Latest / Hip-Hop Now Podcast / Sharpen Your Sword

Transcript

Sharpen Your Sword · Hip-Hop Now Podcast

0:00
Coming up on this week's episode of hip Hop Now podcast, questlove List rappers
0:07
he thinks are keeping hip hop alive, Childish Gambino thinks, Drake versus Kendrick
0:14
reflects something more troublesome, and my thoughts on a new album from Loup a
0:21
Fiasco Samurai sharpen your swords, bit his darts. I want to listen to
0:29
some wool. I'm in the wool move Let's do it, though. Welcome
0:36
to hip Hop Now popat as. If you come the future, you know
0:42
what you do show ass out of so disrespect the leg hip hop is say
0:51
this today escape rating to the business. What up, y'all? I'm your
0:56
host Vegas and this it's hip Hop Now podcasting podcast specifically designed to keep you
1:02
caught up on all things hip hop, music and culture that happened throughout the
1:06
week. Big shout out to the supporters over ad Patreon, dot com,
1:10
slash hip Hop Now. If you would like to learn more about that,
1:15
visit a link in the description of this episode. Doesn't matter if you're listening
1:21
on Apple podcasts where we're available, Spotify podcasts where we're available, or some
1:26
third party podcasting that I appreciate you longtime listeners whatep, give me a shout,
1:34
but also those people who are watching on YouTube. We've been doing video
1:41
for a year, so now there was one point in time where it was
1:46
kind of gonna happen, but wasn't, but wasn't, and now here we
1:49
are. You know, so we're on the road to five hundred subscribers.
1:53
We're somewhere around four point forty five hundred can be obtained before the end of
2:00
the summer if we really work hard, before the end of the week,
2:05
before the end of this episode. How about that. So the best thing
2:08
for you to do is if you like this content, obviously hit that like
2:12
button. It counts towards exposing people to this podcast who are interested in this
2:17
type of content, but also subscribe to the channel. Become a subscriber,
2:23
stay locked in so you don't have to go find it or yo, let
2:27
me go to Vegas social media see if he got a new episode, because
2:30
what happens if I don't post a new episode, you lose out on the
2:35
info and what your mama gonna say. I'm just joking, but at the
2:40
end of the day, it's just more important that you subscribe. That way,
2:44
you're locked in. You can just check your subscription feed and you can
2:47
see anytime I post new content because other than the weekly show, Tale of
2:54
the Tapes is coming back if you haven't checked them out already, and that's
3:00
an exclusive YouTube series I did talking about cassettes that I purchased back in the
3:07
days, stories behind them. It's kind of like a nostalgia trip. But
3:09
I still have them, and if you're watching on YouTube, you see some
3:13
of them behind me, and that's not all of them. So definitely stay
3:16
tuned for that. We're gonna have another round. I did twelve previously,
3:21
so I probably do another twelve beginning next month. So stay right head,
3:28
stay locked in, and don't be afraid to comment. I read your comments.
3:31
I respond to them. I like them, all that stuff. If
3:35
it's really dope, I'll pin it to the top so everybody get to see.
