Everybody knows that gangsta rap promotes sexism, homophobia... and fascism. Take
Bushido, for instance - the Berlin rapper of Tunisian descent that all the neo-Nazis love.
Confused?
(nyt) Well,
so are the Germans. And then we're not even talking about
Fler, whose
"This is black-red-gold, hard and proud!" nationalist lyrics never fail to piss off the
German papers (in German), and who likes to pose in his videos with a nice symbolic eagle. (Then again,
Helmut Kohl didn't mind.)
Still, Fler's flag-waving, eagle-loving rhymes are no match for Bushido's
"Salute, stand to attention, I am the leader like 'A'". The A stands for Adolf, you know.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane
on Jan 12, 2006 -
28 comments
Werner Von Wallenrod's Fun Page of Novelty Rap Records [Warning: animated jellybeans & embedded audio] • Includes reviews of albums by: Joe Piscopo, Rich Little, Rappin' Granny, Rappin' Principal, Rappin' Rambo, Joe Pesci, 2 Live Jews, Rodney Dangerfield, Arsenio Hall aka 'Chunky A', The '85 Chicago Bears, Mel Brooks, Elvira & more.
posted by hall of robots
on Oct 19, 2005 -
18 comments
WeFunkRadio.com has 390 full shows available for download featuring the funk, underground hip-hop, and rare grooves that are so hard to find. BitTorrents are available for the
two most
recent shows and there's always the
audio stream and
podcasts coming at you fresh from Montréal's
CKUT radio.
posted by furtive
on Sep 16, 2005 -
16 comments
R.I.P. Lyn Collins [NYT, reg. req.] Backing singer for James Brown, whose revue she joined in 1971 (she was also the sister of his band members Bootsy and Catfish Collins), her first hit was the monster Think (About It) in 1972, one of the most sampled records in hip hop, maybe most famously in Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock's It Takes Two. (Extensive, but by no means full, list of Collins samplers
here.) Audio sample (mp3) of You Can't Love Me If You Don't respect Me
here. Brief obit and full mp3 of a great live version of Do Your Thing
here.
posted by Len
on Mar 17, 2005 -
9 comments
Galang-alang-alang-a. (insane, 18MB QuickTime music video) [MusicFilter] Cranking out music somewhere between hip-hop, electronica, Nintendo cartridges, and reggae, 27-year-old Maya Arulpragasam is getting a lot of attention for the results of tinkering with
one box.
M.I.A. (her stage name) dresses in garish flourescents like it's 1983, dances like no one's watching, and is making waves all around the critic-o-sphere.
[RS|NYT|Eye|pm|pfm|New Yorker|CBC] Want a sample?
The video for "Galang" takes her grattifi-esque art, animates it, and mashes it all together with her, um, unusual style of dance, for a music+video experience that is hard to forget. Is M.I.A. redefining the world of 21st century global pop... or is it just crap?
(via WG)
posted by blacklite
on Mar 12, 2005 -
118 comments
Big Fun in the Big Town Incredible German-produced documentary on hip hop and NY street culture from 1986. Features interviews and performances from Grandmaster Flash, Doug E Fresh, Run DMC, Roxanne Shante & Biz Markie, Schoolly D, and more.
posted by svidrigailov23
on Feb 26, 2005 -
18 comments
Dr. Jay's Street Style is a site where the hip-hop fashion-minded critique each other's outfits. It's supremely entertaining because these guys
pose tough — and then "holla" catty comments about mismatched colors and outdated brands. Be sure to check out the
Hall of Style for the best and worst of the site. [
via]
posted by arielmeadow
on Jan 13, 2005 -
79 comments
Roots Manuva's "Ventriloshiznit Machine" Recombine rhymes as you please and hear them spit back via Mr. Manuva with this flash toy/promotional item for his new single "Colossal Insight." Helpful for the flow-impaired or those who would like those magnetic poetry things more if they were recited to them by a bobble-head MC. [Flash + Audio]
posted by Swampjazz!
on Jan 12, 2005 -
6 comments
Bedroom Music for Bedroom People A veritable treasure trove of hours and hours of mixes of fine abstract headphone-fodder of varying flavours, be it compelling hiphop or weirdo IDM or just etcetera. A fine way to pass a lazy Sunday away ...
posted by syscom
on Apr 18, 2004 -
12 comments
Make this year's xmas a special one by buying the
Flavor Flav Talking Alarm Clock with five alarm phrases "Bass In Your Face, Get Up Get Down, Yo G Yo, Yeaa Boy." Have you seen any other similarly bizarre gifts on sale this holiday season?
