Hip Hop History: Part V

Posted on April 20, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Hip Hop History Part 5: 1994 to 1996

Part 1 can be found here.
Part 2 can be found here.
Part 3 can be found here.
Part 4 can be found here. 

For many, this is the “Golden Age” of hip hop.

As you may guess, I’m a bit suspect of such labels. Still, there is some merit: two of the unquestioned lyrical masters are at their peak in The Notorious B.I.G. and Nas; there is a diversity in musical styles that encourages and supports creativity and exploration; and the overwhelming wave of commercial interests has yet to truly crest.

That said, the themes of the main playlist are growing repetitive: material gain, violence both threatened and executed, paranoia, sexual dominance. Most exceptions are relegated to DeepCuts, but it’s also part of what makes I Used to Love H.E.R., Nappy Heads, and I Wish stand out (although I Wish treats the same material, just with a different perspective).

New York State of Mind by Nas (1994). Nas’ debut album, Illmatic, deserves some special attention. Generally considered one of the finest MC offerings of all time, New York State of Mind often tops lists of the greatest individual MC track as well. AZ–a fantastic MC in his own right–debuted on Life’s A Bitch, and both The World is Yours and It Ain’t Hard to Tell deserve a listen. But it’s New York State of Mind that gives us I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death, delivered both as a warning to the facts of life and a philosophical insight.

Juicy by The Notorious B.I.G. (1994). Seems fitting to pair this with Nas. The first verse is a legendary homage to Biggie’s rise to stardom. It also demonstrates a rhyme pattern that Biggie perfected, where a rhyme moves from the inside of a line to two consecutive line endings (It was all a dream, I used to read Word Up! magazine | Salt-n-Pepa and Heavy D in the limousine).

Gin and Juice by Snoop Dogg (1994). A song so funky, it carries not one, but two chorus hooks. Like much of Snoop’s early output, it owes as much of it success to the laid-back smoothness of the delivery as it does to the groove laid down by Dr. Dre. Also, Snoop was facing murder charges at the time (he was acquitted), so the opening lines are a great act of understatement: With so much drama in the L-B-C
It’s kind of hard being Snoop D-O-double-G. L-B-C refers to Long Beach, California, a neighborhood bordering (and in rivalry with) its better known neighbor, Compton.

Shook Ones, Part 2 by Mobb Deep (1994). The style represented by Mobb Deep–dark and violent, with a delivery marked by hard, staccato rhythms, and backed by a complex layers of samples–would become the norm over the next several years (although Havoc‘s production skills outstrip many imitators).

Whatta Man by Salt-N-Pepa & En Vogue (1994). As much to demonstrate Salt-N-Pepa’s continued influence as to mark a moment beyond which hip hop crossovers stop raising eyebrows. En Vogue at this point was coming off a triple platinum album and had already amassed 5 #1 hits: there was no bigger R&B group that a hip hop artist could work with.

I Used to Love H.E.R. by Common (1994). We mentioned this cut at the top of Part IV. It does as good a job as many essays, blog, and opinion pieces in summarizing the journey of hip hop, from the parties in the South Bronx through the twists and turns of its early development. Common is not happy with where he sees the art from heading. Two small points: I’ve seen H.E.R. explained as Hearing Every Rhyme and as Hip hop in its Essence is Real; and, note that the overarching metaphor of the song remains a masculine perspective paired with sexual conquest.

Regulate by Warren G & Nate Dogg (1994). The narrative is cliche, the MC skills are average. But that hook! Those vocals! The contrast between the smooth R&B stylings and the lyrics! Irresistible.

Here Comes the Hotstepper (Heartical Mix) by Ini Kamoze (1994). This is an idiosyncratic choice for sure, but damn I love this song. And, the continued reminder of the Caribbean connections for hip hop don’t heart.

I Wish by Skee-Lo (1995). Yeah, the underlying gender relations are still messy, and the interconnections between women, status, and material stuff are still problematic. But Skee-Lo manages to sidestep all of the bravado with a song “for the rest of us” that became a hit, and also reminded us that hip hop could be at its best while maintaining its sense of humor.

Dear Mama (1995) & All Eyez On Me (1996) by 2Pac. The comet that burned brightly and briefly against the hip hop night. One question for old folks that can be used to reveal just how enmeshed in hip hop culture they were is, where were you when 2Pac died? Biggie? By the spring of 1997, both would be gone. These two songs mark the apex of Tupac’s output, and come at a moment where he was very much trying to think through the implications of growing up, and how to navigate the contradictions and complexity of his own life. Biggie would have produced several more masterpieces of technique. But 2Pac might have produced art that helped shape the way we understood the world. Hint: this is Kendrick‘s real predecessor.

Crossroads by Bone Thugs N Harmony (1996). Lots of hip hop songs talk about death and many mention the devastation it leaves behind, but many fewer talk about mourning. Mix that with the vocal stylings of Bone Thugs N Harmony, and you have a hit, and a fairly unique sound (especially with male voices) in the annals of hip hop.

Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check by Busta Rhymes (1996). If you’re paying close attention, you’ll recognize that the chorus is actually lifted from The Sugarhill Gang‘s 8th Wonder. But the style and delivery is all Busta Rhymes (whose debut on Scenario was discussed in Part IV), bass and rasp and bravado from an artist who was as impactful for his visual fashion as his unique delivery.

