Re: (idm) kool kieth and the current state of hiphop

From sun rob and his arkestra
Sent Mon, May 24th 1999, 15:29

On Mon, 24 May 1999, Tomas Jirku wrote:

> album (yet his solo stuff is quite a dissappointment to me as well) but
> whomever produced Dr.Dooom (appearantly "the diesel truckers") lacks any
> creativity.

that's unfortunate.  i had heard that kut masta kurt (who produced sex
style and some of dr. octagon) and kool keith himself were the production
crew...but maybe that was confusing it with keith's other upcoming album,
'black elvis.'   i can still appreciate decent mc'ing over weak beats,
though, and kool keith is miles and miles ahead of your average mc (funny
article in the new URB-- kind of a fictional day-in-the-life of keith vs
generic mc).  still, the production is what made dr octo listenable over
and over again.  i'll have to check dr dooom for myself. 

> hiphop these days is so goddam weak it makes me cringe. current trends
> of using dancehall rhythms and fast 808s, despite seeming promising, are
> getting as tired as those fucking fish-eye lenses everyone uses in their
> videos.

plus suddenly the formula of 4-4 sample, double-time rap over it, and add
random jungle-ish beats is getting stale too. you can probably blame that
on no limit. 

> and what's with everyone's futuristic persona all of a sudden?

i think it's a bite off wu-tang (who have always been kinda futuristic)
and keith...maybe givin' it up a little to george clinton's multiple
personas and forms of p-funk. personally, i'll take an average "space
persona" video any day over "i'm gonna sit on this here rented rolls royce
and look like i'm angry."

> which brings me to bobby digital. i'm still shocked that autechre can
> drop a name like RZA in reference to talented producers. he may have his
> moments, but overall, his production is as weak as anyone elses.

RZA's kinda fallen off, but he still brought a whole new style to hip hop
production that really hasn't been correctly copied yet, even by his
disciples.  "enter the wu tang" still blows me away.  


> ps. all above statements are true when you disregard the talent of the
> MoWax crew, The Roots, Prince Paul (though i haven't had a chance to
> hear his new album yet), and Roots Manuva (who, by the way, is the best
> MC to come around in a long, long while).

absolutely.  the roots and prince paul albums alone mean it's a good year
for hip hop.  and honestly, how often is there a significant batch of
groups REALLY holding it down (like the roots/black star/prince paul kids
now, like the native tongues a while back) and everything else is good?
honestly, never.  the more likely situation is that most everything is bad
and one good mc or group is leading the pack (biggie, public enemy,
run-dmc, take your pick).  in other words, we're actually in something of
a hip hop golden age!  

whoops...this could use some idm content...anybody ever taken a good look
at the artwork on autechre's chiastic slide?  tilt it back and forth in
strong light and there's little drafting crosses and big old compact disc
logo sort of hidden in there.  

r
o
b