And Rakim through a boombox on a mountain top. This is the way. Nas wrote the hymnal. So did 
. Gone and throw a bow and we golden girls in the sunshine 
. Uh oh. The goose is officially loose. Getz Funkies. Hallelujah.
A to the men family. There’s plenty of room on the bus for anyone who loves the art form enough to truly pay homage to the craft and do their homework. We can break bread if you study the culture. Otherwise nah.
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Nice to see others of the same vintage here 
I wouldn’t claim Run to be the best, Run DMC’s lyrics are mostly nonsense and there is not a lot of variation in style. But for about a year of my life when this track came out, I was convinced Run was the coolest person on the planet. I still think his delivery conveys a real excitement and energy and just being really into it that is worth revisiting.
Edit of course Rakim is actually the greatest
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Rakim not being in my top 10 is unfortunate. I am really trying to find a place for him as it’s not sitting right with me. For now, here’s a tribute to beetles and beats, and wee beasties and bugs. - Beautifunk Bessie Bartholomew Rothlisburgla III. (Burgla gwan creep)
For this video demo song thing (which won’t be up on this channel for long) I would like to thank my vocalist (unbeknownst to him) Yasiin Bey for the poem. I repeat it like a mantra of my own. Bless. Also love to the Beatbugbeetlejuicers, jdaddy Darth, and MF DOOMBIRD for the inspiration (he’s a Raven now!!!). Also, the whole video was shot upside down in my front yard. As if it were symbolizing my life ATM. I would ask God but she would just hum Ironic to me as a joke. Did I really say I wanted to be the Ani Diffanco of Boom Bap? Sounds like something I would say but I do not remember typing it at all. Lol. K. Bye.
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Hi gang. Just finished watching Cochella this weekend, and with a few exceptions I have no idea wtf is going on with music these days. So many live acts were basically lip singing over a backing track. I couldn’t believe it. Was especially bad on the last day today with several acts not even trying to hide it. Have we all forgotten about Ashlee Simpson? When did performers become so fucking lazy?
Additionally on Friday the Gorillaz played, and they brought out De La Soul, Del, and several others to perform on their respective songs. It was fucking dope, especially seeing the dedication to Trugoy. But the crowd couldn’t have cared less. They were there for Bad Bunny…
I’d wrote a bit more of my observations about this weekend and how bad these top billing acts sound without auto-tune, and how it’s all just rehashed shit from the 90s record label strategies, especially KPop that is just recycling the Spice Girl, Backstreet Boys playbook, but then realized I’ve done enough sounding like an old, miserable, out of touch twat for one post.
So there you have my observational report that no one asked for.
Also, Chemical Brothers, murdered. Lake and Fisher slayed as well, even if Fisher was an 8 ball deep before even pressing play. Come to think of it, a lot of the electronic acts did well. Also found out about a miserable git act called Sleaford Mods.
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Masta Ace!
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I was a huge Run DMC fan as a kid.
Hip Hop was just so cool and new when it came out, I loved everything.
Rap has definitely stood out as a genera that really embraces the essence of keeping it fresh.
If it offers you any hope, my fifteen year old and friends are obsessed with my 90s music collection. Radiohead, Aphex Twin, De La Soul, the whole spectrum. There’s a subculture of teens that are thankfully seeking out and devouring the best aspects of my generation. As old and awkward as it makes me feel, I love to see it. Once they get their drivers licenses, I’m betting on them taking over the world.
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The last generation with no internet is pretty fascinating
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I saw a live vid of Curren$y recently at some festival I think. Full live band. No pre-recorded vox. Didn’t miss a line through the whole thing. The crowd seemed like they couldn’t care less!!
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I’m a little late to this thread, (unless I posted and forgot…) 
Del (and others from Hierolgyphics)
Rakim
Charlie 2NA
Kool Keith
Blackalicious
Beastie Boys
Eric Sermon
KRS One
The DOC
Q-Tip
B Real
Sir Mix-A-Lot (I live in Seattle, what can I say? )
Carley Coma
Def Jeff
Bahamadia
Black Thought
Those are a few favorites off the top of my head. I also like a lot of the more common ones, but these ones stand out more in my mind.
