Pressrelease: Action Bronson, Stockholm 17 november

Det är svårt att sätta en etikett på Action Bronson, den rappande kocken från Queens. Han är en ung man som bara rappat i ett par år och som slagit igenom huvudsakligen genom videoklipp på internet. Han hyllas i artiklar om kommande rapstjärnor, t.o.m. i den respekterade tidningen Village Voice, och nämner Cam’ron som en av sina förebilder. Ändå har han mycket litet gemensamt med de många unga one hit wonders som slagit igenom de senaste åren och som ofta fokuserat mer på ett danssteg, en lustig röst eller någon annan gimmick än på beats och rim. Hans största förebild är Kool G Rap och hans specialitet är vardagsbetraktelser späckade med mer eller mindre obskyra matlagningsreferenser och kryddade med humoristiska överdrifter och punchlines. Men med stort självförtroende, experimentlusta och en ständig närhet till skratt och skoj placerar han sig även långt från den bistert allvarliga stereotypen av en ryggsäcksrappare eller ”the throwback MC”.

Artikeln i Village Voice tar bland annat upp alla dessa referenser till maträtter, råvaror och kvarter och butiker ute i Flushing, Queens som exempel på en ny generation New York MCs, som inte riktigt går att förpacka i Manhattan-varuhusens stora, färgglada kartonger. I stället jobbar Action Bronson och många av hans kolleger med en stark och bred lokal förankring och med den typ av kvickheter och rimexpertis som ständigt finputsas i hiphopradions freestyle-sessioner, på tunnelbaneperronger och i gathörn. I låtar och videor som ‘Shiraz’ och ‘Imported Goods’ får dessa verser sitt perfekta ackompanjemang genom lekfullt jazziga samplingar med oväntade instrument och härligt gryniga bilder av vardagslivet på New Yorks gator.

Tillsammans med andra unga talanger som Shaz Illyork och Meyhem Lauren ingår Action Bronson i rapkollektivet The Outdoorsmen, som de senaste åren formligen spottat ur sig låtar, freestyles och videor av hög kvalitet. På ett sätt kan man säga att de återvänt till den råa gatuestetiken från sent 80-tal/tidigt 90-tal. Det är mer troligt att de står på ett tak i Queens eller hänger med folket på parkbänkarna i Bronx i sina videor än att de utför koreograferade dansrörelser i grupp på en hipp klubb. Men de här killarna är för unga för att vara bittra gamla gubbar som blickar tillbaka på sin artistiska storhetstid. De var inte ens i tonåren under hiphopens så kallade ”gyllene era”. Ändå märks det tydligt att de växt upp med det sena 80-talets superlyriska MCs, som G Rap, Big Daddy KANE, Rakim och KRS-ONE; och med det tidiga 90-talets geniala producenter. De som utvecklade konstformen med hyperatmosfäriska ljudbilder byggda av guldkorn från svårfunna och otippade gamla dammiga vinylskivor.

Något av hiphopmusikens rötter är ständigt närvarande i kärnan av Action Bronsons musik. Glimten i ögat. De dråpliga rimmen, liknelserna och associationerna. Det hårda gatuspråket. Flöjterna, de krispiga trummorna och ståbassamplingarna. Den tuffa attityden. Men alltihop är uppdaterat för en ny generation och skapat av unga människor. För det äldre gardet är det bara att kapitulera och erkänna att New York bjuder världen på ännu en ny generation av MCs som är grundligt marinerade i hiphopens känsla, koder och tradition, men som samtidigt andas in frisk luft i en genre som emellanåt tyckts vara på väg att tas över av antikvarier och arkivarier. Den yngre generationen å sin sida har antagligen redan upptäckt att MCs som Roc Marciano, Rasheed Chappell, Meyhem Lauren, Shaz Illyork och Maffew Ragazino med sin lekfullhet och sitt nyskapande väckt liv i den östkustrap som i princip varit dödförklarad sedan Dipsets storhetstid.

Den 17 november står den kanske allra varmaste, roligaste och mest karismatiske av dessa rappare på scenen i Stockholm. De flesta förutspår Action Bronson en lysande framtid, men passa på att gå på hans konsert redan nu, medan han definitivt är i sitt kreativa esse! Lokalen kommer att vibrera av energi, dödligt vassa formuleringar och den rappande kockens flow, fullt av hunger efter ära och odödlighet. På köpet får du en historia du antagligen kommer att berätta för barnbarnen: ”Jag såg Action Bronsons allra första Sverige-spelning, i november 2011!”