3:38
Okay, But with that being said, big shout out to hip hopdx
3:44
dot com, Double Xcel and Brochure for Heads, and a couple of hip
3:47
hop websites where I get some of my information from. Let's get right into
3:53
the business. So quest Love, I've never had a problem with quest Love,
4:00
and I really don't know he just annoyed me not that long ago with
4:05
pretending like a hip hop battle was automatically a beef that would lead to some
4:12
sort of violence. And my response to that was, if you scared,
4:17
say you're scared, okay, But to be one of the voices in hip
4:24
hop that has the ear of people outside of hip hop on the edges of
4:30
hip hop, it's a little irresponsible to like shoehorn and I know everybody took
4:36
it. No, we ain't taking nothing out of context. We know what
4:39
you said first, okay, but it's a little irresponsible to just say that's
4:46
what this is, this is that's what's happening. I promise you. That's
4:51
probably more insultant to all the parties involved, from j Cole to Kendrick,
4:58
especially Kendrick. Even Dre doesn't have to go there now. The one person
5:03
who we know is not the toughest in this battle, we ain't gonna say
5:08
no name. He definitely need to stop talking greasy, but he stopped talking
5:13
a while ago, so none of us is an issue. The battles over
5:15
Kendrick one d M and Questlove what said what he said, and that was
5:20
it. I just felt I needed to express that again. But Ques Love
5:26
says that and this is coming from hip hopdx dot com. Questlove names unsung
5:32
rappers he believes are keeping hip hop alive. Now, let's see. And
5:41
I believe this is from because he put out a book called hip Hop Is
5:46
History, which is cool, but I don't really care about that is this
5:51
is actually coming from an interview he did with NPR while promoting his book hip
5:58
Hop Truly is Dead. That's what he was saying as a result because of
6:02
the back and forth battle, which is so like in shut up because that's
6:08
not what's happening. Everybody look happy to me. Everybody look involved me in
6:14
that pop out concert. Come on dog. But speaking to the topic,
6:18
he said, I don't think hip hop is dead, right, of course,
6:24
you don't come on this shutout, stop talking, all right, I'll
6:28
just read it. I'll stop y'all. If An MC like Little Sims,
6:32
which people rarely talk about. I don't think people give enough attention to Griselda
6:40
Westside, Gun Conway and Benny or even like Toby Mick Jenkins, Arrol Holden,
6:47
even Denzel Curry. There's so much quality dope stuff out there that just
6:53
goes unnoticed and unchampioned. The fifty three year old also addressed the aforementioned few
7:00
directly over the same chat to explain his stance. Let's give him that,
7:03
all right, I'm gonna read it all right, here's the deal. I
7:06
wish people would make up their minds. I'm in this weird middle place.
7:10
I talk about this a lot in my books. I live in the zone
7:15
where I'm somewhere in between. Dude, you change my life and you ain't
7:18
ish every day, so it's a constant balance and you don't know what the
7:24
reaction is going to be. I'm just going to say it again, man,
7:29
shut up, shut up. I don't know who decided that he is
7:38
now a major voice in hip hop that we should really care about. Now,
7:46
that doesn't mean he shouldn't be a voice. He's done to it.
7:49
Man. He brought the angelot back. So I have no beef request love,
7:55
but I need him to stop saying things. You can have your book,
8:01
that's fine. We all have our opinions and you can feel the way
8:05
you want to feel. But if you listen to hip Hop Now podcasts,
8:11
wh some of those names he named when those albums will drop, especially Little
8:16
Sims. They were in my Albums of the Year. Now, I do
8:22
agree, not enough people know, especially her, Not enough people know about
8:28
her or what Denzel Curry does or what Mick Jenkins does. But we just
8:33
living in a time where it's not gonna be that simple. It's not just
8:37
a matter of being good at what you do and putting out quality work.
8:41
It's just a matter of it's gonna get recognized at some point with something,
8:48
whether it's a feature, whether it's a song, whether it's something that trends
8:52
that they says that leads people to their music, that will get people to
8:56
recognize how great they are. But questlove, I'll say to you, instead
9:03
of saying stuff like hip hop's dead and dem renigging and saying it's not dead
9:09
and naming people who are unsung heroes, that's what you should do more.
9:16
Just start talking more about the unsung heroes. Now. Griselda is not unsung
9:22
right now. They played a pivotal part and bringing back hardcore New York style
9:33
boom bat raps and music. Right I think they get their recognition, but
9:39
it ain't gonna be any higher than it already is because unfortunately their niche,
9:45
they're not something that everybody's gonna like, just like Kendrick's not something that everybody
9:50
likes, you know what I'm saying. So it's sort of like you can't
9:54
want everybody to be everything. I think Little Sims is the closest to being
10:01
somebody who can attract a hardcore audience and a commercial audience at the same time.
