I'm Just An Addict, Addicted To Music

After posting my top albums, I felt a little bad because it didn't include any hip hop in it. I grew up listening to a lot of hip hop and I still listen. I was really impressed with the beats and the rhymes of the Clipse last album. I enjoy both American Gangster and Graduation as well. But, I feel like nowadays, at my age, the only rap I can really, really stand behind can't be overwhelmingly negative or overwhelmingly materialistic. So, what did I like this year? I dug Aesop Rock's album "None Shall Pass". As an example. I usually dig Talib Kweli's stuff. I love Blackilicious, although haven't heard anything new from them in a while. Common is dope. El-P is always coming up with strange and original takes on the Bomb Squad sound. MF Doom is always tight. So what happened to hip hop that now all you basically hear is about B@#$%es and H@*s, money and cars? Well, I remember way back, when NWA first came out with that Gangsta, gritty sound. You had balance. You had the Jungle Brothers, you had all those Native Tongues cats like De La Soul and Tribe Called Quest to balance all the LL Cool J's. Then, as usual capitalism reared it's ugly head. The major labels swooped in and bought up independents like Def Jam. And you went from Public Enemy's "Fight The Power" to "Gin and Juice" and nothing else. All Gangsta rap all the time. The majors made it possible to see rap on tv, buy rap at major retail stores and hear it on the radio, but they only allowed you to see,hear, and buy what they decided was rap. And that did not include any positive issues. You went from "Stop the Violence" to Bi@#*es with Problems. I think part of this is the stereotypical views of minorities. There is only a certain image of blackness or browness that they will allow. Another interesting thing is that, probably from that pre-major label era (87-91) the majority of buyers of this music were minorities or from poor segments of the population. Majors came in, sell 2 million records of a major label group as opposed to 1 million or less. Now, 60-70% I would guess of hip hop buyers are not from the areas were hip hop was born. Don't get me wrong, I dug Snoop's album and Ice Cubes album. But I don't dig the lack of diversity, the lack of consciousness. Sorry for this rant but here is something to bring a smile to our faces. A video from Eric B & Rakim. Notice how Rakim's flow kills, and yet somehow there are no curses. Just a thought. Before that is a little love for a track from Aesop Rock's album called "None Shall Pass" from the album of the same name:

None Shall Pass


I Ain't No Joke:


Peace