Recommend me some hip-hop

[HardkorSB]

Hip-hop... you mean rap, I assume?
Because if we're talking hip-hop, there are artists who don't make rap but can still qualify as part of the hip-hop culture, such as:


As far as rap goes, I only listen to songs about "bitches" and "money" if everything else (the beat, the rapper's flow and delivery etc.) is awesome, like this one:


I do however prefer to listen to something with a little more substance:

 

[ayvee]

Tribe is still the best.


I think that someone else already mentioned Pharcyde. De La Soul is similarly classic, but I find that they tend to work better in the full-album format.

 

[II2]

Well, here's some of the fierce and weird underground stuff you'll never hear on the radio:

FUNKSTORUNG (Germany - Rosenheim) Glitch Hop / Rap / IDM

Spoiler: video

DEATH GRIPS (USA - Sacramento) Experimental Hip Hop / Rap

Spoiler: video

SCORN (UK - Birmingham) Industrial Hip Hop / Big Beat / Dub / Bass

Spoiler: video

DALEK (USA - New Jersey) Experimental Hip Hop / Rap

Spoiler: video

...and my favorite...

CLIPPING (USA - Los Angeles) Gansta Rap / Harsh Noise / Noise Hop

This stuff doesn't sound like anything on the radio, as I said, but it also doesn't deliberately try and stay in the past. Mainstream hip hop is pretty much a known quantity, by know, moving as it did from a grassroots urban music with some balls into a just another canned genre, in less than 20 years. As always, the fun stuff collects at the margins and doesn't always fit comfortably within the expectations fans have of the genre.

 

[Vigormortis]

First things first:
If you want to listen to some great rap and hip-hop, the key is to avoid virtually all popular, mainstream, MTV/radio rap. That's where the shit goes. Stay away from the shit.

Now, as for some examples, some of the ones I would have listed have been already.[footnote]And seriously people...learn to use spoiler tags please. Flash is unstable as it is. Having to load dozens of vids at once on one page is just asking for trouble.[/footnote] So here are some that haven't:

Spoiler: Zack Hemsey

Zack Hemsey is incredibly talented. Honestly, just go to his Youtube channel and peruse. You'll be blown away.

Spoiler: Nine Leaves

Spoiler: The Opus

Spoiler: Geto Boys

Have to sneak in a few "old-school" examples, right?

Spoiler: Blockhead

Spoiler: Aesop Rock

Spoiler: Massive Attack

While technically more trip-hop and electronic, I think they're be to your liking.

Spoiler: Bonobo

Also a bit more trip-hop than pure hip-hop, but still good.

Spoiler: Gorillaz

More an experimental/alternative rap (and rock/electronic) group than traditional rap offerings, they're still classified as such.

 

[V4Viewtiful]

I'll drop 2 names seeing as other's have chosen some of the big hitters


okay that was a 2 for one

 

[FPLOON]

Spoiler: Gorillaz

More an experimental/alternative rap (and rock/electronic) group than traditional rap offerings, they're still classified as such.

Huh... I thought that spoiler tag was going to have [any of] these songs by Gorillaz:

Spoiler: More Gorillaz

With, maybe, the exception of Feel Good Inc.... due to it being too obvious of a "go-to" choice...

 

[Vigormortis]

Huh... I thought that spoiler tag was going to have [any of] these songs by Gorillaz:

It almost did. But I felt like going unorthodox with my picks.

:/

 

[Vault101]

Lot's of good tracks suggested here. I'll toss this one into the mix. It's an attack against the rap culture that OP seems to dislike.

while I did like that song I read somwhere on another hip hop forum where somone criticized Hopsin for having a holier than thou attitude....I sort of can't unsee it

First things first:
If you want to listen to some great rap and hip-hop, the key is to avoid virtually all popular, mainstream, MTV/radio rap. That's where the shit goes. Stay away from the shit.

I don't think you need to dismiss Mainstream Hip Hop...like Kendrick Lamar or Kanye..kind of like what I said above in accepting the whole genre rather than being ashamed of some of it

the likes of Flo Rida and PitBull though.....BLEGH!!!

 

[WouldYouKindly]

I'm currently typing this on my phone, so I'm not going to embed video, but I can make a list of artists and songs you should look up.

Sage Francis-Crack Pipes. This guy just has a weird style and he's a local for me.

Talib Kweli-Just to Get By. I'm not sure about the rest of his discography, but this song is fucking awesome.

P.O.S.-Audition Mantra, Let it Rattle, and Get Down. This guy has some pretty great diversity and energy in his songs. Sometimes it builds up, sometimes it's just right out of the gate.

Doomtree-Slow Burn. This is just a cool song from a rap collective I like.

I might edit in some videos but that's not going too be until later in the day.

 

[wakenbake]

I've always liked Jurassic 5 (The Jurassic 5 'LP' in particular), Blackalicious and the whole Quannum collective.

 

[Sacman]

So, it's been a while since I was 14 and I like Eminem. And every time I listen to a rap song, it seems to discuss "bitches" and "money". However, I was recently told by some of my friends that there is better hip hop in a "golden age hip hop" and I should listen to that.

So, I turn to the ever-knowledgeable Escapist forum; can you recommend me some rap songs (2 or 3) that are good?

