when swordsmen of different styles connect

forclosure

Well-known member
i just ask about the other ones because they're all on that vibe maybe not in terms of mannerism and what have but same thing, they filmed The Mack out in Oakland so its not like this just sprang up outta nowhere
 

shakahislop

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
like the sound at first glance. he sounds a bit like kevin gates at times
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
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
i actually am dead into it when people name specific places in tunes, love it. never felt left out by people referring to that. but here's a good example of what i mean. it's describing what might as well be another planet and the artistic conceit in rap of this period is that they really blur what is reality and what's made up. actually there's two sides to this. one part is that it's alienating coz it's talking about things that are so far from your own experience. the other part is that because of that your imagination fills in the blanks.

 

forclosure

Well-known member
i actually am dead into it when people name specific places in tunes, love it. never felt left out by people referring to that. but here's a good example of what i mean. it's describing what might as well be another planet and the artistic conceit in rap of this period is that they really blur what is reality and what's made up. actually there's two sides to this. one part is that it's alienating coz it's talking about things that are so far from your own experience. the other part is that because of that your imagination fills in the blanks.

all true but also the irony of Cube is that and NWA really is that the only actual street guy in the crew was Easy and it's especially interesting when you think about how Cube was calling certain rappers sellouts and soft like MC Hammer yet Hammer is from Oakland and he had ALOT of people who were willing to do dirt for him if rappers came at him the wrong way

Redman and MC Serch can attest to that
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
Tidal makes algo-playlists for me, I don't ask it to it just does it, one of them is rap, and for the last few months its decided to put porn tune 'Lick' by Shenseea and Megan Thee Stallion on that playlist, not just once, but every four songs.
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
@forclosure where do you stand on kevin gates? i'm not a great fan of his old gangster stuff, with a few exceptions, but since he converted to islam i find his tunes a weird and accessible combination of elements, there's a lot of emotional ambiguity in there, still that very artificial early 10s production that's totally divorced from an actual drum, lots of melody and hooks, but lyrically dealing with god, regret, taking his mates to the masjid, and how much he likes having sex with his wife, interspersed with genre-appropriate macho threats that fall flat, i find it a potent combination
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
People actually use Tidal?

I think it's just me and Beyonce. I switched to it at Christmas. The only advantage really is that it resets the algorithm and to some extent your own habits. Over a few years me and Spotify had got locked into a cycle where it would only recommend me stuff I was already into, and things got a bit stale as a result. That really worked out for me, Tidal doesn't recommend me anything with guitars, it's just dancehall, techno, d&b and weird Wire stuff now. You could probably achieve the same effect by changing to any of the other streaming services though.
 
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Leo

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Over a few years me and Spotify had got locked into a cycle where it would only recommend me stuff I was already into, and things got a bit stale as a result.

This isn't a problem for the vast majority of Spotify subscribers, who are content -- happy, even -- to "discover new artists" who are essentially the same as what they already like. We're not their key audience.
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
This isn't a problem for the vast majority of Spotify subscribers, who are content -- happy, even -- to "discover new artists" who are essentially the same as what they already like. We're not their key audience.

it's another one of these subtle ways that the way we live is mediated by computers rather than people i think. which i think is a meta-trend, i.e. which is an underlying process in lots of the things that are changing at the moment.

i think its alright to listen to the same kind of thing for years on end, i don't think there's any moral superiority to be gained from moving your taste forward, but i get a lot out of it myself
 

Leo

Well-known member
that's one thing you get (or got, anyway) from going to record stores. the person behind the counter didn't have a deep (or any) knowledge of your tastes, so the music they played in-store was stuff they wanted to hear, which exposed customers to things they might not otherwise hear.
 

wild greens

Well-known member
To be fair, Tidal does also pay the most when it comes to artist royalties, so you can claim the moral high ground in that respect.

I switched to Apple Music a while back as I got six months free with new phone, but they have a lot of artist curated playlists and radio shows which have been pretty good in revealing new things etc. Their algorithm is a bit weird but i mostly just make playlists anyway
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
To be fair, Tidal does also pay the most when it comes to artist royalties, so you can claim the moral high ground in that respect.

I switched to Apple Music a while back as I got six months free with new phone, but they have a lot of artist curated playlists and radio shows which have been pretty good in revealing new things etc. Their algorithm is a bit weird but i mostly just make playlists anyway

Tidal also distributes them according to who you listen to most, and it tells you how much of your money is going to each artist. This means that Tidal often tells me that the person I'm giving most money to is convicted murdered Vybz Kartel
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
that's one thing you get (or got, anyway) from going to record stores. the person behind the counter didn't have a deep (or any) knowledge of your tastes, so the music they played in-store was stuff they wanted to hear, which exposed customers to things they might not otherwise hear.

yeah. and the same for hearing things mates are playing, reading about things in magazines, reading about things on the pre-spotify internet etc. obviously the apps are based on what other people listen to, that's how they know that if i like something i'll probably also like something else. i'm not saying its necessarily a bad or a good thing. but it is an example of these things being based more on computations than human beings. and obviously another thing that's going on there is the atomisation of how we live.
 
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