Inspirational Rap

[Jobz]

Also it is *supremely* hilarious what people who aren't into hip hop culture consider to be "good" hip hop or "rap."

Flobots? Immortal Technique? Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip?

What's next?

Aesop Rock?

*suffers a stroke*

What's wrong with Immortal Techinique? Aside from the fact that his flow is a bit off at times.

 

[Jobz]

That's like asking what jazz is; if you have to ask, you'll never know.

Just listen to any of the four artists I've listed and perhaps you'll get a handhold with which you can start climbing up the big ass mountain which is hip hop culture.

It's strange that you assume just because I like an artist who you don't, that I don't know anything about hip-hop. But anyways, this nonsense isn't worth getting into an argument over.

 

[Serious_Stalin]

I just listened to "Handlebars" on youtube. The slow beat was quite cool. But when he raps fast he has basically stolen the flow of practically every song of off "Hybrid Theory" by Linkin Park.
I don't think his lyrics were very deep and meaningful but they did produce a certain quality of emotion which I would describe as "empowering".
If you want more music like this listen to Bubba Sparxxx "back in the mud". It had me rocking out for days.
But its not really my kind of Rap overall.
Some really great up beat rap is "De La Soul", since they sample a load of funk and stay extremely funny throughout their perfomance. The only album i've got is "Three Feet High and Rising".
You might like a rapper called "Plan B" a lot of his music is on Youtube.

 

[CrafterMan]

Rage.

Bulls on parade.

That is all.

 

[Fightbulb]

*checks iTunes*

Blackalicious, MF Doom, Jurassic 5, King Geedorah and Public Enemy is all I've got.

 

[speedcoreXdandy]

Immortal Technique is pretty good inspirational rap, though some of it can get pretty dark. Check out his song "Dance With The Devil" and you'll see what I mean.

Is that the one thats about him raping his sister or something, that track is horrific.

Also Immortal Technique and Scroobius Pip are both sick, and I listen to A LOT of hip hop.

 

[FireFly90]

Where my distases for rap would normaly kick into rant mode right now, not all of it was bad. House of Pain - Jump around is one of the only songs of this type that gets me going in a good direction i.e. still makes me bop!

 

[speedcoreXdandy]

Jump Around is a massive tune and so are quite a few other House Of Pain tracks. (there goes any shreds of credibility I had) La Coka Nostra who are ex members of House Of Pain + Ill Bill + some other guy(s?) are pretty damn good too.

 

[Jobz]

It's not that I don't like the artist and you do which makes my assumption valid. Immortal Technique and all these other "rappers" (Sage Francis? Rage Against The Machine?) are, more or less, the Kenny G's of the hip hop world. If you recommended Kenny G to someone who asked for great jazz, I can't think of a jazz lover out there who wouldn't find your appreciation of the genre and culture to be a bit suspect.

Although, at least Kenny G actually has some chops.

I guess I can't argue with you there. I've never listened to Sage Francis and I don't consider Rage to be hip-hop. They're rock with rap influences to me, however incorrect my definition of them may be. Seeing as I'm not a jazz lover and I've never listened to Kenny G, the only thing I can think to equivocate it to is someone recommending Blink 182 as a punk band. In which case I'd have to agree with you, I'd think that person was a moron. Not that I don't like Blink, they just aren't punk.

Is that the one thats about him raping his sister or something, that track is horrific.

Also Immortal Technique and Scroobius Pip are both sick, and I listen to A LOT of hip hop.

It's about someone he knows (Billy) who wanted to prove he was hardcore. So he and these other guys beat and raped a woman and didn't realize till after that it was Billy's mother. So yeah, it's pretty messed up, but there's a moral in there.

 

[Jobz]

Well, I definitely wouldn't consider you to be a moron. It's just a matter of whether or not you want to listen to hip hop which is made from the culture or hip hop which is made for people outside of that culture.

I'm not sure which of those I fit into. The only Hip-hop I listen to lately is Jedi Mind Tricks, Army of the Pharaohs, The Cool Kids, $pitfya and a bunch of older stuff, mostly Pac, B.I.G and NWA.

 

[JBarracudaL]

My favorite inspirational Hip Hop tracks are probably;

Get By by Talib Kweli

Promised Land by Edan

The Dreamer by Atmosphere. (I know, pretty recent but that song stuck with me a whole heck of a lot. Possibly because I know a girl who's life pretty much happened verbatim with the lyrics of the song or it might just be that unbelievably awesome bassline...)

 

[Uskis]

Jump Around is a massive tune and so are quite a few other House Of Pain tracks. (there goes any shreds of credibility I had) La Coka Nostra who are ex members of House Of Pain + Ill Bill + some other guy(s?) are pretty damn good too.

I hate that song.. Every time I hear the first few seconds at a party, I hope that the DJ's got some fucking sense and played Cypress Hill "Insane in the membrane" instead of that god-awful ripoff.

On ze topic of inspirational rap:
"Inspirational" rap can really be a borderline walk. I remember being a HUGE KRS-ONE fan (huge recommendation of his early stuff immanent). I thought he had some awesome lyrics and great beats on songs like "Sound of da police" or "Black cop", especially the former, where he shows his complete grasp on the english language by comparing New York "officers" to "Overseers", in a way that seems so easy and fluent that it sounds like anybody could do it.

The problem is that he soon became a Christian, Not that it's a problem, but he started being so saved in his music. It was unbearable to listen to. I've got the same problem with other inspirational rap. Kanye West is really bad as well. I've got to allmost denounce inspirational rap as a whole, since I think it implies a sort of "holier than thou"/"saved"/"preaching" kind of style. I like it better when you can feel the social indignity of the oppressed. I want edge in my rap. Not hippocratic self-righteous fuck-scoffs who act like they are the early beams of a bright sun, in a new dawn of humanity, when they still reproduce tired old clichés uncritically (looking at you Kanye).

A lot of the artist named above are pretty good (Chuck D, J5, MF Doom, Roots Manuva), and I don't wan't to sound like some angry black man who only listens to hiphop about killing whitey. It's just that he whole "inspirational" hiphop pulls the teeth out of a otherwise fantastic and critically artform

 

[Labyrinth]

I agree that mainstream rap is like dunking ones head in the toilet bowl of a brothel, but to be honest the style itself does nothing for me. I can appreciate what they're saying, but from the perspective of an artist, it's just poetry to a beat. Just as it doesn't matter how meaningful the lyrics are to a song by the Black Eyed Peas, I dislike listening to it because of the style.

The closest I get to rap is Rage Against The Machine.

 

[Uskis]

I agree that mainstream rap is like dunking ones head in the toilet bowl of a brothel, but to be honest the style itself does nothing for me. I can appreciate what they're saying, but from the perspective of an artist, it's just poetry to a beat. Just as it doesn't matter how meaningful the lyrics are to a song by the Black Eyed Peas, I dislike listening to it because of the style.

The closest I get to rap is Rage Against The Machine.

eh, each to his/her own.. As long as their not slacking of a whole genre based on what they hear in the mainstream (which a lot of people do to rap I think)

Closest i get to hard rock is Rage against the machine

 

[Alex_P]

Freakin' Blondie is closer to rap and hip-hop than Rage Against the Machine is.

-- Alex