Yes, things have changed.
Unknown to some, “hipster” or “alternative rap” weren’t spawned in this decade. The idea itself is laughable to me because for years, rap was an alternative to the radio & moved to a different current than the stream followed by the rest of the media & arts.
However, alternatives to the norm have always existed even inside of hip-hop itself.
Case in point – Arrested Development.
I was going to go into some long diatribe on how marvelous this album was when it was released & is still a good listen. But, I think if you give it a listen, you’ll either remember it or learn something about one of the facets of hip-hop, that was accepted & marched in step with Cube & others at the height of the G-Funk era, solely because they shared the common thread of being conscious.
Not just conscious in the sense of Blackness. But conscious…as in living and learning to live with the things around them. The negatives, the influences, the obstacles. Their environment & how to thrive as a part of it.
Most will recall or has heard the bigger songs from the album. Those are gettin play today. But for the last forty some-odd-minutes, “Dawn Of The Dreads” & “Mama’s Always On Stage”…I’ve been bringin’ those two back like a deejay.
Arrested Development – Tennessee 12″
1. Natural
2. Tennessee-Dubb Mix
3. Tennessee-For DJ’s Only
4. Tennessee-Remix
5. Tennessee-The Mix
Arrested Development – Tennessee 12″
Arrested Development – Everyday People (Video)
Arrested Development – 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days In The Life Of…
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“A game of horseshoes!!”
There was a concious soul in their music that was unique for the time they came out. They managed to take several different influences & create something that hasn’t been fully reproduced since.
“Everyday People” & “Mr. Wendell” were dope too.
Peace to Headliner the “turntable instrumentalist” (still remember that skit, I think it was before “Mr. Wendall” with the funky guitar licks, right?)
Arrested Development takes me baaaaaaack…it was after my early Gangsta Rap obsession but before my all-out east coast days…right in that niche where i really started listening to what these cats were sayin (they actually had something to say) and not just noddin to the beat and singin along while i fucked around on my Sega…”conscious” rap has been around since rap…it’s all this bullshit ringtone garbage that’s new
Damn… I agree with Amp so often I’m beginning to think he’s in my circle, I just don’t realize it. hahaha…
Speech was like IT back then. Now the problem with the term Conscious Hip-Hop is that it carries a little negative connotation, and I hear Speech’s name bearing the brunt of that from time to time. I’m not going to lie, I recoil sometimes when I hear the phrase as well. Why is that? Somebody tell me what’s wrong with being conscious. Why is sending a message uppity or hipster? I guess people are more comfortable with being unconscious…?
I guess people are more comfortable with being unconscious…?
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Wow. Real spit.
LC, I guess great minds think alike lol.
Anyone remember this?
http://www.zshare.net/audio/1058844454c93c33/
lol @ TC – i missed that the first time around…it’s always funny to hear somebody (or a group) take something conscious with a meaning and ignorant it the fuck up…fitty’s usually pretty good at that
^ C thats what’s wrong with ur generation always Fuckin shit up
conscious, gangsta, skinny, fat, gay straight…we love our labels.
Its all art, its all hip hop and its all small parts of the big puzzle.
this kind of hip hop is mandatory to me as is “reality” rap…as they are all representations of real rap.
to discredit one ultimately subtracts from rap as a whole.
*puts out spliff*
as they are all representations of real rap.
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I meant to say real life.
*relights spliff*
@ TC
LOL That ish was funny!
That’s something that’s missing from Hip Hop nowadays, humor. Even the MC’s who used humor as part of their schtick have gone & got serious on us (ie. Luda, Busta, Redman, etc.). Cats need to lighten up.
Retailing Chains Caught in a Wave of Bankruptcies
By MICHAEL BARBARO
The consumer spending slump and tightening credit markets are unleashing a widening wave of bankruptcies in American retailing, prompting thousands of store closings that are expected to remake suburban malls and downtown shopping districts across the country.
To avoid bankruptcy some chains are closing stores. Foot Locker said it would close 140 stores over the next year.
Since last fall, eight mostly midsize chains — as diverse as the furniture store Levitz and the electronics seller Sharper Image — have filed for bankruptcy protection as they staggered under mounting debt and declining sales.