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Förköpsbiljetter

Artikeln från Village Voice

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Twittersvar

Detta är ett svar till ett par tweets på twitter, som jag helt enkelt inte mäktade med att svara på i några korta, snitsiga tweets. Så jag skrev en lång, haveristisk harang som någon kanske orkar läsa. Eller inte. Det kan väl kvitta. Fick ur mig det jag ville säga iaf och en massa annat löst prat som är relaterat till detta. I viss mån är det samma artikel en gång till, fast med andra ord.

Mycket av det här är inte riktat till någon speciell person eller kritiker utan bara min fortsatta, måhända smått paranoida, beef med hiphopkritiken i Sverige. Det är också snabbt, skrivet, oredigerat och säkert anfäktat av både grammatiska missfoster och logiska inkonsekvenser. Mea culpa.

Meningen är att en ev. debatt om sådan uppstår ska kunna föras i kommentarsfältet nedan. Såhär nånting iaf: Ditt resonemang är en fullständigt logisk förklaring som jag köper just som en förklaring. Däremot inte som ett “försvar”, utan bara mekanismerna bakom precis det jag kritiserar. (Vet dock inte om det ens var menat som ett försvar för något?)

Min syn på kritik är att den hellre får vara lite uppfostrande än bara vara något som stryker läsekretsen medhårs. Så är det ju inom många andra genrer. Man skriver inte endast om Brittany Spears när man skriver om pop eller endast om Swedish House Mafia när man skriver om House. Dessa artister säljer och hittar sina lyssnare ändå. Kritikens uppgift är enligt mig snarare att försöka knuffa folk i riktning mot pop och house med lite större konstnärligt värde som de kanske inte skull hitta/söka upp själva; att man kanske hellre ska lyfta fram stora konstverk än det som redan spelas i alla kanaler jämt.

Du frågade var jag placerar Kanye. Återigen vill jag först bara påpeka att jag a) bara nämnde honom en gång i texten som ett exempel (sedan hamnade hans namn ett par ggr till i ingress och puffar, men texten var absolut inte tänkt som en anti-Kanye-piece) och b) inte kritiserar Kanyes musik här, utan en relativt samstämmig svensk kritikerkårs bild av honom som en “viktig hiphopartist”. Men OK, för nyfikenhets skull – jag placerar Kanye West ungefär såhär: Ofta tråkig, men stundtals briljant popartist med bakgrund inom, och alltjämt med starka influenser från, hiphop. Jag tror att relativt få av Kanyes miljoner lyssnare världen över uppskattar t.ex. hans senaste skiva huvudsakligen pga hiphopinslagen: breaks, beats, lyrics, flow, samples. Snarare är det ju allt det där andra folk tänder på.

Jag har själv ett par skivor m K West hemma och kan uppskatta vissa saker han gör. Självklart finns det plats även för hans typ av musik. Jag tycker bara frälsarrollen han givits av många svenska kritiker är totalt oproportionerlig. Resultatet: Ännu mer skrivs om poprap (bra såväl som dålig) och de som skapar fantastiska skivor inom själva genren hiphop fortsätter att ignoreras nästintill fullständigt.

Mycket jag läst om Kanye Wests senaste album har framhållit honom som just “konstnärlig”, “nyskapande”, “unik”.

Om jag, for argument’s sake, köper resonemanget att kritiker hyllar vissa artister mest för att det är deras läsekrets kopp te, så tänker jag mig att recensionerna skulle ha låtit ungefär “Det här är en perfekt popplatta för dig som kan stå ut med lite rap och några breaks vid grillen, men aldrig skulle sätta dig och lyssna på ett helt album med en renodlad hiphopgrupp”. Men jag har snarare sett många framhålla just dessa skivor som “hiphopens framtid” och därmed lite underförstått verka säga att genren hiphop är gammaldags? uttjatad? tråkig? vet itne vad?Jag och många andra får av detta intrycket av att kunskap, respekt och intresse hos kritikerkåren överlag för hiphop, i meningen breaks, beats and rhymes är minimalt. Så styvmoderligt behandlas inte alla de popgrupper som i princip håller sig till samma genre-ramar som Beatles gjorde 1964. Just detta var en av mina huvudpoänger i artikeln.

