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GAF-Hop 2011+ |OT3| Look out for OT4 before Detox (dat sh!t cray)

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C

Cudder

Member
388242_588180896541_293000823_2898682_104125784_n.jpg


show was too good. NIP 3 fuckin times.
 
P

PBY

Banned
bdizzle said:
Man please. I'm not a nikki fan at all, but you'd be crazy if you don't think I wouldn't wax that ass if I ever got the shot. Fuck around and get some paper outta her too.
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bdizzle in the house

Also, way to go lupe, tease the cover art/tracklist for tonight at midnight and then don't drop shit? Whatever, still hyped for tom. Tape officially drops 10AM Chitown time.
 
G

Glass Rebel

Member
PhoenixDark said:
Given the early rumblings we got from Madlib/DOOM this year (snippets) I kind of thought they might release something this year. But tbh I never got my hopes up. DOOM is sitting on tons of stuff, from old unreleased shit to new stuff. He'll re-release an old album here or there, and do some random shows, but that's it. I really don't get it, considering his fans are willing to buy just about anything.

Same with the lazy DOOMStarks song, which people paid for lol. They've been working on that for YEARS and it's still not out. Meh. Eventually he'll open the vaults, it's gonna happen one day. But right now he seems content doing...whatever it is he's doing. I certainly don't want another Born This Way, a lazy project with fake cartoon voice overs and weak production.
Click to expand...

I saw Doom and Ghost a few weeks ago in London. Not a single new song. Nada. That's when I knew that Swift&Changable was still far away. *sigh*
 
T

TheOddOne

Member
Drake, Childish Gambino, and the Specter of Black Authenticity
Neither rapper is a conventional hip-hop star, and each deal with that fact in different ways

"What's the point of rap if you can't be yourself?"
- Childish Gambino, "All The Shine"

As Drake says, "jealousy is just love and hate at the same time," and with the gaudy sales estimates of his new album, Take Care, jealousy is in the air. Haters lament Drake's brand of sing-along pop/hip-hop fusion. Lovers revel in Drake's wordplay, appreciate his self-examination, and nod their heads to the seductive beats on his new record. Several rungs below him on the hip-hop ladder, upstart Childish Gambino (aka comedian Donald Glover, who plays Troy on NBC's Community) has his own collection of supporters and detractors. Glover's Camp is prickly and captivating, driven by hipster-hip-hop sensibilities. Standing at different stations of success, neither Drake nor Glover embodies the stereotypes of rap music superstardom or expectations of black authenticity. Their strategies for negotiating these expectations are different, yet eerily similar, and vital for understanding connections between racism and sexism.

In hip-hop, pressure to "keep it real" is largely driven by the encroachment of the music business on the mythically pure music of the urban poor. This idea of artistic authenticity is racially encoded, as corporate investment laid the path for massive white audience consumption of black performance. "Real" blackness in commercial rap often requires hyper-masculine claims to dangerous ghetto experience, sexual power, and conspicuous consumption. Critics argue that commercial rap is nothing more than actors performing racist stereotypes of black male deviance in a soulless attempt to cash in. The key point here is that "racial" authenticity is not merely racial—it depends on a particular version of dominating manhood for its cultural and commercial appeal.

Drake (Aubrey Drake Graham) was born into a multiracial family in Toronto. His parents split when he was five years old, and Drake's mother, who is white and Jewish, took on primary child rearing responsibilities. The family lived in an economically stable and largely Jewish neighborhood, and Drake was Bar Mitzvah'd at age 13. One year later, he became a successful child actor, starring in the Canadian teen drama, Degrassi: The Next Generation. After releasing a few stellar mixtapes via the Internet, Drake signed a recording contract with Lil' Wayne's Young Money Entertainment.

Take Care , Drake's second release with Young Money, boasts a sharp, stylized depiction of luxury, love, and loss. When he is not emoting, Drake brags about the fast life, but he makes it clear that he is "having a hard time adjusting to fame." Drake's singing and foregrounding emotional vulnerability on record, in combination with his upbringing and his skin tone, place him outside the bounds of commonly assumed hip-hop/black authenticity. Though Drake does not address "real" blackness directly, he makes a number of choices that allay authenticity concerns.