But the troubles are quickly spreading to bigger national companies, like Linens ‘n Things, the bedding and furniture retailer with 500 stores in 47 states. It may file for bankruptcy as early as this week, according to people briefed on the matter.
Even retailers that can avoid bankruptcy are shutting down stores to preserve cash through what could be a long economic downturn. Over the next year, Foot Locker said it would close 140 stores, Ann Taylor will start to shutter 117, and the jeweler Zales will close 100.
The surging cost of necessities has led to a national belt-tightening among consumers. Figures released on Monday showed that spending on food and gasoline is crowding out other purchases, leaving people with less to spend on furniture, clothing and electronics. Consequently, chains specializing in those goods are proving vulnerable.
Retailing is a business with big ups and downs during the year, and retailers rely heavily on borrowed money to finance their purchases of merchandise and even to meet payrolls during slow periods. Yet the nation’s banks, struggling with the growing mortgage crisis, have started to balk at extending new loans, effectively cutting up the retail industry’s collective credit cards.
“You have the makings of a wave of significant bankruptcies,” said Al Koch, who helped bring Kmart out of bankruptcy in 2003 as the company’s interim chief financial officer and works at a corporate turnaround firm called AlixPartners.
“For years, no deal was too ugly to finance,” he said. “But now, nobody will throw money at these companies.”
Because retailers rely on a broad network of suppliers, their bankruptcies are rippling across the economy. The cash-short chains are leaving behind tens of millions of dollars in unpaid bills to shipping companies, furniture manufacturers, mall owners and advertising agencies. Many are unlikely to be paid in full, spreading the economic pain.
When it filed for bankruptcy, Sharper Image owed $6.6 million to United Parcel Service. The furniture chain Levitz owed Sealy $1.4 million.
And it is not just large companies that are absorbing the losses. When Domain, the furniture retailer, filed for bankruptcy, it owed On Time Express, a 90-employee transportation and logistics company in Tempe, Ariz., about $30,000.
“We’ll be lucky to see pennies on the dollar, if we see anything,” said Ross Musil, the chief financial officer of On Time Express. “It’s a big loss.”
Most of the ailing companies have filed for reorganization, not liquidation, under the bankruptcy laws, including the furniture chain Wickes, the housewares seller Fortunoff, Harvey Electronics and the catalog retailer Lillian Vernon. But, in a contrast with previous recessions, many are unlikely to emerge from bankruptcy, lawyers and industry experts said.
Changes in the federal bankruptcy code in 2005 significantly tightened deadlines for ailing companies to restructure their businesses, offering them less leeway.
And the changes may force companies to pay suppliers before paying wages or honoring obligations to customers, like redeeming gift cards, said Sally Henry, a partner in the bankruptcy law practice at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and the author of several books on bankruptcy.
As a result, she said, “it’s no longer reorganization or even liquidation for these companies. In many cases, it’s evaporation.”
Several of the retailers that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection over the last eight months, like the furniture sellers Bombay, Levitz and Domain, have begun to wind down — closing stores, laying off workers and liquidating merchandise.
In most cases, the collapses stemmed from a combination of factors: flawed business strategies, a souring economy and banks’ unwillingness to issue cheap loans.
Ya Boy – 100 Bars of Death (Video):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lcQjZO0oiYA
@ Momma – just cuz it’s a funny song based on “Tennessee” doesn’t take away from the original…it’s just a parody, like some Weird Al rap…it’s funny
Fuck “hipster”, “conscious”, “street” or whatever the fuck you want to call it. Hiphop is hiphop, not clever marketing terminology concocted by some fucking label heads. I used to label shit too until an OG told me that when a dude raps he’s giving you a point of view, so how can you put a label on that?
The did a song about a homeless man.
They were like Walden Raps or some shit. Loved it.
@ “Momma”
That’s circa ’94
Hiphop is hiphop, not clever marketing terminology concocted by some fucking label heads
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Shitttt…
Lil’ Kim, Bone, 2Pac, Jeezy, and Nirvana came out with tremendous impact.
The Industry’s reponse?
We got Trina, Crucial Conflict, Ja Rule, Shawty Lo, and Bush.
Don’t think for a minute that labels don’t have marketing schemes on how to package music that’s been proven to sell.
