Rock the Bells
August 20, 2010 10:03 PM Subscribe
The Rub have completed their Hip Hop History series, creating a mix for every year between 1979 and 2009. Most mixes are average two hours in length. For some golden age hip hop, try a mix from 1987, 1994 or 1996.
Amazing. I want to grab all of these before their bandwidth gets hammered!
posted by thecjm at 10:47 PM on August 20, 2010
posted by thecjm at 10:47 PM on August 20, 2010
Both Carbide and I linked the mixed series in this recent AskMe, where the OP was seeking an introduction to hip-hop. The Rub is a great, long-running party, played by great DJs. I'm glad they're being recognized in the blue.
posted by stachemaster at 11:04 PM on August 20, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by stachemaster at 11:04 PM on August 20, 2010 [3 favorites]
Great! :D
posted by lauratheexplorer at 11:09 PM on August 20, 2010
posted by lauratheexplorer at 11:09 PM on August 20, 2010
DANG! This is friggin' great! Thanks...
posted by shoppingforsanity at 11:33 PM on August 20, 2010
posted by shoppingforsanity at 11:33 PM on August 20, 2010
yes!!! You just unboringfied all the driving I have to do in the next few days.
posted by shinyshiny at 12:01 AM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by shinyshiny at 12:01 AM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
Thanks! Is there anyway to download all 30 mixes at once?
posted by WhitenoisE at 12:14 AM on August 21, 2010
posted by WhitenoisE at 12:14 AM on August 21, 2010
Yes, I downloaded these last night after stachemaster's comment. Awesome.
posted by ninebelow at 12:36 AM on August 21, 2010
posted by ninebelow at 12:36 AM on August 21, 2010
Oooh nice, I'd forgotten all about these ... can't wait to catch up. Thanks mattgeeknz!
And fwiw, The Rub is just about my favorite ongoing party in NYC. Even if it could stand to be held in a venue about 5X larger than Southpaw so it wouldn't be so goddamned crowded, The Rub consistently has the best atmosphere of any big ongoing dance party that I can think of, esp. one that's lasted what, four, five years now? Fun and smart music, and a dancefloor that is about as pretension-free as you'll find in NYC. Just be sure to get there early!
posted by NolanRyanHatesMatches at 1:19 AM on August 21, 2010
And fwiw, The Rub is just about my favorite ongoing party in NYC. Even if it could stand to be held in a venue about 5X larger than Southpaw so it wouldn't be so goddamned crowded, The Rub consistently has the best atmosphere of any big ongoing dance party that I can think of, esp. one that's lasted what, four, five years now? Fun and smart music, and a dancefloor that is about as pretension-free as you'll find in NYC. Just be sure to get there early!
posted by NolanRyanHatesMatches at 1:19 AM on August 21, 2010
Is there a reason they don't put together an official torrent of this goldmine? Legal gray zone? Anyone else feel like sharing?
posted by mnsc at 3:16 AM on August 21, 2010
posted by mnsc at 3:16 AM on August 21, 2010
Heh, I went expecting to be suitably embarrassed at the year I left school but that is some fine music right there. Surprisingly well played, late eighties.
posted by shinybaum at 3:49 AM on August 21, 2010
posted by shinybaum at 3:49 AM on August 21, 2010
Jay-Z the cover of 96? Not even Jay-Z thinks he was the best out in 96. Jay-Z sort of has the GWB thing going on. Keep repeating the same thing (I was the best) over and over and people start remembering it that way.
posted by milarepa at 4:31 AM on August 21, 2010
posted by milarepa at 4:31 AM on August 21, 2010
On another note, fuck was hip hop good in 94-96. I was just about to post an Ask question about mix tapes similar to DJ Rectangle, only with a little better taste in music. Looks like I can save that until next year. Thanks!
posted by milarepa at 4:44 AM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by milarepa at 4:44 AM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
Klang posted this project back in its infancy. Glad to see it brought up to date.
posted by caddis at 5:12 AM on August 21, 2010
posted by caddis at 5:12 AM on August 21, 2010
i was having kind of a shitty week until i found this. seriously, hip hop has this amazing power to lift my mood.
posted by TrialByMedia at 6:38 AM on August 21, 2010
posted by TrialByMedia at 6:38 AM on August 21, 2010
I first heard Rappers Delight as an 8 year old back in 1979, and have been completely hooked on Hip Hop since that day. I can think of a time as a kid in the early 80's when my collection of mixtapes probably made up at least 80% of all the Hip Hop music released at the time. In that context, it's mindblowing to think of how ubiquitous the genre has come since then.
