I’m a relatively old dude.  I’m 35.  I grew up in the suburbs and skateboarded as a youth.  Hip hop wasn’t my first musical love affair.  As I was growing up, I stole my older brother’s Boston and Led Zeppelin tapes and loved me some classic rock.  In high school I listened to heavy metal, punk, and alternative, and started dabbling in some hip hop.  It wasn’t until I heard Digable Planet’s Reachin that I realized how amazing and complex hip hop could be.  After that I was an honest to goodness b-boy.  I was a fiend for all things hip hop.  I started buying vinyl and producing my own beats even. 

As I got older and hip hop started to become more shallow, I started revisiting my roots.  Today, my musical diet is pretty balanced.  A little hip hop, a little alternative, some punk, some metal, and of course, lots of oldies. 

But after all those years of listening to only hip hop oriented music and going back to different genres of music, I’ve got a different perspective on things.  When I was only listening to hip hop, I missed a whole lot of really great music.  This little article’s purpose is to connect the music you love (hip hop) to some music you may have missed, and how they connect.

My Bloody Valentine-Loveless
Preview

This is a significant album do to the actual production of it.  It’s an amazing album, without a doubt (I believe it’s on Rolling Stone Magazine’s top 500 albums of all time), but what went into its greatness, is very hip hop. 

First, Kevin Shields (mastermind of the “band”) programmed almost all the drums using samples of their actual drummer (who was ill during the 2+ years of recording the album).  There are 2 songs with actual live drums.  It’s very clear they’re programmed drums and it greatly adds to individuality of the album.  His programming is excellent.

Second, Kevin also used an actual sampler through out the production of the album.  This is not as evident as the drums though.  Loveless is an extremely loud and noisy record.  With minimal research you’ll start finding terms such as “melodic noise” or “wall of sound” to describe the album.  This is very true, and therein lies the beauty of it.  It’s amazingly loud and noisy, but extremely melodic and almost soft at the same time.  It’s a juxtaposition you rarely ever hear.  But I digress.

Throughout the album, Kevin would sample different tones, sounds, and even feedback, from his guitar.  He’d take these sounds and cram them through a myriad of effects consoles and eventually back out of various guitar amps again. 

Now, think back to the 80′s when artists first started experimenting with samplers and drum machines to make hip hop music.  The machines they were using, were not made to make hip hop music (obviously, there was no hip hop music yet).  So basically, the early pioneers in hip hop had the vision to basically misuse samplers and drum machines to generate the sounds they wanted. 

Fast forward to 1990 or 1991 when the likes of Roland and Akai are starting to cater to hip hop artists with their gear.  Kevin Shields (like the early pioneers of hip hop) saw the equipment he had at his disposal and made it work for him to achieve his artistic vision. 

Radiohead-In Rainbows
Preview

This Album is notable because of its completeness and its flawless melding of studio electronics and live instrumentation. 

When Radiohead dropped KID A on us unsuspecting fans, it was made pretty clear that they had been listening to some hip hop over the years.  KID A was so electronic and sampled its was crazy.  As amazing of album as it was, the trouble was accurately reproducing it live, and actually entertaining people while doing so.  Over the next couple of albums they toned down the electronics and have slowly brought back the live instrumentation to the mix. 

That’s where In Rainbows comes in.  They got it soooooo right.  The perfect balance electronics and live instruments.  AND on top of that, the album itself is absolutely mind blowing. 

This is important to hip hop because, lets face it, samples aren’t going to get any cheaper, and the hip hop big money pool is drying up quick.  I love sample based hip hop as much as the next guy, but realistically its going the way of the dinosaurs.  Most artists don’t have the bank roll (or label advance) of a Jay-Z or Kanye to put together an album of ridiculous (legal) samples.  One law suite will take your album out of the public eye faster than you could blink, or worse financially put you 6ft under.

So we need look at albums like In Rainbows, essentially for guidance.  The day where hip hop needs to embrace the “band” esthetic is coming sooner than later.  If we want to keep any of the loopy charm of the original hip hop music, we need to examine In Rainbows and albums like it. 

(Before you say anything.  I know The Roots do this, and do it extremely well.  But The Roots are part of tiny minority of hip hop, no other hip hop group really touches the likes of The Roots or Radiohead at the mixture of programmed and live sounds.)

The Black Keys-Thickfreakness
Preview

The Black Keys are an exercise in consistency.  Hell, their first 4 albums sound like they could have been recorded at the same session.  The real beauty behind The Black Keys  is the fact that they stay dirty.  They’re not a small band nowadays either.  They have a pretty sizable following.  And given you can build a pretty legit home studio for about $1000 nowadays, I’d be willing to bet The Black Keys dirty sound is intentional. 

My problem here, when hip hop artists start making money, the first thing they do (as a rule) is start to polish their sound.  Buy better mics and compressors, and so on.  They don’t realize that the sonics of the recordings are almost as important as the music itself. 

Blackmoon is a perfect example of this.  Enta Da Stage is a masterwork.  But look at the subsequent releases.  They were more polished and surprisingly not as good.  The Beatminerz knew what had to be done and revised that dirty sound on Alta Da Chemistry.  Even though this isn’t technically a “Blackmoon” album, it’s better than Total Eclipse and WarZone. 

