Best Hip Hop

[Charlie]

One thing though, Charlie. You've been slipping in the odd rap record here and there for several years and you still haven't found a good one. Some of them sound very promising when they start but then that rapper comes in with his monotonous dum-de-dum-de-dum-de-dum and ruins it.

I recall writing to you when you played the first few and declared, "There's no such thing as a good rap song". Sadly, you keep proving me right. But it's OK. I know I won't stop you playing them.

I've got a volume control to turn down the noise until the good stuff comes back. And it always does.

This comment was posted after my Radio 3 show on Monday 21 Jan featured several hip hop tracks.

Anybody prepared to argue?

Can we run to a list of 'best hip hop' or is the phrase an oxymoron?

I'll open with 'La Raza' by Kid Frost

[David Flower]

well personally I've never heard any rap record that I enjoyed more than probably the first I ever heard. Is there Life in Peckham? by Alexei Sayle.
"I keep tropical fish - IN MY UNDERPANTS!" Hello John, gotta new motor?

If they count as hip-hop Spearhead were great at times, but you can keep the rest of your aggressive nursery-rhymes-on-crack

David

[Rob Hall]

Oh I don't know... I don't know much about hip hop, but I know what I like. Daara J's "Paris, Dakar" still sounds good to me, and more recently Charlie has introduced us to Temary's "Marilu", one of my favourite tracks of the year; and the instant party album of the year for me, Yerba Buena's "Follow Me", features rap and other hip hop elements.

Are Gnarls Berkley hip hop? Their album "St Elsewhere" is one of the best of the past - what, 5 years? - in any genre.

[Chris P]

We've already had a go at best Hip Hop (and Rap) here :
http://www.charliegillett.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5048

[David Flower]

[quote="Rob Hall"]Oh I don't know... I don't know much about hip hop, but I know what I like., and more recently Charlie has introduced us to Temary's "Marilu", one of my favourite tracks of the year[/quote]

sorry to put a downer on it, but Telmary's much-anticipated WOMEX performance last October in Sevilla was by an enormous distance the worst showcase of all. Appalling in fact. And though no fan of rap, I did want to like it as she's been championed, underwritten and released by my pal Juan de Marcos González. It was one of those occasions, and Marcos agreed with me afterwards, when Cuba's isolation from the world really backfires. They had no clue about any recent developments in sound, approach, material stage performance etc, just lamely prancing about in the way they do, with that thumb and little finger get-down jabbing at the floor. And, even worse, the band were latin-jazzers with a totally misplaced sax noodler all over it. Embarrassngly bad and misconceived

David

[Dayna]

Emmanuel Jal

[joel]

We've already had a go at best Hip Hop (and Rap) here :
http://www.charliegillett.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5048

Some really good suggestions in there. Mos Def and Talib really rock.
Black Star is one of the very best albums of the last 10 years.
Also worth investigation
Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth - All Souled Out / The Main Ingredient etc
Jurassic5 are awesome. You Tube clips here here and here (sound only) PLAY LOUD.
Hip hop to me is like great BN or dub: incredible quality on an industrial-scale. It's really hard to pick only a few artists or tracks.
Anyway, I enjoyed the last Pharoah Monch album Desire. Body Baby is hilarious (though not the video IMO).

[Dayna]

The very first World Music I ever heard was when Charlie played a song by Emmanuel Jal. It opened my ears.

[nikki akinjinmi]

How about MC Solaar? I remember hearing him some time in the 1990s.

[Charlie]

David

I note that your valiant effort at 'quoting' didn't work, David, and I can't figure out why. You have the correct format at the front, and again at the end. Instead of obeying the instruction, the system simply reveals to all that you have followed the advice and done it properly. Very mysterious

[David Flower]

[quote="Charlie"][quote="David Flower"]David[/quote]
I note that your valiant effort at 'quoting' didn't work, David, and I can't figure out why. You have the correct format at the front, and again at the end. Instead of obeying the instruction, the system simply reveals to all that you have followed the advice and done it properly. Very mysterious[/quote]

did this work? i can't believe I'm the only person on a mac

David

[Con Murphy]

David

I note that your valiant effort at 'quoting' didn't work, David, and I can't figure out why. You have the correct format at the front, and again at the end. Instead of obeying the instruction, the system simply reveals to all that you have followed the advice and done it properly. Very mysterious

did this work? i can't believe I'm the only person on a mac

David

David, it might be worth checking that you have "always allow BBCode" switched on in your profile....oh, and make sure the "Disable BBCode in this post" box below the text box is unticked.

[David Flower]

David, it might be worth checking that you have "always allow BBCode" switched on in your profile....oh, and make sure the "Disable BBCode in this post" box below the text box is unticked.

Thanks Con. Good old Brigitte Bardot, we haven't heard from her in a while have we?

[Charlie]

Good old Brigitte Bardot

So, if you go back to the original message and edit it in some way, I wonder if it will now work

[Roger Bradley]

One thing though, Charlie. You've been slipping in the odd rap record here and there for several years and you still haven't found a good one. Some of them sound very promising when they start but then that rapper comes in with his monotonous dum-de-dum-de-dum-de-dum and ruins it.

I recall writing to you when you played the first few and declared, "There's no such thing as a good rap song". Sadly, you keep proving me right. But it's OK. I know I won't stop you playing them.

This comment was posted after my Radio 3 show on Monday 21 Jan featured several hip hop tracks.

Anybody prepared to argue?

I've only just realised that Charlie had quoted my message in this different section. The thread seems to have strayed on its way down the page though, I guess, I too would rather think about Brigitte Bardot than rap.

None of the suggestions will make me change my mind about what I regard as anti-music (and it's specifically the rapping I object to, more than 'hip-hop' in general).

I think what I may have been hoping for in raising this subject was that some other grumpy old voices might have been raised to support me. Am I really the only one on this forum with good taste?