Cold Rock A Party by MC Lyte & Missy Elliott (1996). This was a hit for MC Lyte, but is included more for the passing of the torch to an electrically talented young MC in Missy Elliott. We’ll hear more from her. While MC Lyte kept producing music after this, this was the last significant hit of her career as an MC.

No Diggity by BLACKstreet & Dr. Dre (1996). Included as much for its hook as for its presence as proof as to just how blurred the line between hip hop and other genres is by this point–is there something that makes it hop hop before Queen Pen‘s guest verse? Does that alone make it hip hop? Is Dre’s presence as producer sufficient?

The Spotify playlist is here: http://bit.ly/hiphophspva-5

DeepCuts

“Songs” appear in quotation marks, Albums in italics without quotations, and Artists in bold.

DeepCuts can be found at http://bit.ly/hiphophspva-deep

#The International Scene

This is the pause before the deluge.

There is, of course, the continued development of hip hop in France, led by IAM, whose 1994 hit “Je danse le mia” was the best-charting of their career and Suprême NTM, whose 1995 album Paris sous les bombes set the stage for their later dominance. More interesting, though was the funk/hip hop collective, Alliance Ethnik, whose 1995 album Simple et Funky remains a classic, and is represented here by the track “Honesty & Jalousie (Fais Un Choix Dans La Vie).”

Danish rapper Lucas Secon released “Lucas with the Lid Off” in 1994, an incredibly catchy hit that owed more to production and DJ skills than his abilities as an MC–there was also nothing especially Danish about it, raising important questions about what belongs under the “international hip hop” umbrella.

#Alternative Hip Hop

Lawd, but I hate that term.

I would call out 4 groups that are often lumped under that term as being of note:

  • The Roots–long before their gig as a late night band–debuted in 1993 with Organix and followed that up with Do You Want More ?!!!??! in 1995, the latter spawning the influential and popular “Proceed.” They followed that up in 1996 with Illadelph Halflife and the classic track “What They Do.”
  • Spearhead‘s debut album, Home, was released in 1994, setting in motion 7 years of fantastically astute, funky hip hop from the Michael Franti-led collective. “Hole in the Bucket” was the biggest hit, but “Positive” is the song to remember as a ground-breaking statement about HIV/AIDS, getting tested, and it being better to know than to not know.
  • The Fugees Blunted on Reality arrived to very little fanfare in 1994, and while “Nappy Heads” cracked the charts, it was really all preparation for their sophomore effort, The Score, released in 1996. The Score was a dominant, revolutionary album, launching the career of Lauryn Hill and containing the megahit remake of “Killing Me Softly.” “Fu-Gee-La” and “Ready or Not,” though, fit more as hip hop tracks.
  • While their album would not drop until 1998, Jurassic 5‘s first single, “Unified Rebelution” was released in 1995. Check out the breakdown at around 2:00, and then the circular group verse towards the end, both of which would set the template for later Jurassic magnificence.

#Texas, Turntablism, and Miscellania

1994 saw the release of “Front, Back & Side to Side” by UGK, who would remain the dominant force in Texas hip hop for over a decade, until Pimp-C‘s death in 2009. Co-founder Bun B has taken on a respected elder role in contemporary hip hop and commentary, and the overall impact of these two figures as MCs, as businessmen, and as cultural forces, remains quite important.

DJ Shadow‘s Endtroducing … is a seminal work in instrumental hip hop–a genre that really continued the lineage of the original DJs, and would eventually be referred to (by some, at least) as turntablism. “Organ Donor” is included as a small sample. (See what I did there? Sample? Geddit?)

You’ll probably recognize the chorus from Ahmad‘s “Back In the Day” from 1994–while the artist was pretty much a one-hit wonder, that hook has survived in many forms since.

#Notable Cuts: 1994

“Funkdafied” by Da Brat; “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik” by Outkast; “Big Poppa” by The Notorious B.I.G.; “Ease My Mind” by Arrested Development; “Flava In Ya Ear” by Craig Mack (recently passed, RIP); “Fantastic Voyage” by Coolio; “Sabotage” by Beastie Boys; “Da Mystery of Chessboxin'” by Wu-Tang Crew; “Bring Da Pain” by Method Man.

#Notable Cuts: 1995

“Shimmy Shimmy Ya” by Ol’ Dirty Bastard; “Survival of the Fittest” by Mobb Deep; “California Love” by 2Pac, Roger Troutman & Dr. Dre; “I Got 5 On It” by Luniz.

#Notable Cuts: 1996

“Stakes is High” by De La Soul; “Laflaur Leflah Eshkoshka” by The Fab 5 (don’t worry, nobody else knows what it means, either); “Doing It” by LL Cool J.

Continue to Part VI.

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Reading Well: The Last Days of New Paris by China Miéville

Posted on April 16, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

One of my favorite authors, China Miéville, published two novellas in the past year or so. I wrote about This Census Taker here; The Last Days of New Paris (2016) is the second.

When writing about This Census Taker, I expressed some excitement and optimism about Miéville’s return to the creative tautness that marked much of his earlier writing. The Last Days of New Paris might be the best thing he’s written in the last decade. Supremely creative, tightly plotted, it tells the story of (deep breath here) an alternate timeline where, in 1940, a magical bomb was set off in Paris, bringing to life thousands of manifestations of objects from surrealist poetry and painting. These creatures, while not fully aligned with the Parisian resistance, interrupted the Nazi takeover of the city, allowing pockets of resistance to form more fully, with street battles being fought street by street, arrondissement by arrondissement.

