Thought I'd go back to the themes raised in the first post/page of this topic on the merits of rap music.
While it is a genre unfortunately plagued with mediocrity and one that sometimes appears to be a black hole of soullessness, really good rapshit is one of my absolute favourite things in life. There are a few special things about rap music, that I think are unique to the genre. One of these things is drum production. I can't think of many other types of music, where there is the same priority is given to drum sound, and that has the same room for creative, fucking juicy drums, except maybe jungle, breakcore etc. A lot of this potential is wasted in the type of production that is in at the moment, unfortunately. Layered, compressed, distorted and downpitched breakbeats has been exchanged for the Roland 808, lame digital high-hats and weak ass snare drums with no punch, so I won't waste any time on that crap, but I'd like to post a few examples of appealing drum sound/production in general.
Sumach - Track9https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVHUBeK4qT8The production on this track is commendable just for its sheer amount of crackling, but these severely down-pitched breakbeats are lovely.
Ghostface Killah - The Faster Bladehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2knXriGCFgPart of the first round of Wu-tang solo-releases, this is of course a fucking classic, and a bit more traditional. Still though, listen to that kick, heavy as shit while still retaining its punchy "phwump", for lack of a better word. In the background, the high-hats appear to shift ever so slightly in pitch. Delicious!
Tri-Function Million - Sprukket Jord Del IIhttp://recordsofthefleshgod.bandcamp.com/track/sprukket-jord-del-iiShamelessly posting something off my own label here, but I think the percussion in this track highlights the genres potential for incorporating unusual drum sounds. A weird, distant kick drum, flute-like thrusts, and a snare that's more like a squelch than a drum.
Regarding lyrical content and atmosphere, the best rap music often stimulates some of the same emotions in me as power electronics does. It's also like P.E. one of the best genres for delivering narratives in music and often deals with some of the same topics, crime, drug use, violence.. If this is backed up by an effective loop, its golden.
More!
Mobb Deep - Right Back At Youhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDe6UxghxKAScotty Hard - Modus Operandihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EsT89Ju7n0GZA - Hell's Wind Staff/Killah Hills 10304https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTuUkjfwUNMLast one is a top notch crime/mafia narrative:
Restaurant's on a stake-out so order the food to take out
Chaos outside of Sparks Steak House
Maintain the power, I feel the deal's gone sour
Nigga missed a wedding, late a fucking half hour
And his man who bought land from Tony Starks
While he was contracting bricklaying jobs in city parks
He's a loan shark, bitches raise a grand to a finger
In the garment district, got it sewn like Singers
Cause all that talk blasphemy this kid after me
For the heist, in a Burlington coat factory
Fuck it, he turned state's on my nigga Castro this co-pilot
Who used to drop like stacks of blow
On this remote area we label Dead Man's Island
Two hundred miles South from Thailand
Right off the docks, I got luxurious custom made yachts
Burial plots, for my niggas hit with fatal shots
There's no need for us to spray up the scene
I use less men, more powerful shit for my team
Like my man Muhammad from Afghanistan, grew up in Iran
The nigga runs a neighborhood newsstand
A wild Middle Eastern, bomb specialist
Initiated, at eleven to be a terrorist
He set bombs in bottles of champagne
And when niggas popped the cork, niggas lost half they brains
Like this ex-worker, tried to smuggle a half a key
In his left leg, even underwent surgery
They say his pirate limp gave him away
As the feds rushed him, coming through U.S. Customs
Now look whose on the witness stand singing, a well known soprano
A smash hit from Sammy Gravano
Here's the plan minimum for the hit, two hundred grand
Half time at the game blasting niggas out the stands
The sharp-shooters hit the prosecutor, judges are sent
Photographs of they wives taking baths
Along with briefcase filled with one point five, that's the bribe
Take it or commit suicide
First rule, anyone who schemes on the gold in Syria
I want they small intestines ripped from they interior
I got a price for those jewels, ship 'em freight cargo
Don't forget to launder the cream through Wells Fargo
Reconstruct those processing plants for the call of Costa Rica
Four hundred barrels of ether
Two hundred pounds of reefer and fifty immigrants with fake Visas
