There is always fads in music. This especially rings true for Hip Hop. It follows trend lines similar to fashion.
There was the whole native tongues that splintered off into that PM Dawnish-polkadot-rap that Kool Keith hated on during the first two Ultramag records. There was/is backpacker-underground-rap that still has a persevering and growing audience. There was blinged-out-southern-rap that had iced out album art that is some of the best around to this day. Myspace has help create a new generation of DIY bedroom rappers. How can you deny the dudes hawking mixtapes down at the local mall, complete with headphones to let you hear their latest unmixed, unmastered creations of mastery.
I’ve felt that through all the bullshit, the C.R.E.A.M. always rises to the top…
Enter The 87 Stick Up Kids. I have been a fan of theirs since the first show I caught a couple years back. Here is the thing. Most rappers absolutely suck live. They tend to not understand energy, cadence, style, composure and so many other showman-type stage presence adjectives. They yell into cupped microphones and sound like their audience should be at the bottom of the grand canyon. If you really want to know about the correct techniques, you should track down KRS One’s The Science of Rap.
The Los Angeles based, 87 Stick Up Kids do not do any of the aformentioned bad rap techniques (although The Deacon has a tendency to lose his voice). Nash and The Deacon along with DJ Rockwell (I owe you dinner dude, I know) and best-hype man since Phife Dog are a complete and compelling group. Very rare for the 2009 coke/electro/blog rap environment. They have a great stage show and are on extra fine point on record. All 5 cuts off of their new EP Out 4 Fame are solid. Big shine to Rhyme Gets Chosen, as I produced it. Don’t forget to turn it up cause it bumps on the low end.
“The 808 kickdrum makes the girlies get dumb…” – The Seattle Gawd Himself, Sir Mix-A-Lot
Here is the debut EP by The 87 Stick Up Kids entitled Out 4 Fame. Go ahead and download it, FOR FREE:
Bonus Download:
SIDENOTE/BONUS: Googling Hypeman comes up with funny things…
(From Urban Dictionary)
1. hype-man 50 up, 11 down
somebody who get on the mic before a dj throws down and gets the crowd all pumped up and talks up the dj and shit. has the ability to transform shouting into excitement through the use of his microphone
On his “In Tune and On Time” dvd, DJ Shadow needs to knock that I’m-my-own-hype-man shit off. Nobody wants to see that weenie white dude come out on stage and act allshyboyish before his set and watch while he tries to hype up his crowd by one-by-one listing off his last ike 27 albums, giving the crowd a chance indicate that yes, indeed they had heard of and enjoyed theses albums, and also to show their enthusiam decline to an uncomfortable level, with absolutely no beat in the background.
YO! GET A HYPE-MAN, SHADOW!!!