In The Devil Wears Prada, Meryl Streep’s character had this big giant speech on how X amount of dollars and man power go into the simple patterned-clothing you buy @ Target. Some of this shit ain’t real as it seems…
Love Arrested Development though. Wish they could’ve hung around a lil’ longer…
We got Trina, Crucial Conflict, Ja Rule, Shawty Lo, and Bush.
========================
Real talk.
Especially the Ja to 2Pac and Nirvana to Bush comparisons.
I love Bush.
The group I mean…well…whatever lol.
Jacked from eskay…
Termanology-Da Cameo King
http://www.sendspace.com/file/82yp4u
As my granny would say, that boy TC is smart as a whip
@ TC: I don’t think you understand what I meant; I was speaking about fans who like to label and segment the music, not the labels themselves. We as fans have to take up responsibility that we have regionalized and compartmentalized the music that we hear, the labels only enforce and strenghten that based on what they see.
peace to Headliner… Fly name… My man used to cut hair down the AUC… Real good peeps too.
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Flea , TC, you’re both correct in essence.
Hip-Hop music BY NATURE is organic (desktops, street corners, etc), but by the time we take it out the plastic or off the net that sh*t is a psychologists science project…One of the reasons there’s a particular sound or tone attributed to every era. Another reason to support the ma & pop stores, college radio, and independent labels.
thats whats up flea…your further expounding on what I was getting at in my above post.
Lil’ Kim, Bone, 2Pac, Jeezy, and Nirvana came out with tremendous impact.
The Industry’s reponse?
We got Trina, Crucial Conflict, Ja Rule, Shawty Lo, and Bush
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But none of those “copycat” acts ever gained the following or critical acceptance that OG’s did.
Ja Rule didn’t really take off untill He found His own lane. Good marketing can’t replace actual talent.
Lil’ Kim, Bone, 2Pac, Jeezy, and Nirvana came out with tremendous impact.
The Industry’s reponse?
We got Trina, Crucial Conflict, Ja Rule, Shawty Lo, and Bush
———————————————
But none of those “copycat” acts ever gained the following or critical acceptance that OG’s did.
Ja Rule didn’t really take off untill He found His own lane. Good marketing can’t replace actual talent.
check out Speech on newly inducted to spitkicker fam artist TY’s last album Closer!
http://www.myspace.com/tyandupwards
peace
Bounce
Did anybody ever peep Kardinal Offishal’s joint based on “Everyday People” called “Everyday Rudebwoy” from his Fire & Glory album…it was fly, his album wasn’t bad either
Man, that arrested development doesn’t age well.
You want some hipster rap, how about a PM Dawn post?
Ok maybe not.
But speaking of parodies, anyone have the old “Bobby Jimmy & The Critters” joints?
AD dropped an album last year called “Since The Last Time”. It’s bananas. I’ll try to upload it at some point today. They still travel overseas. Speech is working with a hot Bay Area producer on some new ish that’s supposed to be hot.
Problem with “hipster hop” is that it’s pretty akin to american punk—all pose, no purpose. It’s like “we’re bored so let’s mix some obscure beat samples together, throw in some self-indulgent/semi-intellectual/self- deprecating lyrics just because it sounds cool to do.
I wouldn’t put AD in that category. It’s just that they took off so fast and blew up so fast with white people, specifically white collegiates that they became every white rap fan’s honorary “black friend.”
You couldn’t have a convo in the 90s about hiphop without some white boy saying something to the effect of “why can’t all these threatening evil black rappers be more non-threatening and feel-good like AD?”
Speech was like the one black guy that every white hiphop fan felt they could beat up. He was Franklin from Charlie Brown–he’d show up spit little something, made everybody felt good then they’d shove him off to the side like he was never there.
Anyway, AD was dope. But their more militant stuff and their more pro-black joints didn’t go over well with their mainstream fanbase. Their other albums were pretty dope but the knock on ‘em was for example that Zingalumndi was “too black” and “too preachy”.
Bobby Critters? oh lawd…
I got Rappin’ Duke on Wax… soon as i figure out how to burn my wax.
Give a man a Fish is more gangsta than most gangsta’s whole discog!
Very interesting I am going to have to pass this post along to friends that have sites that may be able to help you out.