I feel like a kid at Christmas right now.
posted by billyfleetwood at 6:47 AM on August 21, 2010
I feel like a kid at Christmas right now.
posted by billyfleetwood at 6:47 AM on August 21, 2010
My weekend is way awesomer because of this.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 11:22 AM on August 21, 2010
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 11:22 AM on August 21, 2010
Wow, this has been up for 13 hours and not a single one of those humorless scolds has wandered in, polishing their monocle, and posted "I assume all of these songs have been licensed and are being offered for download with the artists' permission...?" That's awesome. Yet another thing old school hip-hop triumphs over.)
posted by Ian A.T. at 11:25 AM on August 21, 2010
posted by Ian A.T. at 11:25 AM on August 21, 2010
"My weekend is way awesomer because of this."
My weekend is gone because of this. This is awesome. Thanks for posting.
posted by Lukenlogs at 11:56 AM on August 21, 2010
My weekend is gone because of this. This is awesome. Thanks for posting.
posted by Lukenlogs at 11:56 AM on August 21, 2010
These are great. I'm getting them all.
I think the earlier mixes have much more credibility as "history." The later 1990-forward are done by DJs with a slanted view toward what is considered cool today. There's plenty of hate (much of it justifiable) for the popular acts, but to say that acts like Tone Loc, Vanilla Ice, Blondie, MC Hammer, or Young MC were historically insignificant would be dead wrong. These were far and away the most popular rap groups of their respective time periods and had a major impact on the acceptance of rap music as a genre. I'd rather listen to the revised version too, but I didn't see any explanation for why some of these artists were excluded.
posted by Locobot at 12:15 PM on August 21, 2010
I think the earlier mixes have much more credibility as "history." The later 1990-forward are done by DJs with a slanted view toward what is considered cool today. There's plenty of hate (much of it justifiable) for the popular acts, but to say that acts like Tone Loc, Vanilla Ice, Blondie, MC Hammer, or Young MC were historically insignificant would be dead wrong. These were far and away the most popular rap groups of their respective time periods and had a major impact on the acceptance of rap music as a genre. I'd rather listen to the revised version too, but I didn't see any explanation for why some of these artists were excluded.
posted by Locobot at 12:15 PM on August 21, 2010
OK there is a Young MC song, but nothing from the others I mentioned.
posted by Locobot at 12:18 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by Locobot at 12:18 PM on August 21, 2010
Wow! I had grabbed 1979-1989 Rub history mixes (probably from seeing the previous post). I was on a road trip the kids up last weekend and we made it up to around '85 when my shuffle's batteries went dead. I can't wait to check out the newer ones. Thanks.
posted by battleshipkropotkin at 12:33 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by battleshipkropotkin at 12:33 PM on August 21, 2010
Locobot: it seems to me that historiography also has that curatorial, taste-making element. And, in my opinion, those people you mention are pop artists, not hip-hop ones, and so I'm not sure I think they belong in a history-of-hip-hop mix (especially one that only allows an hour or two per year).
Respectfully (seriously--I'm a fan. 'The Tide is High,' that's my jam), Blondie is not all that important in the history of hip-hop music. They only did one song that even reaches toward rap, and, though people try to give it credit for being a pioneering track, it came out the year after 'The Breaks' and two years after 'Rapper's Delight' (and there were more than a few rap songs before 'Rapper's Delight'). It's not like you can point to 'Rapture' and say 'there's the song that popularized the transformer scratch' or 'you can hear how Kool Moe Dee changed his style after 'Rapture' came out.'