I'm going to put some names, and notable albums. Together, some will be golden age, some will be independant rappers spanning from the 90s to the 2010s. I'll post vids for notable songs

MF DOOM- MM...Food, Operation Doomsday

Hoe Cakes from MM... Food

Madvillain(Collab of MF DOOM and producer Madlib)- Madbillainy

Chance the Rapper -#10 Day, Acid Rap (free digital mixtapes)

Everybody's Something from Acid Rap
EL-P -Fantastic Damage, I'll Sleep When You're Dead, Cancer 4 Cure

Run the Jewels (collab of EL-P and Killer Mike, also a free digital album)- Run The Jewels Probably 2013's best rap album

Run The Jewels

Aesop Rock- None Shall Pass, Skelethon

Will C.- Evil in the Mirror

Non Phixion- The Future Is Now

Ill BILL (of Non Phixion and La Coka Nostra)- What's Wrong With Bill?, The Hour Of Reprisal, The Grimy Awards

Sean Price- Monkey Barz, Jesus Price Superstar, Mic Tyson

Onion Head from Monkey Barz
The Roots- Honestly I recommend their entire discography.

What They Do from Illedeph Halflife (a satirical look at the average rap video)

De La Soul- 3 Feet and Rising, De La Soul is Dead

Nas - Illmatic (hailed as the best Hip Hop album of all time by just about every rapper),

Stillmatic, Hip Hop is Dead, Life is Good

Raekwon (of the legendary Wu Tand Clan) Only Built for Cuban Linx, Only Build for Cuban Linx Part 2, Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang

Mos Def- Black on Both Sides

Mathematics

Jay Electronica, -What the F*ck is A Jay Electronica? Songs: Exhibit A, Exhibit C

Exhibit A


Jay-Z -Reasonable Doubt (hailed as his best album and the only other to be compared to Illmatic)

Big Pun -Capital Punishment

Canibus - Rip The Jacker

Earl Sweatshirt - Doris

Gang Starr - Entire Discography

Cage- Movies for the Blind

Tech N9ne- Absolute Power, Killer, K.O.D., All 6's and 7's, Something Else


Let me know if you need more. Not enough people on the Escapist appreciate hip hop so it makes me happy to help someone find some.

All of these, especially MF Doom and Chance the Rapper... and add some Death Grips... :O

 

[Nouw]

Can't go wrong with Section 80 by Kendrick Lamar and a group of talented producers, it just oozes atmosphere and this easily beats the narrative Good Kid Maad City tells in my opinion.

 

[Hieronymusgoa]

Perhaps I'm a bit too loose in my definition when it comes to HipHop but I do enjoy a lot of stuff where good raps are in.
If you want to try stuff which is a bit more "exotic" as American HipHop try Brainpower who have often typical HipHop topics but in Dutch, Thomas D (who is German) and has a mostly esoteric vibe to his raps, Deichkind (German) who are very danceable rappers with funny storys in their songs...


I will get stoned to death for this but Nicki Minaj has some good raps although I guess you don't call that HipHop but seriously the rap part she does in "Monster" is one of the best raps I've heard.

 

[Vidiot]

Not a single mention of Dan Bull? Wow, I thought here of all places... Dan raps about gaming, politics, world events, etc...

Anyway, I'm too lazy to look up link tags, so hit him up on Youtube. Just think of the game you've been playing recently, and see if he's got a song for it.

 

[Vigormortis]

I don't think you need to dismiss Mainstream Hip Hop...like Kendrick Lamar or Kanye..kind of like what I said above in accepting the whole genre rather than being ashamed of some of it

the likes of Flo Rida and PitBull though.....BLEGH!!![/quote]

To be fair, I said "virtually all". (though, I did put emphasis on the 'all')

But when it comes to most of the mainstream rap scene, for every Kanye (who is, to me, the very definition of hit-or-miss) there are several dozen Lil' Waynes.

So...catch the good songs when they show up, but for the love of god don't stick to the mainstream. Your brain (and ears) will thank you.

And now, some more Zack Hemsey -

 

[Storm Dragon]

I'm just here to ask someone to explain the difference between rap and hip-hop to me.

So could someone please explain the difference between rap and hip-hop to me?

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

So, it's been a while since I was 14 and I like Eminem. And every time I listen to a rap song, it seems to discuss "bitches" and "money". However, I was recently told by some of my friends that there is better hip hop in a "golden age hip hop" and I should listen to that.

So, I turn to the ever-knowledgeable Escapist forum; can you recommend me some rap songs (2 or 3) that are good?

Not golden era, but not about bitches or money:

I'm just here to ask someone to explain the difference between rap and hip-hop to me.

So could someone please explain the difference between rap and hip-hop to me?

Hip hop is a term that originally indicated a full social movement, involving turntablism, graffiti, break dancing, and rapping. Now, as the other three have fallen out of association with rap which has become by far the most popular aspect of the original movement, hip hop is used as synonymous with rap or to describe "soft rap".

 

[Vault101]

Not a single mention of Dan Bull? Wow, I thought here of all places... Dan raps about gaming, politics, world events, etc...

Anyway, I'm too lazy to look up link tags, so hit him up on Youtube. Just think of the game you've been playing recently, and see if he's got a song for it.

I know only his gaming stuff...hence my tagline...