No offence Natsilicious, but anyone who ever liked Tupac has no right whatsoever to diss Blackalicious. Tupac was rubbish.
Blackalicious draw on a whole range of sources from within their musical heritage as black Americans to create a modern hybrid of jazz, funk, soul and (real) R&B which is infused with spiritual positivity and truly mindblowing rhymes courtesy of Gift of Gab, who Pangloss will tell you, is perhaps the best person in the whole world.
Hang on a minute…were you talking about Nia or Blazing Arrow? If you think Nia sucks, I you! If you think Blazing Arrow sucks, you could be right, I don’t really know yet.
Anyway, rant over!
Also, in my 'umble estimation, Ella Fitzgerald probably does have the finest voice ever.
Oh burn in hell jawaad( )
Blackalicious’ music may be 'spiritually uplifting but hell… it’s boring!.
and Tupac wasn’t all that bad… I didn’t mention Tupac in comparison to blackalicious. anywho… back to Tupac. He had this really nice song named “Keep your head Up” that I just really really liked. and most of his music spoke about his experiences growing up in the ghetto so maybe you can’t relate to that. (I can’t either)
and futhermore rhyming skills arent everything. the first step is making the listener ‘feel’ you yes… but you have to admit that people don’t generally like a song if they don’t like the beat. That’s why producers such as the Neptunes make soo much darn money, because artistes realize that the first thing people usually listen to is the beat and not for the lyrics.
A person who I think has combined all of this is Lauryn Hill. (not the MTV unplugged album but THE MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL)
I don’t remem the track called Nia but I’ll be sure to listen to it tommorow.
p.s. (if you say that you “evil” me one more time, I’ll have my people beat you up )
{evil=hate}
His words were real. He had great songs like"Dear moma, Keep ya head up, Unconditional Love, Live n die in LA, Life goes on…and the cover to Changes…and many many more"
He also had the gangster type thugish songs(hit em up) and the sexist songs but thats who he was… I cant believe you called his music rubbish.
His music moved many and still does. How is that rubbish. considering your the minority who thought his music was rubbish I shrug your opinion off…poof Be gone.
Some of my highschool teachers liked 2pac…which i thought was really interesting. This is me expressing my self at such a BOLD, outlandish statement…
also indie, ska, bossa nova, opera, classical, greenday-type punk, trancey music (no words thing or like Ecuador), 80s stuff like New Order or Level 42 even Spandau Ballet (some of their songs anyway…), traditional\folk\celtic… and oh yeah Simon & Garfunkle!
Basically any music thats good. And it has to be serious to be good. I dont understant people liking un-serious music… - if its not funny, where`s the appeal??
Possible exception to this is Madness.
Is that song things will never be the same etc by 2Pac? I`m not sure, but I think its well brilliant - really open, fresh, bleak, and distinctly un-cosy…its kinda like the opposite of traditional folk music, even though I like that kind of stuff too. Can anyone tell me what its about?
louise says “2pac wasnt bad but he was never anything special…”
Thats why he is argueably the “Best rapper ever” … next to Notorious BIG. and im not all about him just cause he was mainstream, his lyrics are very powerful and moving
“he was never anything special…” wow what an understatement.
Youngman18: ok, the above post was my little brother. i will be having words.
in answer to j0n4th4n, i really like all sorts of music. i’ve hated enya ever since i used to work in a garden centre and all they would play was back to back enya. i really can’t stand her. i don’t have a favourite band, favourite song, or favourite album, and it would be hard to just suggest a few genres which i mainly listen to, but if it helps today i was listening to ryan adams, rhcp and dj shadow. like i said, it varies.
I’d rather listen to my own post-curry rectal gurglings than Enya. I also abhor, fully ABHOR AND DETEST, Kula Shaker … fuck me, I hate that band. Who do I like? Eva Cassidy, cliched but true … a lot of cheesy ballads, a lot of cheesy garage, and then a bit of people like Vertical Horizon. I LOVE Vertical Horizon.
Incubus have a great riffmaker in Mike Einziger, but they don’t seem to realise that they are at their best on the introspective riff-rock songs like Drive and Stellar and Just a Phase etc. They lean too far towards a type of music that doesn’t suit them (ie the “heavy” stuff), and that limits their ability to record great albums. But if you are looking at individual Incubus songs, there are some moments of genius in there (and I speak as someone who hates nu-metal with a passion).
Natsilicous. I don’t really you. In fact you are my favourite person that I will never meet.
Back to the issue of Mr Pac. You said maybe I can’t relate to his ghetto tales etc, and you’re right, but not being able to relate to it doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate it. How many people who buy hip hop come from the ghetto? A lot less than those who come from suburban middle class families.
The reason I ain’t feelin’his rhymes is not because they are about ghettos, but because of the way he deals with the realities of that lifestyle. I think there is too much of a focus on an arrogant affirmation of his lifestyle as THE lifestyle (though it’s true that not all his songs are like that). Now if you look at Nas’ first album, “Illmatic”, (I know he’s gone pop etc now, but there was a time when he was real) he deals with ghetto life in a different way, and a way which has much more of an impact on me. He paints a picture with his words and you can’t deny the gritty, atmospheric musicality of his beats (produced by people like DJ Premier, Q-Tip etc). He just says it in a way that makes you think; whilst Pac eventually became nothing more than a self-proclaimed defender of the G’s.
Don’t get me wrong, I love hip hop, but there’s another level of hip hop free of gangsterisms and rap cliches that makes you think and at the same time is funky like James Brown (like a sex machine, baby)! People like The Roots, Common, Mos Def - people who know about the legacy of black American music and try to further what the old bluesmen and jazzmen were all about, they are the people who make real hip hop. Now the Blackalicious debate - their first album (Nia) is truly back-breakingly heavy; but I am v. disappointed with most of the new one, and I was disappointed when I saw them live a month ago. Was it the new one (Blazing Arrow) that you had, Nats? Probably was. So I take back the insults…I am sorry to say Blackalicious have let us all down, so you were right!
you! If you think Blazing Arrow sucks, you could be right, I don’t really know yet.
)
