Everybody loves to hate "mumble rappers." Need example of the type of rapper I'm talking about? Lil Uzi Vert
Lil Yachty
And we definitely can't forget...Desiigner.
All I hear from people are statements like, "Hip hop is dead." Apparently our generation doesn't have any talent whatsoever. There are absolutely no good rappers out. None. Zero. Zilch. Now I could write an essay on why those generalized statements are bullshit but I'll keep it short.
So, I don't know where this came from. ...Oh YES I DO. I was listening to that cat Michael Trapson! His parody song Billie Jean and I Dab! Now, peep the way my mind works, you can't give me stuff like that because I get ideas. When I saw the dab in the video, I thought about how some people cry and, basically, dab to hide their tears. Which made me think about Maxwell's song, This Woman's Work, because of the whole, "I should be crying but I just can't let it show..."
...And THAT'S where my almost-brilliant idea popped up. I say almost-brilliant because, well... I shoulda thought of it before MJ left Earth Realm. Dig this: Michael Jackson should've covered Maxwell's This Woman's Work.
I believe that it’s possible to gauge the trajectory of a music
producer’s career based on their idea [if any] of developing a recording artist
– guiding the entire musical persona of an entertainer from an executive
position. Most composers with longevity were thrilled at the thought of it,
years before their opportunity surfaced. I always thought that my first chance
as an executive producer would be the debut of a singer, but I had no qualms the
day that Atlanta rap artist and good friend NoTiQ
sent mea Facebook message: “I want to introduce people to your sound, be the Aaliyah
to your Timbaland …
First let me introduce myself I go by 3 aliases: Dez, D.E.Z., and mydudedez.
Okay, let's get down to business. I'm a producer from Augusta, Georgia and making beats is my passion, but the thing that bothers me is now production is slowly getting the limelight and to me it should have a long time ago.
Check this out, the most important part of Hip Hop or any genre of music is the composer; you wouldn't have some of the greatest musical achievements in history if someone didn't write down, chop, loop, pitch tune or add drums and keys. When you think about it, the key element of any Hip Hop song is the beat, because we all know that, even if the people ain't listening to the lyrics, they're bobbing their heads off the beat. Just the other day I was checking out the documentary called "The Art Of Organized Noize" and I loved it, but theses guys should have had more than just shout outs--- it should have been more them be displayed at the forefront of it all
...he's just gold sometimes. See, this is my theory on what had happened at the Grammys the other night:
Back in, uh... I think 2010, Cee-Lo dropped a mixtape. It was called Stray Bullets. 'Twas a pretty dope project, for those of us who don't mind that one of our favorite rappers also happens to be a soul singer. Now, on this mixtape was a song; as a matter of fact, it was the intro and outro to the mixtape. The song was called Goldschlager. Here, give this a listen:
Now, the fact that I'm writing this article and the fact that the world's gone completely bonkers about my dude wearing a gold suit tells me that--- ya'll didn't support this mixtape. Otherwise, like me, when you saw the brotha in gold... you automatically woulda simply thought, "...Goldschlager". But it's cool: we all overlook greatness sometimes.
There's just something about Charlie Brown--- when you meet a creative mind that messes with Charlie Brown, you know you're dealing with somebody that has the potential for greatness. See Aaron McGruder. See JDilla. And a little closer to home, see Augusta's own Janemba Juice.
Not long before V-Day, Janemba treated us with a lil gift from his just-released project SWK. Entitled HPPY VALENTINES DAY, the piece is accompanied by some nice, nostalgic Peanuts visuals for those of us who came up in better days. Along with the sounds and visuals, Janemba shares his thoughts:
"Ive been longing for simpler times, so in the spirit of Valentines Day and my recent intrapersonal conflicts represented by Charlie Brown I give you: HPPY VALENTINES DAY"
It's a Hip Hop staple for fans and aficionados to come together and spend tireless hours debating which Hip Hop acts are the best. The debates never end because one that that Hip Hop is currently lacking is standards--- artists, fans, and execs can't agree on what's most important.
Fortunately, one thing that Hip Hop Culture can be decisive about is PERSONAL favorites. No one can tell you what speaks to you personally. In that spirit, we've asked the VR2OSOV contributors to speak on their favorite acts. To narrow the scope, we've asked them to specifically speak on their favorite groups and collectives rather than individual acts--- anything from twosomes like Capone N Noreaga to crews like Pro.Era, to conglomerates like the Wu.
Sometimes I hear music and it amazes me that doctors haven't started prescribing sounds as medicine yet.
D.E.Z., one of VirtuosoVillage's in-house producers and contributors has a project on the horizon. He calls it Persona, and by the sounds of it, it's gonna be something for the city to be proud of. If the single Appetite is any indication, all I can say is, "What's the hold up..."
Get mad all you want; Donald Trump's in office, it might be illegal to tell the truth in a few weeks.
I started to call this article "From 'They Don't Dance No Mo' to 'All They Wanna Do is Dance", but that was too long. Plus, ya'll don't know about dat Don Henley. Nevertheless, that's exactly what Hip Hop fans in the South bring to mind. At least for me. Lemme tell you a story.
I’d like to take you wonderful people back to a particular photograph
from circa 2015--- you know back when we had an educated, distinguished,
respectable President. But even an
educated distinguished, respectable President can have complications--- like
teenage daughters.
I love reggae, I love dancehall music; anybody who doesn't is arguably a demon, or some sorta synthetic human being who was made in a laboratory, perhaps a homonculus who was created using alchemy. But I gotta keep it real: I know a significant number of people who, when reggae and dancehall ruled urban radio, had NO... FREAKING... IDEA what was being said