Om kritikerkåren i stort ignorerar “renodlad hiphop” precis lika mkt som den genomsnittlige läsaren hamnar vi i en ond cirkel och kritikern missar ett tillfälle att hylla stor musik, som ligger utanför vad svennebanan “brukar” lyssna på.

På 90-talet skrev “Pop” hellre om Jeru och Pete Rock än om MC Hammer eller Vanilla Ice. Men ända sedan dess har det för många av oss som älskar hiphop varit en ökenvandring genom hyllningar till folk som Ja Rule, Swizz Beats, Timbaland, Neptunes, Outkast, Li’l Jon, Li’l Wayne och Wacka Flocka Flame. I alla fall i den absoluta merparten av de tidningar jag läst, som inte varit väldigt specialinriktade. Uppdraget att försöka få sveriges befolkning att upptäcka hiphopens kvaliteter har helt glömts bort till förmån för att hylla alla som gör hiphop som i största möjliga mån är nåt annat än hiphop och som man inte behöver ha minsta uppskattning för hiphop för att gilla. Innovatörer som träget utvecklar genren med verktyg som samplingar, breaks, jakten på det perfekta trumljudet, innovativa flows osv, snarare än att blanda genren med lite pop, lite synth, lite dansmusik…ignoreras.

De får underförstått gälla som det där “andra” tråkiga, dåliga som Neptunes och andra så djärvt, konstnärligt och vackert bryter sig loss ifrån. Därmed kan läsekretsen glatt ostört samtidigt behålla varenda fördom de har om hiphop och känna att de är up to date med de senaste utvecklingarna inom genren.

Återigen inget ont om Kanye West, men att påstå att just han skulle vara hiphopens fackelbärare eller att hans skiva skulle vara “årets hiphopsläpp” och liknande – det är åsikter som för mig bara skvallrar om att den som skriver dem verkar ha ett ytligt förhållande till genren, och kanske inte direkt älskar Marcberg, Operation Doomsday, MF Grimm eller Percee P.

OK, om det är så. Men till detta kommer ju “dubbelmoralen” som jag nämnde i min text. Gudarna ska veta att rock- och popartister inte endast hyllas i den mån de lyckas blanda sina traditionella sättningar och sångstrukturer med andra genrer och influenser. En tjej eller kille som rappar hårt, tight och fantasifullt om att hon/han är bäst och alla andra är sämst över en grymt producerad trumloop är för mig ett lika klassiskt och tidlöst format som “fyra killar spelar stränginstrument och trummor och sjunger vers-refräng-vers-refräng om olycklig kärlek”.  Dock läser jag majoriteten av dagens svenska popkritik som att det föregående är tråkigt, “nördigt” eller passé, medan det senare är klassiskt och tidlöst. Tycker man det är det klart att man främst letar “ljud som låter annorlunda” och gärna ser lite sköna sångrefränger eller liknande som lättar upp. Jag tycker dock som sagt att man som kritiker bör gå lite djupare än så när man talar “originalitet” osv, iaf om man har andra ambitioner än att tipsa om musik som direkt kommer falla läsarna på läppen…

Jag känner inte till dig och det du skriver på så sätt att jag vet om det jag ganska argt babblat på omkring ovan är nåt du håller med om till 100% eller är 100% emot, men gissar att det är nånstans på den långa skalan däremellan du hamnar? Känner själv att det här teoribygget nästan blir som en töntig konspirationsteori ibland och jag är medveten om att jag här företräder ett iaf i Sverige extremt smalt särintresse. Men tydligen har iaf 50-60 pers redan delat min artikel på facebook och jag har fått många tack och glada tillrop, så jag tror att jag är nåt på spåren. Att subkulturen är så smal, att det är så få som egentligen bryr sig om hiphop OCH att den behandlas så styvmoderligt av kritikerkåren i stort ser jag som kommunicerande kärl till stor del. Man avstår ju inte från att skriva om poesi i tidningarna, fast få intresserar sig. Och framför allt framhåller man inte nån publikfriande författare med lite rimmande rader i sina böcker som “poesins framtid” eller “årets poet”. Den typen av respekt är det jag vill ha åt hiphop också.

