Who remembers the good old days when you could buy a commercial hip-hop album and be safe in the knowledge that all you'd hear is some mindless rhymes about money, bitches and bling with a chorus sampled from a recent hit single, usually sung by a young female singer? Now it's all MGMT this and Ratatat that (hey, that rhymes!), with all these experimental production flourishes getting in the way of all the pimpin' and braggin'.
One recent exponent of this phenomena is Kid Cudi. Fresh from working with Italian dance producers The Crookers on 'Day 'N Nite', he's back with a new single called 'Pursuit of Happiness'. Produced by Ratatat and featuring MGMT on the chorus, it's a brilliantly stoned, skillfully executed fusion of rap and OTT guitars.
Lovely stuff.
Not to be outdone, Raps elder statesman Jay-Z has gone and employed a certain Luke Steele from Empire of The Sun fame on his Blueprint 3 album.
It's got a similarly spaced out beat, this time provided by Kanye West and No I.D. Perhaps it's the start of a whole new genre; Prog-Hop anyone?
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i think Aceyalone will go down as the first Prog-rapper. Check out his album "Book of Human Language". kind of a stoner-rap album with jazz fusion, and heavy on the trip-hop. it's also got songs in 6/8 and 5/4.
ReplyDeleteAnd a great album, too.