mtucker

I'm curious as to why you say just the first four albums. Did the quality of the music go down after the first four? I'm just curious because I believe that I've only heard the first four albums.

Precious

Ok this thread has lost me a bit and I'm not sure of the subtle changes in genre but I like Wycleff Jean and I think of him as rap ( this may be because I'm from the uk and we don't have a big rap scene). Anyway I think his songs are not rip off's nor rubbish.

RaptorsFan

Aside from what a few others have posted try:

Dialted Peoples
High and Mighty
Big L
And ANYTHING produced by DJ Premier

RaZorBlade

Here're some lyrics: read them...It's not about cars or hos or anything....

[Talib Kweli]
Yo Dee (What?)
Come on (Yeah..)
What? What? Come on
(Yeah)

"Give me the fortune, keep the fame," said my man Louis
I agreed, know what he mean because we live the truest lie
I asked him why we follow the law of the bluest eye
He looked at me, he thought about it
Was like, "I'm clueless, why?"
The question was rhetorical, the answer is horrible
Our morals are out of place and got our lives full of sorrow
And so tomorrow comin later than usual
Waitin' on someone to pity us
While we findin beauty in the hideous
They say money's the root of all evil but I can't tell
YouknowhatImean, pesos, francs, yens, cowrie shells, dollar bills
Or is it the mindstate that's ill?
Creating crime rates to fill the new prisons they build
Over money and religion there's more blood to spill
The wounds of slaves in cotton fields that never heal
What's the deal?
A lot of cats who buy records are straight broke
But my language universal they be recitin my quotes
While R&B singers hit bad notes, we rock the boat
of thought, that my man Louis' statements just provoked
Caught up, in conversations of our personal worth
Brought up, through endangered species status on the planet Earth
Survival tactics means, bustin gats to prove you hard
Your firearms are too short to box with God
Without faith, all of that is illusionary
Raise my son, no vindication of manhood necessary

[M.D.] Not strong
[T.K.] Only aggressive
[M.D.] Not free
[T.K.] We only licensed
[M.D.] Not compassioniate, only polite
[T.K.] Now who the nicest?
[M.D.] Not good but well behaved
[T.K.] Chasin after death
so we can call ourselves brave?
[M.D.] Still livin like mental slaves
[both] Hidin like thieves in the night from life
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
[both] Hidin like thieves in the night from life
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice

[Mos Def]
Yo, I'm sure that everbody out listenin agree
That everything you see ain't really how it be
A lot of jokers out runnin in place, chasin the style
Be a lot goin on beneath the empty smile
Most cats in my area be lovin the hysteria
Synthesized surface conceals the interior
America, land of opportunity, mirages and camoflauges
More than usually -- speakin loudly, sayin nothin
You confusin me, you losin me
Your game is twisted, want me enlisted -- in your usary
Foolishly, most men join the ranks cluelessly
Buffoonishly accept the deception, believe the perception
Reflection rarely seen across the surface of the lookin glass
Walkin the street, wonderin who they be lookin past
Lookin gassed with them imported designer shades on
Stars shine bright, but the light -- rarely stays on
Same song, just remixed, different arrangement
Put you on a yacht but they won't call it a slaveship
Strangeness, you don't control this, you barely hold this
Screamin brand new, when they just sanitized the old ****
Suppose it's, just another clever Jedi mind trick
That they been runnin across stars through all the time with
I find it's distressin, there's never no in-between
We either niggaz or Kings
We either bitches or Queens
The deadly ritual seems immersed, in the perverse
Full of short attention spans, short tempers, and short skirts
Long barrel automatics released in short bursts
The length of black life is treated with short worth
Get yours first, them other niggaz secondary
That type of illin that be fillin up the cemetary
This life is temporary but the soul is eternal
Separate the real from the lie, let me learn you
Not strong, only aggressive, cause the power ain't directed
That's why, we are subjected to the will of the oppressive
Not free, we only licensed
Not live, we just excitin
Cause the captors.. own the masters.. to what we writin
Not compassionate, only polite, we well trained
Our sincerity's rehearsed in stage, it's just a game
Not good, but well behaved cause the ca-me-ra survey
most of the things that we think, do, or say
We chasin after death just to call ourselves brave
But everyday, next man meet with the grave
I give a damn if any fan recall my legacy
I'm tryin to live life in the sight of God's memory
Like that y'all