RIP Guru (for swedish readers)

Hey. Sorry I haven’t written anything here for a while. I was going to write pt. II of the “Why I Luv…” series about one my all time fav tracks “Who’s Gonna Take The Weight?” by Gang Starr. Those lyrics and that beat really deserve dissection and a declaration of their greatness. But while I was starting to think about that text Guru fell into a coma. He never recovered as we know now. Neither did I recover enough to ever write that text. And now the man is dead. RIP.

It’s so sad and affects me deeply. I’ve been a fan for about 20 years. I’m really gonna miss Guru. Perhaps I will write that article on “Who’s Gonna Take The Weight?” in the future. But I can’t do it right now. I did write sort of an In Memoriam for Guru in swedish which was published here: http://www.throwmeaway.se/artiklar/farval-guru/, so if you’re intrested in that and can read swedish, head on over there for further reading.

Peace in the middle eas’!

“Why I Luv…” Pt. I

“Why I Luv…” Pt. I

Kweli: ‘Manifesto’

(B-side of Mos Def, Q-Tip & Tash: ‘Body Rock’ 12″, Rawkus, 1998)

I love the Rawkus era. It was truly a golden age there for a while at the end of the 90′s, when you could go into your local record shop and pick up any new 12″ released by Rawkus and know it would be ill. Some of these artists have slipped into obscurity with time. Expect to see Mr. Man or Shabaam Sahdeeq on a milk carton near you any day now. Others, like Kweli and Mos Def took the opposite route, which led to Billboard and household name status. I still enjoy a lot of the music that these two gentlemen put out, but there is a special atmosphere surrounding the stuff they made individually and together in 1997-98-99 that they haven’t quite been able to match. Other than that magic atmosphere on classic cuts like Fortified Live, If You Can Huh You Can Hear, Universal Magnetic, Definition, RE:DEFinition and the Pete Rock remix of Respiration, there’s another aspect of this era that I love. The sheer focus and concentration.

The beats were quite simple and straight forward, which only adds to the replay value. They form a perfect backdrop for the very focused, intense rhyming on for example Manifesto. The lyrics are so rich you need to be able to focus on them, which wouldn’t have been possible had the beats been too busy or attention grabbing. Talib Kweli has stayed very relevant in his lyrical content throughout the 00′s, but back in 1998, what made him such a unique MC was how every line was hot. Not only were the lines quotables that would stick in your head for weeks, they were also deep, meaningful and poetic. The more lavish, R&B-type beats that Kweli uses a lot today are sometimes very nice, but they put you in a laid back mood where you may not fully listen to every word being said. The feeling of Manifesto is quite the opposite. The man spits every line as if it was his last. There’s a sense of urgency in his voice that may sometimes cause his delivery and flow to be a little bit off, but that’s not really a flaw, as I see it.

As is clear from the above, my focus when listening to this already classic joint is the lyrics. Not to take anything away from the beat or the delivery, I love that piano and that urgency. And normally I’m a beat head first. I’m the kind of guy who will always prefer a so-so lyric well delivered on a classic Pete Rock instrumental over a mindblowing verse said in average flow over an average beat. But we must let this little article focus on the lyrics, simply because they are so ill and because almost every line is a revelation. So I’m going to attempt to break a little bit of it down. And why I love it.

Verse 1:

Manifesto! – this is what we want to see happen
For my peoples still breakin’, graf writin’ and rappin’
I rock the mic right and exact, my life’s my sacrifice
Take my mic and I’m like a Chinese man with no rice
Oh yeah, we flippin’ – through the pages of time to find design
Like vaseline on the faces of Black Georgia we shinin’
Deeper than petroleum jelly we in the air like conversations
on celly and just appear like stretch marks on bellies
After givin birth you had to let go, you playin’ for life
The Manifesto, here comes the beat, because I said so Keep pushin
I got the cushion for the seat of your soul
Back in the day they stole our smile, so we clothe our teeth in gold
and we frontin. From ni**a to kid, to Son of God
It’s wild dependin’ on labels for man woman and child
My style just is, all that’s seen and all that’s heard
God gave us music so we play with our words
So when Tek be in constant meditation like a monk
While Kweli speaks in tongues to get your intellect drunk
Yo, we bound to take over the 90% of your brain that you ain’t usin’
To us it’s life or death we keep you chosin’

