Kendrick Lamar DAMN.

I see this guys name and I think of Lamont from Revenge of the Nerds.

Hey Mark...went to Jay's new place Friday and they were slammed and buried. I never knew Jay could move so fast behind a bar. Had a nice chat with him before the crowds showed up.

Kung Fu rips.

I echo mark's sentiments on the new album.

I was hoping to see more of his coachella set last night but was more tired than a sunburnt teenage girl who'd been rolling all weekend and fell asleep halfway through lourde.

hopefully they'll b some captures.

It's Lamar, Ned . Lamar Latrell to be exact. In fact his limp wristed throwing style made him the perfect foil for Stan Gable in the javelin throw at the Greek Games. 

I don't know how people listen to hip-hop, or least listen to a track more than once. I always get halfway into a song and wonder how it's not over already. Just excessively repetitive and boring.

what an irresponsible post.

I agree, beast. I mean, how about a 15+ minute Fire on the Mtn, or Franklins, or Not Fade Away.....endless loops of hell.

I just read a book on the history of west coast rap.  Dr. Dre was quite the 'hands-on' husband.

i thought this might have been a jenner, or some disfigured kardashian..

>>I always get halfway into a song and wonder how it's not over already. Just excessively repetitive and boring.

DJ Khaled at Coachella spent his whole set saying "We just getting started...turn this mic up" and then after 45 mins or so of that it was over.

Just read my son St. Mark's take on the new album.  His reply was that it is a mistake to compare the two recordings in the first place.  Then he played Untitled 2 from last night's Coachella set.  Pretty impressive to my ears.  

Probably would have been better without Bono and The Edge

Rap and Hip Hop is so boring.  I am sorry for the folks that like this ,ahem, music.

To the poster above, "Rap and Hip Hop" is not a genre.

Nice writeup, St Mark. Have we done a live listening party yet here on Viva?

can i be up with it???

It has nice bass

>>To the poster above, "Rap and Hip Hop" is not a genre.

He's probably a fan of psychedelic music

What a mess.

Yeah, the hype surrounding this album is a little overblown

Custifornication  

Came home and heard my son listening to this, he said he thought it was pretty solid.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RIGINiBYxis

I thought his last album was good. This new one is weak. He's pretty much just a punk ass motherfucker now.

No problem, Mark. I'll go that far for ya. Lamars new album is some punk ass banter that he would have gotten straight up bitch slapped for back in the 90's.

Never heard of him

We gon' be all right. 

He's bold enough to wear white socks w/Teva's so he's cool in my book.

Oh, and, If it's not on Vinyl, it's not a True Listening Party,

Is this guy related to Hedley Lamarr??? That guy was funny.

>>>I wish new artists would just cover the hits from the 60's-70's and stop creating new sounds<<<

Isn't that what most rappers have done with samples? Or are samples of old songs inserted into new raps considered new sounds?

Also, what's the average shelf life of any rapper/hip-hopper and their music? It seems to me they all come & go pretty fast.

Honest question... Do people listen to rap records years after they're made? Will there be "Classic Rap" radio stations playing the hits from decades earlier? Obviously I'm not a fan or an expert, but to me it all seems to be a flavor of the minute type of genre.

As for this guy in particular, I hadn't really heard of him but I watched some of his stream from Coachella last week and he seemed to have that amazing skill of machine-gunning vast amounts of lyrics within a series of rhythms & beats. It's damned impressive and I admire it, but as always I do still get bored with it quickly.

I respect Rap/Hip Hop as a musical genre(s) & do try to listen on occasion, but having been raised in Phila Row House "Honky Gangsta" culture, it doesn't Speak To Me in any way, nor Move me, so for me it's in the same "Respect but not really Appreciate" category as Opera and Broadway Show Tunes.

Having said that, I Still CAN'T FUCKING STAND the Auto Tune that's in pretty much all Pop music these days.  Truly Awful Garbage that makes me want to Kill Babies.  If I'm grocery shopping & that shit comes on I completely lose my marbles & cease to be able to Function. 

I listened to Fight the Power today.

The Chronic gets attention from time to time.

Kate Tempest is someone I have recently checked out.  Europe is Lost has some energy and science  

Have you seen Straight Outta Compton?

