Hip Hop | The Rhapsody Hip Hop Blog

L.A.'s sprawling community of musicians and producers -- at least the ones who tend to fuse electronic and hip-hop into a new sound often classified as "beat" or "bass" (as well as less-respected and kitschy terms like "lazer bass" and "wonky") -- have flooded the market this year. Few national scenes have garnered as much attention, whether it's Flying Lotus grabbing headlines for his collaborations with Radiohead's Thom Yorke, or the Glitch Mob performing before thousands of crusty techno-hippies at raves across the country. It may even be just due to the sheer amount of material they've collectively produced.

First emerging around 2006, L.A.'s beat scene is often reduced to its head-nod factor and its origins in hip-hop production, particularly the work of the late James "J Dilla" Yancey and his seminal album Donuts. But the music is more diverse than that. Brazilian forms like bossa nova and tropicalia; orchestral jazz-rock descended from David Axelrod; late '60s choral pop or "sunshine pop"; the free jazz and psychedelic of Sun Ra; and early '80s electronic styles like New Age and synth-pop have helped these artists grow and evolve in different directions. Although they will always be, to some degree, the sons and daughters of Dilla, this year's beat contenders apply their aesthetic to a wide swath of popular music.

As the fall season rapidly approaches, the Internet and radio stations alike are swelling with new singles by the record labels' biggest priorities. However, summer proved unexpectedly bounteous, yielding platinum albums from Drake and Eminem as well as critically acclaimed hits from the Roots and Drake. Kanye West, Soulja Boy Tell' Em and, uh, New Boyz have much to live up to.

Here are my first impressions on the genre's contenders of the moment. It may be too early to tell if they're hits, hip-hop classics, or just over-promoted junk. But as Common once rapped on "The 6th Sense," "If I don't like it, I don't like it. That don't mean that I'm hating."

When Drake swept through his 2010 VMA television commercial like the second coming of Frank Sinatra, it was clear that the Toronto-raised superstar likes being known as a man of love, the post-millennial Dean Martin.

But balladry is not just a pop thing. As a narrative device and a musical technique signifying love and sex, it has long fermented in hip-hop culture. You could go all the way back to Whodini's "One Love" and LL Cool J's "I Need Love" if you want, but it's not really necessary.

On Drake's debut album, Thank Me Later, you can hear echoes of Outkast, the Fugees and Lauryn Hill, as well as Faith Evans and Mary J. Blige. He comes from a specific idiom, namely the early '90s crosswinds of neo-soul, acid jazz, hip-hop and R&B. And, of course, he's not the first "rappa ternt singa," though no one has really sounded quite like him. In that sense, Drake's many influences are just a prologue. Like all (potentially) great artists, he manages to turn found objects into something entirely new.

In our constant search for an imagined golden age of hip-hop, the early '90s shines particularly brightly in our imaginations. It was a rough period for artists, though. Major labels regularly tossed albums onto the market with no clue how to promote them and then summarily dropped those artists when the albums didn't yield results. The multiplatinum success of Dr. Dre's The Chronic initiated seismic changes in the rap world, so mainstream fans and record executives weren't enthusiastic about anyone who couldn't hang with the G-funk formula. And since hardcore rap fans thought real hip-hop came from the East, and the West Coast was full of Crips, Bloods and pimps, West Coast emcees that weren't gangstas found it difficult to get heard.

With the exception of Tha Alkaholiks and The Pharcyde, nearly all of the artists on this list endured short, painful major-label careers and only found redemption with the rise of indie hip-hop in the late '90s. Despite all the obstacles, however, they pioneered a free-flowing style, heavy on sunshine beats and off-the-dome lyricism, or freestyling, that reverberates to this day. Early '90s West Coast hip-hop may have been the musical revolution that wasn't, but it was still fun.