First of all, I like how he starts off with the word “Manifesto”, as if giving a lecture. And right after that he hits you with “this is what we want to see happen”. So much of the whole “backpacker” movement of the late 90′s/early 00′s was about negativity and complaining about the state of things and the powers that be. So I really liked how he flipped that very early on in the lyrics to being about “what we want to see happen” rather than “what bugs me” or whatever. There were enough joints out at the time about the sad state of affairs, but not enough that tried to answer the question “where do we go from here?”. Then the mention of three of the four elements of hiphop culture, which I guess is pure audience pleasing, but I was in the audience and I was pleased as h*ll!

In the line “I rock the mic right and exact, my life’s my sacrifice”, the lyrics parallell both the focus and the urgency in Kweli’s flow and voice. The focus is “right and exact” and the urgency is expressed in “my life’s my sacrifice”. The flippin’ through the pages of time tells me that here’s a dude grounded in history who’s willing to look back in order to move forward, but at the same time being selective in that search. Which is, in a way, a description of the whole art form of hiphop music – flipping through records and books looking for breaks, samples and wisdom that can be put to use in that undefinable post structuralist hiphop way we all love.

“Here comes the beat because I said so” is a really ill KRS-type lyric that shows you Kweli is all about control and authority. At the time MTV hip pop was like fast food, or better yet like big budget Hollywood escapism, and rappers were just actors playing the role assigned by their record company in little movies about ghetto fantasies and shaking a**es. Into that era steps this dude who is willing to be an author and an authority, stepping outside of the role and the fiction of the particular song and actually telling you something, like Ra and KRS used to do. Or in the words of OC, being “a master, preacher, poet, a teacher…” on the mic. Empowerment of the whole culture, by way of self empowerment.

The first well-known quoatble of the song is of course “Back in the day they stole our smile, so we clothe our teeth in gold/And we frontin…“. The witty wordplay of “gold fronts”/”fronting” is nice and had been touched upon by Nas on Illmatic, which is always a nice reference of course. Here, a further dimension is added by the close proximity of the word “smiles”. But wordplay aside, the line is still impressive. “Back in the day they stole our smile” is just so true and tragic, like something Toni Morrison could have written. And the sociological implications of connecting that tragic past to the often ridiculed aspects of modern african american culture (eg gold fronts) is pure genius.  “We come from the ghetto and are given nothing, so we want everything, even the stuff that might be considered ‘tacky’ or ‘too much’” – This general sentiment is Jay-Z’s particular area of expertise, but the lines from the Kweli song are some of the best on that topic. And by using “smiles” as the stolen object, rather than just something material Kweli manages to go even beyond a simple economic analysis and into emotional territory as well, which makes it even more poignant.

“It’s wild dependin on labels for man woman and child/My style just is, all that’s seen and all that’s heard/God gave us music so we play with our words“. These lines are also often quoted of course, aswell as: “Yo, we bound to take over the 90% of your brain that you ain’t usin/To us it’s life or death we keep you chosin“. Today, some of this might sound a bit naive and militant, but that was just the feeling of that age and it really hit home with me and many others. “Depending on labels” at first has you thinking about record labels and the whole indie movement, but there’s also that other dimension to it, which is the labels put on all of us in modern, capitalist society and trying to escape them. How you can walk into Macy’s and be told that you should probably go to another department because of your age, gender or whatever. And that connects so well on both levels with the stuff about “the 90% of your brain you ain’t usin’” which to me is all about unleashing creativity and escaping the limiting matrixes of both record labels specifically and label branding human beings in general.

Opening up a whole new world in a couple of lines. If that’s not poetry,  I don’t know what is. “To us it’s life or death” represents that urgency again – he’s like “Look, I’ve discovered a way out of this intellectual prison and I want y’all to come with me to freedom!”. Because you’re not supposed to just sit back and consume this sh*t right here. This teacher/poet keeps YOU chosing and getting involved on several levels. Awesome!

