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At 10:44 AM 6/23/00, Larry Tremblay wrote: > >Correct. The original Hip-Hop nation in the South Bronx brought back this >technique (or rediscovered it), e.g., Sugar Hill Gang, Afrika Bambatta, >and the other pioneers of Rap. Unfortunately it has degenerated to the >point of dreck like Puff Daddy, et al. But that's what happens to good >ideas all the time. Beat that dead horse to a bloody pulp... While as much of an abomination as Puff Daddy's music is (though I do dig his Led Zep appropriation for the Godzilla soundtrack: Double-tracked orchestras, yeah baby), I don't think it's quite fair to say that hip-hop/rap has as a genre degenerated to his level. Yeah, there's plenty of crummy commercial rap around, and he's not the only offender, but I actually think there's a kind of hip-hop renaissance going on right now, I've heard more interesting hip-hop records in the last year than anytime since, say, Fear of a Black Planet and Paul's Boutique. Any of the Quannum Project and related stuff, any Kool Keith/Dr. Octagon/Black Elvis or whatever psuedonym he's working under currently, People under the Stairs, etc. I think that there's a new approach to wordplay coming about, more open rhythmically, more free-associative, more improvisational. One record that I think shows the state of the new hip=hop art is the 1999 Material release Intonarumori, which, up to Laswell's usual standards, is incredibly well-produced and features some of the best of the new generation of rappers, as well as stalwarts like Flavor Flav. One track in particular has Killa Priest of the Wu Tang Clan doing an absolutely chilling paranoid rap over minimal tambura, electronic drones and a distant tabla, a piece that creeps me out in the best possible way every time I hear it. ____________________________________________ Dave Trenkel : improv@peak.org Minus Web Site: http://listen.to/minusmusic Minus MP3's: http://www.mp3.com/-minus- ____________________________________________