Thumb-tacked to the wall of my room in my parents' house is a list I printed out in the year 2000. Hiphopsite.com, an online hip-hop record store had produced a list of the 100 most anticipated releases for the upcoming year. I've left it on my wall partly out of laziness and partly because of how chastening it is to recall the days when an N.W.A. reunion album or a DJ Premier-produced … more »
The more the Roots face the bright stage lights, whether on tour or Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, the more their music recedes into big city high-rises and a bleak worldview. Founding members Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson still remember when they pitched freestyle raps over pot-and-pan beats on Philadelphia's South Street, and when Thompson got accepted to Julliard but couldn't afford to attend. In the 25 years since, the hip-hop band… more »
Parisian producers OJ and Gold are driven by a shared aesthetic, one in which the more bohemian and blunted corners of North American independent hip-hop have been steeped for more than a decade. It’s an intersection of ’70s/’80s vintage synths and clipped, sawed-off drum breaks, an approach that’s spanned 21st-century music from the Soulquarians to Dam-Funk. Analogtronics does its best to prove its creators’ love for that sound with a roster of indie-rap MCs that work well over it. The reliable juxtaposition of fat, squelching basslines and airy, glimmering melodies over digital-organic Dilla-style snares provides a comfortable backdrop for Detroiters Elzhi (“Wings”) and Guilty Simpson (“Digital Delight”), not to mention more Eastward vets like Talib Kweli (the Syl Johnson-sweetened “Time… more »
Even for a guy who records constantly, out of habit, like Prince or Guided by Voices or the early, three-album-a-year Beach Boys, Wiley is prone to throwing things together. “This Is Just an Album” is the title of Evolve or Be Extinct‘s final track, as if to shrug out loud, “It’s the body of work that counts.” That, and Wiley was in such a hurry to get the thing out in time for his 33rd birthday (happy birthday, Wiley) that the listener’s likely to prune some of it. Such as, what the hell is “I’m a weirdo/ But I’m not a bipolar…They ain’t on the same planet as me” supposed to imply? And did we need the four-minute “Customs (Skit)”… more »
In 1993, Arrested Development was the angel on hip-hop’s shoulder; conscious rap at its most extreme — telling children to throw away their toys and play with mother Earth, writing passionate odes to the institution of marriage, and speaking to god the way you would a friend. The same month that Dr. Dre‘s giddily nihilistic Chronic was peaking on Billboard, MC Speech and his crew of Atlanta peacethrowers were tearing up the singles chart with a benevolent ode to helping the homeless. Arrested Development were earthy, Afrocentric, almost comically laidback, hopelessly optimistic, unwaveringly positive, dreads-and-all bohemian. Naturally it was an instant smash among rock critics, most of whom prophesized a do-gooder hip-hop future that never exactly materialized.
But don’t… more »
Diehard Roots fans cried foul when Black Thought mumbled nonsensically in the hook of The Tipping Point‘s lead single, something ?uestlove didn’t even expect. (“Roots diehards should be used to this zaniness,” he wrote in its liner notes.) But as a front-to-back listen makes clear, their first and last effort for Interscope is a straightforward, lyrically-driven return to hip-hop as the Roots once knew it — aimed directly at the mainstream. Introduction “Star/Pointro” allows its samples of Sly and Family Stone hit “Everybody is a Star” to take shape in between Black Thought’s observations on the current hip-hop climate (“‘Young brothers on the grind/ holding something in they spine/ Bowling for Columbine“). “Boom!” is a pounding, merciless three-minute rumble that… more »
Want to get a snapshot of last year's best music? In our Best of 2011 radio station, you'll hear songs from the artists who provided our 2011 soundtrack. No matter what your taste -- indie rock, jazz, doom metal or avant-folk, you'll find it here in eMusic's Best of 2011 Radio. more »