Verse 2:

Ay, yo, all the real MC’s can meet me outside
so we can decide how we gonna change the tide
like the moon. We on the Earth takin’ a ride around the Sun
Now Son we only just begun, and the journey’s far from done
We all miss you, what, your brain gone fishin’ like Walter Mosley?
There’s an MC that can hold me, supposedly?
No one could come close to me, only the family really know me
Hiphop’s last hope like Obi Wan Kenobi
Through your television I’m shinin’ light like a train
Comin out like earthworms when it rains, bringin’ it
like the C.I.A. be bringin’ in crack cocaine bailin out of planes
With the George Bush connections, I push Reflection
Like I’m sellin’ izm, like a dealer buildin’ the system
Supply and the demand – it’s all capitalism!
Ni**az don’t sell crack cause they like to see blacks smoke
Ni**az sell crack cause they broke! My battle lyrics
get concious minds provoked and ghetto passes revoked
Cause we surrounded by the evil. You know that the people’s minds
is feeble they believe in it. Even if it don’t make sense
it’s makin’ dollars, shit, don’t take a scholar to
see what’s goin’ on around you, either you with it or you ain’t
is what it comes down to, have you forgotten?
We pickin’ 100% designer name brand cotton
They still plottin’. My Third Eye is steady watchin’

Wow! This is just ridiculously full of meaning. Where do I begin with this rich material? Just some examples. “like the C.I.A. be bringin’ in crack cocaine bailin out of planes With the George Bush connections”. I love how he just drops that knowledge, as if on a side note. And making it funky and witty at the same time. This is so much more young KRS than Immortal Technique. And he talks about “pushing Reflection like izm”, that’s just so ill. How he’s like a dealer. Remember this is just four years after Ready To Die and three years after Cuban Linx, so he’s speaking to an audience more than used to hearing pusherman stories. To me this is both a nod toward BIG and them and that whole drug dealing culture and something more. He’s pointing beyond that. He recognizes this as a part of the game, and feels free to use it as simile (being like a dealer), but of course takes it to the next level, since he’s pushing something quite different. Maybe that simile is a bit worn, but it fills it’s function here.

Right after that is the killer line “Supply and demand, it’s all capitalism!“. For me, that goes back to the drug dealers again. The young black men of the ghettoes being steadily targeted and vilified by media and mainstream american culture. Kweli points out how that is just the underbelly/other half of established american capitalist society. So much of the political and sociological significance of artists like Rae and Biggie is that realization. It’s all capitalism and before you point your finger at someone selling dope on the corner, you better point at these “George Bush connections“, literal and non-literal. And of course, the dealers are dealers because of the mechanics of the system, as expressed when Kweli points out the obvious: “Ni**az don’t sell crack cause they like to see blacks smoke/Ni**az sell crack cause they broke!“

Such obvious facts shouldn’t have to be stated, but they do. Just watch Fox News for a couple of hours, if you think everyone already understands this. I know Kweli doesn’t want to be “the political rapper”, but this is just Marxism 101 in a way, how he breaks that down. Ill. And really something to dream of these days when most so called “conscious rappers” have lost themselves completely in silly conspiracy theories about the so called “illuminati”, free-masons, satanism and whatnot. The one true conspiracy that rules the world is still capitalism. Other than Papoose (on his more conscious joints) and maybe Termanology every now and then I don’t know that any up and coming rappers are into serious political analysis like this anymore?

And speaking of Fox News: “Cause we surrounded by the evil. You know that the people’s minds is feeble – they believe in it. Even if it don’t make sense it’s makin’ dollars. Sh*t, don’t take a scholar to see what’s goin’ on around you”. And you know I can’t leave that “Have you forgotten? We pickin’ 100% designer name brand cotton” alone either. I don’t know if Kweli was the first MC to use that? First time I heard it anyway. These lines go back to the days of slavery and also to the the subsequent oppression when those smiles were stolen. Have you forgotten? Talib Kweli hasn’t…

And “picking name brand cotton” is such a perfect way of describing the working- and under classes being stuck in the consumerism of capitalist society. How the standards set by the unfathomably rich makes everyone who’s not rocking name brand gear seem dirt poor. And how consuming the products of capitalist industry to make money for the rich is just the role capitalism needs the rest of us to play. How we’re actually all slaves, still picking cotton within the system. And how being addicted to expensive clothes is such a typical case of that. Some people are just so rich it makes all the rest of us piss poor. The intricate wordplay of making sense and dollars and cents and so on is just the icing on the cake.