For starters, Drake benefits from his association with Lil' Wayne, who meets the criteria for "real" hip-hop blackness more easily, thanks to his origins in impoverished New Orleans and outlaw habits. Second, Drake uses African American vernacular speech patterns. For instance, Drake frequently substitutes the sound "ah" for a hard "r" sounds, invoking an accent. This is especially important because Drake constantly uses the word "nigga" on record, ceaselessly repeating that he is, in fact, a "real nigga."

Demonstrating command of the correct ("black") way to say this phrase is critical to claiming "real" black hip-hop identity. Drake describes himself as such mostly to communicate that he is truthfully portraying his life and his feelings, but the phrase carries racial weight nonetheless. On one hand, there is nothing extraordinary about this style of singing. Vocalists from Amy Winehouse to Mick Jagger make similar changes to their accents, because African American speech styles are baked into music traditions founded by African Americans, like the blues, rock, R&B, and rap. On the other hand, assuming that this is the only way black people speak, or that "real" black people are those who have reclaimed the n-word in this way, is wrong. Such thinking ignores black cultural diversity and subjugates those who do not meet expectations.

In addition to "talking black," Drake builds an imposing masculinity that allows him to be "real" without telling ghetto war stories. In part, he achieves this simply by objectifying women and bragging about sexual conquest. But he also hears his critics, and replies:

I know that they tryin' to push me
I know that showin' emotion don't ever mean I'm a pussy
Know that I don't make music for niggas that don't get pussy
So those are the ones I count on to dis me or overlook me.

The message: If you criticize Drake, you are less of a man than he is, because a real man who "gets pussy" would recognize the value of Drake's lyrical content.

Donald Glover is a former writer for 30 Rock and current star on Community. Like Drake, his brand of hip-hop fails to meet supposed authenticity standards. Unlike Drake, Glover's rap persona, Childish Gambino, is explicit about his disgust with "one size fits all" blackness. On Camp, Gambino unleashes a series of attacks on critics who dismiss him, both as a rapper and as an everyday person who defies racial stereotypes. He asserts that he "sound weird, like 'nigga' with a hard 'R'," and recounts being called an "oreo" and a "faggot" because of his style of speech and dress. Gambino raps about the ways black folks are ostracized by their friends and former neighbors when they leave the hood. He laments the ill-fated path chosen by his cousin, who caved to the expectations of living a "real" street life.

No doubt, Childish Gambino is an imaginative alter-ego; the silliness of the name tells listeners that he's not trying to be "real" in the conventional hip-hop sense. But despite the playfulness and irreverence of Camp, Glover is serious about uprooting extent ideas about black authenticity. He addresses critics, who say, 'You won't speak to the hood, man,' and retorts:

If I was given one chance I think I could, man
These black kids want somethin' new, I swear it
Somethin' they wanna say but couldn't, 'cause they embarrassed

Unfortunately, for all his good intentions and courage in meeting black authenticity head on, Glover still relies on familiar crutches to prop himself up and compensate for perceived weakness. His use of the word "nigga" doesn't seem as compulsive as Drake's, but Glover's objectification and degradation of women is, in many ways, more offensive. Glover's performance as Gambino is purposefully over the top, but comedic license does not excuse the sexism in his lyrics, and there is little of the self-examination featured on Take Care. Especially disturbing is Glover's exoticization of women based on their racial identity - he raps dismissively about Asian girls, white girls, and black girls as if they are different flavors of ice cream to be consumed.

Both Drake and Donald Glover have crafted albums worth listening to, and both chip away at racist stereotypes of "real" blackness. But sadly, neither is willing to shatter the mold. Doing so requires disowning the sexism and norms of masculinity that undergird oppressive, corporately funded black/hip-hop authenticity.
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J

Jay Sosa

Member
I'd fire whoever mixed that. Vocals are way too low. Can't make out half the shit they're saying.

btw..has anyone seen Puffys answer to Yela? MGK or something like that.
 
S

spindashing

Banned
ReconYoda said:
There hasnt been a good Sonic game since Sonic & Knuckles. Search your heart, you know it to be true.
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Nah, lol. Ignore Sonic Heroes, Sonic '06, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Sonic Advance 3 and you're good.

The Wii "storybook" games are bull too.

Edit: and 1/2 of Unleashed. =(

But the Genesis games are amongst my favorite games of all time.
 
