Two recent examples of Bay rappers using funk rekkidz far more successfully than their Chi-Town bredren :
DB Tha General - Lil' Child
(From The King Of Oakland; 2011)
Sample : Little Child Runnin' Wild by Curtis Mayfield
Better than : Flashing Lights by KanYe West ft. Dwele
Alright, so Flashing Lights uses as miniscule a snippet of Little Child Runnin' Wild as is technologically possible but it is ensconced in there somewhere according to WhoSampledWho, and, while this is undoubtedly a better song than KanYe's 2 other middling joints to utilise Mayfield breaks, it's aged poorly like everything else from Graduation bar 3 songs, whilst DB Tha General's Lil' Child here is awash with that the yellow suit on the cover of Curtis swag. Looks like DB's The King Of Oakland is the latest sufferer of $tarlito-Syndrome, a debilitating condition which afflicts rap releases that haven't yet leaked online and are only currently available in exchange for actual money near-invisible to the blogosphere/message boards, with other recent sufferers including G-Side's The One... Cohesive album.
NhT Boyz - Paid
(From Comin' Soon; 2011)
Sample : Ain't That (Mellow Mellow) by Willie Hutch
Better than : All I Do by Rhymefest
I've been known to bump All I Do alongside a couple of other Rhymefest songs, and you can't help but applaud any rapper who could catch a brick with an album that was A&R-ed by the combined commercial forces of KanYe and Mark Ronson in 2006, but he's just such a miserable everyman whose music is often encumbered with grumpy earnestness and the ridiculous notion of "saving the culture" that I can't help but smite that sour old ham 'n' egger here. The NhT Boyz's Comin' Soon zip file of random leaked songs didn't bring the barrage of funnies and Mob Figaz guest appearances that their Power Triangle mixtape did, but, nonetheless, Paid is a 5 Star General banger and even a couple of benders like Charles Hamilton and Big Sean could drop a duo-joint which rivals Life's A Bitch or Elevators (Me & You) over this Willie Hutch classic from the Foxy Brown OST.
Hmmmm.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna have to give Kanye the nod for Little Child Running Wild. Was never the biggest Kanye fan, but I think this is one of his better conceived tracks. Everything works here. Lyrics (drama), but music is interesting, the hook is catchy, and on top of that the vocal thingy (flashing lights) is even catchier.
The DB track is cool, but I just think the Kanye one sticks to the ribs more.
The Willie Hutch sample. I think it's just a matter of who you like better on the track. I'm ok with both of them, I suppose.
YOU'RE TOTALLY RHYMEFEST-ING MY NARRATIVE HERE, BRUV!
ReplyDeleteHave you heard the Rhymefest jackin for beats joint with him rapping over Aerosmith/GNR/Blur/White Stripes?
ReplyDeletethe only person I can think of who dropped the ball worse than Fest was Skillz - possibly the only person rapping on Timbaland and Neptunes beats in the early 00s not to have a hit.
Christ - thankfully I haven't heard that, no.
ReplyDeleteRappers need name surgery.
ReplyDelete+ better white ppl music
Ha.
ReplyDeletePardon the filibuster, it was late when I replied to the post. I have no excuse, however, for using the word filibuster.
Simply put, I think the first example is a case of bigger being better.
@ Step one
Excellent call on Skillz. Was never much a fan of his. Too punchline-y for me, and I thought his post rap, internet c-list celeb persona was a little annoying.
DB track clearly wins, fuck a kanye.
ReplyDeleteNhT's effort pisses all over Rhymefests.
ReplyDeleteEquilibrium restored.
ReplyDeleteI think Charles Hamilton is a lot more interesting than Big Sean, not that Charles Hamilton is interesting. I don't like the DB song, but I always thought Flashing Lights was abysmal. Anyway, I was listening to the Last Days of Disco soundtrack, and it struck me, was Teddy Pendergrass's loud-soft dynamic on 'The Love I Lost' (and probably a million other songs I don't know because I know nothing about 70s music), e.g. "I'm so sad and lonely BUT WITHOUT YOU MY LIFE IS SO DEAD" an influence on Silkk the Shocker? It's actually eerily Silkkesque. Even the parts where the other Blue Notes will chime in with these little parts that slowly trail off ("you go your way, and I'll go my wayyyyyyyyyyyy") is something that Silkk did all the time. I should really start a Silkk-only blog.
ReplyDeleteIm guessing NHT boys found that sample thanks to Black C's '70s baby' album from last year (check track 2)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/70s-Baby-Black-R-B-L-Posse/dp/B003J3YBCI
but this is actually my favorite version: http://www.amazon.com/I-Need-A/dp/B001LJRDEK/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1311436620&sr=1-2
And incidentally although the release date on amazon says '2008' the boss hogg outlawz track actually dropped as a bonus on 2005's "already platinum" & so predates Rhymefest's version
ReplyDeleteDavid, there's actually a Curren$y solo track over it from the 2nd 504 Boyz album which predates all of those, but thanks because I'd not heard that Black C shit before.
ReplyDeleteTray, squares would probably attribute the Silkkian vocal device to him ripping off Mystikal's vocal stylings and adding a touch of the Geto Boys' embracing of mental illness, but I definitely dig the notion that it's a method which harks back to a song on some 70s soundtrack. Maybe it's even a genetic thread which runs through all black ppl who make music since the blues.
I did this half-arsed post on that Black C album a while back actually. Haven't bothered listening to it since then.
ReplyDeleteThe two Bay Area rappers/groups I'm not up on you post about ha!
ReplyDeleteDB's voice sounds like just smoked some crystal meth and is now sweating profusely at all times.
There's a definite sherm influence to his performance on Upgrade 'Um 2
ReplyDeleteSkillz doing some sort of Otis rap.
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/PwzkH80tRIk
wack
Errgh.
ReplyDelete