The Hip Hop Thread - Part 3

Remove this Banner Ad

SuperSteele22

Premiership Player
Nov 6, 2011
3,339
8,976
AFL Club
Collingwood
Went and got Bliss n Eso's new album 'Off the Grid' the other day, they're a group I've never really rated but I've gotta say they're growing on me more and more as they get on. The lesser tracks on the album are pretty crap but there's a few gems on there as well IMO, in particular partial to Dopamine, Devil on my Shoulder, Friend Like You & Moments. I still maintain that Hilltop Hoods set the bar in the Aussie Hip Hop game but this album is well worth a listen.
 

gym4life

Norm Smith Medallist
Melbourne Bolts Player - BFFCL Pokemon is Life
May 22, 2015
5,419
4,464
AFL Club
West Coast
Cant question the lyricism if you can't understand what he's saying
Really not that hard to understand what he's saying, that's just an argument oldheads use so they can discredit "mumble rap" even though it is musically far superior to older rap. Takes a lot more skill to rap over new beats than old ones.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Jun 29, 2009
1,842
2,887
Adelaide
AFL Club
Adelaide
Other Teams
San Antonio Spurs
Really not that hard to understand what he's saying, that's just an argument oldheads use so they can discredit "mumble rap" even though it is musically far superior to older rap. Takes a lot more skill to rap over new beats than old ones.

I agree with your Eminem call but not this, I'm an older head and grew up listening to "Boom Bap" Hip Hop mostly, but I like all styles as long as it's good. There are a lot of dudes that you need to "tune" your ears into understanding so it makes sense not just by the way they rap but also the different slang and terminlogies they use. It doesn't take more skill to rap over a new beat it takes skill to adapt your flow to different beats. Some beats suit a dude "mumble rapping" over it but a dude "mumble rapping" over a Premo or RZA beat would sound ridiculous. But someone like NAS could still destroy a new beat. Just my opinion.
 
Really not that hard to understand what he's saying, that's just an argument oldheads use so they can discredit "mumble rap" even though it is musically far superior to older rap. Takes a lot more skill to rap over new beats than old ones.

Is this a real post
 

gym4life

Norm Smith Medallist
Melbourne Bolts Player - BFFCL Pokemon is Life
May 22, 2015
5,419
4,464
AFL Club
West Coast
I agree with your Eminem call but not this, I'm an older head and grew up listening to "Boom Bap" Hip Hop mostly, but I like all styles as long as it's good. There are a lot of dudes that you need to "tune" your ears into understanding so it makes sense not just by the way they rap but also the different slang and terminlogies they use. It doesn't take more skill to rap over a new beat it takes skill to adapt your flow to different beats. Some beats suit a dude "mumble rapping" over it but a dude "mumble rapping" over a Premo or RZA beat would sound ridiculous. But someone like NAS could still destroy a new beat. Just my opinion.
I'm not saying it takes more skill because the beats are current or new but I believe that the beats have more changes and the modern artists are a lot more diverse in their flows/styles than older rappers. Nas could absolutely destroy any beat but he also had by far the best flow of his time, however earl sweatshirt for example would run rings around every single rapper from then and yet "hip hop is dead". Hip hop is actually at the peak of its powers when you look at the massive amount of diversity that there is: Tyler with his weird mixing, earl with his older beats, young thug experimenting with basically everything, xxxtentaxion with scream as well as poetic music, Kendrick turning everything he touches to gold, yung lean and the sad boy movement, chance with his gospel stuff, Kanye and travis scott combining auto tune and rap perfectly.... Tupac wouldn't have even been able to dream of half the stuff some of these artists do.
 
Jun 29, 2009
1,842
2,887
Adelaide
AFL Club
Adelaide
Other Teams
San Antonio Spurs
I'm not saying it takes more skill because the beats are current or new but I believe that the beats have more changes and the modern artists are a lot more diverse in their flows/styles than older rappers. Nas could absolutely destroy any beat but he also had by far the best flow of his time, however earl sweatshirt for example would run rings around every single rapper from then and yet "hip hop is dead". Hip hop is actually at the peak of its powers when you look at the massive amount of diversity that there is: Tyler with his weird mixing, earl with his older beats, young thug experimenting with basically everything, xxxtentaxion with scream as well as poetic music, Kendrick turning everything he touches to gold, yung lean and the sad boy movement, chance with his gospel stuff, Kanye and travis scott combining auto tune and rap perfectly.... Tupac wouldn't have even been able to dream of half the stuff some of these artists do.

