2023 Rolling Hip-Hop Thread

got bored, here we go

got around to this today, good stuff. casual and breeze brewin :star_struck:

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realised probably 7 of my top 10 from the year are all one rapper + one producer albums

is this a thing that’s become much more common/better lately? or is it just a quirk I happen to prefer

Definitely has become more of a thing in recent years. Post early to mid 90s it basically died a death and everyone was always talking about inconsistency of multi-producer records and why doesn’t X rapper do a full project with Y producer without it ever happening.

In many ways, a lot of your boom bap/jazz rap set are really honing in on an ideal of 90s rap that never quite existed, including that one producer/one rapper ideal, which was in practice kinda scarce. I also think that a certain type of artist, making a certain type of hip hop, knows it ain’t gonna blow up and that there’s no point littering their album with different beats from different producers, or attempts at different styles of tracks (the club track, the one for the ladies etc. like they used to), if that’s not their vibe.

Similarly people used to say, why don’t people just put out albums with 10/11 tracks rather than filling them with bloat, like Illmatic, and now there are about a dozen underground hip hop albums a week like that (but normally still without the quality control).

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Definitely get this sense from your CRIME, YOD etc. Means that their fans get a lot of what they are into though rather than stylistically inconsistent stuff, so even if the fanbase stays small it’ll get pretty passionate

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I dunno, a lot of my favourites from that period definitely had that… or at least had a collective handling it so you would still get a cohesive sound on say a DITC, Beatminerz, Heiro, Organized Noize album.

Also, I’d often get a strong sense that if they didn’t, they’d have someone doing the job of an executive producer - whether that person was also making beats (like on later Pharcyde and De La Soul albums) or a Puffy/MC Serch type on Ready to Die and Illmatic.

It is interesting though - the majority of my favourites this year are also single producer albums, compared to a handful the last 3.

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Oh yeah. What I’m kind of saying is, it was definitely a thing, that happened with great results in that period. And then people pined for it without it really happening much for a long time, apart from some obvious throwback groups. I don’t think we really had this thing of rappers doing a bunch of one rapper/one producer collaborative albums with different producers, like we do now (was normally an in-house producer of the group/DJ-rapper pairing. DOOM being a big exception). And since at least Illmatic, the crack team of hit producers was definitely the norm.

Regardless, it was always something people liked, because it’s a formula that works. Was just a weird absence of it for a long time. It wasn’t a derogatory comment, I think people are really honing in on what made great records from the period great, rather than focussing on the doldrums of rap from the time, which makes sense

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having a great time going through albums i overlooked to make by best of 2023 list

this one bangs - that snare!

If it helps you not feel bad for overlooking it, it originally came out in 2017, only got a physical release & put on streaming services this year.

It is really good, Overthinking & Slow Burn are my favourites on it.

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Thought the style sounded quite diff from What You Don’t Get?! - so that makes sense

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It’s a fantastic record but some of the lyrics, especially in conjunction with that interview, seem to suggest he is seriously/ terminally ill? Unless that is a character he is creating

Yeah it does, and his backstory certainly alludes to that. But no one really knows.

https://x.com/ajsuede/status/1729185678133739654?s=46&t=JHmBgw3c8wwExKcOnOiqVw

@JaguarPirate :eyes:

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Nbc Brooklyn 99 GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine

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‘G’s Us’ is a pretty bad name tho

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Guess there won’t be a Scaring the Hoes II, then

I think he might be taking the piss

How was the tour you guys just completed?

It was trash.

I’m better than most people in the industry, talent-wise

Who else have you got your eye on to work with?

Nobody.

etc.

Laughed at this.

I just wanted to make something that wasn’t boring and sterile like the rest of the shit you all listen to.

This post paid for by PROF$.

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Brown did say in a Quaranta interview that he wasn’t good at collaborating at the time considering his circumstances but possible I’m reading into it, yeah