10:09
Most of those people that were in Denzel Curry, but that's when you
10:13
get outside the realm of just dope bars and beats and sometimes it's charisma.
10:20
Right, Everybody can agree that Rhapsody's dope as an artist. Everybody can agree
10:26
that she puts out quality music, but she may not have a personality that's
10:33
attractive enough for the masses, you know what I'm saying. Like she might
10:37
just be an introvert, right, or maybe she doesn't see herself as that.
10:43
But there's something that's missing and it is not the music, So what
10:48
else is it? And some people will say, well, shouldn't that be
10:52
the only thing that matters? No, because that's just not the way things
10:56
go. Right. Like when I first heard DMX, I knew DMX.
11:01
DMX wasn't giving me no like rewind fact that, like, yo, what
11:03
he's saying the dog barker, But it was nothing crazy like that, but
11:09
his energy behind his lyrics, the conviction behind his lyrics, that hypeness of
11:15
videos, and the aesthetic of him and his dogs and you know, rough
11:20
riders and motorcycles, and it was a whole vibe that was like behind DMX
11:28
that played into him and his personality. All Biggie, right, Biggie's dumb,
11:33
nice, but he'll he said it hisself, black and ugly, you
11:37
know, one eye dead or whatever he said. I don't remember the bar.
11:43
But he also embraced what society would say about him when they saw him,
11:52
so it kind of neutralized that and it really put the focus on his
11:56
charisma and then everybody with the charismas So therefore, when the songs were hitting
12:03
and you like, that's a guy, I was like, no, it's
12:05
all about being relatable. So at the end of the day, I totally
12:09
agree with Questlove as far as there being a number of unsung heroes in the
12:16
hip hop game. And I don't even think he named them all. He
12:18
just named a few. But at the end of the day, you know,
12:24
it's all subjective and it all comes down to opinion, and especially now
12:28
you got to you gotta even be more than the things I mentioned. You
12:31
know, you gotta be active, you know, like not just interviews and
12:35
you know, oh, let me go on a press junket so everybody can
12:39
see me. Sometimes you got to do everything like press junket, freestyle here,
12:43
freestyle there, you know, on the show. Like you gotta do
12:48
a lot, you know. But it comes with the territory when you're recording
12:52
artist, so you know, work harder. I don't know, but definitely
12:58
those names he named, especially like Denzel Curry, Mick Jenkins who put out
13:05
a very dope project not that long ago, and little sims like especially little
13:11
sims like music's crazy, y'all. I'll tell y'all. All right, So
13:18
Childish Gambino because we have all this reflections from this battle and all these opinions
13:24
from this battle, and there were a number of artists and people like Questlove
13:31
who had an opinion about it all and Vince Staples, right, So Childish
13:35
Gambino kind of looks at the beef that it reflects a worrying hold up,
13:43
no no copyright, a worrying trained within our society. And he said this,
13:50
I feel like there's just people not having enough fun. When I was
13:54
a kid, there were big things that would unite us, and I just
13:58
feel bad for y'all. This generation just does not get Yeah, wait what
14:05
you said. This generation just does not get y'all get like bad stuff.
14:09
Everything that everybody can get in on is usually fed up. Even this year,
14:15
the most fun we've had was from a fight song from a fight from
14:20
a rap beef, which I enjoyed every minute of it. Was very fun,
14:26
but still kind of negative in a certain light. I guess, hey,
14:33
you too, which one are you on? Man? What you on?
14:37
Which one? It was negative? True? I guess there's a little
14:43
slander, you know. But you had fun with it. But there's not
14:48
enough fun and it's the only fund was the fight. I'm gonna need y'all
14:54
to I'm gonna need y'all to stop. And I'm a y'all. And this
15:00
ain't about ranting because I don't. I don't really care about ranting leading to
15:05
uh, you know, views and stuff like that. You know, I
15:07
have an opinion. You can agree or disagree, but this is my problem.
