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MUSIC
Hip-hop,
be bop
(please, don't stop)
Hip-hop
best of comps are all over HMV like a rash. As fully paid-up members
of the white suburban wigger massive, in thrall to a different culture
as it’s expressed far more interestingly than our own, hip-hop
has consistently smashed it in ways that a thousand other indie
whiners never could. The sound that emerged from NYC block jams,
developed into electro and then into the ‘beats, rhymes and
life’ of hip-hop has produced in 20 years what rock achieved
in 50. We look at the main contenders for the hip-hop crown, the
sole stipulation being at least three quality albums (Yes, we know
they’re mostly from New York, that hip-hop has been graced
with many one-offs and that Dre’s All-Stars is not a real group...)
Public
Enemy
SKETCH: Militant funk and rhymes from Chuck D, Flavor
Flav, Professor Griff and Terminator X, with the Security of First
World troupe, laid down by Hank Shocklee. Ideology influenced by
Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, Elijah Mohammed and other US black radicals
from the 60s onwards, the music was inseparable from politics for
PE. The message, "freedom is a road travelled by the multitude",
reached out way beyond black issues
HIGHS: My Uzi Weighs A Ton, Don’t Believe The Hype,
Fight The Power, Bring The Noise, Welcome To The Terrordrome,
etc, etc, etc/legendary Brixton Academy gigs/white America in fear
as they had no answer to this articulate rage/commendable championing
of free or independent music via the internet
LOWS: Professor Griff’s anti-semitic outburst did them
no favours, but they kicked him out/output tailed off after Fear
of A Black Planet, with Give It Up the only highlight in recent
years
OVERALL CONTRIBUTION: Impossible to ignore from the debut
onwards, no hip-hop act has since covered as much ground, and kept
it as funky. With Flav, they always knew what time it was.
Wu-Tang
Clan
SKETCH: Shaolin-influenced self-sufficient hip-hoppers representing
Staten Island, the last of the New York boroughs to front, all brought
together under Rza’s superb production
HIGHS: From the debut Enter The 36 Chambers onwards,
the Wu released a stunning selection of long-players, principally
from Method Man (Tical), Raekwon (Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..)
and Gza (Liquid Swords), with tough integrity beating thug life
hands-down. Even the Wu-wear clothing label, the hip-pop of Gravel
Pit and the Iron Flag album were cool
LOWS: Ol’ Dirty Bastard in and out of prison, the independent
ethos and previous acclaim meant that some of the later LPs didn’t
quite cut it
OVERALL CONTRIBUTION: In rap’s mid to late-90s trough,
the Wu made endless beat-loops, horrorcore samples and rapping ad
infinitum the shit.
A
Tribe Called Quest
SKETCH: Originally part of the alterno Native Tongues
collective, these were arguably the best-ever pure hip-hop trio,
Phife Dawg complimenting Q-Tip’s silky delivery as much as
the two were a foil to Ali Shaheed’s jazz-influenced production.
This group linked modern black street music to its antecedents like
no other
HIGHS: Within years, People’s Distinctive Paths... became
The Low-End Theory and the ATCQ template was complete/Scenario perhaps
their defining moment of "beats, rhymes and life"/Even
a recent house bootleg of Bonita Applebum was good.
LOWS: Q-Tip’s Lucy Pearl project looks a bit lame/Jo
Public’s refusal to look beyond Can I Kick It hasn’t done
them any favours over here (though it’s not even their mix
responsible)
OVERALL CONTRIBUTION: Inestimable; funky, intelligent hip-hop
that never disappeared up its own arse.
Gang
Starr
SKETCH:"I can’t work in a fast food joint,
I’ve got some talent, so don’t you get my point".
Not as politicised as the first two, DJ Premier and Guru Keith E
stood as much for the life of "two turntables, a record and
a microphone" itself, and were the link between the hardcore
NYC world and the outside. Premo’s beats were so tight that
they made a virtue out of Guru’s stentorian delivery.
HIGHS: More classics from each of the Step In The Arena,
Hard To Earn and Daily Operation LPs than most produce in a career/the
second’s hard-edged beats, minimal samples and guest rappers
(Jeru, Black Sheep, Smooth,...) were priceless/Who’s Gonna
Take The Weight made scratching into jazz/and Jazz Thing for Spike
Lee’s film. "Thelonious Monk was a felonious punk"
indeed.
LOWS: After a dodgy first album, hard to fault. Even Guru’s
Jazzmatazz projects have made a virtue of bringing muso experimentation
to hip-hop
OVERALL CONTRIBUTION: Beyond respect in both the boardroom
and the projects.
Dre’s
All-Stars
SKETCH: Dressing up onstage as part of World Class Wreckin’
Cru, bringing eastside LA to the world, dropping Es and unleashing
Eminem, middle-class Andre King has been involved with some of hip-hop’s
most infamous acts.
