Music Thread

[Cali]

I've always thought that the overlaying thought on Kayne was great beats, meh-to-just-terrible lyrics.

 

That's always been my opinion of him....

[SoxAce]

I'm gonna respectfully disagree with this.

 

Never impressed me at all Marcus. He's a much better producer than a rapper. Been a hip-hop fan for a long time, and other than his earlier work (which wasn't THAT amazing), he has really fallen off.

[bmags]

Never impressed me at all Marcus. He's a much better producer than a rapper. Been a hip-hop fan for a long time, and other than his earlier work (which wasn't THAT amazing), he has really fallen off.

 

I find this nonsense. I mean really, to me, there is no more elitist music fan in the world than a rap fan. They create this false facade of what rap is, and anyone that doesn't fit that equation is "bad". It's terrible for the genre, they hold everything up and just spit nostalgia about ninety-f***ing-four, but who gives a s***. Kanye's wordplay and flow might not be up to nas or reasonable doubt jay-z era, but his ability to use his medium to move, to speak to people is as good as anyone. His simplicity works. He may be an arrogant piece of s*** in real life encounters, but when he's rapping, he's introspective and honest in ways very few mcs are. I think the kanye hate is always hating some idea of the way a celebrity should be, and they are mistaken. If you want the f***ing jonas brothers, go have them. But this dudes ambition and arrogance is not his problem, it's his biggest asset, because he realizes it and uses it to make great pop songs.

[SoxAce]

I find this nonsense. I mean really, to me, there is no more elitist music fan in the world than a rap fan. They create this false facade of what rap is, and anyone that doesn't fit that equation is "bad". It's terrible for the genre, they hold everything up and just spit nostalgia about ninety-f***ing-four, but who gives a s***. Kanye's wordplay and flow might not be up to nas or reasonable doubt jay-z era, but his ability to use his medium to move, to speak to people is as good as anyone. His simplicity works. He may be an arrogant piece of s*** in real life encounters, but when he's rapping, he's introspective and honest in ways very few mcs are. I think the kanye hate is always hating some idea of the way a celebrity should be, and they are mistaken. If you want the f***ing jonas brothers, go have them. But this dudes ambition and arrogance is not his problem, it's his biggest asset, because he realizes it and uses it to make great pop songs.

 

Find it nonsense all you want... you can kick rocks with what you believe as far as I'm concerned, but the dude isn't great at all. Now didn't say I don't like Kayne, I mean hell he's from Chicago, but he isn't even the best rapper in Chicago, yet alone in the game today (and the game today is garbage with "MCs" and I quote that very heavily as KRS-One once said.. there is a big difference between an MC and a rapper). I'm not talking real life, I'm not talking how he is as a person (hell Micheal Jackson had his issues and I'm sure alot of us can agree he is Pop, his music was influential) but his music (and I'm talking lyrically) isn't that great, not even as good as when he first started. In fact.. I consider Kayne a sellout in alot of ways (especially trying to "get with" the genre of what the game was doing with auto-tune, and changing his overall style) in his music. Now as a producer you will never see me talk about him. IMO he is one of the biggest genius out there today (or in the last whatever years anyone wants to throw a number at) as a producer. Not alot of MCs aren't good at both. (I don't consider Dr. Dre that great either as an MC, though he is still good for what he says during his time though I'm a bit biased with him, but he is a producing genius.. one of the best ever) As a follower for a long time, growing up listening to alot of great ones, I don't see it with him as an "MC". It's weird I understand his videos more in meaning than I do lyrically in him, whereas Nas (and I'll say his name since you mentioned him) could make one of the s***test videos ever, but I can understand where he's at lyrically. And you wanna talk about him "speaking up to people.." go anywhere and you tell me who they usually name who "speaks up to them" usually... I hear Weezys name as the first mentioned.

 

Everybody here as different opinions on different MCs. (some we all agree on, and usually they are the best/greatest) Kayne is just one of those guys I always found overrated.