Young MC and Tone Loc were intentionally old-school, and basically one-hit wonders (sorry, 'Principal's Office' and 'Funky Cold Medina'). The way things look in 2010, neither one of them has contributed significantly to the stylistic or artistic development of hip-hop.
Admittedly, this is the kind of stuff about which reasonable people may agree to disagree.
Ice, on the other hand, not so much--the man was a gifted entertainer, but utterly devoid of original ideas, and, in the history of hip-hop music, he's a one-hit wonder on the pop charts at best and a token at worst. But for that 'Under Pressure' sample, he would've been Snow.
posted by box at 1:54 PM on August 21, 2010 [2 favorites]
Respectfully (seriously--I'm a fan. 'The Tide is High,' that's my jam), Blondie is not all that important in the history of hip-hop music. They only did one song that even reaches toward rap, and, though people try to give it credit for being a pioneering track, it came out the year after 'The Breaks' and two years after 'Rapper's Delight' (and there were more than a few rap songs before 'Rapper's Delight'). It's not like you can point to 'Rapture' and say 'there's the song that popularized the transformer scratch' or 'you can hear how Kool Moe Dee changed his style after 'Rapture' came out.'
Young MC and Tone Loc were intentionally old-school, and basically one-hit wonders (sorry, 'Principal's Office' and 'Funky Cold Medina'). The way things look in 2010, neither one of them has contributed significantly to the stylistic or artistic development of hip-hop.
Admittedly, this is the kind of stuff about which reasonable people may agree to disagree.
Ice, on the other hand, not so much--the man was a gifted entertainer, but utterly devoid of original ideas, and, in the history of hip-hop music, he's a one-hit wonder on the pop charts at best and a token at worst. But for that 'Under Pressure' sample, he would've been Snow.
posted by box at 1:54 PM on August 21, 2010 [2 favorites]
Many more favourites than comments. I assume this is because everyone is just listening...
posted by mjg123 at 3:46 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by mjg123 at 3:46 PM on August 21, 2010
I LOVE YOU mattgeeknz!!!!
Thanks, but that's a little misplaced. DJ Ayres, DJ Eleven and Cosmo Baker spent hundreds of hours putting these together. Buy their stuff or go to their club nights if you can.
posted by mattgeeknz at 4:44 PM on August 21, 2010
Thanks, but that's a little misplaced. DJ Ayres, DJ Eleven and Cosmo Baker spent hundreds of hours putting these together. Buy their stuff or go to their club nights if you can.
posted by mattgeeknz at 4:44 PM on August 21, 2010
This is great.
Minor quibble: I guess Maestro Fresh Wes' "Let Your Backbone Slide" didn't cross over in the States? I'm surprised not to see that one included.
posted by stinkycheese at 5:09 PM on August 21, 2010
Minor quibble: I guess Maestro Fresh Wes' "Let Your Backbone Slide" didn't cross over in the States? I'm surprised not to see that one included.
posted by stinkycheese at 5:09 PM on August 21, 2010
This is awesome. Protip: it's more than a 2 hour mix if you slow it down.
posted by fuq at 9:39 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by fuq at 9:39 PM on August 21, 2010
Box -thanks for the reply. I thought of the pop v. hip-hop distinction when I posted earlier too but it kind of falls apart with a history that includes The Humpty Dance, Hey Ladies, It Takes Two, and two songs by the Fat Boys. It gets unraveled completely in the 2000s -- Lil Jon, Alicia Keyes, Big Pimpin'? Kind of a rhetorical dead end there.
I love Blondie too, and I'm not trying to champion them as rap greats, but chances are that if a person heard a rap song in 1981 it was more likely by Blondie than say, T-Ski Valley.
I take your point about Tone Loc, much more popular than say Run DMC in the late 80s, but the less said about him the better.
In 1990-92 Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer were inescapable, without them and a few other poppy acts (Marky Mark comes to mind) I'm not sure hip-hop would have ever been accepted by middle America or the world over as a legitimate genre. The amount money that became available with mainstream acceptance allowed hip-hop to evolve. Hammer's exclusion is especially revisionist and myopic.
