Classics / Canon edition of the DiS Hip-Hop Listening Club

Yeah, it was odd - to say the least.

There seems to be an increasing number of hip hop gigs around here at the moment though (Big Daddy Kane played in the same pub recently; The Jungle Brothers are there next week; and I saw Pharoahe Monche play in a converted public toilet in Tunbridge Wells a few weeks ago too).

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You definitely keep out-doing yourself here

We get a lot of the same circuit in Brighton, Iā€™ve seen Pharoahe Monche and BDK here (Kane was great), as well as Jeru the Damaja and, appropriate to the thread, The Pharcyde (or at least two of them). Think the Jungle Bros might be coming soon too

Even somewhere like Brighton you canā€™t guarantee the footfall though, I remember asking why an M.O.P. gig has been cancelled when I went to return my tickets and it was because I was the only person whoā€™d bought tickets. Not sure if I can imagine anything more awkward and scary than a private performance from M.O.P.

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Oh, no doubt there is lots of stuff Iā€™ve missed. Iā€™ve been listening to a lot more hip hop again recently and am up for filling in the gaps. Iā€™ve partly come back to it because of people like Kendrick but also because my son is now a massive hip hop fan. Although the stuff he listens to, which mostly seems to be people with face tattoos mumbling about Xanax, is not for me, there are enough meeting points to make it interesting.

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These are absolutely brilliant ā€“ @weeber should definitely start his own gig thread. Really looking forward to hearing about EPMD playing a disused car-park in Haywards Heath

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Haha. Exactly the image I had in my mind except with 1210ā€™s. Backwards Akademiks fitted cap, cutting (badly) between two copies.

Oh man. That would be both scary and really sad. ONE ticket sold?!

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Well, two, but I donā€™t think whoever I took with me would have felt any less awkward

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Yes. At the time I really felt like hip hop was entering the doldrums, but that era spawned so much amazing stuff, and just generally got me digging a bit deeper.

And agree - Rakim obviously one of the greatest ever to do it, but loses points for not having a classic album

ducks

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Donā€™t Sweat the Technique is a classic imo, and much more enjoyable than the other Eric B. & Rakim albumsā€¦

Bit late to the party on this thread ā€“ looks like you have to start logging in earlier than Wednesday lunchtime if you want to get your fresh takes inā€¦

Not got much to add to the comments on Pharcyde other than I agree with them all and to say @incandenza probably couldnā€™t have picked anything better to kick this thread off. Itā€™s probably the album I recommend more than any other if someone ever asks me whatā€™s a good introduction to hip-hop. Still play it at least two or three times a year (particularly when it gets sunny), and have done since it came out. Walked around with the tape in my blazer at school until it ruined the front pocket, and would stick it on whenever an opportunity arose. One of about three records ever that I reckon Iā€™d be word perfect on.

Also, greatest live hip-hop band Iā€™ve ever seen.

Only sad point about this album for me is J-Swift. Really wish things had turned out differently for him, as he could have been one of the greats. The rappers are obviously what hit you first on Bizarre Ride, but the beats are genuinely perfect. Has anyone seen that ā€˜One More Hitā€™ documentary on him? I want to watch it, but Iā€™m a little nervous to be honest. Can someone please tell me that it has a happy ending?

On to KRS-One and again, looks like everythingā€™s been covered already. Will always have a place in my heart for Mr Parker, as ā€˜Criminal Mindedā€™ was, after Licence to Ill and King of Rock, the first hip-hop album I ever heard, and it properly blew me away. Absolutely agree with all the comments about him subsequently overdoing the ā€˜teacherā€™ thing, but over those massive 808 beats, he just sounded imperial. I also still reckon that ā€˜My Philosophyā€™ is one of the greatest performances by an emcee, ever.

My own personal take on him is that it wasnā€™t so much his didacticism that let him down (although this certainly didnā€™t help), but more that he couldnā€™t adapt to the more sophisticated production that took off in the 90s. Quite a bit of the time he sounds slightly off beat (or at least behind it ā€“ Mortal Thought on here is a good example).

His biggest 90s tunes ā€“ Sound Of Da Police; Step Into A World ā€“ all had relatively simple (and bombastic) production, and he could shine a bit more on those. Most of the production on this is fairly direct too. Think this kinda fits in with what @bornin69x and @littlebirds are saying about how this album kind of falls between two eras. (And on the topic of Sound Of Da Police: Dudes. Seriously? Youā€™re sick of this song? Because of trustafarians?? As far as Iā€™m concerned, the cast of Made In Chelsea could line dance to it and it would still be one of the all-time greats).

Not sure Iā€™d go as far as to call this LP one of the best ever, but it is really great, and certainly the last great KRS record. Listening again today for the first time in ages, it stands up really well. A lot of the deeper cuts Iā€™d forgotten about are great. Prefer the beats on the first half - Premier is nailing down the sound that would inform his mid ā€˜90s golden period (Outta Here is pretty much a ā€˜classic Premier beatā€™ blueprint) ā€“ but the second half has plenty of highlights too, title track especially.

Last thing for any KRS fans who might not have heard this ā€“ one of my favourite ever KRS tunes, and from the same period:

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:smile::rofl: best hot take yet, completely negates this:

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Feel completely out of my depth in this thread but really enjoying these two records (particularly the production, gonna take me a while longer to digest the content) and itā€™s great reading all your takes of all temperatures

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lmao i blame this on you for being there in the first place.

wtffffffff is that (just found the clip on youtube)

very true. a lot of great rappers that came up in the late 80s/early 90s fell into this pit too.

my man

not a fan of the self-titled or I Got Next?

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I think the self-titled album is the second best KRS solo album, and contains three of his all-time greatest slappers (Rapperz R N Dainja, MCs Act Like They Donā€™t Know, Wannabeemceez)

Forgot it has that track Represent the Real Hip-Hop featuring Das EFX which is a nice turn considering he was outspoken about that kind of playful nonsensical-syllable rhyming

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Totally a fan of both of those, self titled especially - was probably setting the bar for ā€˜greatā€™ a bit high tbh. KRS-One is certainly a great record too. Just wouldnā€™t put it on the same level as Return ā€¦ or the first two BDPs was what I was meaning.

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ā€œWake up in the morninā€™ got the yearnin for errrrrbā€
Listened to this this morning.

Not seen that ā€˜One More Hitā€™ documentary. Thereā€™s a Fatlip one isnā€™t there?

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into Boogie Down Productions but never listened to a KRS-One record somehow so looking forward to this

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Already managed to slip behind on this :smiley:

Liked both of these to a point, found myself mainly wanting to listen to Das-EFX instead on that Pharcyde record but I did like it, those kinds of eccentric rambly rap records havenā€™t ever really found a modern-day equivalent have theyā€¦

KRS-One record was very reliable, I will never not enjoy a solid rapper over Premo beats. It just scratches an itch for me that kind of blinds me to any kind of critical analysis.

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Whatā€™s Up Fatlip?, directed by Spike Jonze

The tone of it is also a bit of a bummer

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i thought bizarre ryde would be firmly planted in your top ten already!

Yeah, itā€™s a weird one. Not sure Iā€™ve ever listened to the whole thing front-to-back until this thread but the highs are real highs which appear on various playlists etc for me.

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