QN5 Music

The thing that irritates me more is one of these trust-fund having, trend whores decides that because he/she is listening to different than the norm, all of a sudden, they are an authority on good music in general and hip hop in specific. I’ve lived the culture for 20 years, but Trendy McSlut downloaded the new record by Orb the Living Vortex off of i-tunes and all of a sudden they can chastize me for my M.O.P. or Redman preference. These fucking hip hop tourists are just the same as the people that claim Lil Wayne is the best rapper alive. If I say that Lupe is only following the same formula created by the Jungle Brothers and perfected by De La and Tribe (who’s records a lot of these assholes never even bothered to listen too), these clowns will balk and proceed to tell label me as a head who’s stuck in the 90’s. But as soon as the winds change, these privilaged dipshits will move on to the next thing that they can latch on to and look down upon those who are not ‘enlightened’ enough to join them. Fuck these preppy douche nozzles…...............but, since THEY seem to buy records more loyaly than Jon A. Backpacker, who gets all his music through filesharing (this is his way of saying fuck the record industry) we thank them for thier support.

^^on point.

and

I went through an underground phase where I thought I was the only one who knew about the real shit but I’m over that, these days I just listen for stuff I like. I’d say my taste has become much more eclectic as of late, I’m fucking with everything, hip-hop, soul, r&b, blues, rock, electronica, pop. But I don’t even really care what the genre be if it’s something I like.

I think im still in that phase, only problem is im living the broke loser lifestyle with good internet connection clogging my hard drive with new albums from unknown people who impress me enough to search for more of their stuff. Also i feel a little ashamed that i only own about 10-25% of it. Last year i figure right after i made it home from the Megashow, and found out my Grandpa past away while i was 2k miles away partying, come to think of it that was the most fucked up weekend in history. . . Anyways, I started another music kick adding maybe 50GB of pretty much strictly underground rap music. Before that i must of been just scratching the surface but now im in an ocean of music.

Im still slowly buying music but if i had to buy all the music ive listened to id be like 10k in debt easily. The funny thing is that ive spent $4000 on cds over the years and thats more than any person i know and im not even sure what that Megashow/RockTheBells trip set me back. I just dont have the money to buy 800+ albums immediatly. Bills start piling up and such. But im not gonna feel ashamed for hearing all of it. Even if its unpaid for, im addicted to good music im not gonna let a little thing like lack of funds cut me off. And since i am addicted, know that the money will reach your hands once i get it, cause I Do Want More. Ive just stop believing in singles, I need to hear what you are saying and immerse myself in your cd for a few spins plus im too erratic with my funds to buy on the web. In fact the only thing ive bought off it would be APOS, DA, Megashow Tickets, and RTB tickets. Sure thats a pretty stupid excuse but why should all the great art be locked up in a vault away from prying eyes or in this case ears.

What ive come to understand is that i dont have to feel like a thief if i hear something i dont own, ive just created my own personal music archive, its at like 50 days of playtime haha. Why would i in this day and age let someone else create my personal playlist, and why in the hell would i want to be limited by what one persons norm is over my own. I do feel blessed to hear all this music and almost cursed because there is so much of it, and so little time to hear it all.

Just because i have all this music and someone else does not, makes little difference if the appreciation and gratitude is still there. But i guess as i do at this point consider myself some crazy hermit music collector, and seeing people not gravitate towards artists that deserve the attention, that ive become cynical of average music listeners who dont give these artists any attention because whats on the radio or in the clubs is telling them something else. But im still loving the music, and please remember im good for that next fix. Honest…

You know what I like about a song? Usually, its a combination of a ridiculously head-nodding beat, and a ridiculous flow that when I listen to the meaning of the lyrics, each line keeps banging me in the head with alternating amounts of something incredibly clever, something poignant and true, something deep and something funny, then back to clever again. I don’t care about the hook at first.

Later, if the hook is trash I’ll still enjoy the song for the beat and lyrics but I’ll comment to my friends, “Wow, thats the wackest fuckin hook, lol. they almost had a perfect song. Who writes a hook like that? lol”

If the hook is great too then I’m like wow, that is a fuckin hit record. Whoever this is, is nice. Who is that?”

Now, USUALLY, you only get to feel that way listening to a mainstream artist, on the radio, like 10%. One out of 10 songs (that may be generous). 90% of them have EITHER a good beat OR a great hook, OCCAISIONALLY a good beat AND hook (most G-Unit has both), but the lyrics don’t fit the description at the top of this post. But 10% of the time, they do (Busta, Jay, Jada, Styles, Em, sometimes Fab, Snoop, etc).

Now with “underground rap” a lot of those artists aren’t concerned with the hook, or getting airplay, cause they arent going to no matter what they do, they dont have the $$ for the DJ - or Video - they cant afford a good one, SOOO they just focus on the most ridiculous beat and spaztastic lyrics cause thats all they can control really. Not even necessarilly mixed well even.

so, thats why more often (I’d say 50%) I’ll hear something I’m feeling thats “underground” than mainstream.

Now, I havent heard a beat or rhyme that was ridiculous from ANY of the “more popular” artists mentioned (i.e. Aesop, MF Doom) yet, but I have heard that from Technique, Fuck Ya Life, Stronghold, Atoms Fam and my brothers (and sister, lol) in The Plague. THAT’S JUST MY PERSONAL OPINION! EVERYONE MAKES THEIR OWN DECISION AS TO WHAT’S “RIDICULOUS”, and that’s okay.

How is this diatribe relevant to the topic of this thread? Because those people you describe as being into it as a “fad”, aren’t really checking for the dope beat and dope lyrics, they’re checking for something that’s different and unknown or less known to their peers, so they can be like “ah, you’re not up on this shit. You don’t know about the underground”, etc.

If you simply love great beat combined with great lyrics (aka “good hip hop” no?), then you will always love it when you hear it and wont stop listening when the fad dies down.

One.

GMS