License to Ill Trill

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

Can anyone tell me what's been happening in hip-hop this year? The only things that have crossed my radar: that Lil Wayne (?) essay that everyone linked to a couple of months ago, but I've no idea where to start with his stuff; the Cool Kids' 'Bake Sale' (which I really like but is v. openly retro); an album by TI I never listened to; a ropey Fannypack collection of odds and sods; and Roots Manuva a sole concession to the UK.

So I basically have no idea what is hot and what is not; what the trends are or what the big tunes are. I blame this on being a bit distracted this year, on living in a part of the world where the only place you can hear hip-hop being played is in clothing stores whose playlists are sent up from London. If anyone has recommendations for places on the web to keep up with this sort of thing - other than the New Yorker which seems a slightly perverse direction from which to view the world of rap - that would be helpful too!

Help me o cosmpolitan poptimists!

Comments

RIZZIGHT

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Here we go then. Sticking to US hip-hop for the moment.

Albums
As I said the best hip-hop album of the year is Young Jeezy's The Recession - check 'Circulate', 'Vacation', 'Put On' and 'My President' especially. First credit crunch themed hip-hop album that I'm aware of ("lookin' at my watch like it's a bad investment"). Lil' Wayne's Tha Carter III is excellent too - most long-time fans don't think it's his best, but it's easy to see why it sent him stratospheric. Tha Carter II is better but I'd say both are essential. Last year's Da Drought 3 mixtape is a great showcase for Wayne too.

I mentioned Gucci Mane already - check 'Bird Flu' and its insane beat and the 'Freaky Gurl' remix (Lil' Kim at her nastiest best here) in particular. (Sorry, can't be arsed to link, but all of these should be easily youtubeable!) The other full length hip-hop LP I've really enjoyed is Bun B's II Trill - one of those albums which doesn't spring as immediately to mind as the ones above (it's played v straight and ungimmicky), but I'm looking at the track listing trying to pick out highlights and realising that's half the album. 'Damn I'm Cold', 'Get Cha Issue', 'Underground Thang', 'Swang On 'Em' and 'If I Die II Night', then. And 'Good II Me', which has Mya singing Beats International on the chorus. Oh yeah, was also impressed by the Guilty Simpson album but can't think of anything to say about it at all.

As for other big-name albums, TI and Trina both deserve a mention - both albums very uneven, too much so for me to endorse as albums, but the highs on each are SO ridiculously high. For Trina, 'I Got A Bottle', 'Single Again' and 'Look Back At Me'; for TI, 'Let My Beat Pound', 'Dead And Gone', 'No Matter What'.

People have also been hyping up the Nappy Roots and ABN albums but I haven't heard those yet. Downloaded the Gorilla Zoe mixtape I Am Atlanta the other day and am v impressed - 'Dope Boy' especially. The biggest rewind moment was on 'Talk Back' which features a DIRRTY female guest verse - I got v excited thinking that Roxy Reynolds could be a new ho-rap talent, so I googled her and...it transpires that she is an actual porn star :o Still, "Better eat somethin', this ain't Ramadan/I'm a princess, the queen to make you cum" is a great line.

Trackwise - ILM is counting down its favourite rap tracks of '08 (http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=66078#unread) and I'll be contributing to that (plus there are loads there I hadn't heard before). One which hasn't been posted there yet is Hood Headlinaz' 'Rollin', which is this awesome dreamy ecstasy rap based around Robert Miles' 'Children'.

Re: RIZZIGHT

[weasel-seeker.livejournal.com]

If we're going to talk about Wayne's output last year, Da Drought 3 is great, but I'm convinced that there's an even better weirder version of tha Carter III lurking amongst all the tracks that weren't over other people's beats.

Start with La La La, I Feel Like Dying, 3 N Morning, Something You Forgot and Pray to the Lord and go from there, I guess. Really drugged up and morbid and fearful/accepting of death and stuff. I want to try and figure out exactly what it is because I have no use for all the crap that accompanies the gold on the 5 billion mixtapes,

Re: RIZZIGHT

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Haha the only one of those I've heard is 'La La La'. I think once Tha Carter III came out I just subconsciously decided to hunker down with it and its (minor) flaws, rather than keep on endlessly chasing Wayne's mind around the internet. That said, 'Pussy Monster' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_cCtq2rJxQ) is some next-level shit for real, Trina-esque endless perverse quotables ("Now lemme get back to her, she called me Dracula/And I vacuumed her/Catfish, catfish, that cat tuna/I smack it up, flip it like a spatula").

Re: RIZZIGHT

[(Anonymous)]

Ok. I'll pass you my Carter 2.5 whenever I'm done making it. Because at the very least you gotta hear I Feel Like Dying (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuyEgvCVYd8) and Something You Forgot (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tk1n6kukNk). A bunch of others as well.

Pussy Monster is on all the online versions of C3 b/c there was a clearance issue with the sample in Playing With Fire.

Re: RIZZIGHT

[weasel-seeker.livejournal.com]

that was me, clearly

Re: RIZZIGHT

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

And I can't think offhand of any other male rapper offering to rim a girl! "Baby, can I be the worm in your apple butt/Now gon' back it up, and if you back it up/I suck the front of that pussy from the back of ya/And I'm an urban legend like a black Acura." Trina clearly taught him well in their time together.

I'm not internationally known but I'm known to get your girl alone

[koganbot]

First credit crunch themed hip-hop album that I'm aware of

Haven't heard a Vein album or even know if there is one, but "Bring your ass down like a NASDAQ" is my favorite financial reference so far this year (though it's Pitbull's line, not Vein's).