15:15
When did these hip hop heads so to speak, decide that battle rap
15:24
wasn't a part of hip hop, and it's really when when people are battling
15:28
and making disc records, it's really only about violence and negativity and stuff like
15:35
that. It is essential, It's an essential part of what MCing was.
15:43
Sure it, I will agree with this. I think there was a time
15:48
where it was about displaying your skill and how much better you were than the
15:52
other artists, and somewhere, probably in the early two thousands where it got
15:58
really crazy, which I look at Childish Gambino like, you wasn't here when
16:02
everybody was missing each other because we were and it wasn't a mass murder of
16:07
hip hop artists. It really wasn't. It's sort of like they're taking parts
16:15
of the negativity and saying when guys diss each other in battle, this is
16:19
the result. And I hate that because it's hip hop has always been about
16:26
battling. The beefs typically are never the two artists fighting each other. Yeah,
16:34
there may be people and their aunts auragers who feel some kind of way
16:37
where they want to just go there, but you can't control that because go
16:42
to an NFL game, people fighting all the time in the stands. Go
16:48
to a boxing match, people fighting all the time. It's not good but
16:56
it happens, and it is our society, and you really can't use something
17:03
that is a part of hip hop's fabric to now turn it into something more
17:10
when nothing has happened. It's almost like you won't be satisfied until somebody actually
17:15
does something so you can say, see, yup, they shouldn't have battled.
17:19
Shouldn't have said that now. To be fair, what I did like
17:25
about Kendrick Lamar's rollout of this record was before he got to the pedophile and
17:30
the mud slinging part, he warned, Drake, don't tell no lies about
17:38
me. I don't tell no truths about you. In a minute, Drake
17:45
jumped in with the you know way your wife and you know is that your
17:49
kid and all the mud slinging Dad opened the door for Kendrick to go there
17:55
right And honestly, when you talk about winning the battle, there was results.
18:00
Aren't well whose accusations were true? It's not hip hop. It's more
18:07
about the execution, the rollout and the crowd reaction. And the crowd reaction
18:12
which is not bots like they like to say you saw it at the pop
18:17
out. You see it in every every feed possible from people making different versions
18:25
of not like us. You saw the results and it wasn't violent. And
18:30
at a show that supposedly was about you know, getting on Drake and unified,
18:36
it wasn't about him at all. The only unification that took place was
18:41
a couple of neighborhoods and Gang Central coming together on one stage. United.
18:49
But that's not really what y'all want see. It just comes across as hypocritical,
18:57
and I think in a lot of ways, because let's just be real,
19:00
in a lot of ways, everybody got business to handle, and a
19:07
battle of this magnitude because of who Drake is in the music industry and who
19:12
Kendrick are and what they're different type types and styles of music represent Drake or
19:21
people like turning on Drake's music or whatever and feeling like a corny. It
19:26
does kind of hurt Childish Gambino in a way because his music is very similar.
19:32
You know, he's not the same artists and all that, but he's
19:36
kind of in that he's in that lane more than he's in a Kendrick lane.