R

Recon

Banned
spindashing said:
Nah, lol. Ignore Sonic Heroes, Sonic '06, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Sonic Advance 3 and you're good.

The Wii "storybook" games are bull too.

But the Genesis games are amongst my favorite games of all time.
Click to expand...

I have played the newer ones, something just feels off. I havnt played generations yet though. Sonic 4 was a smack in the face to sonic fans though.
 
S

spindashing

Banned
ReconYoda said:
I have played the newer ones, something just feels off. I havnt played generations yet though. Sonic 4 was a smack in the face to sonic fans though.
Click to expand...

I somehow repressed my experience with Sonic 4. I have no idea what Dimps were thinking with that one, and I hope they learn their lessons with Sonic 4 episode 2, after seeing how great Sonic Generations was.

You play on a PC, right? Whenever you can, get Generations for steam. It's the best port, in HD + 60fps glory. The game has the best control for Modern Sonic: drifting is so much more precise and there's none of that QTE shit from Unleashed (and no Werehog, thank God) While the physics of Classic Sonic isn't 1:1 with its Genesis counterpart, it's close enough for you to get nostalgic.

My only complaint with the game overall is that they made the spindash way too powerful and that the final boss is
a badly designed piece of shit
. Everything about the game is A+.

8.5/10

/sonicrantinhiphopthread
 
R

Recon

Banned
The production so far is very rock oriented, not bad though.

Edit. Up to track 4, i really am not feeling the production. But Lupe's lyrics and Flow are back. Double Burger w/Cheese is my shit.

Also, one of the tracks is called " WWJD He'd Prolly LOL Like WTF!!!" , Lupe crazy.

Edit2: Holy shit, Old Lupe is back with "Joaquin Phoenix"
 
S

spindashing

Banned
Slizz said:
Track 5 and 9 seem like they are new.
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Yeah.

We've heard 9 already, so there's just 5 we haven't heard before.

Recon's right -- the production is all up in rock's ass, which I wouldn't normally mind but I can't vibe to this so far.

Edit: Ah, I hit Double Burger w/ Cheese. I like it.
 
R

Recon

Banned
I liked that he didnt grab well known hip hop instrumentals. It starts a little shaky, but it is honestly better than LASERS. Im not quite sure where he is going with this. It is like a middle ground between LASERS and The Cool. Lyrically, he is back with his old flow. It honestly sounded like he had more fun with this release. He also toned back some of the political nonsense. The Intro and Friend of The People are the only political angled tracks.Although The End Of The World has a Occupy wallstreet line. I would give this a solid 8/10 right now. For the record, i think Lasers is a 5/10, just thoroughly mediocre.

Recomended Tracks:

*Joaquin Phoenix( Best Track on the tape)
*SLR
*Double Burger with Cheese
*Super Cold
 
S

Slizz

Member
Justice was a good choice for beats Double Burger is fire. Maybe a jus lil too much Dubstep selection. Surprisingly fresh and interesting though.
 
G

Guru-Guru

Banned
Only listened to "The End of the World" so far from the Lupe mixtape. It's the expected crappy Occupy Wall Street track..Lyrics are shit like "The people, united, we'll never be defeated!"

:(

I won't be able to hear the rest of the tracks until later (gotta go to classes), but it's good to hear the positive reactions to some of the other tracks.
 
S

spindashing

Banned
ReconYoda said:
Joaquin Phoenix is so damn fun. I want more of this from him.
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I hope we get more of this Lupe.

Lyrically so far, this is the same Lupe that we know and love. The production on the tape is my only gripe. But as you said, this is better than Lasers. He actually sounds energetic.

Edit: I like Life, Death & Love From San Francisco.
 
P

PBY

Banned
The justice tracks and you guys' impressions are getting me hyped to listen; picking up the turkey now (catered thanksgiving is the way to go btw), gonna dl after the meal
 
D

Detox

Member
spindashing said:
Bububut... He released Nasty, did a great verse on Ghetto Dreams, did a great verse in It's a Tower Heist, and did a great verse on the Amy Winehouse posthumous track.

._.
Click to expand...

He also did a great verse on Dog Shit, Get it Forever and the track with Mary J Blige: Feel it Inside there is no cycle. Lupe stans have made it up so they can keep hope. The only problem is there is nothing new on the Life is Good front.
 
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