Verse 3:

From open mics to solutions I got a collage of answers
And a ten point program, just like the Black Panthers
One: First respect yourself as an artist
If you don’t respect yourself then your rhymes is garbage
Two: Make sure your crew is as tight as you
’cause when them ni**az fallin’ off they gonna bring you down too
Three: Understand the meaning of MC
The power to move the crowd like Moses split the sea
Four: Know your sh*t and don’t ever be blunted
If you don’t know what your words mean, then your rhymes mean nothin’
Five: Kick facts in the raps, and curse with clarity
What’s a curse when language is immersed in vulgarity?
Six: We gonna fix industrial poli-tricks
Sh*t, they made an artform out of ridin’ di**s
Seven: We soldiers for God needin’ new recruits
So if you rhymin’ for the loot then you’s a prostitute
But Eight: Acknowledge that you need food on your plate
In order to say your grace make sure your business is straight
Nine: We buildin’ black minds with intelligence
And when you freestyle, keep the subject matter relevant
Ten: Every MC grab a pen
And write some concious lyrics to tell the children
I say again, every MC find you a pen
And drop some concious sh*t for our children
The Manifesto!

A collage of answers just describes the whole lyrics of the song again. And the mention of the Black Panther Party warms this socialist heart of course. It also connects hiphop with the world of broader politics again. This particular manifesto and ten point program may be about hiphop and MC:ing, but everything is everything. It’s all connected and the parallells to society at large are abundant.

The line “So if you rhymin’ for the loot then youse a prostitute” at first sounds like the typical indie taliban b.s. of the late 90′s that I have such a hard time accepting. But of course Kweli has thought further than just that, which is evidenced in the next point on the program: “Acknowledge that you need food on your plate“. With so much of the lyrics touching on the intricacies of trying to live like an honest human being in a corrupt, capitalist world, it would have been too naive to stop at the “commercial rappers are evil” level. And the word “prostitute” suggest them being victims as well, not just people “doing the wrong thing” out of spite.

So Kweli basically sums up the whole state of the “conscious” hiphop debate in the late 1990′s in an almost perfect way. Twelve years have no gone by, but most of this is still incredibly relevant today. Plus the beat and the flow ensures this gem will live forever in the hiphop pantheon. To me, this song is actually all the way up there with Who’s Gonna Take The Weight, D’Evils, T.R.O.Y. (and Monopoly and Watch How It Go Down!) and even Pharoahe’s and Rakim’s deepest lyrics. Classic!

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Why I Luv… Intro

OK, starting off a new category of posts today. They’re going to be called “Why I Luv” and what I’m gonna do is break down a few of my own and everyone elses favorite classic hiphop joints and the reasons we all LUV them so much, be those reasons lyrical, musical, sociological or anything-else-ical. A few reasons for this.

First of all I’m just so tired of all this negativity going around, in the real world, but even more so on the internet. Of course, we all love our MOP and Freddie Foxxx. We don’t want hiphop to get watered down or tampered with too much. And the reasons everyone gets so defensive about the true school stuff are of course all rooted in something awesome, the pure love we all have for the real hiphop.

And it ain’t supposed to be cream and candy all the time. The historical, political background that set the stage for hiphop feeds that raw, bleak underdog perspective which is more about snatching chains and riding trains than putting flowers in your hair and loving everybody. But to me, the risks involved in all this sour grapes tough love on discussion boards on the internet are obvious. We’re going to spend so much time and energy complaining about why we don’t like artist XX and why internet-person-so-and-so-we-never-met is rating the Juice Crew debut 12″s in the wrong order or something that we’re going to lose sight of that love and creativity. Hiphop should remain raw, agreed, but it’s nothing if not creative!

You know that smile you get on your face when you hear Superrappin’ or some old Cold Crush jam? That’s the reason most of us even listen to this genre in the first place. And even your favorite hardcore MC would just look ridiculous if he or she was walking around sonning everybody for not being orthodox enough/hip enough to the new or whatever.