19:41
And I think artists like Kendrick stand to benefit from his artistry when in
19:48
the battle, because it sometimes it changes the appetite of listeners like, yeah,
19:53
I'm kind of done with the dances and the trendy stuff and you know,
19:59
the fluff ours. You know, what Kendrick showed me was you know,
20:03
potency from Euphoria to six sixteen in La to you know, just loving
20:08
the West Coast sound again with not like Us, and it opens the door
20:15
for people to want to hear more of that. You know what I'm saying,
20:18
because I know for me, I was already on this daw Pine album
20:22
Heavy and after you know, watching a pop up. Now I'm looking like,
20:26
yo, I don't know who's that. Let me go listen to the
20:29
music. So again, it kind of swings the pendulum. But in a
20:33
lot of ways, I think some artists, including quest Love, just need
20:41
to be brief. Yo. I ain't really like it. It just seemed
20:44
like, you know, maybe not the stars, but it just seemed like
20:45
a lot of people were upset and it was a lot of beef online and
20:51
I just hate that energy, childish game being the same thing. I had
20:53
a lot of fun with it. Let's get back to the music. Just
20:57
say that, man. But again, everybody can have their opinion, they
21:03
can feel the way they feel I just get a little bothered by who's saying
21:10
what and how they contribute to paint hip hop as this one thing that could
21:18
be negative and not saying that's exactly what they were doing. But sometimes you
21:22
don't know how big those words are when it comes to people outside of it
21:29
looking to you for the answer. If you love Childer Scambino and he says,
21:33
oh, I'm so violent, you might be like, yeah, why
21:37
are those guys doing that? I'm just I'm saying it happens. There are
21:41
people like that there, people are not as locked in, But I am
21:45
for you. So there you have it. And lastly, so loup a
21:52
fiasco during that whole you know, Kendrick and Drake joint decided on stage nobody
22:00
beating me, but nobody asked him. Nobody asked you, and nobody responded,
22:03
so stop doing that. But what he did do that I liked was
22:10
like, I got a new album coming out, here's a new song or
22:12
video called Samurai. I press play on that. I was like, this
22:17
is what you do. We don't care who nice and not blah blah blah.
22:21
Somebody don't get me wrong, loope, somebody want to step in your
22:26
square? I want to hear you get at them lyrically, but don't go
22:32
asking for it when nobody responds, and then not because oh yeah, they
22:34
ain't want it. No, they don't really you. They don't want you.
22:37
There's no benefit to them to battle you, So just put out music.
22:44
And that's what he did. He released is a brand new album,
22:48
Samurai. It clocks in about thirty one minutes. Zero features, short album,
22:55
zero features or Loope I could dig it. I first heard the single
23:00
Samurai, I was like, yeah, this is the Loope that I like.
23:07
Don't get me wrong, I like the lyrical, spiritual miracle Loope who
23:11
was on this album. But Samurai reminds me of the Kick Push Loope bars
23:18
thought provoking lyrics. He almost comes across as joyful and it's refreshing see Childish
23:27
Gambino. The thing is is the battle was for that kind of energy,
23:32
but it was still hip hop. And then when you ready to get back
23:33
to calm and damn, Loope got a bag for you with Samurai. That's
23:38
what you do. Man. It made me smile when I heard it.
23:41
Okay, but a couple of songs over here, like mumble Rap, which
23:47
I thought was dope, Cake is dope, big Foot is dope, and
23:52
it's only eight songs on here and I'm not gonna hold you up. Is
23:57
it top five of the years so far? I don't think so. Is
24:03
it one of the best projects of the year. Yep? Easy, easy,
24:07
Because what I think I like about it the most is if you're a
24:11
loop A fan, no matter what version of him, because don't forget there
24:18
was a point in time with I know, with Atlantic Records, he had
24:22
to do a lot of radio type stuff and some of those records you had
24:25
to mess with. Even though I did the one with Trey Songs, I
24:26
kind of messed with that. But what this album told me I like most
24:33
about Loope. It's not only like in the food and Liquor version or the
24:37
cool version, but that since he's refocused in my opinion, not saying he
24:45
was unfocused, but as far as like the release of the music and the
24:48
quality of it lyrically and musically, Loope has probably had like four projects in
24:56
a row that were really good, like really like you could pick any one
25:02
of them to enter in and just listen and sammarize. Just another example of
25:07
him being dope at what he does. With the word play, with the
25:11
storytelling. I do think Lupe Fiasco is somewhat of a quiet taste only because
25:21
he can be lyrical, spiritual, and some people don't care what you're saying.
