"There's Chris Brown and Rihanna. You gotta keep them separate."

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

The new DJ Quik & Kurupt video for 'Hey Playa! (Moroccan Blues)' features CAMELS.

One of the very best summer jams of the year, too.

Comments

[meserach.livejournal.com]

I think there's a very interesting conversation to be had about how hip hop and rap was "sold" to the mainstream by compensating for its harshness, largely using soothing RnB/soul female vox (sampled or otherwise). Something similar occured in dance music too.

[meserach.livejournal.com]

The interesting thing about that is that it isn't entirely true - I feel like rap was doing well on its own even before a trend to mixing in smoother RnB flavours came to dominate.

But now I think audiences have come to expect it. Indeed rap itself often becoems the decoration inside RnB songs instead of the other way around.

But I'd love to hear the thoughts of someone who listens to way more rap music than I do :).

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Hmm, not sure about that: think about the 90s hip-hop stars who went supernova with the mainstream success - Biggie, Pac, Snoop and especially Eminem and Jay-Z. A good proportion of their standards don't have any R&B guest vocals - think 'Can I Get A...' or 'Big Pimpin'. I think a combination of brilliant, innovative, danceable beats and really compelling, charismatic MCs was more responsible for hip-hop going mainstream. Plus good business and marketing! If anything, R&B going hip-hop - using hip-hop beats and guest rappers - lent it a lot more credibility.

[meserach.livejournal.com]

Yeah see as I posted just above I think I'm sorta wrong. I think rpa made it big in the nineties on its own, but then R&B made it even BIGGEr, and now rap seems to struggle in the mainstream without RnB's help? Just thinking aloud really but that's how it feels to me.

When was the last time there was a massive rap hit in the UK that really was just rap over a backing track? I'm guessing it was probably Eminem, although he's plenty with the gimmicky hooks and things.

[meserach.livejournal.com]

Like, I am thinkign the transition period was in the earlier part of this decade. I would hesitate to point to an exact moment of transition though.

[meserach.livejournal.com]

Key points would include Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life" (gimmick hook) in 1998 running up to, say, Nelly feat. Kerry Rowland with "Dilemma" (really strong RnB inflection, female vox as big part of track, monster hit in 2002)

I feel like the RnB/soul-inflected mainstream rap/hip-hop has largely replaced the "purer" mainstream hip-hop/rap that was more prevalent in the nineties. I suspect it might even have something to do with the increasingly female market for singles.