Blog rap's second wave epitomizes hip-hop's scales of artistic justice. Just as complaints over the new rap generation's increasingly pop output have reached a fever pitch, a new crop rises that embraces the familiar codes of street life. What makes them different from the usual parade of thugs is their youth -- descriptions of a hipster thug lifestyle abound -- openness to new sounds and varied collaborators, and linguistic dexterity, an unexpected benefit of Lil Wayne's memorable 2007 mixtape run and its underlying theme that any fledging rapper, no matter how lame, can transform himself into a great emcee with hard work.

This isn't a definitive list, but just a small sample of a few artists burning the Internet. All of them have material on Rhapsody; other promising voices such as Atlanta rapper Pill (1140: The Overdose) and DaVinci (The Day the Turf Stood Still) were left out because they don't. Interestingly, nearly all of them are survivors of the major-label system, having signed development deals a few years ago and then summarily been dropped, only to attract renewed interest after converting Internet hustle into industry buzz. Only Shabazz Palaces doesn't fit among this group, but their excellent recordings were impossible to omit.

Editor's Note: Listen to a selection of the songs mentioned here on a playlist at the end of this post, or click through to listen to all of the artists listed here on Rhapsody. If you're not a member, click here and listen to all of your favorite music as much as you want -- whenever and wherever you want!

Rap music has dominated the airwaves and the blogs this summer. If it's not Eminem and Drake topping the charts, it's Big Boi earning plaudits for his solo debut, Sir Lucious Left Foot ... Son of Chico Dusty. Dig deeper into this season's crop and you'll find more jewels, from Guilty Simpson's latest collaboration with Madlib to French beat producer Onra's instrumental gem. (And sorry, Eminem Stans, but Recovery didn't make the list.)

Big Boi: Sir Lucious Left Foot ... The Son of Chico Dusty
It's a wonder Big Boi's Sir Lucious Left Foot made it to stores. Four years of untangling industry red tape has taken its toll, and the album is missing several early singles, including key tracks with his OutKast partner Andre 3000. What's left of this long-delayed solo debut is very hit-or-miss. The 15-track, hour-plus album teems with guests -- from Jamie Foxx and George Clinton to Janelle Monae and YelaWolf -- but generates precious little synergy. However, it has enough highlights -- including the futuristic funk of "Shutterbugg," "Night Night" with B.o.B., and "Shine Blockas" with Gucci Mane -- to make the wait seem worthwhile.

Editor's Note: Listen to a selection of the songs mentioned here on a playlist at the end of this post, or click through to listen to all of the artists listed here on Rhapsody. If you're not a member, click here and listen to all of your favorite music as much as you want -- whenever and wherever you want!

Slum Village hail from the same area as Eminem -- metropolitan Detroit, Mich. However, their worlds are strikingly different. Eminem may be the area's biggest celebrity, but his music draws as much from East Coast battle rap and West Coast G-funk as from Midwest horrorcore. Meanwhile, Slum Village are firmly rooted in the D, reflecting the city's cultural stew of neo-soul, electro-funk and techno. Their influence is profound and widespread, influencing much of hip-hop in the past decade.

It seems like most of the Detroit hip-hop scene has a connection to S.V., either through their six albums, Dirty District mixtapes or a guest appearance made elsewhere by the group's core members: J Dilla, RL "T3" Altman, Titus "Baatin" Glover and Jason "Elzhi" Powers. The group's unusually wide swath includes the late Proof, Eminem's mentor and right-hand man and the leader of D12, who recorded a track for Dirty District Vol. 3. (Speculation on whether Em ever met J Dilla -- or, tantalizingly, recorded with him -- is a favorite Internet parlor game.) Despite the house-party atmosphere of an S.V. jam, including the just-released Villa Manifesto, its music is unified in form. You know a Slum Village song when you hear it. Here are a few of the biggest names who used the group's recordings as a training ground for significant careers.

Editor's Note: Listen to a selection of the songs mentioned here on a playlist at the end of this post, or click through to listen to all of the artists listed here on Rhapsody. If you're not a member, click here and listen to all of your favorite music as much as you want -- whenever and wherever you want!

