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Three Rap Albums You Need To Buy Stat
Forget the mainstream, underground's where it's at.
July 20, 2007 - It's not hard to realize that in the year 2007 rap music is at a crossroads. The bling and bitch baiting era is slowly coming to an end, but the next movement has yet to be unveiled. Hyphy was poised to change the way the world looked at the genre, but it never really broke out of the region from which it sprung (the San Francisco Bay Area) to catch the kind of global heat many expected it to. Meanwhile, the mainstream is beginning to hit the ceiling with artists like Eminem, 50 Cent, and other high profile MCs encountering the kind of fan ennui that ensues in the wake of being ubiquitous.
What all of this means is that true heads who grew up with the Golden Era (the late '80s and early '90s hey day) of the movement--when rap was equal measures about partying/having a good time and kicking out clever rhymes and detailed storytelling with a positive message (the "black man's CNN" as Chuck D. so fondly referred to it back in the day)--have been starving for a renaissance of sorts, a return to when rapping was either found in a small club or on a neighborhood street corner. Yet given that it's 2007, the music still needs to not only rock the boulevard, but also reach the bourgeoisie with the same impact.
Thankfully there's a triumvirate of albums that have been released in the past three months that do just that. What's more is that they're coming from different time zones and cultural epicenters: Oakland. Los Angeles. Washington D.C. Beyond that they're all coming with their own self-styled beat oriented infatuation. There's nods to the Old School, the original New School, the True School, and even plenty of electro shock therapy that takes you back to Planet Rock. It's all served up with flavor and aplomb and a generous dose of realness that comes from the heart. These releases were made with the art in mind, not the commerce.
Back in May Bay Area duo Zeph & Azeem kicked out their official debut platter entitled Rise Up. A deft mixture of early '90s New School attitude and present day social commentary judiciously spiced with reggae ambiance, the album is filled with 15 tracks that roam from verbal assaults on industry standards to flights of drug induced fancy, as well as instrumental work-outs.
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Brother Reade (Jimmy Jamz and Bobby Evans) keep things simple and to the point. They have titled their album nothing more than Rap Music, which is exactly what they present to the listener throughout the 15 tracks included here. Nothing but thunderous beats heavy on the low-end and simplistic tribal thunder augmented by crisp lyrical influx.
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Washington D.C. beat manipulator Sharkey teams up with New York MC C-Rayz Walz to unleash a blazing set of streamlined electro rap that manages to trip back to the early '80s and still sound fresh as basil plucked from auntie's garden first thing in the morning. What's more is that their tag-team album, Sharkey & C-Rayz Walz are…Monster Maker keeps it mean and lean and only serves up 12 tracks. While every other rapper and their uncle these days feels obligated to overload the public with albums teeming with excessive music (think 22 or more tracks), Sharkey and C-Rayz are all about the pure fire credo: No filler, just killer.
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Naturally there will be some folks who just won't get what any of these artists are doing, which is truly sad as they all are representing the core aesthetic of rap music and hip-hop culture. Furthermore they're bringing the music back to a place where it actually matters, where the art comes first and the lyrical escapades are just as important as the throbbing beats. We're talking socially conscious and gluteus maximous moving at the same time. Really, who could as for more?
Three Rap Albums You Need To Buy Stat
Forget the mainstream, underground's where it's at.
July 20, 2007 - It's not hard to realize that in the year 2007 rap music is at a crossroads. The bling and bitch baiting era is slowly coming to an end, but the next movement has yet to be unveiled. Hyphy was poised to change the way the world looked at the genre, but it never really broke out of the region from which it sprung (the San Francisco Bay Area) to catch the kind of global heat many expected it to. Meanwhile, the mainstream is beginning to hit the ceiling with artists like Eminem, 50 Cent, and other high profile MCs encountering the kind of fan ennui that ensues in the wake of being ubiquitous.
What all of this means is that true heads who grew up with the Golden Era (the late '80s and early '90s hey day) of the movement--when rap was equal measures about partying/having a good time and kicking out clever rhymes and detailed storytelling with a positive message (the "black man's CNN" as Chuck D. so fondly referred to it back in the day)--have been starving for a renaissance of sorts, a return to when rapping was either found in a small club or on a neighborhood street corner. Yet given that it's 2007, the music still needs to not only rock the boulevard, but also reach the bourgeoisie with the same impact.
Thankfully there's a triumvirate of albums that have been released in the past three months that do just that. What's more is that they're coming from different time zones and cultural epicenters: Oakland. Los Angeles. Washington D.C. Beyond that they're all coming with their own self-styled beat oriented infatuation. There's nods to the Old School, the original New School, the True School, and even plenty of electro shock therapy that takes you back to Planet Rock. It's all served up with flavor and aplomb and a generous dose of realness that comes from the heart. These releases were made with the art in mind, not the commerce.
Back in May Bay Area duo Zeph & Azeem kicked out their official debut platter entitled Rise Up. A deft mixture of early '90s New School attitude and present day social commentary judiciously spiced with reggae ambiance, the album is filled with 15 tracks that roam from verbal assaults on industry standards to flights of drug induced fancy, as well as instrumental work-outs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brother Reade (Jimmy Jamz and Bobby Evans) keep things simple and to the point. They have titled their album nothing more than Rap Music, which is exactly what they present to the listener throughout the 15 tracks included here. Nothing but thunderous beats heavy on the low-end and simplistic tribal thunder augmented by crisp lyrical influx.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Washington D.C. beat manipulator Sharkey teams up with New York MC C-Rayz Walz to unleash a blazing set of streamlined electro rap that manages to trip back to the early '80s and still sound fresh as basil plucked from auntie's garden first thing in the morning. What's more is that their tag-team album, Sharkey & C-Rayz Walz are…Monster Maker keeps it mean and lean and only serves up 12 tracks. While every other rapper and their uncle these days feels obligated to overload the public with albums teeming with excessive music (think 22 or more tracks), Sharkey and C-Rayz are all about the pure fire credo: No filler, just killer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naturally there will be some folks who just won't get what any of these artists are doing, which is truly sad as they all are representing the core aesthetic of rap music and hip-hop culture. Furthermore they're bringing the music back to a place where it actually matters, where the art comes first and the lyrical escapades are just as important as the throbbing beats. We're talking socially conscious and gluteus maximous moving at the same time. Really, who could as for more?
