It's funny that you're mentioning Bay Area hip hop. When I just listened to the tracks above, it was exactly the type of hip hop that I don't like. I can't even put a finger on it. Too gangsta-sounding? Too plump? I couldn't say. Especially Balance (no offense), although I opened the file with quite a feeling of excitement, since I've even seen quite interesting shows with acts from the Bay Area. Maybe I was waiting for someone like Quannum. Or maybe it is the fact that, as much as I refuse to admit this, this music is, ultimately, foreign to me.
Oh well. The worlds of hyphy/crunk/gangsta/street hip hop/etc. and indie/undie/backpacker hip hop might as well be two utterly separate planes of existence, and generally listeners choose to stick to one or the other. For a long time I was pretty much strictly in your camp, digging the Quaqnnum/Anticon/DefJux/Chocolate Industries type sound above all else. But over the past few years I've been broadening my range a bit. This music was foreign to me too when I first encountered it, and I live right where it's being created! But the more you listen, the more you hear, I guess.
(And crossovers between those two worlds are taking place, and will continue to take place as this thing gains speed. For an example of what I'm talking about, check out "4 Freaks"--the Droop-E remix of a collaboration between indie hip hop god DJ Shadow and hyphy stars Keak The Sneak, Turf Talk, and (the seemingly everpresent) Mistah F.A.B. You can find it in this post from Nation of Thizzlam.)
Don't get me started on the thizzle.gwenzillaMarch 31 2006, 17:54:16 UTC
I. Hate. Stupid Dumb Hyphy. My child has been playing that song day in and out for months -- I am not exaggerating, I hear it at least half a dozen times a day, and that's not counting when she's holed up in her room and out listening to it on her shuffle. I'm also irritated that it is yet another thing they think they discovered when it's just about played out -- can we get a shout-out to E-40's "Hyphy" from 2003? -- darn kids have no respect and of course this watered-down dull-as-dishwater update is the one that's going through the roof. Stupid.
Re: Don't get me started on the thizzle.moebius_rexMarch 31 2006, 20:48:40 UTC
Heh. Well, if lived with someone who played that song (or heck, any song) that much every day, I'd be sick of it too. Considering that you're a parent of an Oakland teenager, I totally get that the whole hyphy thing is more than a lil' crazy-making at this point. I guess I'm just doing my part to help parents in other parts of the country (and the world) get up to speed with you. :D
Seriously though, I figured this would be my last chance to write about the New Bay rap game without sounding utterly and hopelessly behind the times. It's going to be fairly ubiquitous on a nationwide level soon. The good thing about that for you is that hyphy's success will probably be its kiss of death, as far as yr daughter's concerned. Before too long she'll be coming up with something else to drive you nuts with.
Re: Don't get me started on the thizzle.gwenzillaApril 3 2006, 16:32:56 UTC
I heard it blasting out of several cars idling at our intersection this weekend for the first time, I cannot escape!
FYI the other overplayed song is about purple-slurple/he's got graaaaaapes or something. I am assuming this is another drug reference but it makes me think of testicles.
Re: Don't get me started on the thizzle.moebius_rexApril 3 2006, 22:33:27 UTC
Yeah, it's hard to know what's what with all the new hyphy slang. You kind of need a Babelfish or some other universal translator gadget to keep it all sorted out. There's a new term invented every ten minutes, or so it sometimes seems.
According to the trusty ol' Urban Dictionary, "purple" is either a particularly potent strain of pot or cough syrup (probably the former in the Bay Area and the latter in the Southern US).
For what it's worth: Sounds like you're hearing "I Got Grapes" by Nump featuring E-40 and the Federation.
Both Ea-ski and Rick Rock suck at writing beats. No, 5 instruments is not ok. Bass-drum, Snare, Hi-Hat, Bass, Default Synth Pad. Yawn. It's a shame too, because Ea-ski knows how to program a bass-line that knocks.. just the rest of his beat writing is garbage
( ... )
Here's what Murs had to say about the "Hyphy Movement" recently :
The next album will definitely be me which is this, which is skateboarding, which is comic books, which is gangster shit, all kinds of shit. It's going to be me, which is the Bay. I lived in the Bay for four years, that's where I got all my independent rap game. I probably wouldn't be able to make a dollar in the rap game if it wasn't for the Bay Area. I was hyphy before the hyphy movement started, but you know, I'm down with it. There might be some of that. If that happens, I don't want people to be like "Oh, Murs is jumping on the hyphy movement." I was on Telegraph Avenue day in, day out, selling weed and tapes. Motherfuckers know me from the Town. Living in East Oakland on Seminary and East 14th. Nick by the Ville.
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(And crossovers between those two worlds are taking place, and will continue to take place as this thing gains speed. For an example of what I'm talking about, check out "4 Freaks"--the Droop-E remix of a collaboration between indie hip hop god DJ Shadow and hyphy stars Keak The Sneak, Turf Talk, and (the seemingly everpresent) Mistah F.A.B. You can find it in this post from Nation of Thizzlam.)
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[But I love "City Limits," thanks for that one ;]
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Seriously though, I figured this would be my last chance to write about the New Bay rap game without sounding utterly and hopelessly behind the times. It's going to be fairly ubiquitous on a nationwide level soon. The good thing about that for you is that hyphy's success will probably be its kiss of death, as far as yr daughter's concerned. Before too long she'll be coming up with something else to drive you nuts with.
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FYI the other overplayed song is about purple-slurple/he's got graaaaaapes or something. I am assuming this is another drug reference but it makes me think of testicles.
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According to the trusty ol' Urban Dictionary, "purple" is either a particularly potent strain of pot or cough syrup (probably the former in the Bay Area and the latter in the Southern US).
For what it's worth: Sounds like you're hearing "I Got Grapes" by Nump featuring E-40 and the Federation.
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I mean, crazy funk horns and distorted low end and handclaps? Trifecta.
Thanks!
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murs_ft_e40_chingo_bling_and_john_cena-hustler_remix.mp3
Here's what Murs had to say about the "Hyphy Movement" recently :
The next album will definitely be me which is this, which is skateboarding, which is comic books, which is gangster shit, all kinds of shit. It's going to be me, which is the Bay. I lived in the Bay for four years, that's where I got all my independent rap game. I probably wouldn't be able to make a dollar in the rap game if it wasn't for the Bay Area. I was hyphy before the hyphy movement started, but you know, I'm down with it. There might be some of that. If that happens, I don't want people to be like "Oh, Murs is jumping on the hyphy movement." I was on Telegraph Avenue day in, day out, selling weed and tapes. Motherfuckers know me from the Town. Living in East Oakland on Seminary and East 14th. Nick by the Ville.
=darwin
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