For years now, I’ve been hearing fans of hip-hop complaining about the state of the art form. It’s dead or badly damaged. There was a brief Golden Age, which is now gone. Whatever.
I guess it was the rise of gangsta that triggered it. It was a commercial boon and a creative curse. But it is what it is.
I’ve been listening to the new OutKast and an advance copy of the next DJ Shadow. They raise the issue of what hip-hop really is. What’s true? Shadow has made it clear in interviews promoting his upcoming album The Outsider that he has struggled with this issue. He has a lot of hyphy material on it and he’s already taking some flak for it.
The first song released was “3 Freaks,” with Keak Da Sneak & Turf Talk. It doesn’t sound like Shadow’s usual thing at all. He said in an interview with Urb Magazine:
“I just threw that song out to see what would happen… What happened was I was getting my music played on urban radio. I can’t tell you what a good feeling that is. It’s a tribute to a genre of music that shaped everything I am. To have the video on MTV Jams alongside 50 Cent, for that to finally have broken down a little bit, it’s done wonders for my confidence musically.”
My point is that I’m a little tired of one contingent claiming that the only true hip-hop is the underground stuff, while another contingent claims that the only true thing is stuff like Nas and Jay-Z. I’m weary of backpackers v. gangbangers.
But you do want quality and you do want variety. I was pleased to stumble across Tanya Morgan a few days ago. If you’re one of those nonbelievers who think hip-hop is dead, take a listen.
Who is she? The lovely Miss Tanya Morgan is actually a collaboration — two groups in one. Do you remember how J Dilla and Madlib joined to form Jaylib? Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo work as Gnarls Barkley. In this case, the Cincinnati, OH duo Ilwil consists of Ilyas Nashid (aka Il) & Donwill; MC/Producer Von Pea is from Brooklyn, NY. They met online and started collaborating, trading MP3s and WAV files, only meeting in person half-way through the project. If you go to their MySpace page, they have a song called “TM is a rap group” that explains the whole thing. You can see the video for the song “We Be” here; the video is itself a tribute to the power of a MySpace page.
“Just Cause I Got Locks” is for any Black man who ever wore dreads simply as a fashion statement — or for any Black person who’s had to take crap for their hair. “Hooks” lives up to its name through sheer tunefulness.
This ain’t true hip-hop. It’s just good hip-hop.
Tanya Morgan – Just Cause I Got Locks — BUY
Tanya Morgan – Hooks — BUY
Tags: Tanya Morgan, hip-hop, MP3s
4 Responses
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The Pop View Says:
On this same issue, here’s an excerpt from a recent interview of producer 9th Wonder by The Smoking Section:
9th> I don’t try to judge that. I really don’t care. Music is a feeling to me. I had never heard a lot of Murs shit before we worked together. His people got at me and I started listening and knew we could do a good one together. Good artists…we’ll make it work. I think me and Mike Jones could do a record.
TSS> Do you think that goes against what people expect of you? Like the “purists” for instance?
9th> Listen man I don’t care what these internet Super Hip-Hop fans think (laughs). They want you to emcee and breakdance and all this other shit. I want to make good music so I don’t worry about if it’s pure to some people. Hip-hop — this hip-hop shit — it’s either in you or it ain’t in you. That’s it…you can’t put things in your music to make it more hip-hop or whatever it is. No internet chat board can say what’s in you. So the whole purist thing…bump that too. You know what my theory is about these so-called purists? It’s like the guy who ain’t well-endowed and he goes and buys a big car…they’re overcompensating.
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Music video news » Tanya Morgan, Queen of Hip-Hop Says:
[...] Visit original post by The Pop View [...]
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The Pop View » Blog Archive » A shadowy chemical mix Says:
[...] I’ve been pretty ridiculously clear about my devotion to DJ Shadow. (Missed it? See here or here, for example.) I also like Cut Chemist and love his track “Swing Set” off Jurassic 5’s Quality Control album (He also performed with the band Ozomatli). [...]
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Sneaker Kid Says:
I’ve not heard of most of these artists… thanks!