Mafioso rap, crack rap, even gangsta rap: the coke rap subgenre has answered to many names in its infamously profitable history. It not only plays to our lowest common denominator -- namely, our stereotyped notions of how urban black men live -- but also our appetite for violent action movies and our empathy for the antiheroes that usually meet a bloody end in those flicks. In this world, the bad guy, not Tom Cruise, gets all the girls and the cash, and lives to tell the tale.

Anyone who pays close attention to hip-hop is familiar with coke rap. Artists like Raekwon and Scarface fuel intense yet favorable debates over their impressive rhyme styles and the moral quandaries their songs represent. Meanwhile, reformed drug dealers like 50 Cent, T.I. and Jay-Z dominate the charts. With the arrival of Teflon Don by Rick Ross, the Miami rapper that has earned increasing critical acclaim, it's time to revisit 10 albums that exemplify how, to paraphrase the late dealer-turned-rap-kingpin Notorious B.I.G., "the rap game is just like the crack game."

Editor's Note: Listen to a selection of the songs mentioned here on a playlist at the end of the post, or click through to listen to all of the artists listed here on Rhapsody. If you're not a member, click here and listen to all of your favorite music as much as you want -- whenever and wherever you want!

Since 1996's Illadelph Halflife, The Roots have explored social realism, portraying the mythical "streets" as a world of intractable crime, imminent dangers that require street smarts and split-second decisions, and blacks at risk of a high mortality rate -- or, in scientific terms, a greater half-life. In some ways, Illadelph Halflife was a response to critics and fans who categorized the group as "jazz-rappers" after the brilliant 1994 disc Do You Want More?!!!??! Much like Gang Starr, Digable Planets and other hip-hop acts saddled with the "acid jazz" tag, The Roots felt compelled to move in a more hardcore direction, albeit one that would continue to utilize their skills as excellent live musicians.

Illadelph Halflife also introduced another theme The Roots repeat to this day. Nineteen ninety-six was the year of De La Soul's Stakes Is High. The East Coast-West Coast conflict, the incursion of organized gangs into the music industry, and Diddy and Dr. Dre's commercialization of hardcore hip-hop all led rappers to portend that the music genre faced a virtual apocalypse. Now it seems silly that people actually believed authentic hip-hop culture would die just because G-funk and jiggy were so popular, but their concern felt very real back then, especially with the shooting deaths of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. on the horizon. Nearly 15 years later, and with the recent release of their ninth full-length album, How I Got Over, The Roots still sound the alarm.

You're forgiven for believing that Big Boi's debut album, Sir Lucious Left Foot ... The Son of Chico Dusty, would never be released. Since Big Boi announced the project in late 2006, it has endured numerous recording sessions, several failed teaser singles, and even a label switch, from Jive (onetime home of Outkast) to Def Jam. In retrospect, four years doesn't seem like a long wait, especially when judged against a graveyard of shelved, infinitely delayed and/or simply lost rap epics, from Dr. Dre's decade-in-the-making Detox to Black Star's rumored second album.

Sir Lucious Left Foot is symptomatic of the Dungeon Family these days: embattled, perhaps a far cry from its glory years, yet resolute. The famed collective -- once centered on groundbreaking music from Outkast, Goodie Mob and production crew Organized Noize -- no longer exists as a functioning unit, at least in not any real sense, beyond one-off reunions and retrospective magazine articles. Its legacy endures, however, from the triumphant debut of Janelle Monae's The ArchAndroid to Andre 3000's fanciful remake of The Beatles' "All Together Now" for a Nike commercial that aired frequently during the 2010 NBA Playoffs.

Last week, Playboy announced a lawsuit against Drake, Cash Money Records, and UMG for sampling Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds' "Fallin' In Love (Again)" on Drake's "Best I Ever Had."

