Re: (idm) Hip-hop history/CD philosophy

From Andrew Duke Cognition
Sent Tue, Apr 20th 1999, 23:38

Sam Frank wrote:

> 1) In a discussion with a friend about how dinky old-skool hip-hop beats
> were,
> and how cheesy the rapping was, he said something to the effect of "the
> lyrics evolved because the beats evolved." By that he meant that the
> electro sound determined the cheesy party rapping, and that once electro
> was appropriated by Freestyle, and hip-hop became denser, then rhyming
> styles evolved too.  Now, I'm sure this "beat determinism" isn't entirely
> accurate, but it has a certain amount of possibility--Chuck D wouldn't
> have sounded the same without the Bomb Squad fucking shit up behind him,
> etc.

sam: i understand what you're saying, but just check out some rap
acapellas:put on a public enemy track's acapella version and you will *still*
hear the power
behind chuck d's lyrics. re: rappers: if you ("you" being "the person
rapping") have something to say, you have something to
say, that's my opinion. andrew :)