The story is set a decade after the explosion, and the protagonist is a member of the Main à plume (an actively anti-fascist surrealist group), who, along with a mysterious spy, is trying to forward the cause of the resistance. Interspersed throughout are chapters focusing on the arrival of American rocket scientists and occultist Jack Parsons (he’s a real character, who really was both those things and more) in Paris: it is Parsons who assembles and detonates the S-bomb.

The more affection for and insight into surrealism you have, the more you would, I suspect, enjoy all of the descriptions and references. Even lacking that (as I do), it’s pretty fantastic. And, at novella length, an easily consumable read.

I hope these two shorter works mark a return for Miéville, and I eagerly await his next full-length novel.

#WhatIWishICouldDo

I’ve said it before: Miéville just trusts his readers; trusts them to figure things out, trusts them to fill in the blanks created by fantastical descriptions. It certainly runs the risk of reducing the population of readers, but it creates such concise and lovely moments.

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Hip Hop History: Part III

Posted on April 8, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Hip Hop History Part 3: 1989 to 1991

Part 1 can be found here.
Part 2 can be found here.

We’re really just going along with the steady growth of the musical form here. But things are beginning to split into a few recognizable branches.

  • There is mainstream rap, now epitomized by an MC with or without an accompanying DJ. The content is generally self-referential, but the lyrical complexity is steadily increasing.
  • “Gangster rap” steps into the spotlight, led by N.W.A. (and a host of imitators), but 2LiveCrew is probably a better exemplar, lacking all of the political nuance of N.W.A. and doubling down on the misogyny and violence. Note the term “Gangster rap” is problematic on its own, but it is in such widespread use that we’ll retain it, albeit in quotations.
  • Alternative or underground rap develops fully, led by The Native Tongues (a collection of performers initially brought together by Afrika Bambaataa, and including the Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, Monie Love, A Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep, and Queen Latifah). Be careful with this one–the tendency is to just call everything that is neither of the prior two categories, alternative. It’s lazy. Useful. But, lazy.

Me, Myself & I by De La Soul (1989). This album broke the mold for hip hop at the time: it was intelligent, intricate in its self-referentiality, playful in its structure and sampling, and stronger in its lyrical content than it was given credit for at the time, 3 Feet High and Rising confirmed there were many ways to approach this rap game.

Fight the Power by Public Enemy (1989). This is, personally, among my least favorite PE songs: it lacks the shocking urgency of their earlier work, and isn’t as coherent as a song. However, it was so impactful that it would be shocking to exclude it, or even to relegate it to DeepCuts. The theme song from Spike Lee‘s Do The Right Thing, the song opened up a debate about the role of systems of authority within minority communities that certainly continues to resonate. It was also highly controversial, much discussed and much scrutinized (for its comments on Elvis and John Wayne as much as those on the police).

Wild Thing by Tone Lōc (1989). Tone Lōc is worth noting as a counter-argument (along with Digital Underground) against the notion of West Coast hip hop as a monolithic, singular thing. Both Wild Thing and Funky Cold Medina were massive commercial hits, and his voice and delivery remain uniquely compelling. There’s not much beyond the party, but there is that.

Ladies First by Queen Latifah & Monie Love (1989). We’ll hear more from both of these artists later, but this song from Queen Latifah’s debut album, All Hail the Queen, was important both for its feminist party anthem quality and for introducing the world to the rapid-fire delivery of the UK born Monie Love.

Sound of Science by Beastie Boys (1989). Most would insist that Paul’s Boutique, Beastie Boys’s masterpiece of a second album, should be represented by a more popular song, like Hey Ladies. And they would not be wrong. But Sound of Science represents what really earned this album respect: it wasn’t the yelling of anthems, it was the sophistication of sampling and the general DJ work. The term turntablism was not in currency at this point (and wouldn’t be for another five years or so), but this is one of the albums that led to the music that led to that phenomenon.

If De La Soul and the Jungle Brothers opened the door for the Native Tongues, A Tribe Called Quest‘s People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (1990) blew it off its hinges. From the effortless interplay between Q-Tip and Phife Dawg to Shaheed Ali Muhammed‘s propulsive, jazzy beats, this album remains a masterpiece. Picking a single track is challenging, but at the end of the day, while Bonita Applebaum charted slightly higher, we’ll go with Can I Kick It?

The Humpty Dance by Digital Underground (1990). It’s a novelty song, essentially, structured around one of Shock-G‘s many alter egos, Humpty Hump (most of DU is actually a single MC). In some ways, that’s a shame, as Digital Underground had a short run as one of the funkiest, most creative, most intriguing hip hop acts around. They were also the first group to feature a fellow young rapper from Oakland named Tupac Shakur, who you may have heard of.

Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J (1990). You always miss something on this kind of project, and it was a pretty significant oversight to leave LL Cool J out of Part 2 entirely. Mea maxima culpa. He had been around the scene from the very early days–even as a “tween,”–and really created the model for a commercially successful solo rapper, both in style and substance. I Need Love was a crossover hit in 1987 (the fact it was later successfully covered by Irish rock crooner Luka Bloom is not exactly a credit from a hip hop perspective), and really belongs with the other tunes of that year. Mama Said Knock You Out was a massively successful song, and his biggest hit in the early days of hip hop.