Edited August 13, 2010 by J.Reedfan8

[JPN366]

I think Eminem is way overrated. But, with most rap music, it doesn't have much of a shelf life. There isn't a lot that will stand the test of time. Plus, it ends up having a flavor of the moment quality to it. Most of it is very dated, even the true classics like "The Chronic" and "Doggystyle" to name a few. I appreciate Kanye's attempt to at least be somewhat innovative and maybe make a song that will be remembered in 10 years. He may be an ass, but he is a complex dude. I was impressed to hear a sample from a prog rock song from 1969 in one of his songs. I'm a King Crimson fan, but even I knew that was digging deep and not many people would catch that. Plus, it's nice to have something different from the standard "gangsta" posturing and braggadocio.

Edited August 15, 2010 by JPN366

[BigSqwert]

Absolutely love the new Matthew Dear album.

[iamshack]

Find it nonsense all you want... you can kick rocks with what you believe as far as I'm concerned, but the dude isn't great at all. Now didn't say I don't like Kayne, I mean hell he's from Chicago, but he isn't even the best rapper in Chicago, yet alone in the game today (and the game today is garbage with "MCs" and I quote that very heavily as KRS-One once said.. there is a big difference between an MC and a rapper). I'm not talking real life, I'm not talking how he is as a person (hell Micheal Jackson had his issues and I'm sure alot of us can agree he is Pop, his music was influential) but his music (and I'm talking lyrically) isn't that great, not even as good as when he first started. In fact.. I consider Kayne a sellout in alot of ways (especially trying to "get with" the genre of what the game was doing with auto-tune, and changing his overall style) in his music. Now as a producer you will never see me talk about him. IMO he is one of the biggest genius out there today (or in the last whatever years anyone wants to throw a number at) as a producer. Not alot of MCs aren't good at both. (I don't consider Dr. Dre that great either as an MC, though he is still good for what he says during his time though I'm a bit biased with him, but he is a producing genius.. one of the best ever) As a follower for a long time, growing up listening to alot of great ones, I don't see it with him as an "MC". It's weird I understand his videos more in meaning than I do lyrically in him, whereas Nas (and I'll say his name since you mentioned him) could make one of the s***test videos ever, but I can understand where he's at lyrically. And you wanna talk about him "speaking up to people.." go anywhere and you tell me who they usually name who "speaks up to them" usually... I hear Weezys name as the first mentioned.

 

Everybody here as different opinions on different MCs. (some we all agree on, and usually they are the best/greatest) Kayne is just one of those guys I always found overrated.

Wow...I don't listen to a ton of hip hop, and so I am not surprised much, but I have like, no clue what you just said there. And that's not because you didn't say something very introspective, it's just amazing to me how out of touch I am with hip hop music I guess.

 

On another note, how pathetic is it that the Genius thingy from iTunes is recommending Justin Bieber for me?

[iamshack]

Maroon 5 is my guilty pleasure band.

[BigSqwert]

On another note, how pathetic is it that the Genius thingy from iTunes is recommending Justin Bieber for me?

Next time turn your web cam off. They probably saw the Bieber poster on your wall as you were searching for new tunes.

[farmteam]

Maroon 5 is my guilty pleasure band.

 

Mine is Taylor Swift. There, I said it.

[JPN366]

Mine is Taylor Swift. There, I said it.

 

Blaqk Audio.

[farmteam]

I mean really, to me, there is no more elitist music fan in the world than a rap fan.

 

I'll probably catch flak for the gross overgeneralization I'm about to make, but I'll do it anyway. In my experience, the "hipster/indie" type is the most elitist. I've run into way too many people that will essentially say things like, "Oh, you like stuff on the RADIO? All that stuff is crap." or will only like bands no one has heard of, or they think that identifying with some esoteric band will make them cool.

[shipps]

I'll probably catch flak for the gross overgeneralization I'm about to make, but I'll do it anyway. In my experience, the "hipster/indie" type is the most elitist. I've run into way too many people that will essentially say things like, "Oh, you like stuff on the RADIO? All that stuff is crap." or will only like bands no one has heard of, or they think that identifying with some esoteric band will make them cool.

 

There are those type of elitist in every genre and they are all just as bad as the next.

[farmteam]

There are those type of elitist in every genre and they are all just as bad as the next.