You're not going to getting any argument from me in regards to Earl he's my favourite MC. I don't think hip hop now is better than back in the day or vis versa, it has just developed naturally. I love hip hop now as much as I did when I first got into it in the late 80's. Only reason hip hop is where it's at now is because of what's happened in the past. It's certainly not dead.
 

gym4life

Norm Smith Medallist
Melbourne Bolts Player - BFFCL Pokemon is Life
May 22, 2015
5,419
4,464
AFL Club
West Coast
You're not going to getting any argument from me in regards to Earl he's my favourite MC. I don't think hip hop now is better than back in the day or vis versa, it has just developed naturally. I love hip hop now as much as I did when I first got into it in the late 80's. Only reason hip hop is where it's at now is because of what's happened in the past. It's certainly not dead.
Yeah earls flow is ridiculous, he's in my top ten of all time based off skill and would be close off discography as well.
 
Jan 27, 2017
3,079
6,579
AFL Club
Richmond
Can't believe I've forgotten about this thread, since we're halfway through the year I'll drop a few quick reviews of projects from this year and encourage all to do the same

Migos - Culture, Really fun album, Migos are amazing together and while lyrically they are quite vapid, the pure aesthetic, hard hitting beats and amazing flow these 3 share with eachother is immense, it's almost as if they have one brain between them they work so well. 7/10
Kendrick Lamar - Damn,
Some of Kendrick's best, some of Kendrick's worst. DNA, XXX, DUCKWORTH are amazing songs and rival his TPAB work, but obvious chartgrabs like LOYALTY and the bizarre GOD are pretty shocking by Kendrick's lofty standards. 7/10
Kodak Black - painting pictures
, Trash 1/10
Lil Yachty - Teenage Emotions
, Trash, sadly, I loved Yachty's debut and he went back on everything that drew me too it. No Perry production, even worse lyrics than before, wayyy too much filler 2/10
Young Thug - YBTG
, Pretty fun, not my favourite Thugga project but I enjoy the unique beats he brings and I doubt I'll ever get sick of his voice. 6.5/10
2Chainz - Pretty Girls,
Surprise of the year, really loved this, Tity Boi is hilarious and works effortlessly through some cool beats. A bit of filler in the middle brings it down but I thoroughly enjoyed this and recommend it to all. 8/10
Playboi Carti - Self Titled
, ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Playboi Carti/10
Drake - More Life,
ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Thugga's verse on Sacrifices is the best part 4/10
Vince Staples, Big Fish Theory
Sadly dissapointing, unique and catchy production, hard hitting Vince bars as always but damn nothing sticks with me at all, Vince still struggles with songwriting and hooks and it shows, was expecting more after the singles. 6/10
ALL AMERIKKKAN BADASS - Joey Bada$$
It was pretty good, not much to say, you'll enjoy it if you yearn for old-school hiphop. 7/10

Gucci - DropTopWop 5/10
Future - Self Titled 5/10
Future - HNDRXX 2/10

Very excited for new Tyler, waiting until it formally drops. Also Amine and Uzi projects. Probably missed a few.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

gym4life

Norm Smith Medallist
Melbourne Bolts Player - BFFCL Pokemon is Life
May 22, 2015
5,419
4,464
AFL Club
West Coast
Can't believe I've forgotten about this thread, since we're halfway through the year I'll drop a few quick reviews of projects from this year and encourage all to do the same

Migos - Culture, Really fun album, Migos are amazing together and while lyrically they are quite vapid, the pure aesthetic, hard hitting beats and amazing flow these 3 share with eachother is immense, it's almost as if they have one brain between them they work so well. 7/10
Kendrick Lamar - Damn,
Some of Kendrick's best, some of Kendrick's worst. DNA, XXX, DUCKWORTH are amazing songs and rival his TPAB work, but obvious chartgrabs like LOYALTY and the bizarre GOD are pretty shocking by Kendrick's lofty standards. 7/10
Kodak Black - painting pictures
, Trash 1/10
Lil Yachty - Teenage Emotions
, Trash, sadly, I loved Yachty's debut and he went back on everything that drew me too it. No Perry production, even worse lyrics than before, wayyy too much filler 2/10
Young Thug - YBTG
, Pretty fun, not my favourite Thugga project but I enjoy the unique beats he brings and I doubt I'll ever get sick of his voice. 6.5/10
2Chainz - Pretty Girls,
Surprise of the year, really loved this, Tity Boi is hilarious and works effortlessly through some cool beats. A bit of filler in the middle brings it down but I thoroughly enjoyed this and recommend it to all. 8/10
Playboi Carti - Self Titled
, ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Playboi Carti/10
Drake - More Life,
ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Thugga's verse on Sacrifices is the best part 4/10
Vince Staples, Big Fish Theory
Sadly dissapointing, unique and catchy production, hard hitting Vince bars as always but damn nothing sticks with me at all, Vince still struggles with songwriting and hooks and it shows, was expecting more after the singles. 6/10
ALL AMERIKKKAN BADASS - Joey Bada$$
It was pretty good, not much to say, you'll enjoy it if you yearn for old-school hiphop. 7/10