Tom’s Diner by Suzanne Vega & DNA (1990). There is so much cool historical detail here … deep breath … Suzanne Vega’s original version of Tom’s Diner, released in 1989, was the song used to test the compression capability of .mp3 files when the format was first invented: the notion was that, if a voice as rich and warm as Vega’s could be compressed without noticeably losing audio quality, anything could. As such, Vega was referred to briefly as the “mother of the .mp3,” which is just kind of cool. Good enough. But then came the British dance duo DNA, who took a beat from the hugely influential British dance collective Soul II Soul‘s Keep on Moving (Don’t Stop) and a creative remix of the song’s non-verbal chorus, and created something new and wonderful … that nobody outside of some German dance halls should have heard. But, when they caught wind of it, instead of the usual response of threatening legal action, Vega’s record label, A&M, instead bought the remix, released it, and spawned a global megahit. Do do do do da do do do …

The Choice is Yours by Black Sheep (1991). Black Sheep served as the uninhibited id of the Native Tongues. Lively, humorous, and unabashed, the ebullient nature of The Choice is Yours proved enduring, to the point where it is often hailed as a “best song of the year.” As far as party jams go, sure.

Mind Playing Tricks on Me by Geto Boys (1991). One of the proofs of the development of hip hop as an art form was the relative explosion of genres and micro-genres in the early 90s. Southern rap–led by Atlanta and Houston, with notable contributions from Memphis and New Orleans–emerged and fractured into things like “Dirty South” and, later, the largely Houston driven movement towards “Chopped & Screwed.” All of that can be traced back to the outrageous, surreal, hard driving and often problematic songs of Houston’s Geto Boys. This was by far their biggest hit.

Set Adrift on Memory Bliss by P.M. Dawn (1991). And now for something completely different … whatever P.M. Dawn were, they were clearly rooted in hip hop, and pointed the way towards an alternate future.

Bouge de La by MC Solaar (1991). Quite arbitrarily, this cut marks the true birth of international hip hop (but see the info on London Posse below), with one of the earliest and most successful French MCs producing a song that was both popular and signaled the possibility of the emergence of non-American hip hop traditions that were more than purely derivative. MC Solaar–born in Senegal–would be a significant figure in France for several decades. (Note that the only version on Spotify is a meh live version. The much better, very smooth, studio version is on the album Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo if you want to track it down.)

Summertime by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (1991). We end with 1991’s feel good hit by Will Smith (still better known for his TV show at this point). 1991 marked an explosion in the diversity of hip hop; it also marked a point where a strain of pure commercialism emerges, which is both a credit to the music and a complication of the analysis of it as an art form. We’ll discuss that more in part 4.

The Spotify playlist is here: http://bit.ly/hiphophspva-3

DeepCuts

The entire DeepCuts playlist can be found here: http://bit.ly/hiphophspva-deep. This playlist will be added to as each installment is published, and may even include cuts from future installments (consider them free previews of goodness yet to come).

“Songs” appear in quotation marks, Albums in italics without quotations, and Artists in bold.

She isn’t well remembered now, but if you ask who the first dominant female MC was, the answer is probably the British import (and Native Tongues member) Monie Love, whose 1990 album Down to Earth spawned 2 hits (It’s A Shame and Monie in the Middle) and several other notable cuts (Just Don’t Give A Damn and Pups Licking Bone are included here for their innovative bass lines and rhythmic variety).

Boogie Down Productions rolled along with 1990’s Edutainment. “Love’s Gonna Get ‘Cha (Material Love)” was probably the most notable cut, but it also included perhaps the most cogent snippets of the overlap between hip hop and Afrocentrism: see “Exhibit E” for an example.

Tupac Shakur (known at this point as 2Pac) will be represented on the primary lists as befits such a dominant figure in the history of hip hop, but his first single was 1991’s Brenda’s Got A Baby, which signaled his ability to address social issues in his artistry.

It wasn’t just P.M. Dawn taking alternative hip hop in new directions in 1991. Check out both Canadian group Dream Warriors‘ “Wash Your Face In My Sink” and “Do Not Feed the Alligators” and Del The Funky Homosapien‘s (trivia: Del is Ice Cube‘s cousin)  “Mistadobalina” or “Sunny Meadowz” for more.

There had been some hip hop songs in the UK before this, but London Posse‘s 1990 album Gangster Chronicles really marks the beginning of the vibrant hip hop scene in Britain. London Posse was a supergroup of sorts, a gathering of the best of London’s emerging MCs; more importantly, they were (mostly) rapping about life in England and specifically in London and (mostly) doing so in their natural accents. Also of note are Prophets of the City, the first hip hop group to emerge in South Africa.

#Notable Cuts: 1989

“Say No Go” and “Buddy” by De La Soul; “Cha Cha Cha” by MC Lyte; “Funky Cold Medina” and “Cheeba Cheeba” by Tone Lōc; “It’s Funky Enough” by The D.O.C. (The D.O.C. probably deserves more of a mention: a hugely influential force in early “Gangster rap,” he wrote much of the N.W.A. catalog and had many hits of his own before nearly dying in a car crash in which he suffered significant damage to his larynx, essentially derailing his career for many years); “Just A Friend” by Biz Markie.