 

That's true. I suppose given where I live/types of people I generally interact with, I'm more likely to run into the the ones I mentioned.

Edited August 17, 2010 by farmteam

[iamshack]

I'll probably catch flak for the gross overgeneralization I'm about to make, but I'll do it anyway. In my experience, the "hipster/indie" type is the most elitist. I've run into way too many people that will essentially say things like, "Oh, you like stuff on the RADIO? All that stuff is crap." or will only like bands no one has heard of, or they think that identifying with some esoteric band will make them cool.

I agree with this 100%. This is true of the Indie/Hipster for all forms of art. Music, movies, even clothing.

[StrangeSox]

The best are hipster douchebags who get into hip-hop. Holy s*** talk about pretentious.

[iamshack]

The best are hipster douchebags who get into hip-hop. Holy s*** talk about pretentious.

That is probably the fastest growing demographic buying hip hip recordings over the past few years.

[BigSqwert]

That is probably the fastest growing demographic buying hip hip recordings over the past few years.

I have been a hip hop fan since about 1982. It's funny to see rappers these days fighting with hipster or skater rappers. Was listening to the new Rhymefest album the other day and he just goes off on the hipster rappers. It just seems odd. Those guys are bringing a lot more interest into hip hop which has gotten quite stale over the past few years and now other rappers have beef with that. I really don't get it. And these hipster/skater rappers or whatever you call them are sort of like the backpacker rappers from the late 80s and 90s. Groups like Pharcyde, A Tribe Called Quest, Common, etc. I couldn't imagine people like Ice Cube, Cypress Hill, Snoop Dog and the like completely diss an entire sub-genre like that because they weren't as tough or gangster as they were. I dunno. Maybe it's just a way to get more attention.

[Felix]

I'll probably catch flak for the gross overgeneralization I'm about to make, but I'll do it anyway. In my experience, the "hipster/indie" type is the most elitist. I've run into way too many people that will essentially say things like, "Oh, you like stuff on the RADIO? All that stuff is crap." or will only like bands no one has heard of, or they think that identifying with some esoteric band will make them cool.

I don't consider myself a hipster at all (especially not indie), but it's true that most of the stuff on the radio is crap. I'd much rather listen to music on my Zune or computer than listen to the s*** on the radio.

 

Then again, I never really got why people were always so into the radio. Wouldn't you rather listen to music that you personally picked out as opposed to random stuff picked by a random person, half of which is terrible? I realize you generally hear about a lot of bands that you might have never heard before, but you can do that just from exploring the internet.

Edited August 17, 2010 by Felix

[iamshack]

I don't consider myself a hipster at all (especially not indie), but it's true that most of the stuff on the radio is crap. I'd much rather listen to music on my Zune or computer than listen to the s*** on the radio.

 

Then again, I never really got why people were always so into the radio. Wouldn't you rather listen to music that you personally picked out as opposed to random stuff picked by a random person, half of which is terrible? I realize you generally hear about a lot of bands that you might have never heard before, but you can do that just from exploring the internet.

 

I used to work for Abercrombie & Fitch, and one of my favorite things about working there was all the new bands they put on our store CDs. So much of my collection is bands I first heard from music in our stores.

 

Now I can waste hours on itunes sorting and sifting through music and reading reviews that I would have never otherwise stumbled on to.

[StrangeSox]

use pandora

[Nunnigan]

use pandora

 

That too is becoming more radio-ized. When I first started listening to Pandora (about 5 years ago), they played pretty much exactly what I wanted to listen to, and you could skip as many songs as you want. Now they have commercials after every handful of songs, you only have a certain amount of song skips, and more and more songs are showing up that I dont like on stations I created.

[shipps]

Been listening to The Black Keys a lot lately.

[Cali]

I've used Pandora and found more than a few new bands/artists I've dug.

 

It depends on your station though, the more obscure the artist/song, the better, because an office mate of mine put on a U2 station and it basically churned out U2, Coldplay, and RHCP non-stop... I've never really had that problem...

[TomPickle]

Anyone else going to Neon Marshmallow fest this weekend? It seems kinda unlikely, but I figured I'd ask anyway.

 

I think I'm going to go tomorrow and Saturday.