who does that needs to lead it. Mac Dre did that stuff. Keak da Sneak does that stuff. Mistah F.A.B. does that stuff. They need to lead the moment. 40 and me just need to be the Bay Area ambassadors we are, just stayin up on the throne or whatever and just overlook the masses and just say, "Handle your business." I’m trying to be a guiding light.
Obviously, it's not like Too $hort thinks any less of himself than does E-40, he just generally seems to understand the larger game much better than most folks and he also knows that he can benefit from hyphy without having to act like the kids are just following in his footsteps.
Since I opened with a reference to a current New York cliche, I think it's fitting to close with Too $hort's response to the typical Bay Area complaint that everybody else in rap music steals from the Bay:
I’m really not condoning all these Bay Area muhf**kers running around talkin’ bout, “Man, they’re stealing from us, they’re stealing from us!” Steal it back muhf**ker, s**t! Quit complaining!
Matt, author of HoustonSoReal, writes about and shares photos from his experiences traveling to Norway for a music festival. If you read much of Matt's blog, you'll realize he's open to and supportive of all kinds of rappers, though he's definitely boosting Texas. Plus, he often posts these lengthy photo essays along with his tales so it's a little like dropping into a scene from afar. In this case, prefaced by shots from a trip to the beach with his kids!
Matt's the kind of guy you'd want on your side if you were trying to break in the States, particularly in the nation of Texas. But, after a very late show with a small crowd, Matt found that some of the grime artists he had played regularly on his radio show just weren't interested.
Outside of Dizzee Rascal and Lady Sovereign, the grime cats really do not know how to do it man. Musically they are top notch, breaking new ground and forging new sounds. Business wise, they have no chance in hell. Like Kano, ultra talented, lyrical, attractive, complete package type of guy. Try to get a call back from his management if you are anybody but Fader or Vice. Impossible. Try to book him, he wants a grip of money to come to a city where 3 people know about him and one of those three people is really motivated and wants to break him. This is from experience here. I want to break this sound in the US but it's impossible.
Note that Matt had already been trying to help these guys build. This isn't like me trying to talk to some CEO at a big conference and feeling dissed. This is someone who could and would really help these guys.
I say all this because after the show I went to meet these cats. . . Yo for real, every one of them shined me. Motherf*cker I don't care if you are pissed. If someone is reaching out to you and complimenting your art at least say hello and shake hands. Don't just nod and walk off like you are... man don't get me started but I have to say it, these dudes showed me what I already knew man. They got all the talent in the world but the biz ain't there. I heard it from a lot of people before.
I have played Bruza a lot on my radio show. I tried to tell him that, but he was just not interested. He was just like "Yeah mate great." And walked off. Sorry bro, I'm a fan and will remain a fan, but sh*t man. You need some lessons in respecting your fans. All y'all. Cuz I was wide f*ckin' open and you killed my high.
I'm glad to hear that Matt's got positive regard for Lady Sovereign because I dig her and support her whenever possible. I'm actually really interested in the whole phenomenon, but if the day comes when Kano or Bruza's pr folks are reaching out, what's the first thing I'll be remembering?
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