5 posts tagged “hip hop”
Sage Francis
Sickly Business
While Sage Francis has a considerably better flow than Aesop Rock (and certainly riffs off the roof of anyone on regular radio rotation) but some of the tracks on Sickly Business are lyrically contrived, and suffer from the same kind of pretentious left wing tirades that made Zach DeLa Rocha annoying in RATM. The Masters Are Back is a prime example. Alternatives to College is a close second.
He rises out of that mire on slick quick cuts like Garden Gnomes with Danger Mouse and Tree of Knowledge grooves its deep ostinato bass figure and dirty high hat, and the broken jazz slackout of Doomage (produced by MFDoom...who'dathunkit). Sandpaper Gloves has an organic alterna-funk on a Herbie Mann musical backdrop, which works for reasons I can neither explain nor describe fully. It kind of reminds me of early Divine Styler.
There is some real boredom here. There is also some very sharp material. Overall, jury is still out.
...the music is just getting bad.
Or at least with respect to hip-hop, it has in terms of what hist the charts. And I have to largely agree. Like many musical movements that peak and degenerate into parody or derivative sonic slumming, hip hop on the radio is 99% dreck.
There is some great stuff out there, but the music public has been sold a dull bit of good.
...has the seriously get-down and way out cut Heatrays with Aceyalone.
Tight.
Here are some releases from APC and Aceyalone worth checking out:
Someone has come up with a great little name that tune style test for people who know both classic hip hop and the samples that powered much of it.
Totally worth a few minutes at least.
Thirsty Ear 2003
What can I say, this is sometimes brilliant, sometimes colossally pretentious (and still pretty sharp). Off kilter rap, with really off kilter piano by Shipp. There is some sharp work here, in a collaboration that could have easily been a triumphant mess of avant-rap and freebop.
Instead we have an engaging collection of actually pretty accessible grooves, punctuated with sharp turns and sharper rhymes courtesy of APC (whose three MCs offer a full palette of vernacular acrobatics).