#Notable Cuts: 1990

People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm by A Tribe Called Quest (look, just go listen to the whole thing OK? If you insist on cuts, let’s go with “Bonita Applebaum,” “Ham ‘n’ Eggs,” “Push It Along,” and “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo”); “Expression” by Salt-N-Pepa; “Live Like The Other Half Do” by London Posse; “Doowatchyoulike,” “Hip Hop Doll,” and “Underwater Rimes (Remix)” by Digital Underground; “Flavor of the Month” by Black Sheep; “Welcome to the Terrordome” and “911 Is A Joke” by Public Enemy; “Dallah Flet” by Prophets of the City.

#Notable Cuts: 1991

“O.P.P” by Naughty By Nature; “Let’s Talk About Sex” by Salt-N-Pepa; “No Nose Job” by Digital Underground; “Can’t Truss It” by Public Enemy; “Juice (Know the Ledge)” by Eric B. & Rakim; “Excursions” by A Tribe Called Quest.

{Continue on to Part 4}

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Reading Well: American War by Omar El Akkad

Posted on April 8, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Omar El Akkad‘s debut novel, American War (2017), is an arresting, gripping contribution to the landscape of post-apocalyptic fiction. Here, the disaster is largely environmental: all of Florida and most of the Eastern seaboard is underwater, the US economy is shattered, and world power has shifted to China and to a new Middle Eastern empire that stretches (much like it once did) across North Africa and throughout Arabia. America is at war with itself, with a new Civil War pitting the North against what is left of the South.

So far, so standard, at least for the genre.

The most intriguing thing about American War, however, is the protagonist, who is a Southerner (actually from the Louisiana borderlands–Texas is no more, having been re-absorbed into Mexico). She is, however, not a “true believer” of any stripe; instead, she is merely caught up in the cycle of war, and manipulated into her role as a human weapon by forces far beyond her control or comprehension.

This allows El Akkad to explore many perspectives on the war, and allows him to strengthen the character, as their motivations depend on relationships and commitments, not on blind ideology. It’s very effective, and while some of the “historical” documents inserted into the narrative are a little thin, the overall impact is a well-written, page-turner, with clear relevance to contemporary international politics (think Palestine, think disaffected youth through the world, think urban centers of unemployment in Asia, South America, and Africa).

#WhatIWishICouldDo

There is something courageous about these choices as they relate to the protagonist. It is facile to read El Akkad’s journalistic experience in the Middle East as their source; those may have been a factor, but I prefer to credit him with a very creative, very smart way to make a protagonist both more human and thoroughly dedicated to a violent cause.

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Hip Hop History: Part II

Posted on March 28, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Hip Hop History Part 2: 1983 to 1988

Part 1 can be found here.

Sucker M.C.’s (Krush-Groove 1) by Run-DMC (1983). It is hard to overestimate the impact of this trio from Queens on the genre. We’ll talk about how they formed, and we’ll hear more from them later as they played a key part (for better or worse) in hip hop’s crossover success. This song is often seen as the start of “New School” (or the end of the “Old School”). Such delineations are always a bit sloppy and disputable.

White Lines (Don’t Do It) by Grandmaster Melle Mel (1983). Much like the historical relationship between drugs and hip hop, it’s complicated. The bass line is a note-for-note copy (rip-off? Outright theft?) of Cavern by Liquid Liquid, and, to enhance commercial appeal, the song was marketed as being by “Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel,” even though Flash had left Sugar Hill records about a year prior. Written by Melle Mel and Sylvia Robinson, White Lines was originally designed as a celebration of cocaine-fueled partying, later (and only somewhat convincingly) transformed by the insertion of “Don’t do it.”

Rockit by Herbie Hancock (1983). Another song that marks the transition out of the “Old School” moment: Hancock’s embrace of hip hop from his position as a dominant force in jazz further legitimized the music as an art form, and specifically as part of the larger tradition of African-American art forms. A visionary video and a memorable performance on Saturday Night Live helped as well.

La Di Da Di by Slick Rick & Doug E. Fresh. La Di Da Di was released with The Show on its flipside, and choosing between these monstrously influential cuts was quite difficult. Despite its problematic lyrics, especially at the end, La Di Da Di won out due to it being the first record with an MC (Slick Rick) backed entirely by a beatboxer for the full duration of the song. A British artist born in Barbados, Doug E. Fresh is generally accepted as the original beatboxer–he was not, in fact, the first, but he was the most influential of the first generation.

Walk This Way by Run-DMC & Aerosmith (1986). The quintessential crossover hit, the song that shattered the perception that hip hop was limited in its commercial potential, and the song responsible for the revival of the fortunes of a once-influential 1970s rock n’ roll group (although this last was decidedly not the narrative at the time). This song is also important as a mark of Rick Rubin‘s influence: neither Run nor DMC wanted to do the song (Jam Master Jay was, at best, neutral), and it was only through Rubin’s persuasion that it got made at all.

South Bronx by Boogie Down Productions (1987). If Walk This Way symbolizes the commercialization of hip hop (and all that leads to), BDP’s 1987 debut album, Criminal Minded introduced the world to the bombastic, political force of KRS-ONE. We’ll talk about Kris Parker, for sure. This track is the second salvo in the beef between BDP and The Juice Crew, led by MC Shan and Marley Marl, known as “The Bridge Wars.”

If there is a record that deserves to be an exception to the “one cut per album” rule, it is Public Enemy‘s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1987). This is one of those moments that is almost impossible to recreate: the force of Chuck D‘s vocals, the strident, siren-driven beats, the over-the-top posturing of Flava Flav, all wrapped in an uncompromising political stance. These two songs, Rebel Without A Pause and Bring the Noise were simply inescapable. This is, most likely, the single most influential album in hip hop history, when looked at in terms of the impact on the music and the culture and their future development.