Can’t believe I forgot those last two, (Malik, etc. from the Roots) This song in particular:
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I will say that one thing I did notice and thought was pretty cool was how much more diverse the acts were. I did notice that their were also a lot of young acts with interesting sounds, and I do see it as exciting to hear their take on their influences. I think the thing that made me the most pissed was that I know there are thousands of other acts out there that would have killed to have a spot on stage, and who would have really gone all out performing. Instead we got a lot of disposable nonsense.
Its pretty frustrating isn’t it. I do hope it does’nt discourage other acts from following suit. I always enjoyed the live band setups a bit more. Currency appears to take a tremendous amount of pride in his craft, and I think that shows in the amount of respect others in the industry have for him.
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Mick Jenkins
Haven’t seen a lot of love for pharoahe monch round these parts so I’m just gonna throw it out there that hes also been a long term fave of mine, right up there with the rest of the greats imho… been following him since the the early nineties and it’s been interesting listening to the evolution of his flow from the organized konfusion albums through to his present day style… also he’s a bit of a chameleon as far as the tone of his various albums goes which I can appreciate, the musical influences are pretty wide ranging…
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I dunno, on earth one where I’m from they don’t deem something obsolete based on age or generation they deem obsoletion based on skill or rather lack there of, so if a dj with a mixer that has 45 buttons on it still can’t do what DJ Kentaro can do without any buttons we don’t call DJ Kentaro old school, we just call the dj with all of the buttons and no skill unskilled …
I think the age issue is a red herring,… and did you notice that this issue never arises between old and younger jazz heads, it’s because young jazz heads don’t talk shit unless they can back it up, and even then they still talk less shit because if they have skill they know what it took to get it and have respect for other skilled musicians.
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Rap seems to be different on that front.
Fresh can supersede skills. DJs got pushed out in a lot of ways.
I’m a huge Rib Swift fan. Got to hang with him once.
Hard to tell where DJs sit in the mix with modern hip hop.
rap is different on alot of fronts but that’s my point, the whole old school vs new school is a myth, it’s really people who can rap vs people who cannot rap regardless of generation, and where rap and hiphop is different from other artforms is that they put up with that myth…
there is no top rapper today that can even remotely hang with slick rick or doom rip when it comes to mic skills, and the proof is in the pudding of the resurgence of interest in older mcs because this generation of rappers have been so terrible that interest in MCs with real mic skill from the past came back, like vinyl interest came back lead by terrible mp3 sound quaility… it didn’t have to be that way, if the culture around hiphop wasn’t so corny they could have praise skill just like any other art form and all the the new, young, and upcoming rappers could have been just as talented as those that came before them but it didn’t happen like that…
you know how people like to say they want to do better in life than their parents, and this is the first generation to do worse than their parents financially etc… it’s the same story for hiphop this is the first generation of hiphop who’s rap skill is worse than their parents, there are a million celebrated young rappers today and only a few can rock a mic, the rest make embarrassing excuses like ‘I’m not even a rapper’ or i’m not into lyricism, not that kind of rapper hahaha
the same thing happened with DJs, people started saying I don’t need to know how to juggle beats, let the mixer do it, and now I can focus on more important things like twisting a filter knob and making better song choices lol FFS don’t kid yourself… Kentaro can juggle rhythms, layer sounds, be a whole band if he wants, and twist knobs and make good song choices… that’s not old school that’s just ‘Mo school’
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This does make you sound kind of like an old head. And not in a super certified sort of way. Who are your favorite rappers from this newer generation? To serve as a baseline for your context of “good rap”.
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I feel like there’s Pop Culture vs everything else.
Pop doesn’t require the same skill set, it’s fad centric.
Then there’s people making music that comes from a different place, with different goals. A lot of times where skills are still rewarded.
Edan never did get enough love. His Beauty and The Beat album has remained a favorite. Saw this video of him and Sandman hanging out at a record store doing their thing.
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