Let me qualify first off: I love Hip-Hop. I love it, and have loved it, for a very long time. However, and let me be very clear about this, I’ve not loved it at the expense of every other genre.
Yes, there was a time, long ago, where I would have dared you try and prove to me the worthiness of dance music, but I was young and naïve and really did not know what I was talking about. That, and the fact that my friends listened to a lot of shitty 90’s dance music which gave me a negative impression of the genre for a longer than I care to admit.
Hip-Hop, like any form of music, falls in and out of favour depending on trends, the volume of music released and its relative chart performance in any given year. Without a dearth of critically acclaimed or chart-topping albums in the last few years, one could even argue that Hip-Hop, pure Hip-Hop, is on the wane.
Besides Eminem, B.o.B. and Kanye, who released a memorable Hip-Hop album last year? Should I even call B.o.B. memorable? Is this year much better? Not taking into account chart performance (and I never do), I have to say that I’ve been pulled back into the Hip-Hop fold this year by several outstanding releases.
Saigon, E-40, DJ Quik, Pharoahe Monch and Lupe Fiasco have all released outstanding album this year with memorable cuts and a unique sound.
Why the sudden resurgence, and where have these guys been hiding? If we take a brief look at each, maybe we can draw some conclusions.
Saigon has been around the block, his album languishing for years in storage due to label problems. He is relatively new school compared to some of the other guys, but aligning himself with super producer Just Blaze has seen the return of a sound quite familiar to anyone listening to Jay-Z in the early parts of last decade, and his blue-collar street sage sensibility works a treat in this post GFC world.
Whilst Saigon is a sophomore on the rise, E-40, DJ Quik and Pharoahe Monch are old-school anomalies in the cipher of Hip-Hop – veterans who still maintain relevance long after their so-called use-by date has passed. How did they do this?
E-40 is a San Fransisco native who’s been cranking out funk-glazed Hip-Hop for two decades. He has an ear for beats, seems to be up on the latest trends without straying too far from his lane, and his son (yes, his son) makes some of his best beats. Quik is another Cali legend, responsible for crafting memorable beats for Dr Dre and Tupac, to name just two. He’s always been an innovative producer, but his relentless tinkering with the West Coast G-Funk sound has seen him become increasingly experimental, but no less funky, over the last decade.
Monch was originally part of seminal New York group Organised Konfusion, but broke away in the 90’s with the Godzilla-sampling ‘Simon Says’. After that debut, he drifted away from Hip-Hop for a long time, mainly due to that familiar rapper woe – label problems. He has since come back with two albums in the last 4 years, each with an updated sound but still with Monch’s signature twisted linguistics.
Of the new artists, Lupe is an interesting case. Over the last few albums, he has built a dedicated fan-base on the back of his rapid-fire flow, experimental sound and obscure pop-culture references. Although he hasn’t completely abandoned his roots, his latest album sees him gravitating toward dance-oriented beats, and with it, mainstream acceptance. He did hit number one on Billboard, so maybe he’s on to something, time will tell.
Wiz Khalifa and Tyler, the Creator are two new artists trying to find their niche. Khalifa is the weed acolyte, cutting wistful on his laid-back debut Rolling Papers, while Tyler is the enfant terrible at the head of the LA based Oddball crew, a shock-rapper whose vulgarity and vitality recalls Eminem’s early records.
At broad stroke, I would say that the only thing connecting these artists is that the fact that none sounds anything like the other, and none sounds like anything that would have existed 10 years ago. In a world that is now so saturated with sound that it is hard to be noticed, these artists have succeeded, by being themselves and stretching their signature sound in different directions.
New or old, each of these artists have broadened their horizons and experimented with their sound without alienating their fans. They give their fans credit by indulging the belief that if they grow in their sound as artists, the fans will grow with them. Instead of satiating the sound of the street, they are now limited only by their own imagination.
If the 00’s have taught us anything, it is that good music will be found, whether it’s comes via a 20-something rapper with half a dozen mixtapes to his name, or a grizzled veteran who’s willing to surrounded himself with creative people. This gives me hope for the future of not just Hip-Hop, but music in general, hope for musicians to continue to push the boundaries and never rest on their laurels.
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