25:26
They don't want to hear that like at all. They don't want to
25:29
hear that style of rhymen at all. But just like with how I like
25:33
Kendrick, and I feel like Kendrick's music or his single can always come across
25:40
as just words until you understand what he's talking about, and then I guess
25:45
words is not a good example, but he can just really come across as
25:49
making a plain song that has zero meaning on the surface. But then when
25:55
you learn the meeting, whether it's through lyrics or you just need to homie
25:59
to explain it or whatever, go back and listen to the song and it
26:02
sounds totally different to you or hearing it within the context of the album,
26:06
And I feel like what loop Sometimes, especially a project like this where you
26:11
have no features to kind of break up hearing his voice and what he's doing.
26:18
You gotta keep people's attention, and I think there's some people after three
26:22
songs may kind of check out, like, yeah, it was cool,
26:26
but you know, nothing exciting, and I don't think it's anything exciting.
26:30
I think it's just the perfect release for a dude like Loope who is like
26:37
lyrically sound and he picks very production, so nothing to me sounds exactly the
26:44
same. And you know, it's a potent listen, like you gotta really
26:48
listen to the brother when he's spitting. So I definitely think it's one of
26:52
the best of the year. And like I said, I did a whole
26:56
episode of you know, the best hip Hop albums and EPs of twenty twenty
27:02
four so far, and that list is going to change throughout the year,
27:06
and there may be albums that I went back to just to listen again and
27:11
they wind up creeping in there and stuff that was in that list kind of
27:15
falls out. That's literally how I review all the stuff. So by the
27:19
time we get to like December and it's time to do the best of the
27:23
year and my top five, I know exactly what was the best, regardless
27:30
of release date. But I'm gonna tell y'all like this, this is gonna
27:33
be a very tough year for some people to crack those categories because we got
27:41
we got some crazy let me just run down a couple of names before we
27:45
get out of here. We got obviously Rock him dropping an album soon.
27:51
We got NASA Premier supposed to be later this year, Fars. We got
27:56
Pete, Rock and Common, who had haven't missed yet with the singles they've
28:03
dropped like they are four for four. I know it's really only being technically
28:07
three. But there was another one that supposedly won't be on the album,
28:10
but even that was crazy, right. We got Snoop and Dre next month,
28:15
right? Who else am I forgetting? Rumors of the clips being this
28:22
year? And LLL and q tip right, and that first single with faed
28:29
Jo and Rick Ross was like, okay, this, this is it?
28:33
And and today I just saw that there was well two more. Today.
28:37
I just saw that there was going to be a new sky Zoo album in
28:41
the fall, and in July Blue has an album produced entirely by Evidence.
28:49
And there's more that I'm not even talking about, like Havoc and Cormega got
28:55
an album coming out. It's going to be crazy. Yeah. Now,
29:00
literally all of those I named could be whack. I don't see comment and
29:03
Pete being whack because we heard so much from it already. I don't care.
29:08
The rest of the album can't be bad, right, But we just
29:14
don't know, And there's already been a solid number of releases so far,
29:18
so we'll see what happens. But I think Loupe Fiasco Samurai is a dope
29:26
project. If you're a fan of Loupe, I assume you're gonna like this
29:30
all love it. If you're never been a fan, he ain't doing nothing
29:34
that's gonna change your mind. Nothing not to me at least, But I
29:41
like it. So there you have it. Did you hear Lupe Fiasco's branding
29:45
album Samurai? What are your thoughts? Leave your comments in comments section below.
29:51
You know, what do you think about what Childnge Getting Beano had to
29:53
say and what quest Loove had to say about hip hop artist The Drake versus
29:59
Kendrick This. Leave your comments in the comments section and I read them,
30:03
I respond, and all that good stuff. If you like this podcast,
30:06
hit that life button. If you feel like you want to stay caught up,
30:10
subscribe For most importantly, share it with people you know and would enjoy
30:15
this kind of content. Until next time, y'all. I am not a
30:18
critic, I'm a fan base