I mean I am a casual fan but I have come to appreciate hip hop and I cannot lie.

..

>>>>>>> hip hop probably comprises 60% of the landmark albums released over the last 30 years or so

I wouldn't doubt that one bit.  Rock & Roll has been basically Dead/devoid of new ideas for decades . . . 

It has lasted longer than the Disco Genre stretch.

what was the last new idea in rock and roll?

Ticket and fee inflation.

I'm a bit disappointed that Mark hasn't returned from the glorious task of bedding his baby to school me on my questions and assumptions.

I'm guessing that he's taking his time to put together an intelligent and comprehensive response, which I'm fully ready for (or maybe he's doing something much better. One can hope).

While I've been exposed to a fairly significant amount of live rap and hip-hop for over 25 years, I readily admit I know almost nothing significant about it.

Except that I don't care much for it.

I've not been overly impressed with Mark's observations on football, but I am confident that he knows much more about hip-hop/rap than he does about football, so I'm all ears my Colorado buddy.

Good grief.

I've been sipping tequila alone this evening. Not a normal activity.

I guess these past couple of posts qualify as ZUI.

Another thing off my bucket list.

(But I am looking forward to Mark's response. As always I'm eager to learn).

Not really fair to compare Lamar to Mase or Dididy. Just embarrassing for Lamar.

>>>>>so for me it's in the same "Respect but not really Appreciate" category as Opera and Broadway Show Tunes.

I feel exactly the same about all three.

In the words of Fred Eaglesmith (great performer by the way):

"All Rap lyrics can be summed up in 1 line:  'Too Many Bitches, Not Enough Ho's'"

>>>>> so for me it's in the same "Respect but not really Appreciate" category as Opera and Broadway Show Tunes.

I feel exactly the same about all three. <<<<<<

Me, too.

Um, there's also Blues, Bluegrass, Country, & (as much as I shudder when I say it) Zydeco

"And whose to count the Angels dancing on a Pin"

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/13/arts/have-rap-concerts-become-inextric...

>>>Blues, Bluegrass, Country, & (as much as I shudder when I say it) Zydeco

Distilled here perhaps but heavy debts to Europe.

>>>>Do people listen to rap records years after they're made? Will there be "Classic Rap" radio stations playing the hits from decades earlier?

Yes. Many stations have segments called "old skool jams" or something. I know sirius had an old school station and I found it enjoyable.  I wouldn't pretend any real knowledge of the genre, just a casual occasional listener, but even I have some stone cold classic hip hop faves that I go back and listen to.  Of course, mine tend to be ones that are favored by other middle aged white people.  When I do listen to some sold school classic hip hop I am invariably introduced to stuff I missed back in the day but I like.  If you are under the age of 60 and you don't have a couple of fave hip-hop albums then you have truly been living in a box.  And yes, To Pimp a Butterfly is a very well-crafted piece of art.   However, the genre IS often singles oriented (when you get actual radio play and are relevant to young folks, that happens), but I can get behind a catchy hit single if its good.

>>>you feel like the genre is somehow not legitimate<<<

That would be incorrect, and I've always tried to add to any of my comments on the subject that I respect and admire much of the talent. I guess I haven't made that clear enough.

And it's obviously legitimate based on it's longevity, how it's changed over the years, it's continued growth in popularity and how it went fully into the mainstream of suburban white America.

I can tell you that from my experience rap/hip-hop concerts today are vastly different affairs, at least in the audience (http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/04/21/wrongful-death-suit-filed-against-young-jeezy-in-2014-shoreline-slaying/ - I was about 100 feet away from this when it happened) than they were 25 years ago, when violence was always in the air and was the name of the game. I had a particularly memorable experience at a Public Enemy show in 1989, and lived through/survived multiple very intense & truly dangerous times at shows through most of the '90s.

I've always admitted that those experiences pretty much ruined any hope for me getting more into the genre, and I do actually like more of what artists are doing now, but the memories are many and burned into my consciousness. Whenever I hear what I consider to be "gansta' rap" especially I have a reflexive negative reaction. Unfortunately this happens almost every day considering that I work at a high school and I actually play what is essentially a damned hip-hop radio station in the little on-campus business I run with my students. It's their shop so we listen to their music, and I shake my head at least once a day like the old man I am.