HIGHS: Street-tuff electro of the World-Class/gangsta rap
over sped-up funky drummer beats in NWA’s outstanding Straight
Outta Compton, which also gave us the AmeriKKKa-hating Ice Cube/slick
G-funk of his own The Chronic and Snoop’s Doggy Style; right
up to his own Dre 2001 and bringing Eminem to the world (particular
props here as the white media reveal their inverted racism when
they get more affronted at a white bad boy rockin’ it) Recent
productions (Mary J Blige) show the quality is still there.
LOWS: Efil4zaggin was a disappointing and puerile second
NWA album. Mum: "Do they have to swear like that all the time";
Me: "Oh fuck off you old cow"
OVERALL CONTRIBUTION: The production don of nearly 20 years,
Dre’s continued commercial success has not compromised his
own sound or the breaking of new acts.
Boogie
Down Productions
SKETCH: Again, this Bronx act was strongly politicised,
KRS-One expressing the ills of mid and late 80s NYC over Scott La
Rock’s minimal rhythms, the original block rockin’ beats.
Never were so many words used to express so much indignation
HIGHS: My Philosophy/Step Into My World/Sound of The Police
(a Notting Hill carnival anthem)/KRS-One apparently taking battling
with Melle Mel in a jam and ruining him
LOWS: Fairly uninspired solo work from KRS, except for Police
OVERALL CONTRIBUTION: Street rage, street poetry and street
sounds, this combo kept it real way before the lust for authenticity
started bringing the artform down.
The
Next Men
Run DMC: The Adidas kings produced King
of Rock, Raising Hell and the seminal 12’’ of Sucker MCs/It’s
Like That, but a little too rapping-about-nothing and a little too
cartoon. Also responsible for the rock-rap crossover, which has
since seldom produced worthy material. One of them also went all
evangelical for a while
Grandmaster Flash (& Melle Mel, the furious five, etc):
The Message and White Lines are undisputed classics, and Flash along
with Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaata are hip-hop’s original holy
trinity before it went into the studio
Mantronix: Mantronix’s 909s and Tricky Tee working in
harmony, Fresh Is The Word indeed but like Whodini and others of
the electro area too electro to qualify
Beastie
Boys: From Licensed to Ill through to Ill Communications
and beyond, the Jewish white boys have produced more than enough
quality, and the sound pushed beyond straight-ahead hip-hop
ICE-T:
Worth a mention for Original Gangsta and other LPs, hardcore LA
gangsta-rap par excellence, Cop Killer can only win our vote too.
Not a bad actor either
EPMD/Biz
Markie/etc: The Cold Chillin’ label turned out some belters
in hip-hop’s late-80s halcyon days
Kool
Keith: Ultramagnetic MCs, Dr Octagon, Masters of Illusion with
Kutmaster Kurt and his current Copasetik label, the "crazy"
"eccentric" etc Keith just missed the cut but wins props
for forever flipping the script
Eric B and Rakim: Made rapping the coolest thing in the world
with the cuts from Paid In Full, but no longevity
Cypress
Hill: DJ Muggs’ low-end sound made this band the shit
over the course of the Black Sunday and Cypress Hill albums, but
ironically in hip-hop went too far with the Dr Greenthumb weed-centric
image. Also put up with House of Pain and Funkdoobiest Now peddling
a competent rap-metal sound
Puff Daddy: Only joking, this cunt has made a mockery of
hip-hop, turning it into a slick poppy sound for wannabe ‘players’,
but we liked Biggy Smalls before he was shot by Suge Knight’s
lot
De
La Soul: Quality work throughout,and a great revival with
Art Official Intelligence, but the original Daisy Agers showed too
much dissatisfaction with hip-hop’s core. The other native
tonguers, Jungle Brothers, also tarnished their credibility by going
along with the UK jump-up sound
Pete Rock and CL Smooth: Main Ingredient and Mecca &
The Soul Brothers defined the slick, jazz-influenced early to mid-90s
East Coast sound. Remixed PE’s Shut 'Em Down to great acclaim
too
Pharcyde:
Bizarre Ride... and Lacabinifornia lps showed wit and invention
The
Roots: Representing Philly, Rahzel, Black Thought and co
have possibly been the best ‘experimental’ act so far
Dilated
Peoples: Platform and now The Expansion Team suggests greatness
for these west-coasters
Rawkus crew:
With the Soundbombing and Lyricist Lounge albums, Mos’ Def,
Talib Kweli, Pharoah Monch, and other connected heads such J-Live,
L-Fudge, Mr Complex et al, the label revitalised hip-hop at its
grass-roots and built up an independent ethos. No artist or group
has built up sufficient definitive work yet
Stones
Throw crew: Madlib, alter ego Quasimoto et al, Peanut Butter
Wolf’s LA label has a similar ethos to the above, and is fast
building up an impressive body of work, starting with Wolf’s
My Vinyl Weighs A Ton LP
Loads
of others we have forgotten about....
PE
pic nicked from www.bullymag.com
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