No Sleep Till Brooklyn by Beastie Boys (1987). The members of the Beastie Boys had been hanging around the hip hop scene since the very beginning, and while their first album, Licensed to Ill, could be seen more of a novelty act by a trio of white punks; their later albums sealed their place in the history of the music. But it began here, with a disposable party anthem that set the stage for their sound.

Push It by Salt-N-Pepa (1987). There had been other female MCs or groups, but Push It marked the beginning of the lineage of dominant female artists, from Salt-N-Pepa through Queen Latifah and MC Lyte (more from them later) and on. Importantly, Salt, Pepa, and DJ Spinderella were so good as to dispel any notion that they were gimmicks.

Paid In Full by Eric B. & Rakim (1987). Eric B. & Rakim were, in all likelihood, the most influential DJ/MC combination in old school hip hop. Technically, nobody matched their combination of creative and funky beats with Rakim’s near-perfect flow. Paid in Full was a success on its own; then it’s remix by UK dance act Coldcut expanded its impact to a worldwide audience.

My Philosophy by Boogie Down Productions (1988). Everything about By All Means Necessary, from the Malcolm X inspired album cover to the subject matter of the songs declared the presence of a major force in the world of hip hop. If South Bronx was an anthem, My Philosophy is a manifesto.

Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A. (1988). We end this segment with the iconic explosion of West Coast, “Gangsta Rap” with the debut of N.W.A. While they were not the first of the genre, and over half the group came from Alonzo Williams‘ World Class Wreckin’ Crew, they weren’t far off, and their raw skills combined with their notoriety ushered in a new era for hip hop.

The Spotify playlist is here: http://bit.ly/hiphophspva-2

Next time, we’ll navigate through what we’re going to focus on once hip hop takes off and becomes an unquestionable commercial force.

DeepCuts

The entire DeepCuts playlist can be found here: http://bit.ly/hiphophspva-deep . This playlist will be added to as each installment is published.

Things get deep, fast, from here on out. As such, some more information on some songs that are historically important, but don’t quite fit in our time limits. Listening to them is strongly encouraged!

Buffalo Gals by Malcolm McLaren (1983). British art impressarios (today, we would call them “influencers”) McLaren and Trevor Horn were, on a trip to New York City, invited by Afrika Bambaataa to a Zulu Nation block party; while there, McLaren especially was taken with the technique of scratching and, over the protests of his record label, released Buffalo Gals. Hip hop took quite some time to really grow roots in the UK, but some early attempts were there: see Give It A Rest by She Rockers (1988) for an example.

Roxanne, Roxanne by UTFO (1984). Untouchable Force Organization was a solid contributor to the early Brooklyn hip hop scene, but this song is included mostly for the small industry it generated: within a year of its release, somewhere between fifty and one hundred “response cuts” were released, the most famous being Roxanne’s Revenge by the then-14 year old Roxanne Shanté. This is generally seen as the original rap “beef,” predating even “The Bridge Wars.”

“Songs” appear in quotation marks, Albums in italics without quotations, and Artists in bold.

#Beats and Samples

“Tour de France” by Kraftwerk (Germany, 1983); “Beat Box” by The Art of Noise (UK, 1983); “Cavern” by Liquid Liquid (1983).

#Notable Cuts

“New York New York” by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five; “Rock Box (7″ version)” (1984) and “Peter Piper” (1986) by Run-DMC; “Beat Street Breakdown” by Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five (1984); “Jam On It” (1984) by Newcleus; “Jail House Rap” and “Human Beat Box (1984) by Fat Boys; “The Show” by Slick Rick & Doug E. Fresh (1985); “Slow and Low” by Beastie Boys (1986); “Yo! Bum Rush the Show,” “Rightstarter (Message to a Black Man),” and “Raise the Roof” by Public Enemy (1987); “Microphone Fiend” and “Follow the Leader” by Eric B. & Rakim (1988); “Children’s Story” by Slick Rick & Doug E. Fresh (1988); “Self Destruction” by Stop the Violence Movement (1988); “Part Time Suckers” by Boogie Down Productions (1988). 

#Notable Cuts: West Coast Edition

“Body Rock” (1983) by Ice-T; “Surgery” and “Slice” by World Class Wreckin’ Crew (1985); “6 ‘n the Morning” by Ice-T (1986); Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A. (1987). 

#The Bridge Wars

“The Bridge” by MC Shan (1985); “Kill That Noise” by The Juice Crew (1987); “The Bridge is Over” by Boogie Down Productions (1987).

#Film

Breakin’ (1964) and Beat Street (1984) were hugely influential in the spread of hip hop, both domestically and internationally. Wild Style (1983) and Krush Groove (1985), much less so. All will make you laugh at parts, and give some insight into the historical moment.

{Continue on to Part 3}

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Reading Well: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Posted on March 27, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

George Saunders‘ much anticipated novel Lincoln in the Bardo (2017) does not disappoint, although it may bewilder.

The Lincoln of the title is not Abe, but rather Willie, his son who died at the nadir of his presidency (the Civil War is well underway, but it is not going well, and the steady river of corpses is taking a toll on the populace). Abe does have a role in the book, but the protagonists are actually a trio of ghosts.

