My first post

The last time we had class we had all of the introductions and I said that I was really into Indie Hip Hop. So I decided for my first post I want to explain more about that.  Such a small portion of what Hip Hop is is what is played on the radio.  When people listen to what is on the radio they hear things about guns, sex, and drugs.  With Indie Hip Hop though, it is a completely different scene.  One of the great things about the indie scene is the storytelling aspect to the music. A lot of the song's that you hear Indie Hip Hop artists write have to deal with telling a story and getting people to relate to what they are saying.  The reason why it isn't bigger and played on the radio is because they don't get the push that the major record labels can use to get their artists out to the public and make money.  Now I'm not saying ALL mainstream hip hop is bad because Lupe Fiasco, Kid Cudi, and Kanye West are just a few of the names that have some of the same aspects to their music as Indie Hip Hop artists have in theirs.  Their lyrics actually make sense and it isn't always about the same things.  But when I hear people like Lil Wayne and Gucci Mane on the radio it makes me sick because honestly I feel that anyone could do what they do.  There is nothing to their lyrics and all they do is talk over beats about nothing.  It also upsets me because I listen to the music of my dad's generation and there are great bands like The Doors, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, and The Beatles.  Bob Dylan was an amazing story teller and that is what made him so good.  The story telling aspect to music I feel is gone.  People don’t look at music as an art form anymore.  They see it as a way to look ‘cool’ and fit in in high school.  Artists are more worried about selling their records then making something that might help someone or mean something or people 20 years from now will look at and be like ‘wow, that really describes that generation well.’  I look at my generation and what my kids might find if they go looking for the music dad listened to when he was young, they are going to find people like Lil Wayne.  I don't want to be labeled as that kind of generation.  It's why I try so hard to push the people that I listen to, to show that there ARE good musicians in my generation, there ARE artists that still do the same kind of things that were being done back in say the 60s or 70s.  You just have to look underground for them.  Some of my favorite Indie Hip Hop artists are Atmosphere, Cunninlynguists, MURS, Living Legends, and Cage.  They are some of the bigger names of the Indie Hip Hop scene.  There are also many different levels and genres to Indie hip hop but I won’t get into that. At least on this post.  To give you a sample of what I'm talking about and show you what I actually mean, I will post a more mainstream hip hop song that is big right now and I will post a song by one of my favorite Indie artists.


This song is called 6 foot 7 foot by Lil Wayne featuring Cory Gunz. It's off of his newest album called The Carter IV.

This song is called Just For Show by Atmosphere. It's off of their newest album called The Family Sign.

When you listen to these two songs try to look and listen to things like their lyrics, the style of the beats, the way they rhyme and annunciate their words, and what point they are trying to get across in the song.  Also, look at the videos and see what they are trying to tell you as well.