>>>You should try to listen to the words he's saying<<<

I've never cared about lyrics in any form of music. They can be impressive, brilliant, topical or foolish and shallow, I'm just not into that part of music. I love Robert Hunter and I think much of his work is brilliant, but I don't get any more out of GD lyrics when I listen or am at a show than I do from Phish lyrics, or Pearl Jam, Yes, Zappa or even Dylan. I just don't pay much attention to lyrics in music (one of the many reasons I love jazz, and improvisational music in general) so obviously rap/hip-hop isn't going to get in my head since it's lyrics that are such a dominate feature of that genre.

It didn't help that much of what I was aware of as a non-fan years ago were lyrics about the foolish feuds the rappers would have between each other. I know that wasn't all or maybe even most of what was happening, but the very idea of it was so childish and it wore me out.

>>> understand the originality of the music being played<<<

I can and do appreciate that, when music is actually being played on stage. Does Lamar have a live band? I don't remember noticing. It seems to me that most rap music especially is rhythm and beats, which I love - I play the drums after all - and the DJs/scratchers or whatever they're called have always impressed the hell out of me, but for me live especially it all gets monotonous (I don't like drum solos either). And even when it's more than that and I hear more obvious musical sounds it's usually pre-recorded at live shows, and I just can't get into that in any musical form.

One of my main takes from a personal level is that I have never been much interested in recorded music of any kind, and maybe I'm wrong with this impression too, but it seems to me tht rap and hip-hop are really at their best in the recording studio. That's all fine and is an art form of it's own, but I love to hear music played live, where the ability to perform and create in the moment is on main display.

Ultimately I know that I don't know what's good or best about most of what I hear and there's no question that there is great skill involved in the live setting as well, but in the end, live or on a recording it all sounds too monolithic for me. I hated it when Galactic started incorporating a rapper into their shows. Everything would be flowing, groovy & musically dynamic, then the rapper would come out and everything would flatten out to a steady drone (I didn't like it when the Houseman came out either, but it was still more musical to my ears).

Whatever, I kow I'm on the wrong side of this discussion, but as I always say, there is a big difference between not liking something and thinking it isn't any good. For various reasons, valid or not, I just can't like most rap or hip-hop, but I do NOT think it isn't any good. It's clearly good, it's just not my cup of tequila.

Carry on. 

I like live music a lot but can appreciate well made recordings. Some music shines there, like Brian Wilson's best work and dub music. It is true that someone who can not appreciate lyrical content or the art behind well crafted beat making and production is not a candidate to appreciate hip hop. That's really due to the limitations of the listener more than the genre.

Not a fan of live hip hop, but enjoy the headphone or car stereo experience.

In my younger days I didn't give a rat's ass about lyrics but have gradually come around to appreciating/wanting great lyrics.  My catalyst was the rise of the jamband genre in the early '90's which lacked good songs/lyrics.

http://www.complex.com/music/2013/04/the-15-best-made-up-words-in-rap-hi...

http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2013/08/5-hip-hop-slang-words-made-oxford-eng...

http://www.passionweiss.com/2012/09/11/the-25-greatest-outdated-rap-slan...

I listened to Dylan as a kid. Music had the potential to answer so many questions. Not all music has to have profound lyrics, but they are worth appreciating, even if its just clever hooks. Hubcap diamond star halo. Poetry man.

Well I do know "Yeahhhh Boyyyyyy"

Kendrick Lamar, clipping., Run the Jewels, De La Soul... these artists have more DNA in common with "free" or truly improvisational music than most jam bands. That includes Phil's current lineups.

To the poster above, "Rap and Hip Hop" is not a genre.<<<

Please elaborate, Aitex. I guess you would not agree with this statement.

Hip Hop

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music, or hip-hop music, is a music genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching, break dancing, and graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling (or synthesis), and beatboxing. While often used to refer to rapping, "hip hop" more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. The term hip hop music is sometimes used synonymously with the term rap music, though rapping is not a required component of hip hop music; the genre may also incorporate other elements of hip hop culture, including DJing and scratching, beatboxing, and instrumental tracks.

https://reference.discogslabs.com/genre/Hip-Hop

I did not realize my balls got busted ,St. Mark. He has never been very good at that.

Thanks for the response and clarification. It is appreciated.

LOL