Ghosts is an unfair term: the graveyard where Willie is buried is populated by a bevy of spirits who have not yet moved on to their final destination (the title refers to the Tibetan tradition of exactly such a space; the novel weaves bits of Tibetan mythology together with themes from The Egyptian Book of the Dead as well as more traditional Christian elements). They spirits refuse to accept their situation, insisting instead they are merely waiting to be healed.

Whether they will discover the truth of their situation forms most of what plot there is, enhanced by the experiences of the ghosts with Lincoln, whose visits to his son’s grave afford them moments of insight into the present world.

Lincoln in the Bardo is much closer to a play than a traditional novel, with chapters of dialog interspersed with chapters of very short excerpts from both actual and invented historical sources, often used to present a variety of perspectives on what would usually be thought of as simple truths. As a minor example, across a dozen or so quotes, the color of Lincoln’s (Abe’s, not Willie’s) eyes are described successively as grey, grey-blue, blue-grey, and blue.

It is a small thing, but it underscores the insistence of the novel on the possibility of mystery, and of the truth of the moment proving elusive and unknown. If the book is about anything, I would contend it is about that.

#WhatIWishICouldDo

There is a core humanity to the novel that is moving, and lovely. Allowing that to shine through is a great demonstration of craft and skill, doing so while mixing historical records, fiction, and a pivotal moment in the history of the USA is even more impressive.

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Hip Hop History: Part I

Posted on March 25, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

{I’m speaking on the history of hip hop at HSPVA in a few weeks; in preparation for that, m and I are working on some playlists. This is the first in a series of posts meant to be listening guides for those playlists.}

Hip Hop History Part 1: Origins through 1982

Amen, Brother by The Winstons (1969). This is the most sampled song in hip hop history, specifically the drum solo about halfway through, which is so popular, it is known as “the Amen Break.”

When the Revolution Comes by The Last Poets (1970) and The Revolution Will Not Be Televised by Gil Scott-Heron (1974). The link between these songs and hip hop is one of cultural continuity, not direct artistic lineage. We’ll talk more about this, but in many ways these songs were far more influential on hip hop in the 1990s and 2000s than the 1970s and 1980s.

Wake the Town by U-Roy (1970). U-Roy was one of the earliest practitioners of toasting, a Jamaican tradition of speaking over repeated rhythms. Many of the early DJs and MCs were first generation immigrants from the Caribbean, and while the direct impact of toasting on early MC styles isn’t totally clear, it is clearly present (as are speech styles from radio dee-jays of the 1950s and 1960s).

Rapper’s Delight by The Sugarhill Gang (1979). Claims to be “the first” are usually eventually disproven, but this is probably the most important of the initial songs to feature rapping throughout the entire song. There is a lot here, from the (currently) bizarre notion of a fifteen minute song to the classic structure of a series of MCs taking turns introducing themselves to the way in which the famous lines prefigure beatboxing.

That’s the Joint by Funky Four Plus One (1980). Included because the Funky Four Plus One were an important group in the early days, and because of the sampling of this song on a later De La Soul cut. They were the first group to have a female rapper (Sha Rock), and, like many of the early groups, went through numerous variations both in name and composition.

The Breaks by Kurtis Blow (1980). The first rap record to reach certified Gold status–and only the 2nd 12″ to achieve that level of sales. Certified Gold means over 500,000 records sold through official channels–yes, that implies the presence of various gray markets and the fact that other hip hop singles likely broke 500,000 units sold as well.

Rapture by Blondie (1980). The question of the role and relevance of white artists in hip hop exists from the very beginning (and looms even larger once you consider the roles of producers like Rick Rubin). Also, while Fab 5 Freddy reached his greatest fame as the host of Yo! MTV Raps in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was an important and influential figure in early hip hop, especially as a conduit between music being made uptown in the Bronx and the downtown art scene (dominated at the time by punk generally and the performance space CBGB’s specifically).

The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel by Grandmaster Flash (1981). Hip hop is usually defined as containing four related art forms (DJing, MCing, breakdancing, and graffiti art), and while MCs dominate the industry over the past several decades, the early stars were the DJs. This album captures a live performance by Grandmaster Flash. Listen for other songs you’ve heard, both here and elsewhere.

Busy Bee vs Kool Moe Dee (1981). This is the most important early rap battle, and set the stage for “the battle” as an important part of hip hop. Busy Bee was an influential early MC, but here Kool Moe Dee (at that point part of The Treacherous Three) just destroys him. Annihilates. Obliterates. Pick your verb. Pay attention to the structure of the sets: Busy Bee comes in with a standard set of verses, then Kool Moe Dee gets started. Note how he raps about specific parts of Busy Bee’s verse, and then continues to complicate the rhythmic patterns until he hits a series of doubletime verses that are a decade ahead of their time.

Don’t Stop … Planet Rock by Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force (1982). It’s very hard to date this track: Bambaataa was performing it for several years before it was recorded. There is probably no more intimidating figure in early hip hop than Afrika Bambaataa–a pivotal force in the transition of The Black Spades from a gang into the community organization, The Zulu Nation, and a huge man, he was one of the original three DJs (along with Kool DJ Herc and Grandmaster Flash) that dominated the early days. While the impact is often overstated, the song is clearly influenced by German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk.

