when swordsmen of different styles connect

shakahislop

Well-known member
Relatability can be a factor but it shouldn't be the be all end all as far as who and why you like them this might be because when i was born it was around the time my mothers generation all had their own kids so apart from me i had one slightly younger cousin i was around older people so it wasn't weird, i'm not gonna come like i know the percentages off hand as to the backgrounds of people in places like Oxfordshire and the lake district but i imagine they're tinier compared to London's and they are there there's probably more of them living there now cause of housing prices. There's reason as to why you might not have ever spoken to black people in the UK and those reasons are both bigger and more personal than just rap if i'm being honest and its not unique to the UK either.
there were basically no black people back in the day in the villages oxfordshire. there was one kid in my secondary school whose parents were i think middle-class ghanaians and that's it. its a bit different now but not much.

US rap was and to some extent still is quite unrelatable if this is where you're from. it matters more for rap than eg house because the words are such a big part of the form. the alienness of the milieu they're talking about is one of the big appeals of getting into the genre i think. that operates on a multitude of levels but is particularly weird if you're not american i think.
 

forclosure

Well-known member
there were basically no black people back in the day in the villages oxfordshire. there was one kid in my secondary school whose parents were i think middle-class ghanaians and that's it. its a bit different now but not much.

US rap was and to some extent still is quite unrelatable if this is where you're from. it matters more for rap than eg house because the words are such a big part of the form. the alienness of the milieu they're talking about is one of the big appeals of getting into the genre i think. that operates on a multitude of levels but is particularly weird if you're not american i think.
seeing this reminds me of something i read about Iggy Azealea who i've never liked but i thought was very telling she said growing up as a girl in Australia listening to rap music she said that she felt alienated and left out by the references to specific locations and hoods that they reffered to and name dropped on tracks, so she made the decision that if she ever got famous that she would make no refferences to Australia in her music so that way the next little girl who listens to her won't feel left out.

For me i interpreted that statement as her way of saying she wanted to make her music as generic as possible, all broad gestures but not signifying to anything in particular and while that can be very appealing for some people for me it takes out a really crucial aspect of rap that i enjoy.

would say its because of this that's what led you to get into house more so? i ask just because you don't totally strike me as a house person
 

forclosure

Well-known member
the alieness of it is a big part of it sure but like wise its the same for any other country that is say outside of the West its not an abberation it just is

if it was only applicable to Brits and rap then explain to me all them donnys who get vinyl comps of old highlife and ju-ju tunes
 

forclosure

Well-known member
it's not weird to Americans because it's all already there the familiarity of it all but as always familiarity can bring about a certain level of contempt, its better to think of rap more so in regions rather than one giant block not just to differentiate the styles but also how they operate

New York rap fans and writers are guilty of this because their egos made them forget that as much as they are the birthplace they're still a region like everybody else and all the people in those regions internally tend to know one another, me personally i don't find it that weird because outside of when i was learning about other music i've always been into it its just what it is i feel like its only "weird" in the sense of if you feel like you want to become a rapper or contribute to "the culture" in some way or another or give your opinion on something.

The irony of alot of old US rap bloggers is that for as much as they still have PTSD over European rap fans and regard them like some kind of aggro little brother trying to muscle in on big people conversation, alot of them would have to admit that some of the Euro rap bloggers have been better at being on the pulse of rap and assessing whose next up or whose having an interesting creative period better than they could and not only that but they couldn't name you 5 American rap writers who are worth a damn lol
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
the alieness of it is a big part of it sure but like wise its the same for any other country that is say outside of the West its not an abberation it just is

if it was only applicable to Brits and rap then explain to me all them donnys who get vinyl comps of old highlife and ju-ju tunes

it's not just brits but there is something pretty interesting going on in terms of the whole world looking at american cultural exports and totally misinterpreting what america and americans are actually like. there's a certain level of ignorance and a lack of lived experience in our interpretations of that particular place i think. this obviously goes far beyond rap.

whereas americans themselves have a different problem, which is that they happen to live in a place which is such a huge producer of culture (particularly tv and films), and they are in i think a rapid feedback loop between their lives and reflections of their lives on screen. which we are spared to some extent i think.
 

forclosure

Well-known member
it's not just brits but there is something pretty interesting going on in terms of the whole world looking at american cultural exports and totally misinterpreting what america and americans are actually like. there's a certain level of ignorance and a lack of lived experience in our interpretations of that particular place i think. this obviously goes far beyond rap.

whereas americans themselves have a different problem, which is that they happen to live in a place which is such a huge producer of culture (particularly tv and films), and they are in i think a rapid feedback loop between their lives and reflections of their lives on screen. which we are spared to some extent i think.
Americans problem is one of essentialist thinking and not only that but in their mind things that don't follow or come from that are somehow more deficient

I think my problem with your interpretation as far as using words such as ignorance and misinterpreting is it gives this sense that these interpretations are inept or somehow lesser than, if any the thing with British music that arguably is waining over the years is how such interpretations can lead to weird and interesting mutations of those original sources that they might not have thought of, shit we regularly crack on how blinkered and up their own arse in terms of how Americans view themselves and the world so while i understand the sense of wanting to pay respect at the same time that doesn't mean i should have to kneecap myself to talk about it so they can feel either more superior or an idea that
the limies know their place or whatever.

I've noticed maybe a product of twitter and social media and how it exascerbates conversations but African Americans when wanting to engage in as far as i'm concerned the exhausting conversation of "who makes culture?" the way they talk about their own creations sometimes takes on the tone of old time American Exceptionalism "we set trends you all follow remember that" and then when the Supreme court or something revokes another law the switch to talk of how America is again essentially a hell on earth and the sun should just crash into them right now.

and the flop back and forth between these two modes when their not reusing the same 4 jokes about Britian(i sometimes think whenever awful stuff happens like with Roe v Wade making fun of England and its "weird" and "old" traditions is the equivalent of punching a pillow)
 

forclosure

Well-known member
as a black brit especially when it comes to rap and sometimes engaging with rap journalists again like i said its this thing of who the hell let you sneak in but also its this sense of you're recognised as black and one of us but you haven't really suffered like us
 

forclosure

Well-known member
to not veer too off topic here's a recent album i listened to
i can see how Icewear Vezzo might not appeal to you as a rapper because it doesn't have the kind of "shock of the new" that you want from rap but it's just good solid street rap and i like that he doesn't budge an inch from his particular regional style just because he's got Lil Durk and Lil Baby on it
 

forclosure

Well-known member
@shakahislop here's some more concentrated objectification for that ass
hopefully this puts to rest the idea that Debaby is anything but MOR whether he's on pop radio or not

also the way this ends is perfect
 

forclosure

Well-known member
This is the gayest record ever made
he's a pimp luka (or really ex pimp now) they all have that flamboyant quality about them in terms of mannerims and how much work and effort they put into their style and plus how slinky that beat is.

but i'm certain that if you were to call any of them gay, they'd try to hit you in the jaw
 
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