The only surprising thing about this suit is that UMG didn't pay for the sample prior to officially releasing "Best I Ever Had," which had previously appeared on Drake's mixtape So Far Gone. Take a listen to the 70s chestnut "Fallin' In Love (Again)," and you'll notice its intro is almost the same as the intro to "Best I Ever Had." The only difference is that producer Boi-1da sped up the sample and added some drums.

Here's betting that UMG ends up negotiating a major settlement before this even reaches court. In the meantime, compare the two tracks for yourself.

"Black music is black music, and it's all good," Common once rapped on "I Used to Love H.E.R." I didn't forget that when I wrote about the thriving marriage between hip-hop and R&B in my column two weeks ago. However, due to space and time constraints, I mostly ignored the "romance" and focused on the "cultural tension" in that relationship, and how it related to Drake's Thank Me Later.

But though De La Soul referred to the Rap & B crossover as "rap and b*llsh*t," they've also used singers on all of their albums, from Vinia Mojica on De La Soul is Dead's "A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays" to Zhan on Stakes Is High's "4 More." Nearly every artist of note has woven a modern soul sensibility into their music, whether it's Wu-Tang Clan's extended fam like Blue Raspberry (Raekwon's "Heaven Or Hell") or Jay-Z's collaborations with R&B superstars such as Mary J. Blige ("Can't Knock the Hustle") and Alicia Keys ("Empire State of Mind"). Even Madvillain, whose Madvillainy is one of the purest hip-hop albums of the past decade, drops a plaintive vocal by rapper/singer Stacy Epps ("Eye") in the middle of the proceedings. Rap & B has inspired not only a fair amount of "b*llsh*t" but also classic sounds that remarkably transcend both genres. What follows is an extremely random list.

We've reached the midway point of 2010, and all seems right in the hip-hop world. After much worrying, we finally have a legitimate candidate for rap album of the year (Drake, please stand up) as well as a few potential runners-up (Nas & Damian Marley, The Roots: take a bow). And with albums due later this summer from Black Milk, M.I.A., Big Boi, and T.I., it appears that the genre is alive and well.

However, there are precious few singles worthy of classic status. Sure, Eminem's "Not Afraid" topped the charts, and the Young Money clique and Plies continue to dazzle at urban radio. But only B.o.B's "Nothin' on You" has been a flash point, dividing fans and animating discussion with its brazen appropriation of arena pop hooks. Then again, rap anthems are usually made, not born, and our memories decide which songs last through time. Who knows what we'll think of Drake's "Over" and Roscoe Dash's "All The Way Turnt Up" in the future?

Rappers tend not to grow old gracefully, and kicking bad habits has never been the best byway toward exciting music (consider the last 25 boring years of Aerosmith, for instance). And though he's shown flashes of life now and then, an entire decade has now passed since Eminem made a great album. So it makes perfect sense that people aren't expecting much from his new release, Recovery. On the other hand, cleaning up his act (at least in theory) leaves potential for him to go places he hasn't been before, especially when working with several new producers who might view him as a fresh challenge. Internal conflicts have always been a huge part of what's made Marshall Mathers interesting, and he's now a 37-year-old twice-divorced dad with a 14-year-old daughter and a couple of step-offspring. So even if Slim Shady is long dead and buried, it's not inconceivable Eminem could put a new spin on midlife crises. On Recovery, he doesn't. But it's still not all bad.

Paul Wall
The People's Champ
Known for his relentless hustle (as an emcee, mix tape DJ and jeweler to the stars), Houston hero Paul Wall steps up with his first major label solo album. The People's Champ is exactly what you'd expect from the Swisha House representative: molasses-smooth rhymes paired with booming low-end beats custom-made for a candy-colored Cadillac. — Brolin Winning

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Sage Francis
A Healthy Distrust
On his second solo album, the underground favorite/Non-Prophets frontman/Rhode Island lyricist continues to ignore modern rap trends in favor of complex rhyme schemes densely packed with emotion and sarcasm. Envelope-pushing production comes from Danger Mouse ("Gunz Yo"), Daddy Kev, Joe Beats and Alias. — Brolin Winning

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