Gucci - DropTopWop 5/10
Future - Self Titled 5/10
Future - HNDRXX 2/10

Very excited for new Tyler, waiting until it formally drops. Also Amine and Uzi projects. Probably missed a few.
Agree with most of these although think you're being pretty harsh as I'd have YBTG and Damn as 8.5s and culture and AAB as 8's. Think you are being really harsh on Kodak as it was actually a pretty well constructed album. Also doing yachty pre bad as it did have a lot of filler but there were quite a few good songs/
 
This will seem positive, but I don't remember most of what I've listened to and didn't like off the top of my head:

Kendrick Lamar - DAMN - 5 /10. I've tried sleeping on this a bit, and I do love 3 tracks on this. Bar that though, it's a forgettable album from Kendrick, which is something I'm not used too. It's worth mentioning Love as well as that is the first Kendrick track I've come across that I genuinely dislike.

Wiley - Godfather - 7.5/10. Really strong first half of the album, but gets a bit inconsistent in the second half. Still enough material there to be a worthwhile album to listen to.

Billy Woods - Known Unkowns - 9/10. Dropped very recently, but I loved the first couple of listens. Confident this will be on my top 10 come the end of the year.

Bones - System Preference - 6.5/10. Would be fantastic if it was fleshed out a bit more, but it's a solid release.

BLACKIE - Remains - 8/10. I have some mad love for noise influenced rap, and Blackie always been a favorite of mine.

Vince Staples new release - I remember listening to this and didn't come away too impressed, but I do want to revisit it at some point soon.

Hoping the 2nd half of the year makes this list a bit stronger, but right now has been a pretty meh year for hip hop with me after a very strong 2016.
 
Jan 27, 2017
3,079
6,579
AFL Club
Richmond
Agree with most of these although think you're being pretty harsh as I'd have YBTG and Damn as 8.5s and culture and AAB as 8's. Think you are being really harsh on Kodak as it was actually a pretty well constructed album. Also doing yachty pre bad as it did have a lot of filler but there were quite a few good songs/
Its all context too, if an unknown artist came out with DAMN id be a lot more impressed then if it was Kung fu Kenny.

I cant * with kodak at all, his voice sounds like he's putting himself too sleep, he picks good beats but they carry him.

Yachty album dissapointing, nothing about it related to his debut which i loved sadly. Songs like Peekaboo dont suit him at allll.
 

DapperJong

Cancelled
30k Posts 10k Posts SFA Good Friday Appeal Spooderman Meme Medal Pantskyle BeanCoiNFT Investor
Feb 11, 2015
42,844
82,918
AFL Club
Essendon
Other Teams
Juventus
I've posted a few times in here about Your Old Droog. Surely one person in here has at least heard of him. He is the best lyricist in the game at the moment.
 
Anyone heard Saturation by Brockhampton? That's probably rivaling Tyler The Creator's new album as my favourite hip hop project of the year so far. I really like Vince's new album as well. Both the Shabazz Palaces albums are quality too.

Was good to see this make an appearance in my YouTube suggestions:


Incredibly underrated record, in my opinion. It would probably be in my top five hip hop albums of the 90s.
 
Last edited:
Also Thugger was pretty good. Was in love with it a few songs in, but my interest waned towards the end. New Yachty was trash, but I'm a sucker for sensual Yachty. :hearteyes:
 
Jun 29, 2009
1,842
2,887
Adelaide
AFL Club
Adelaide
Other Teams
San Antonio Spurs
Anyone heard Saturation by Brockhampton? That's probably rivaling Tyler The Creator's new album as my favourite hip hop project of the year so far. I really like Vince's new album as well. Both the Shabazz Palaces albums are quality too.

Was good to see this make an appearance in my YouTube suggestions:


Incredibly underrated record, in my opinion. It would probably be in my top five hip hop albums of the 90s.


Couldn't agree more with the Gravediggaz would be in my top 5 as well, RZA was in some fine form back in those days that's for sure.
 
Jun 29, 2009
1,842
2,887
Adelaide
AFL Club
Adelaide
Other Teams
San Antonio Spurs
I've posted a few times in here about Your Old Droog. Surely one person in here has at least heard of him. He is the best lyricist in the game at the moment.

Must admit I've slept on this dude a bit, l dig what I've heard but haven't given his new album a proper listen, might give it a listen today sometime if I get a chance.
 

DapperJong

Cancelled
30k Posts 10k Posts SFA Good Friday Appeal Spooderman Meme Medal Pantskyle BeanCoiNFT Investor
Feb 11, 2015
42,844
82,918
AFL Club
Essendon
Other Teams
Juventus
Must admit I've slept on this dude a bit, l dig what I've heard but haven't given his new album a proper listen, might give it a listen today sometime if I get a chance.

He releases A LOT. Already 2 albums and an EP which is basically another album.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Back