[Mos Def]
A lot of people don't understand the true criteria of things
Can't just accept the appearance
Have to get the true essence

[Talib Kweli]
They ain't lookin around

[M.D.] Not strong
[T.K.] Only aggressive
[M.D.] Not free
[T.K.] We only licensed
[M.D.] Not compassioniate, only polite
[T.K.] Now who the nicest?
[M.D.] Not good but well behaved
[T.K.] Chasin after death
so we can call ourselves brave?
[M.D.] Still livin like mental slaves
[both] Hidin like thieves in the night from life
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
[both] Hidin like thieves in the night from life
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
[both] Hidin like thieves in the night from life
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
[both] Hidin like thieves in the night from life
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice

[Mos Def (singing)]
Stop hidin, stop hidin, stop hidin yo' face
Stop hidin, stop hidin, cause ain't no hidin place


If you need an explanation, ask and ye shall receive...

cisgere

If you are having doubts, just listen to Handsome Boy Modelling School - So How's Your Girl? and Blackalicious - Nia.

jw2299

I think they lost some of their edge after Apocalypse '91. They did Muse Sick in Hour Mess Age, then the soundtrack for He Got Game, which was pretty good, then they released There's a Poison Goin' On on their own label. I haven't really listened to the last one much at all. I think the music in the songs was much better "constructed" in the first 4 albums.

The Bus

*cough* *cough*

No one has mentioned Gangstarr!!!

RaptorsFan

See my comment on anything produced by DJ Premier.

And as for PE, everything after It takes a nation of millions to hold us back is a step down. Except for Welcome to the Terrordome on Fear of a black planet.

Giles

Digable Planets, The Roots, Roots Manuva, People Under the Stairs, Cannibal Ox and any DJ/artists that meld both rap and dance - the British do this best i.e, Freqnasty, The Herbaliser, Mark B and Blade, and the label Ninja Tune are my faves.

The real sin is that when rap artists think they can act and inflict us with garbage like "The Wash" (check out aint-it-cool websites for an absolutely hysterical review of the movie). The real suckers are those paying to see a film like this (who in the right mind would call themselves DJ Pooh - lol!!!!)

Does DJ Shadow count?

I am still laughing over what a stupid name DJ Pooh is.

oh and, Peanut Butter Wolf, Kid Koala, Jurassic 5, and Cut Chemist are other artists I like.

AndyCapps

Wait wasn't DJ Pooh Red in Friday? You know, the one whose bike Deebo took. He was good in it.

jw2299

Duly noted, I also forgot GangStarr. As for PE, Fear of a Black Planet was a great album. And Apocalypse '91 also broke new ground for PE in it's bass-heavy approach mixed with their signature "noise mixing". Not to mention the pairing with Anthrax on Bring the Noise that opened up their music to a bunch of white metal heads. I'll even go so far as to say that song may have been the start of the whole rap-rock genre that's so popular right now.

tsohg

[Matt Stone Voice]Ugh dude I don't wanna sound like a queer or anything but[/Matt Stone Voice] Have you heard this song from this rap group called Run D.M.C and this small little known band from Boston called Aerosmith they did this song called "Walk this Way" it kinda rocks

Mr Maxwell House

My roommates listen to the rap on MTV and BET, and as I've begun listening to the lyrics, it seems like every song is just the artist singing about his own success. It's sad and baffling that these are the songs and artists that are met with the most success.

Frank TJ Mackey

try on some OUTKAST.

all four albums.

don't go by radio sh!t.

jw2299

Yeah, I thought about that, but here's why I didn't write that instead. Walk this way was written by Aerosmith and Run Dmc did the cover of it with them. Bring the Noise was written and produced by PE, and a couple of years later, Anthrax did the cover with PE. My point is that with Bring the Noise, it started in the rap genre, then transitioned over. With Walk this Way, the opposite is true.

So....that's why I cited Bring the Noise instead, it signified that rock could be influenced by rap. Before that, rap was influenced by rock, as in the case of Walk this Way.