Kendrick Lamar, remember him? Yeah well while TDE are pretty much taking over the hip hop industry with Schoolboy Q, Ab- Soul, Isaiah Rashad and SZA all releasing projects while Jay Rock warms the 'next to drop' seat, Lamar has been on the grind himself.
There isn't too much to report on with words, most of it comes in the flashy medium of video but there is this slightly racist casting call for the new N.W.A film 'Straight Outta Compton'. We told ya'll about it a few weeks ago, but this casting call for a variety of females is a little weird...
We'll kick off this week's Week In Hip Hop in a light hearted manner with some fact finding/correcting memes that have been doing the rounds...
Who are they? Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell if you don't know who P-Money is you must be pretty stupid so don't bother. Buckshot is a Brooklyn native and a bit of a veteran in this hip hop game, he's been pushing rhymes for a while now but he's kept it underground and grimey throughout his career.
We try to keep the pages of 'A Week In Hip Hop' about that true blue hip hop, but we also love sharing knowledge and seeing people chase knowledge. So shout out to Chingy who has embarked on a post 'Right Thuuur' study path at the University of Khemetian Studies.
Who is he? Hailing from Carson, California, Ab-Soul is from the Top Dawg Entertainment stable. He's probably the guy you'd most listen to if you wanna learn a little something something of if you like hearing some nice wordplay interwoven with strong messages and themes.
Riiiiiiiight, yeah, uh. So Schoolboy Q's SUV got shot up in Denver earlier in the week, the po-po reckoned it wasn't a coincidence. Well duh when your car gets shot at it's hardly a coincidence, but yeah three passengers got injured except Q who let's be honest was most likely the target #Hoover. It all happened after a concert that also featured Nas and Flying Lotus with some of the proceeds going towards charity, preeeetty ironic.
Dave Chapelle could be considered the ultimate GC and last week he put on a pretty awesome concert with the likes of Kanye West, Busta Rhymes and Nas all performing at the Radio City Music Hall. Instead of some grainy concert footage, this is probably better
Ab-Soul dropped the highly anticipated album - These Days... which features P Diddle/Puff Daddy who spits the hot bar "What? Ain't nothing more to it. Soul-o eating now, tell em Puff said so" at the end of 'Hunnid Stax'. Might not seem like much but it's pretty cool and sums up how TDE are handling this rap business
The other big release this week was Buckshot & P-Money with 'Backpack Travels'. We'll have reviews for both this and Soul's album in a few days but it's pretty clear from the title and sound that Buckshot and P-Money are standing up for the classic New York style of hip hop. How awesome is it that a New Zealand producer is at the forefront of that!? As proud as we are of other artists such as Lorde, P-Money is live in full effect on the biggest stage. Props.
Welcome to this thing. This thing basically takes the best, worst bits and pieces from the hip hop world. It may miss somethings, oh well.
Sharon Van Etten's new album is called ‘Are We There’ and it’s probably the best thing she’s ever done (though her last album, 2012’s ‘Tramp’ runs it very close). The New Jersey native is now one of the most dependable singer songwriters in the business.
Ask anyone and mainstream, normal hip hop has fallen by the wayside in the past 10 years. Sure there were lyrical genius underground cats who held the gate against the giants for all the hip hop heads, but after the 80's and 90's we entered the era of the bling.
Who are they? Pro Era are a group of young rappers (and artists) straight from the streets of New York. They're headed by Joey Bada$$ who is definitely the most well known figure but as a group they stand alone as some of the top emcees and producers coming through.
Like many of you I like Bob Marley.
Growing up, we all could belt out a few lines of 'I Shot the Sheriff' or 'No Woman No Cry' and many of us would rock a Bob Marley t-shirt. Most of it was to be cool.
Who are they? Well The Roots are a musical collective fronted by Questlove and Black Thought. Questlove is a genius drummer and Black Thought a pretty darn genius emcee. Over the years they've had comings and goings to their current 8 man roster, with most instruments covered.
Who is he? Mac Miller, the white guy from Pittsburgh who has in the past brought us a few uplifting youthful jams such as 'Nikes on my feet', 'Kool aid and frozen pizza' and 'Donald Trump'.
First of all, it’s not a good sign for any album when the first two times you’ve listened through it you can only remember one song that stands out from the bunch. Clearly this assignment was gonna need more than a few listens. So like a pro I’ve immersed myself in this thing the past few days. I’ve allowed myself to be sucked into the vortex of its abysmal cover (more on that later) and I’ve let it Turn me Blue. And now I’m just confused.
For any hip hop fan, this week was a pretty important week. Dr Dre, the man who has had his finger prints on pretty much half of the hip hop music to grace our ears over the past 20 odd years apparently became the first hip hop billionaire.
There aren’t many genuine Rock Stars left in the world. That’s probably got something to do with how much easier it is to be a celebrity these days. We have so many idols to choose from, we don’t have to settle for the same old clichés. Cos let’s be honest, most of those guys were assholes.
Who is he? Let's be honest, most of you will know Asher Roth for his breakout ode to college life - 'I love college'. To form an opinion solely from that tune and to judge Roth's ability on that would be a terrible mistake.
Who are RATKING? I imagine a few of you are asking that. RATKING are a young hip hop group from New York, consisting of Wiki, Hak and the man on the boards Sporting Life. Wiki is the main dude in a sense, he spits the most rhymes with his fast paced, gnarly style of delivery. Hak is a much more mellow character who doesn't spit the same as Wiki but shares deep, introspective thoughts that immediately earn respect.
Ok, Wu Tang will be forever. Let's get that straight from the get go. Nobody is messing with the legacy that the Wu Tang Clan have created since they burst on to the scene in 1992 with 'Protect Ya Neck'.