Debatable. I would say the P Diddy, Biggie, Mase Bad Boy years were in many ways the pinnacle and downfall of rap. So much great stuff produced but the majority of stuff that has followed in their footsteps has SUCKED. Biggie made rapping about money, cars and hoes funny and clever. Everyone else has not.

I spoke with an industry exec last year who felt that the downfall of hip hop had to do with the dominance of the gangsta rap scene and image. He said something like "once DMX, an actual gangster became a big star, the scene had no place to go." Not sure if I totally agree but I get the perspective. He pinned it on DMX but the mainstreaming of gangsta really started with NWA as I recall. For me that's been one of the novelties of revisiting early hip hop ... all the rivalries and put-downs sound like they're good clean fun and friendly ribbing compared to what happened after the mid-to-late 80s.

I think it started with Ice-T, with N.W.A. right on his heels.

me too

I did enjoy the little "old school vs new school" drama that stemmed from Ice-T telling SouljaBoy to "Eat a (male reproductive organ)" and called his music "garbage" (I can't really disagree), and new school artists lining up along SouljaBoy with old school artist lining up alongside Ice-T.

I'm not a fan of most of the new main stream stuff coming out but I like what Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco are putting out.

Favorite albums of all time.
Eric B. and Rakim - Paid in Full
Mos Def and Talib Kweli - Black Star

Both great albums!

I know what you're saying, hillsy and I do agree with you. The thing is, kids now a days say they listen to hip hop but don't really know the root of the term hip hop.
I also listen to the older stuff...Kurtis Blow (Basketball was forever playing when I was growing up), Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, but started to cut back when gangsta rap started coming around. At that point I was in the middle of Run DMC and the Beasties along with the Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen and New Order...and then moved to Front 242, Prodigy, Fluke, Aphex Twins...to My Bloody Valentine, the Wedding Present and Lush and early Nirvana (like Negative Creep)...to Japanese pop and rap. So yeah...I do listen to a fair amount of music. I was giving Hiro a ride home one night and we were listening to Dragon Ash or Asian Kung Fu Generation and the the next song on the cd was Nelly Furtado and Timberland...at which point Hiro looked at me and said "WTF...." and then his girlfriend and I tortured Hiro by singing some 80's boyband songs (Color Me Bad...anyone...).
I like the beats...

Whoa...you just took me back to my Consolidated/P.W.E.I./Nitzer Ebb days...

As for Kurtis Blow...

"Basketball is my favorite sport, I love the way they dribble up and down the court. Just like I'm the king on the microphone, so is Dr. J and Moses Malone!"

Classic...

Even thougth I mostly listen to metal and classical - 2 of my favorite band are rappers :

IAM and TTC. There are french but worth a listen anyway.

I don't know if I can brave French rap. I tried HK rap...it was pretty terrible. Japanese rap...some is ok. Maybe I should still try a listen.

It was so boring before, than it got fun when people just started yelling crazy crap. Like Glam Rock.

In all seriousness, I can't listen to any hip-hop/rap seriously. It all makes me laugh. Not that I don't think it's an artform or whatever, I mean to say I'm not some jerk who's attitude is "all they're doing is speaking not singing." Maybe growing up in the late 80's early 90's ruined it for me since everything from TV commercials to potty training tapes tried to utilize the "hot new thing" and it's all I can associate it with now?

For me it has to be loud, stupid, and preferably fast for me to get into it at all.

i listen to mostley older stuff Pac, Ice Cube...


newer stuff: The game, Lil wayne, big boi, rick ross

My musical taste has gone like this.

6-10 years old: Glam Rock
11-15 years old: Metal with some grunge stuff mixed in
16-21 years old: Rap
22-28 years old: Metal

Rap has ran it's course with me. It was fun for a while.

Here are some favorites.
Jedi Mind Tricks
Immortal Technique
Celph Titled
Aesop Rock
MF Doom

Oh and I'm going to see wu-tang december 17th

Very interesting to see what people listen to.

silver_lining_man & KLaddict
I'm a mad Lord Quas fan. Stones Throw is such a consistent label.
Funny, Rasco used to be my old sales rep @ TRC Distribution. PB Wolf was the rep before i started.
Count BassD is a big favorite too. Love all the Rjd2 albums as well (So musical with great harmonics)

Dean & Hillsy11 mentioned 'The Coup'. These guys are great. Coming straight out of Oakland.
Digging the new album 'Pick a Bigger Weapon'. Worth checking out. Great message, humor and damn they bring the funk.
Got all there albums.

Joe. Do you like the new Kanye album? Heard a track on Letterman the other night. Completely different stuff. Soulful

qwest1mark Great pics of fave LPs. Rakim is a lyrical master. Blackstar album was a classic. Ah, the good ole' Rwkus days.

gatchabert Basketball by Kurtis Blow. Takes me back to the days of Cassettes. An old friend went to the US on an exchange program and came back with so many great tapes. Fat Boys, Kurtis Blow, Biz, Doug e Fresh, PE, Skinny Boys, Shinehead.....

nefasth Got one IAM LP L'Ecole du Micro D'Argen that i bought when i went to france in 2004. Purchsed in Marselle.
Don't understand French but its such a solid release. love the track ...'Saga' featuring Sunz of Man

RECON you got good taste in new indy stuff.
Enjoy WU. Dream of seeing those guys one day.
Picked up this great 12" a while back, features Raekwon. Incredible band 'El Michels Affair' - Wu's backing band.

Keep meaning to pick up the El Michels Affair full length album.


A good mate of mine, Robbie puts together a cool blog called Uncut.com.
He's also a regular writer for UK's Hip-Hop Connection.

For an informative and sometimes funny read, check out his blog.
Here's an interview he did with LL Cool J recently.
http://www.unkut.com/2008/11/ll-cool-j-the-unkut-interview/

Nice

"all you can eat" out of Krush Groove the Movie.

R.I.P Buffy the human Beat box

There's a lot of great stuff out there these days - Weezy, Lupe, The Coup, Kidz In The Hall, B.o.B, Killer Mike, Diplo & Benzi inducing lots of madness... Personally I recommend checking out the "Leaders of the New Cool" Mixtape.

And Quas/Madlib is without a doubt the best. "Come On Feet" is one of the saddest, most beautiful tracks ever made and the video is my most favourite Hip Hop video of all time by far!

Not to double quote you or try and argue or anything lame, but I think Rap-Metal killed it far earlier than Southern Hip Hop. I hate Rap-Metal.

anyone who thinks hip hop is dead or not fresh just isnt diggin deep enough. Hip hop is evolving. There are some cool collaborations going on between mc's and electronic producers and much talent in instrumental hip hop production.

I die a little inside every time I see a Missy Elliot video.

i like the older shit, scarface, the old three 6 mafia, plus many more. but for the new stuff i dont listen to the radio at all. i mostly support the new underground rappers coming out because there bringing it like back in the day.

Wow. it's like we shared a brain.. roughly concurrent with my Front 242/Nitzer Ebb/Any band on the WaxTrax, Nettwerk or Subway/Antler label phase was my 4AD obsession (Pixies, Bauhaus, Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins, yadayada). Then I just stopped buying music for years The next band that really excited me was Portishead in the mid 90s (?) and the rest of the 'Trip Hop' bands like Massive Attack, Tricky ,etc. just fell into favor naturally. Now I just more or less pick and choose a band here and there. I like Interpol and Bloc Party, but only because it reminds me of the music I really used to be passionate about. I've tried a few times over the years to get into Hip Hop and Rap and I guess it just doesn't suit me. I still play my Cypress Hill cds from time to time, however.