Deexan
CS! Silver
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 18,196 
Likes: 2,995
Location:
Last Online Nov 13, 2021 19:23:59 GMT -5
|
Post by Deexan on Jul 29, 2016 22:53:28 GMT -5
So I was in NYC last weekend for a music festival and the best part of it was that the bands I went to see, who have always been political, were UBER political because of the current political landscape in the USA. and it made their performances all the more intense.
I present to you, Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene (plus special guest):
Arcade Fire's Bowie tribute was unreal.
They walked through the whole crowd after their last track and went to a Bowie tribute memorial with a jazz orchestra. I got to pat every member of the band on the back on their way through the whole festival (5:30). One of the best days of my life.
Here it is!
Cut to hip-hop, Akala released this a few weeks ago.
If you like hip-hop, your mind is about to be blown:
|
|
Deexan
CS! Silver
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 18,196
Likes: 2,995
Location:
Last Online Nov 13, 2021 19:23:59 GMT -5
|
Post by Deexan on Jul 29, 2016 22:58:57 GMT -5
Nope
|
|
Deexan
CS! Silver
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 18,196
Likes: 2,995
Location:
Last Online Nov 13, 2021 19:23:59 GMT -5
|
Post by Deexan on Jul 29, 2016 23:01:09 GMT -5
NO.
|
|
Deexan
CS! Silver
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 18,196
Likes: 2,995
Location:
Last Online Nov 13, 2021 19:23:59 GMT -5
|
Post by Deexan on Jul 29, 2016 23:06:21 GMT -5
Nada.
|
|
Deexan
CS! Silver
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 18,196
Likes: 2,995
Location:
Last Online Nov 13, 2021 19:23:59 GMT -5
|
Post by Deexan on Jul 29, 2016 23:11:15 GMT -5
Nothing to see here.
|
|
Deexan
CS! Silver
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 18,196
Likes: 2,995
Location:
Last Online Nov 13, 2021 19:23:59 GMT -5
|
Post by Deexan on Jul 29, 2016 23:16:10 GMT -5
Move on.
|
|
Deexan
CS! Silver
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 18,196
Likes: 2,995
Location:
Last Online Nov 13, 2021 19:23:59 GMT -5
|
Post by Deexan on Jul 29, 2016 23:29:36 GMT -5
Iraq
Vietnam
Italians
Ethiopians
Caliphate
Witches
Alexander
Caesar
Napoleon
Romans
Belgian Congo
Rwanda
Japan
Phillipines
Alabama
Haiti
My head was chopped off by
one of destiny's henchmen
who gave the order for killing all Frenchmen
Then all I could see was pyramids
Can you see?
Designed by man's mind
But built by his greed
The strangest pyramids I ever did see
Were not built by stones
but by the bones of families
|
|
Deexan
CS! Silver
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 18,196
Likes: 2,995
Location:
Last Online Nov 13, 2021 19:23:59 GMT -5
|
Post by Deexan on Jul 29, 2016 23:44:12 GMT -5
Fuck... I left a lot of serious opinion in here and nobody will fucking read it... Should've taken it to the Politics zone.
|
|
Dracula
CS! Gold
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 26,105
Likes: 5,732
Location:
Member is Online
|
Post by Dracula on Jul 30, 2016 0:00:19 GMT -5
I'm usually pretty skeptical about "concious" rappers but the guy in the OP and the other video do clearly have some pretty strong talent. The whole "semi-freestyle in a booth over generic beat without a chorus" formula only ever does so much for me but it can be a decent gauge of what one of these guys is about.
Political rap, is kind of something I feel like I should like in theory but usually don't in practice. To me the best political expressions in art usually come from a place of subtlty, allegory, or at least storytelling but subtlety tends not to be hip-hop's strongest suit and often the "conscious rappers" kind of just come off kind of preachy. They often kind of come off like high school kids who just read their first Noam Chomsky book and think they're blowing your mind with their talking points. There's also a lot of preaching to the choir about what they're doing. Oddly I generally like political rap better when it feels less like it's coming from an academic place and more when it's coming from a sort of personal rage. "Death Certificate" era Ice Cube feels a lot more radical and interesting to me than anything Immortal Technique has ever put out even it its messages are... often problematic.. it feels like it's coming from a real place.
|
|
Deexan
CS! Silver
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 18,196
Likes: 2,995
Location:
Last Online Nov 13, 2021 19:23:59 GMT -5
|
Post by Deexan on Jul 30, 2016 0:06:22 GMT -5
I know what you mean.
Political hip hop as a sub-genre doesn't exist.
