Listen to Run the Jewels 4. Or 3. Or any of their albums, actually. Walking in the Snow is a good one that highlights El-P’s skill.
There is far more cross over than people realize between punk and hip-hop - it really is probably an unexplored line of inquiry, I’d argue (same with West Indian music’s influence on London punk). People like Blondie were very much hanging out with the kids up in the Bronx. Everyone sort of cringes when they hear rapture by them now, but they were very interested in working with the early hip-hop scene and incorporating what they were doing into their music. Plus, they ended up more in the Disco space, which is also Blacker and queerer than most people recognize.
During the early days of the Mudd Club, artists like Fab Five Freddy, Basquiat, and Afrika Bambataa were part of that scene. People don’t think of hip-hop has being experimental or avant-garde in the same way, say, No Wave was, but if you think about what people are doing, it very much is. It shares so much with the various experimental musical movements from earlier in the century - experimenting with electronics and the cut-up technique, for example.
Most people know El-P from RTJ (which is a great project) but he’s been involved in underground hip-hop for years as both a rapper and DJ out of Brooklyn.
And @ficuswhisperer…
That one has Gangsta Boo, too (RIP!!!)
Another good one with Zach De Le Rocha…
I love this one, too… it goes hard…
He’s the primary producer for their stuff, too…
Cameo from the Krog St. underpass!!!
Rapture stands out as an amazing example of something that worked at the time. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone sort of cringe at it.
It is cringe, but I still love it. Music videos in the early days of MTV were just everything throwing shit at the wall to see what would work, and all sorts of weird, wacky stuff came out of it as a result. until Prince and MJ sort of took over the art form…
Plus, Basquiat is in it! He looks so awkward!
It wasn’t supposed to be him, but Fab Five Freddy, who missed the filming, A shot from the filming…
I’ll just come out and say it. I absolutely love Rapture. It’s also pretty damn cringe. It definitely crosses the “so bad it’s good” threshold. If you take this song in the context of the time and place that it appeared, it holds a special place in history.
Yeah, the rap part is mostly nonsense that doesn’t even rhyme half the time, but it’s hard to be mad at it. Debbie Harry is just so earnestly trying to capture a slice of early hip-hop culture and you can tell she was really trying here. The video having cameos of Fab 5 Freddy, Basquiat (who was a stand-in for Grandmaster Flash when he was a no-show), and Lee Quiñones also gives it a certain air of legitimacy.
Debbie Harry certainly won’t end up on any “Mt. Rushmore of white rappers”, that much I can say with certainty.
Who am i to disagree?
I was gunna post this as well earlier, glad to see you post this it was a fun video, and man can Stamos groove
It’s fascinating to me to see how different drummers approach these Drumeo videos. Some of them get really technical, and make notes, break down all the parts of the song, and listen to it like 10 times before they ever start, and then people like Stamos and Chad Smith just jump right in and start playing.
Chad Smith is such a mensch, the videos he’s done with Drumeo are excellent. But yeah i def love seeing how different drummers will approach a song
Anyways, here’s Wonderwall…
We’ve all done it.
The RRHOF has its issues, but I’m super happy that Carol Kaye is getting inducted with this class. It’s long overdue.
although New Order should have been in
Happy Cake Day