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Producers - Discussion / Re: Originality
« on: December 11, 2009, 10:06:14 AM »
I don't think 'most' hip hop in SA is mad original at all - a lot of it is mad derivative. Naturally there is a small core of very talented artists (and there are some quite good clones of US artists), but it's hard to pick out more than a handful of artists who you can look at and say that they are doing something unique - which is what this thread is about.
We don't have artists making cla**ic hip hop album like OB4CL2 because we're too busy trying to sound like Raekwon or Nas or Fabolous or etc etc. I'm not just taking shots at Golden Era artists either - our hip pop is actually much worse in terms of being derivative. Like I said, we pat ourselves on the back when we manage to make it to international standard - we get all ga**ed up when someone can do a good Akon / T-Pain autotune imitation like it's some sort of great accomplishment.
I'm hip hop to the death. I've been actively involved in hip hop for 24 years and I still love it today as much as I ever did. It's not about moving past hip hop, but if you don't move forwards things get stale. Some people like listening to cla**ical music 300 years after it was big - and there's nothing wrong with that - but this thread is about originality. I think it's a very valid topic of discussion to ask who are the innovators creating something unique to SA.
I'm not saying that 'being an MC' is dragging hip hop down, it's the closed-minded, compartmentalised, narrow-minded way of thinking that's holding us back because that way of thinking is the enemy of creativity. When cats like JR talk about 'moving beyond hip hop', they just mean that they are crossing over to pop music because they want to sell. This is not what I'm talking about.
Music is music and no one can tell you what is right or wrong - if you like country music or heavy metal, that's your choice - but this thread is about originality in SA hip hop. There's really no need to be so defensive about the subject matter. It's no coincidence that the greatest artists in the history of music are generally also innovators. Of course music should come from the soul, but if you're involved in making music, you should also have a philosophy of what you're trying to achieve.
We don't have artists making cla**ic hip hop album like OB4CL2 because we're too busy trying to sound like Raekwon or Nas or Fabolous or etc etc. I'm not just taking shots at Golden Era artists either - our hip pop is actually much worse in terms of being derivative. Like I said, we pat ourselves on the back when we manage to make it to international standard - we get all ga**ed up when someone can do a good Akon / T-Pain autotune imitation like it's some sort of great accomplishment.
I'm hip hop to the death. I've been actively involved in hip hop for 24 years and I still love it today as much as I ever did. It's not about moving past hip hop, but if you don't move forwards things get stale. Some people like listening to cla**ical music 300 years after it was big - and there's nothing wrong with that - but this thread is about originality. I think it's a very valid topic of discussion to ask who are the innovators creating something unique to SA.
I'm not saying that 'being an MC' is dragging hip hop down, it's the closed-minded, compartmentalised, narrow-minded way of thinking that's holding us back because that way of thinking is the enemy of creativity. When cats like JR talk about 'moving beyond hip hop', they just mean that they are crossing over to pop music because they want to sell. This is not what I'm talking about.
Music is music and no one can tell you what is right or wrong - if you like country music or heavy metal, that's your choice - but this thread is about originality in SA hip hop. There's really no need to be so defensive about the subject matter. It's no coincidence that the greatest artists in the history of music are generally also innovators. Of course music should come from the soul, but if you're involved in making music, you should also have a philosophy of what you're trying to achieve.