That's what makes Akala's achievements all the more impressive. He has no marketing, no label, everything he does is self-funded and he still sells out every venue he performs in, all over the UK.
People demand it, especially because the commercial side of music has strayed SO far away from anything political. People like me, at least, are desperate for this fucking guy.
|
|
Deexan
CS! Silver
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 18,196
Likes: 2,995
Location:
Last Online Nov 13, 2021 19:23:59 GMT -5
|
Post by Deexan on Jul 30, 2016 0:07:55 GMT -5
DraculaEven his 'singles' can blow your mind:
|
|
Deexan
CS! Silver
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 18,196
Likes: 2,995
Location:
Last Online Nov 13, 2021 19:23:59 GMT -5
|
Post by Deexan on Jul 30, 2016 0:16:24 GMT -5
Neverending Watched him live at a festival two weeks ago and this was his last track (video in post above). How good are these lines: "They can...keep the charts, all I want is your hearts. When was the last time you ever played Hendrix? Or Miles Davis or John Coltrane? Or Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday? We can call it urban to me that's cool If urban means street, that includes jazz too And rock for that matter Go ask Mick Jagger or Jimmy Page what they were listening to - the blues Not discrediting, love Zeppelin too, just giving credit where credit is due That blood soaked word rappers still use All it really shows is that we still self abuse That was the word that was used to kill Kelso Cochrane and Emmett Till That was the word that the conscience eased And made people pleased to hung you from trees That was the word that let the whips crack No matter what you say you can't take it back And I can say their black so I feel their pain easier But 1915 look at Armenia If the whole world is human stupidity Though we choke ourselves to death quite literally And I can talk with my comfortable mouth With my comfortable clothes and my comfortable house The sheer weight of the thought of space Is enough to keep my little ego in place"
|
|
Deexan
CS! Silver
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 18,196
Likes: 2,995
Location:
Last Online Nov 13, 2021 19:23:59 GMT -5
|
Post by Deexan on Jul 30, 2016 0:25:04 GMT -5
Are you lost?
|
|
Neverending
CS! Platinum
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 65,782
Likes: 8,648
Location:
Last Online Nov 24, 2024 12:18:02 GMT -5
|
Post by Neverending on Jul 30, 2016 1:12:53 GMT -5
Is Immortal Technique still a thing? He was HUGE back when I was in college, this was over a decade ago, but I haven't heard a single song from him ever since.
I still think Public Enemy is the gold standard for political rap.
|
|
Deexan
CS! Silver
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 18,196
Likes: 2,995
Location:
Last Online Nov 13, 2021 19:23:59 GMT -5
|
Post by Deexan on Jul 30, 2016 1:16:21 GMT -5
Is Immortal Technique still a thing? He was HUGE back when I was in college, this was over a decade ago, but I haven't heard a single song from him ever since. I still think Public Enemy is the gold standard for political rap. I follow him on twitter. then this: |
|
Dracula
CS! Gold
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 26,105
Likes: 5,732
Location:
Member is Online
|
Post by Dracula on Jul 30, 2016 1:24:00 GMT -5
Is Immortal Technique still a thing? He was HUGE back when I was in college, this was over a decade ago, but I haven't heard a single song from him ever since. I dunno, I haven't heard much from him since I was in college either... which is probably a pattern. My goole search shows that he was protesting at the DNC, dude is apparently on the Jill Stein or bust ticket... and is apparently a regular on Russia Today. Wikipedia says that he hasn't put out an actual album since 2011. |
|
Neverending
CS! Platinum
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 65,782
Likes: 8,648
Location:
Last Online Nov 24, 2024 12:18:02 GMT -5
|
Post by Neverending on Jul 30, 2016 1:46:05 GMT -5
Is Immortal Technique still a thing? He was HUGE back when I was in college, this was over a decade ago, but I haven't heard a single song from him ever since. I dunno, I haven't heard much from him since I was in college either... which is probably a pattern. My goole search shows that he was protesting at the DNC, dude is apparently on the Jill Stein or bust ticket... and is apparently a regular on Russia Today. Wikipedia says that he hasn't put out an actual album since 2011. Kanye West's Late Registration and Immortal Technique's Revolutionary were probably the biggest rap albums when I was in college. What a time to have been alive. |
|
Deexan
CS! Silver
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 18,196
Likes: 2,995
Location:
Last Online Nov 13, 2021 19:23:59 GMT -5
|
Post by Deexan on Aug 5, 2016 15:26:18 GMT -5
Damn, I chatted some serious shit last weekend. Even for me. I wish I had that kind of motivation whilst sober. Although 98% of it was bollocks.
I can only apologise for the wall of waffle.
|
|
