Happy Music Monday! Are you one of those people who hate rap and hip hop as a genre? Yeah? Well, you’re as wrong as those people who hate all country or hate all classic rock. Today Scott’s challenging every one of you to join in with some epic rap songs. Because if you hate 100% of an entire genre, it’s not the genre’s fault. It’s yours.
Famously uncleared samples, beat boxing, funny accents, the “Six Minutes” stage reminder and banter between the MC’s. This is the Bohemian Rhapsody of hip hop, moving you from a backstage gathering to the big moment onstage, and perfect to sing in a car with your pals. Simply glorious and amazingly epic.
See you after the jump, everyone with taste! And the rest of you listen to this over and over until you catch on. Also here’s a heads up: after the jump some of the lyrics might be NSFW, okay? Okay.
Public Enemy - Fight The Power
It’s amazing how many people hated on Public Enemy, when all they did was basically make the same statement this country was founded on. “I’m here, and I deserve my rights and forget you if you take them from me.” How is that different from the average hyper-rednecked country song? If there was ever a rap anthem, “Fight The Power” would be a strong contender.
A lot of hip hop in the 1990s was about partying and doin’ guy stuff, and women ended up very sidelined. 2Pac’s love song to his mother was no different than, say, the one from Elvis to his mom. There’s a real deep and thoughtful man behind the gangsta story here, a man who did bad things but is starting to think about what more he could be. It’s a shame he passed on before he found the answers.
Listen to this thing build! It’s got that ’80s glory as it creeps up from nothing to the top and then drops back down to start the climb again. A simple statement of purpose: just hand over a microphone and he’ll take care of the rest for himself.
Namechecking people for fun and enjoyment? Hmm, when has that ever come up before? GZA proves to be quite the clever fella by turning a list of celebrities into a really impressive mix of puns and references and such. John Lennon would have unquestionably been impressed. For real. If you don’t agree, go read his book and be amazed.
Let us just remind you: some images come from the corresponding Wikipedia page and are here under fair use. See you next week.