posted by mathowie
on Nov 26, 2003 -
27 comments
Jimmie Hatz, the official condom of Hip Hop Kulture™. Available in Great Dane and Rottweiler. Hey, whatever gets more people to use them, no? (flash-based site)
posted by Ufez Jones
on Oct 3, 2003 -
6 comments
Thug 4 Life, "For this project I intend to transform myself into Tupac Shakur..." Expenses include tatoos, a case of Hennesy, a weight bench and plenty of marijuana. No mention of tanning booth costs.
posted by cedar
on Sep 6, 2003 -
19 comments
How Hip-Hop Holds Blacks Back As a white guy with a young kid, I worry about how the often gleefully violent, misogynist rap music he may choose to listen to could affect him. Maybe that's a racist thing for a white boy to say, but when a black scholar like
John H. McWhorter says it, maybe it's worth considering.
posted by kgasmart
on Aug 6, 2003 -
97 comments
Fix Up, Look Sharp With stateside hip hop in an unprecedented doldrum, the torch has been snatched up on this side of the Atlantic by 18-year-old Eastender Dizzee Rascal. He's recovering from a stabbing carried out rival fans of a rival garage collective in Ayia Napa, Cyprus. The attack took place a few days before being nominated for the Mercury Music prize.
Guaranteed not to be everybody's cup of tea, but he's an interesting character and challenging music make it, and his album, worth a look.
posted by hmgovt
on Jul 29, 2003 -
25 comments
A hip hop geek's wet dream... I don't know about you, but to find this site made my day. Dozens and dozens of full length songs that your favorite hip hop producers have sampled. If you can convert streaming audio to mp3, the songs are yours!
posted by Slimemonster
on Jun 9, 2003 -
22 comments
"The roots of Hip Hop Culture will no longer be ignored. Hip Hop's pioneer MC's, DJ's, B-boys and Graffiti Artists finally get to tell their stories. Travel with the real Hip Hop historians (Ralph McDaniels, DJ Red Alert, Grandmaster Caz, Kool Herc) through their old stomping grounds and listen to them reminisce as we drive down memory lane.
Hush Tours takes you to all the hot spots Uptown (Harlem and the Bronx) giving Hip Hop Culture more than a venue... also a voice."
posted by monkeymike
on May 29, 2003 -
10 comments
Style Wars the 1983 graffiti, breakdancing and
hip hop culture proto-documentary 20 years later comes out from obscure, grainy, 5th hand bootlegs and into the
21st Century. This funky white boy is excited. (Be sure you check out some of the
other links from the NPR site!)
posted by Pollomacho
on Apr 25, 2003 -
9 comments
Fuck Hip Hop. Title of a block-rockin' essay by dj, filmmaker and cultural activist Pierre Bennu.
I think the time has come to bid a farewell to the last black arts movement. It’s had a good run but it no longer serves the community that spawned it. Innovation has been replaced with mediocrity and originality replaced with recycled nostalgia for the ghost of hip hop past, leaving nothing to look forward to. Honestly when was the last time you heard something (mainstream) that made you want to run around in circles and write down every word. When was the last time you didn’t feel guilty nodding your head to a song that had a ‘hot beat’ after realizing the lyrical content made you cringe.
Tough questions, Pierre. And the whole piece is even tougher. Here's
a few responses from Nettime.
posted by theplayethic
on Jan 7, 2003 -
142 comments
It's not Just a Label, it's a Lifestyle. I really dig the Flash site for Sean "P Puffy Diddy Daddy" Comb's new clothing line. It's a fancy and somewhat restrained use of Flash, but with an UCR (unintentional comedy rating) through the roof. Choose your own sountrack while you explore the catwalk shots. "It's how you freak it baby," indeed.
posted by sixfoot6
on Nov 15, 2002 -
20 comments
B-Boys in blue: the thought that there is a team of hip-hop detectives in the NYPD whose day to day job is to listen to hip-hop lyrics, go out to clubs, and "monitor whose compact disc sales are climbing," among other things, is just nuts. so, to get this straight, they get paid to do at work what a lot of the rest of us do when they should be doing work. I can't imagine they're any more productive than we are. Yeah, this is funny, but c'mon guys - do some real police work already.
posted by moth
on Nov 3, 2002 -
11 comments
Sup, G? The Five Percent Nation: A splinter group from the Nation of Islam, they have contributed quite a bit to the hip-hop scene -- and to the English language. Phrases like "Break it down", "word", and even "peace" (as a form of salutation) can be traced back to their teachings. The
Wu-tang Clan and
Digable Planets are among the artists greatly influenced by the unique, sometimes inspiring, and often unsettling, worldview of this religion. It ain't all smiles und sunshine, but whatever you think of it, one thing's for sure: This is one fit and fecund memeplex.
posted by condour75
on Nov 2, 2002 -
28 comments