Another reason for trying to do this series of articles is just how capitalist society in general seems to be striving towards more of a cultural divide in my opinion. I’m talking about the so called fine arts being awarded serious books, articles and analysis like never before. Meanwhile the so called popular art forms are getting the short end of that stick. And hiphop is a popular art form in that truest sense – it was created by the people in the spirit of the people for the people and has always been maintained by the people. All these record companies, execs, radio stations and so on really have nothing to do with it. But this popular art form is being marketed to death. It’s a lot of short youtube clips, a lot of here today gone tomorrow record company product rappers and very little time to stop and analyze stuff. Even a really ill hiphop album that comes out today has to settle for youtube comments or facebook links. Create a timeless classic and you get “yeah, that was dope”. (See what I did there? I complained again…”but I WILL contradict that”, I guess…)

To each his own of course and I’m not knocking anyone for moving in silence. If you wanna just “give a pound and say what’s up, that’s it”, that’s cool. But personally I feel I want to dig a bit deeper into these things. I’m ashamed to say I haven’t read Michael Eric Dyson’s book on Illmatic yet, but I’m happy it even exists. That’s what I’m talking about. Taking hiphop culture seriously. Taking it seriously is not telling people to f*ck off because they listen to the “wrong” records. It’s trying to express the love we all feel for our favorite records in a little more depth than just saying “sh*t is dope”. And that’s what I’m hoping to do in my own small, insignificant way with this series. Hope you’ll enjoy.

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The good sh*t

The Good sh*t

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Not hiphop related

Sorry, this is not hiphop related at all. I just had to join this Facebook group, haha… (click to enlarge)

Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!

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5 for 10

So we’re almost a month into 2010. A couple of albums that came out on CD last year, such as Raekwon’s latest and the collaboration between Masta Ace & Edo G are being released on wax right about now.

What other releases can we look forward to this year? There are lots of rumours and unconfirmed stuff and as usual there are these abums that have been rumoured for years. This is not an attempt at a complete list in any way, but just a little shortlist of five albums that I’ll defnitely be looking out for this year.

Sadat X: ‘Wild Cowboys II‘
It’s no secret that Sadat is one of my favorite MC’s of all time. But, heck…I would buy an album by just about anyone if it had the roster of producers and guest MC’s that this one does. Impressive? Impressive. February 23rd.

NYG’z: ‘Hustler’s Union‘
I really liked Welcome 2 G-Dom a lot. And they say this next LP will feature even more Premier production. The whole album even, they say. Anyway, if you’ve heard that Give It To Ya Raw you know you want the full album now!

Rah Digga: ‘The Big Ten‘
It’s been ten years already? I can’t believe it…I’m still spinning Dirty Harriet now and then. Just like the last time around I’m not sure all of the beats will be 100% dope. But give her a few raw beats and I’m sure Digga will come correct and unforgettable. Due out April…

Lord Finesse: ‘Funky Technician Remix Album‘
So obviously this has been rumoured and awaited for years. Finesse said in april ’09 that it will be out early this year (towards the end of this clip). I don’t know if it will happen, but I know I want it to happen in 2010. Underboss aswell? Who knows…

Pharoahe Monch: ‘W.A.R.’
I’ve been listening a lot to both solo LP’s aswell as alll three OK albums recently. Pharoahe is always relevant. And it looks like this will definately be out this year on his own label, so be on the lookout for it. Here’s a recent interview with the Pharoahe himself that I thought was kind of nice.

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“Tell ‘em why you mad!”

It will probably come as no surprise to you that I’m a Giants fan…

But I like the Jets too, especially after their magnificent game against the Chargers the other week. That Sanchez is something else. And hey, you know Papoose was all Jetted-out in the video for Touch It! So I had my popcorn ready and rooted for them as they took on the Colts yesterday. It looked pretty good at halftime, but of course it all went sour toward the end. I’m glad I’m not a real Jets fan, cause I would be crushed by this if it was my team like that.Even though they did have a better year than expected when all is summed up.

So this means it’s Saints Vs. Colts in the big one on the seventh. Who do you like? I figure Colts are going to win that, since P Manning seems unstoppable and they have the all round game and patience needed. But I don’t know who I want to win really, since I have no feelings for either team. Who are you rooting for?

Anyway, this whole post is just an excuse to post this little clip of Rex Ryan going bonkers. “Wow, look at Rex!”

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A sampling sport

If you are only going to see one documentary on the pracitcalities, legalities and spirit of sampling this year – you should probably make it Copyright Criminals. I haven’t seen it yet, but this trailer featuring mr. Funky Drummer himself Clyde Stubblefield and others has really whet my appetite!

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