You really sure you want to gripe on Vanilla for sampling?
And yeah, musically, none of the artists I mentioned hold much significance...but then neither does The Cars that Go Boom. In terms of style and sociological impact though they were huge. I don't listen to this stuff or enjoy it on any unironic level, some of it's even kind of embarrassing to hear. Still, these are pretty huge gaps in something purporting to be a history.
posted by Locobot at 2:42 AM on August 22, 2010
I love Blondie too, and I'm not trying to champion them as rap greats, but chances are that if a person heard a rap song in 1981 it was more likely by Blondie than say, T-Ski Valley.
I take your point about Tone Loc, much more popular than say Run DMC in the late 80s, but the less said about him the better.
In 1990-92 Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer were inescapable, without them and a few other poppy acts (Marky Mark comes to mind) I'm not sure hip-hop would have ever been accepted by middle America or the world over as a legitimate genre. The amount money that became available with mainstream acceptance allowed hip-hop to evolve. Hammer's exclusion is especially revisionist and myopic.
You really sure you want to gripe on Vanilla for sampling?
And yeah, musically, none of the artists I mentioned hold much significance...but then neither does The Cars that Go Boom. In terms of style and sociological impact though they were huge. I don't listen to this stuff or enjoy it on any unironic level, some of it's even kind of embarrassing to hear. Still, these are pretty huge gaps in something purporting to be a history.
posted by Locobot at 2:42 AM on August 22, 2010
'The Humpty Dance' is like 'Tubthumping'--a somewhat out-of-character hit on the pop charts from a group with a legitimate hip-hop history (one of the first big Bay Area groups, employed Tupac back in the day, etc.) 'It Takes Two' kicked off the JB sample craze (well, that and 'I Know You Got Soul'). And if the pop/hip-hop distinction gets unraveled in the 2000s, well, that's part of hip-hop history too. Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson didn't have a lot of guest spots for rappers, but every Mary has her Meth and every Ashanti her Ja Rule.
You said something before about how Ice and Hammer were the most popular groups of their time periods. Oddly, my experience was exactly the opposite--there's no way around the no-true-Scotsman-ish-ness here, but I don't think I've ever met anyone who likes hip-hop and likes Vanilla Ice or MC Hammer (and I was a teenager during those dudes' heyday). Everybody I've ever met with an Ice or Hammer tape, that was the only rap in their collection, and they didn't seem to like it very much. They didn't get played on Yo!, and other artists within the genre mostly viewed them with contempt or worse.
(Oh, and 'Cars That Go Boom'? Kinda like Lil Jon, it's a great example of a regional style that inexplicably managed to briefly get worldwide acclaim (like baile funk in the 2000s), one of the first Miami Bass songs to hit the charts (and about a million times more cuddly and nonthreatening than 2 Live Crew). This is often how things go with regional and other styles with relatively-limited appeal (ragga, bounce, crunk...)--the singles that chart are one edge of a much larger territory.
It's funny--you could say some of those same things about Hammer. Unfortunately, the man has done a lot to sabotage his own legacy. From the 'Addams Rap' to the Taco Bell promotion to the cartoon to the gangsta reboot to the bankruptcy to the ministry to the post-9/11 jingoism, the latter stages of his career have been a Chuck-Berry-esque rush to mediocrity and irrelevance, and he doesn't have the built-up cred of a Rev. Run or an Ice Cube that might allow him to pull it off.
It might be worth pointing out that there are three DJs in The Rub, and that each of them has a somewhat different background and style (e.g., Cosmo is less deep in Southern styles than the other two). And critical fashions wax and wane, y'know? The thirtysomething Rub DJs came up in an era that valued authenticity and fetishized a rose-colored golden age. Hammer isn't part of any of that.