The Message by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five. It took a while for the MC lineup of The Furious Five to stabilize (Cowboy, Melle Mel, and Kidd Creole were original members, Rahiem came from the Funky Four Plus One, and Scorpio came last). However, only Melle Mel was involved in The Message, one of the most important songs in hip hop history. The song was written by Ed “Duke Bootee” Fletcher, a Sugar Hill session musician, and Sylvia Robinson (we’ll talk more about her) had a hard time convincing the group to perform a song that was so clearly not a “party song.” Melle Mel and Fletcher split the verses (Rahiem lip-syncs Fletcher’s lines in the video). While politics is present throughout early hip hop, both implicitly and explicitly, The Message has a legitimate claim as the first successful political hip hop song.

That’s it. Part 2 will see the rise of the supergroups, the birth of beatboxing, and the explosion of political consciousness into hip hop. That will only take us up to around 1987 or so!

The Spotify Playlist for Part 1 may be found here: http://bit.ly/hiphophspva-1

DeepCuts

“Songs” appear in quotation marks, Albums in italics without quotations, and Artists in bold.

The entire DeepCuts playlist can be found here: http://bit.ly/hiphophspva-deep . This playlist will be added to as each installment is published.

#Samples and Other Influences

“Funky Drummer” by James Brown; Mothership Connection by Parliament. “Drop the Bomb” by Trouble Funk; “Maggot Brain” and “One Nation Under a Groove” by Funkadelic.

The Last Poets by The Last Poets, The Watts Prophets, Pieces of a Man by Gil Scott-Heron; Dennis Alcapone; I-Roy.

#1979 – 1982

“Rappin’ and Rocking the House” by Funky Four Plus One; “Christmas Rappin'” by Kurtis Blow; “Looking Good (Shake Your Body)” by Eddie Cheba; “The New Rap Language” by Spoonie Gee and the Treacherous Three; “8th Wonder” by The Sugarhill Gang; “Looking for the Perfect Beat” by Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force; “Scorpio” by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five; “Rockin’ It” by The Fearless Four.

#Political Hip Hop

“How We Gonna Make the Black Nation Rise?” by Brother D with Collective Effort.

{Continue on to Part 2}

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Reading Well: Tuesday Nights in 1980 by Molly Prentiss

Posted on March 17, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

The most compelling writing in Molly Prentiss‘ debut novel, Tuesday Nights in 1980 (2016), surrounds a synesthetic writer, whose descriptions of the New York art scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s are fantastically vivid and surprising. He is not quite an art critic, more of a critical virtuoso, whose ability to identify emotional resonance in artists proves to be a bellwether for critics and collectors alike.

I don’t believe it is a description of synesthesia in a strict sense–his ability to perceive color and smell and sensation from works of art vanishes and returns at key points in the novel’s plot–but as a conceit, it works very well, allowing Prentiss to pull together creative and unexpected adjectives to evoke the varieties of style and emotion, especially in the visual arts of the era.

The rest of the characters–an Argentinian painter in exile on the verge of success, a naif from Idaho trying to find her way into the scene, along with a full company of supporting roles–are drawn well, and their personalities and motivations remain distinct throughout the book.

This is a novel about art, about what it takes to create it, but moreso about what it might mean to lose it, to never find or no longer have access to the outlet that it provides, and it is most successful when it is engaging directly with those themes, and with their impacts on the lives of the characters.

Clearly, the more this historical moment–New  York City once Warhol has peaked, the gentrification of southern Manhattan has barely begun, and the HIV/AIDS crisis is still in its infancy–appeals, the more the novel will as well.

#WhatIWishICouldDo

Continually create descriptions that are as poetically surprising as Prentiss’. Yes, the synesthesia thing grants her a huge amount of leeway, but (a) what a great idea to find something to provide that, and (b) she still executes it with aplomb and precision.

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Reading Well: Two Quick Things

Posted on March 4, 2018 by Daniel (@MKNN)

Every once in a while, I encounter an artist whose aesthetic fits my own in what feels like a profound way, someone that becomes an instant and enduring favorite. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Tord Gustaven‘s piano trio did this, China Miéville‘s fiction did this, and Eddie Izzard‘s stand up comedy did this.

As such, I read Izzard’s autobiography, Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens (2017) with great anticipation. Much of what resonates with me about Izzard’s comedy is his intelligence, and his observations about history and contemporary culture, many of which distill complex phenomena into cutting, incisive observations. I am also a sucker for artists talking about their craft, about how they think about the creation process of their art.

Unfortunately, neither of these make much of an appearance in Believe Me, and his explorations of what it meant to grow up and then come out as a transvestite in England a few decades ago are clearly personally powerful, but lack a level of sophisticated exploration to really be more universally compelling. The absence of political nuance in the book is striking, something that combines with some other clues about rushed editing (the repetition of some thoughts and phrases, etc.) that make me wonder about how much of the tone was planned/controlled.

It’s an interesting read, and I’m glad to have more understanding as to what possessed him to run 27 marathons in 26 days, but it lacks either the depth of insight or the laugh out loud moments I hoped to find.

# # #

The Dark Defiles (2014) concludes Richard K. Morgan‘s A Land Fit For Heroes trilogy (started in The Steel Remains and continued in The Cold Commands). There’s not much new here, and the write-ups of the previous two books continue to be true: this is engaging, page-turning fantasy/speculative fiction, and worth a shot if that’s what you enjoy.

I’ve started several series as part of Reading Well; this is one of the few I carried on with and completed, and should Morgan choose to return to this world (surely there is more, either in the history of conflict with the reptilian invaders or in the intergalactic travelers), I will be happy to journey there as well.

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