Jop Qualifiers 3!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The first of today's groups - as usual, it's pick one from four, except with voting closed on Grps A-D we have an entirely unexpected THREE-WAY DRAW, with only poor J Cash left out of the running. See bonus question to resolve this. Elsewhere, the KLF and Van Halen scraped in by a single vote, and Pulp cantered in by quite a few.


[Poll #912308]


Four more this afternoon, work permitting (well, not "permitting" obviously, but you know what I mean).

Comments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Least favourite Beastie Boys song there. Cmon Justine!

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Not sure wtf is going on here. "Paid In Full" was cruising to victory yesterday morning and now it's least liked? How fickle we are.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

If you don't like hip-hop (or don't like it as much as other stuff), it's the most hip-hop thing in there.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

if you don't like hip-hop you should not be in this community to start with!!!!!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Nah, it's fine. I love this particular Eric B and R song but EB & R in general do represent a fairly pure strain of hip-hop: pared-down beats, emphasis on flow. I think it's totally possible to like the impact hip-hop has had on pop - the bastardisations and dilutions and goof-offs of hip-hop - more than you like Hip-Hop as such.

In fact I think I do this myself.

Confused

[koganbot]

Wait, this confuses me because, among other things, there are two very very different versions of "Paid In Full," the original album version and then the Cold Cut remix - the latter, as far as I know, being the one that hit in Britain and being the reason that "Paid In Full" made the P&J and being the version that you're all voting for. And (maybe this is your unstated point?) it's not pared down, it's a mix-and-match extravaganza, owing as much to disco mixes and Stars On 45 and "Pump Up The Volume"* as to "Wheels Of Steel." Maybe I just can't imagine why anyone would vote for the original version, which is not nearly as interesting as "I Know You Got Soul" and "Follow The Leader," two far better tracks of Eric B & Rakim's that didn't fare nearly as well on Jop. Anyway, I think that Rakim is the most overrated rapper in the history of hip-hop, which doesn't mean that he's not good, just that he's always cited as The Great Rapper, much like Dylan gets cited as The Great Rock Lyricist, and (unlike with Dylan) no one ever bothers to say what was so great about him, he's just there as a reactionary touchstone for people who want to slam whatever came after him. He's actually rhythmically quite dexterous, a virtuoso, inserted beats and in varied places, stopping and starting between measure bars, emphasizing off-beats, etc. But he's also dry as dust. Nelson George called his tone "the cutting edge," but I think a more accurate term would have been "boring." Can't think of a rapper who'd be less likely to go, "Throw your hands in the air, and wave 'em like you just don't care," or, if he did try it, to do it convincingly. Calling him "pure" hip-hop (I'm guessing you're using that term somewhat unfavorably, just as I discern irony in the capitalized "Hip-Hop as such") is like calling John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers a pure strain of rock or Flatt & Scruggs a pure strain of country. Seems more like a backwater. Whereas the bastardizations and the dilutions are the real deal (not sure what counts as a bastardization of hip-hop and what counts as hip-hop as such; what's Lil Jon, for instance? or Pharrell?). The first two Beasties albs are just as hip-hop as the first two Eric B. & Rakim. That said, "I Know You Got Soul" and "Follow The Leader" are great tracks, and I ticked "Connection" as my non-advancer.

*If I recall correctly, it, like "Pump Up The Volume," samples the line "pump up the volume" from Eric B. & Rakim's "I Know You Got Soul"

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

Yawn

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

if you don't like hip-hop rock action you should not be in this community to start with!!!!!

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

The question confused me at first and I ticked it (thinking I was ticking my favourite) but went back and reticked when I realised my error. Any chance others have done the same? It's the best of the three by miles.