And people whining about hip hop is ridiculous. Just like the ones saying "hip hop is shit now, only Public Enemy was good". So fucking retarded.
Contrarily to other musics, hip hop never stopped evolving, concerning the flow and the beats, the samples or now in the south even original music. A rap artist or producer would never say "oh let's play a beat sounding like '91", it would feel so stupid for them. And it's what is happening in a lot of music, taking pride in playing the same music over and over.
The lyrics can sometimes be only about guns, murders, cops, hoes, but come on, power electronics is 90% of the time dealing with murders, serial killers, prostitutes, sexual deviations, ... It's the same cliches over and over again.
If you want to talk about old school the Geto Boys were particulary hardcore, and you should read "Diary of a Madman" by Braid 'Scarface' Jordan. Very good book, about growing up in the hood, struggling with mental illness but hiding it to avoid being seen as a weak dude, ultraviolence, sex everywhere, drugs, acid trips, and his love for punk, metal, black sabbath kind of stuff and tangerine dream or pink floyd.
Lyrically, he was really dark and violent. Like "Mind of a Lunatic", or talking about mental illness / bipolar disorders / paranoia a lot.
Mind of a lunatic :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Asc3Scq_Iuw"Lookin through her window, now my body is warm / She's naked, and I'm a peepin tom
Her body's beautiful, so I'm thinkin rape / Shouldn't have had her curtains open, so that's her fate
Leavin out her house, grabbed the bitch by her mouth / Drug her back in, slammed her down on the couch
Whipped out my knife, said, "If you scream, I'm cuttin" / Opened her legs and commenced the fuckin
She begged me not to kill her, I gave her a rose / Then slit her throat, and watched her shake till her eyes closed
Had sex with the corpse before I left her / And drew my name on the wall like helter skelter"My Mind Is Playing Tricks On Me :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KutXyPEEbQs"Day by day it's more impossible to cope / I feel like I'm the one that's doing dope
Can't keep a steady hand because I'm nervous / Every Sunday morning I'm in service
Playing for forgiveness / And trying to find an exit out of the business
I know the Lord is looking at me / But yet and still it's hard for me to feel happy
I often drift while I drive / Havin fatal thoughts of suicide
BANG and get it over with / And then I'm worry-free, but that's bullshit
I got a little boy to look after / And if I died then my child would be a bastard
I had a woman down with me / But to me it seemed like she was down to get me
She helped me out in this shit / But to me she was just another bitch
Now she's back with her mother / Now I'm realizing that I love her
Now I'm feeling lonely / My mind is playing tricks on me"And from Scarface's solo album, the song "Born Killer"
"My momma did her part / But it ain't her fault that I was born without a heart
In other words I'm heartless, dude / I don't love me, how the fuck I'mma love you?
That's right, you guessed it / I'm legally insane, marked manic depressive
I'm taking all types of medication / To keep me out the mood of premeditating
The longer I'm alone it's worse / I'm having thoughts of killing me, but I'm killing you first
My psychiatrist talks but I don't listen / A victim of society fucked by the system
My whole life's been a see saw / I'm up one day, down and out on tomorrow
Right now I'm even more upset / Some shit done happened to me that I don't think I'll ever forget
You think I'd let it die, but I ain't / It ain't because I want to, its because I can't"I saw that it was talked about before, but yeah southern hip hop in the 90s had a great underground tape scene. Really creepy vibe, with a dangerous feeling. You can feel the guy screaming in the trunk of the car
N.O.D. - Fuck Da World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFDE5q-ElY0Children Of The Corn - Hockey Mask
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws0Ju0BX6h8Ten Wanted Men - Magnolia Meets 4 Corners
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pGkOqD6w1w (they're throwing respect in prison with that cover)
Project Pat is one of the best storyteller too. ''Aggravated Robbery", "We Can Get Gangsta", or this one "Redrum", you can picture the story like a movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBW8DhNwZmkThis past decade I loved the rise and fall and rise and fall and fall and fall and finally big rise of Gucci Mane. One of the most interesting characters, not only in hip hop but in general of these last ten years. Fucked on drugs, going to prison all the time, trial for murder charge, hundreds of mixtapes and solid albums. Taking the concept of chains, money, and capitalist glory to its absurdity until he doesn't mean anything at all. Without knowing well his personnal and musical history you may not understand the impact he had/has, but there is this thin line between a genius and a retard and at first i wasn't sure about him. Now i know this guy is definitely a smart guy playing dumb, except when he used to be fucked up, out of his mind. He's for sure the coldest rapper ever, only the line towards the rapper who put a bounty on him and Gucci ended up killing the guy and burying him behind a school : "Go dig your partner up nigga, i bet he can't say shit". Brrr icey