And consistency doesn’t just fall in the hands of sound quality and sonics.  The first track on Thickfreakness is the best “track 1” since Marvin Gaye’s Lets Get It On.  Maybe not the best track on the album, but it grabs you and says “HEY!!!!  this is whats going on the next 40 minutes”, and that is exactly what happens.  The “Track 1” has been sort of lost in hip hop as a whole.  There’s some good ones out there (De La Soul always has good Track 1′s), but for the  most part, it’s always some BIG, EPIC beat with your typical intro content thrown on there haphazardly (or some stupid fucking movie dialog).  The Track 1 is truly a lost art nowadays. 

Aside from all that, this album just bangs!  Bluesy, soulful, and funky.  Not to mention the drums are crazy on this album.  The Black Keys could probably retire if they ever made a record of just breaks.

Yo La Tengo-Summer Sun
Preview

This album is crucial solely because it is so ripe with samples.  Any producer alive today  could easily compose an album based on this sample source alone.  You name it, its on their.  Tons of keys, lots of interesting guitars, horns, and even some pretty smooth bass lines.  Surprisingly no breaks, but lots of real clean cymbals and snares.

Stereolab-Dots and Loops
Preview

It’s safe to say that most of us that listen to hip hop, also listen to the sources used for sampling.  I’d be willing to bet a cool C-note that 90%, or better, of hip hop fans own a James Brown CD, or a Roy Ayers “Best Of” mix floating around somewhere. 

That’s where Stereolab comes in.  They’re kind of like the next generation of sample source.  They contain all the elements that hip hop producers look for in sample source material, but its just slightly more futuristic than say, The Stylistics or Bobby Hutcherson.  Upon first listen of any of their albums since the opus Emperor Tomato Ketchup, you can hear a diverse range of influences and styles.

For instance, Cobras and Phases is very jazz influenced.  The First Of The Microbe Hunters is extremely funk influenced.   And Dots and Loops is influence by more soul and lounge music.  They’re ultra consistent when it comes to quality, but you never know what you’re going to get when buy a Stereolab album.  I pretty much just picked Dots and Loops because it’s an amazing album beginning to end, and my favorite.  I could have substituted any album of theirs, this side of 1993 though. 

The other side of Stereolab that is inherently hip hop, is the message.  Even though their music sounds fun and happy and funky… The message is very different.  They are very politically outspoken in their music.  They’re one of the few bands that still use their music to convey a message as their main intent.  This has sadly fallen by the wayside in hip hop. 

I often refer to Stereolab as “the French/British/lounge/jazz/soul version of Public Enemy minus the clock”.  That’s a pretty accurate description actually if you snoop around in their lyrics a bit.  Quite seriously, I’ve got probably 95% of their MASSIVE catalog, and I’ve found… one… love song.  That’s pretty crazy.

Bottom line:  Stereolab just makes really great, really fun music with an urgent message.  Sound familiar?

Fugazi-13 Songs
Preview

Ian Mackaye, one of the most influential figures in music today (that nobodies ever heard of) for countless reasons.  I’m going to touch on 2 here.

1.  He’s the voice of Minor Threat and Fugazi.  In the 80s and 90s he (along with those 2 bands) mirrored the voices of hip hop.  He did for punk and hardcore music what Chuck D, X Clan, and Digable Planets did for hip hop.  He gave them a message of hope and empowerment.  Like those hip hop artists, he brought his message and agenda for change to the people who needed it, with powerful and tangible music.  I’m sure if Chuck D were asked about Ian Mackaye he’d say the same thing.

2.   Ian Mackaye pretty much built the blueprint for all indie labels of today.  He started Dischord Records in 1980 as a means of releasing 7” singles for his band .  In the years following shunned major label interest for his own imprint.  Eventually releasing his own full length albums on the label he realized he was in control of his music.  Since this realization he (and Dischord Records) set their own prices for their music (including door prices at shows) and control all distribution and marketing.  As common as this is today, that was not the case 20 years ago.  All indie labels today owe Ian Mackaye a debt of gratitude.

Operation Ivy-Energy
Preview

Much like Stereolab and Fugazi, Operation Ivy created an album that was fun, listenable, and at the same time powerful.  They also stepped outside the box of punk rock by integrating horns and funkier bass lines (what’s now mislabeled as “ska”) and making their message danceable. 

The major connection between Operation Ivy and hip hop though, is skateboard culture.  When this album came out in 1991, it was very very common to hear it played along side De La Soul, Ice T, or Organized Konfusion.  Very memorable time for music.

The Flaming Lips-The Soft Bulletin
Preview

If you haven’t heard this album, you need to.  This is one of those albums thats on every music magazine’s “top albums of all times” lists.  It’s superbly written and produced, and sonically speaking, it’s absolutely gorgeous. 

The whole album has an almost odd hip hop vibe about it.  Its got really big drums, programmed strings (presumably coming from a vintage mellowtron), and laundry list of other instrumentation, including some samples.  Very comparable to the Radiohead album I spoke about before, The Soft Bulletin very neatly marries the live instrumentation and programmed pieces into one cohesive whole. 

The other line that can be drawn over to hip hop, is the concept.  Any MF DOOM fan could enjoy this album.  The lyrical content is abstract and just arbitrary enough for the listener to come to their own conclusions about the concept of the album as a whole.  Unfortunately this is not as common in hip hop as it once was.  I think DOOM and his contemporaries have forward momentum in this area and I don’t think it’ll be lost for good.

–

I hope I’ve at very least made you scratch your head.  I know hip hop pretty intimately and I know it is an addiction to a certain extent.  But I firmly believe that stepping away from hip hop from time to time will give you a much greater appreciation of it when you return. 

Words by: MartyMar

Got a recommendation yourself? Let us know by leaving a comment!