Maybe one man's revisionism is another's critical consensus. Charlotte Perkins Gilman didn't get taught for years, but she sure does now. 'You Light Up My Life' was huge too, but you don't hear it much on the oldies/classic-rock stations.
posted by box at 6:29 AM on August 22, 2010 [4 favorites]
You said something before about how Ice and Hammer were the most popular groups of their time periods. Oddly, my experience was exactly the opposite--there's no way around the no-true-Scotsman-ish-ness here, but I don't think I've ever met anyone who likes hip-hop and likes Vanilla Ice or MC Hammer (and I was a teenager during those dudes' heyday). Everybody I've ever met with an Ice or Hammer tape, that was the only rap in their collection, and they didn't seem to like it very much. They didn't get played on Yo!, and other artists within the genre mostly viewed them with contempt or worse.
(Oh, and 'Cars That Go Boom'? Kinda like Lil Jon, it's a great example of a regional style that inexplicably managed to briefly get worldwide acclaim (like baile funk in the 2000s), one of the first Miami Bass songs to hit the charts (and about a million times more cuddly and nonthreatening than 2 Live Crew). This is often how things go with regional and other styles with relatively-limited appeal (ragga, bounce, crunk...)--the singles that chart are one edge of a much larger territory.
It's funny--you could say some of those same things about Hammer. Unfortunately, the man has done a lot to sabotage his own legacy. From the 'Addams Rap' to the Taco Bell promotion to the cartoon to the gangsta reboot to the bankruptcy to the ministry to the post-9/11 jingoism, the latter stages of his career have been a Chuck-Berry-esque rush to mediocrity and irrelevance, and he doesn't have the built-up cred of a Rev. Run or an Ice Cube that might allow him to pull it off.
It might be worth pointing out that there are three DJs in The Rub, and that each of them has a somewhat different background and style (e.g., Cosmo is less deep in Southern styles than the other two). And critical fashions wax and wane, y'know? The thirtysomething Rub DJs came up in an era that valued authenticity and fetishized a rose-colored golden age. Hammer isn't part of any of that.
Maybe one man's revisionism is another's critical consensus. Charlotte Perkins Gilman didn't get taught for years, but she sure does now. 'You Light Up My Life' was huge too, but you don't hear it much on the oldies/classic-rock stations.
posted by box at 6:29 AM on August 22, 2010 [4 favorites]
Well sure, Shock G is the real deal but that Humpty Hump guy is ridiculous ;) I've never considered Chumbawamba to be hip hop, more dance punk from the P.I.L. school to me. Shrug.
Pretty much said everything on this subject that I have to say. The mixes are great, I just got hung up on the word "history."
I love The Cars that Go Boom, the Miami Bass sound has had a resurgence lately with M.I.A. and others. I think that's mostly a product of the MP3 technology. If anyone has a file of Cars with the bass properly represented I'd love to have a copy. It is also a song that rhymes "boom" with "boom."
I don't think any of these songs should be excluded but a different DJ could make a radically different mix and have it be considered just as legitimately as history.
posted by Locobot at 1:18 PM on August 23, 2010
Pretty much said everything on this subject that I have to say. The mixes are great, I just got hung up on the word "history."
I love The Cars that Go Boom, the Miami Bass sound has had a resurgence lately with M.I.A. and others. I think that's mostly a product of the MP3 technology. If anyone has a file of Cars with the bass properly represented I'd love to have a copy. It is also a song that rhymes "boom" with "boom."
I don't think any of these songs should be excluded but a different DJ could make a radically different mix and have it be considered just as legitimately as history.
posted by Locobot at 1:18 PM on August 23, 2010
(I may not have been as clear as I'd hoped--in case there's any doubt, I don't think Chumbawamba is a hip-hop group, and my beef with Vanilla Ice has nothing to do with sampling.)
posted by box at 4:37 PM on August 23, 2010
posted by box at 4:37 PM on August 23, 2010
This is amazing! just created a bash script to download :) I wish there was a torrent!
posted by ijaaz at 9:23 PM on August 24, 2010
posted by ijaaz at 9:23 PM on August 24, 2010
« Older Why yes, the wording & paperwork matter. A lot... | The Fate of the Universe Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by gwint at 10:19 PM on August 20, 2010