GREAT SUMMER HIPHOP ALBUM FINALLY CREATED

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Gab has plenty of fast rhymes, but is more impressive for the clarity of his message!

― ethan, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Will Rage Against the Machine's Zack de la Rocha ever have another chance to shout on a record this mature?

― ethan, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

he forgot to mention Ben Harper! He's *yummy*. heh

― cuba libre (nathalie), Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Thank god they ditched those pesky pointer sisters.

― Sterling Clover, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

A stupid review of a good* album? ON PITCHFORK? WHO'D A THUNK IT?
*I think it's good but then I'm a backpacker loser dork

― Nate Patrin, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I can't wait till tomorrow. A brilliant review of a *insert appropriate adjective* record. heh.

― cuba libre (nathalie), Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

good? you think its merely good? patrin they FINALLY MADE SUMMER HIPHOP!!

― ethan, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

someone alert oakland!

― ethan, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Pfft. It's great and all, but Summer belongs to The Private Press, word booty. STRAIGHT OUTTA DAVIS

― Nate Patrin, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh yeah? Well top this one (sorry Todd):

"I hate disco. It was nothing more than an excuse for coked-up rich white hipsters to dress flamboyantly and shake their collective groove thangs in mindless, Watership Down rabbit-style."

Black people in nevah liked disco shockah!

― Andy K, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I haven't heard "Blazing Arrow" yet, but I think the review reads well. Other than the pedestal the last paragraph puts Blackalicious on, I don't think it's that offensive. What makes it stupid?

― Dare, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The guy hates disco, and his e-mail address starts with "neworder"? Guh?

― Nate Patrin, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ethan, if you had written a review for this album, Ryan would have run it.

― dleone, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hyperbole, for one. There's A Riot Goin' On? Eh-eh. Fresh? Sure. ~~9.3~~ 7.7

― Nate Patrin, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

dom i was busy writing about real summer hiphop haha

― ethan, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The review is nowhere near as bad as Ethan would like to pretend it is. In fact it's a pretty run-of-mill for-free online record review, down to the corny wrapping-up joke/metaphor. Settle.

I don't know whether it aids or destroys my argument that I think Blazing Arrow is pretty great.

― nabisco%%, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Not quite 9.3, sure -- I mean, clearly there's some "I don't really listen to stuff like this and am suddenly really excited to find myself seriously liking a hip-hop record so I assume they must be especially fantastic" action going on here -- but it's pretty good.

― nabisco%%, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Alright then -- let's talk about disco and how affluent white people were the only ones who liked it.

― Andy K, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What was Summer of Sam about?? (NB I am actually asking.)

― Josh, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Any, what did you snort before posting?

― cuba libre (nathalie), Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Andy, sorry. I am snorting my soxers obv.

― cuba libre (nathalie), Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

If anything, disco was a testament to how much had changed in a few decades -- i.e. back in the jazz era, black musicians playing to nearly all-white clubs. But it would be interesting (and impossible) to get some kind of objective census of yr average Studio 54 night ... economically (class privilege meaning those with flashier clothes & $$$ could get in?), and racially (was there any tokenism going on at the velvet rope, etc.), and sexually (how much overlap was there between gays and straights, was it really as integrated as YMCA would have us believe?). It's a little difficult to imagine the actual era because a.) did not live through it, b.) all the Hollywood rehash

god, the 'white people' comment is fucking stupid though.

― Dare, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Studio 54 tells you about as much about disco as Saturday Night Fever though.

― Andy K, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I know I'll be fulfilling that OTHER indie cliche here, but while I don't mind what I heard from "Blazing Arrow", "Nia" seems much better.

― Brian MacDonald, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What I've heard of this sounds wonderful. 'Make You Feel That Way' may be the loveliest hip hop song I've ever heard (that's on just one listen, so I may not stand by this for long).

― Martin Skidmore, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Disco was for everybody, I'm telling you. It wasn't elitist, at least not the USA. I was little, but I was there, and people from from all walks of life were down with it (everyone except the rockers!)

I need to write something to set the record straight.

― Mark, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

We are re-writing history every day. It works out better that way.

― cuba libre (nathalie), Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

mark, you sound like that guy at the end of "last days of disco"! seriously, though, are there accounts of disco-as-cultural-thing that you think are good and accurate? i'd always assumed saturday night fever was kind of what it was like, actually. with worse dancing in real life, though.

― dave k, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think Saturday Night Fever was what disco was like ... in midwestern suburbs circa 1980.

― nabisco%%, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

From the vantage points given by co-workers, neighbors, customers, etc., SNF = the Cool as Ice of disco. Cool as Ice obv. doesn't exactly tell you all that much about rap, so...

― Andy K, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Here's where -- if I had the time rite now -- I'd blabber second-hand info aboot inner city warehouses, the gay community, latinos, etc etc etc, i.e. the bit about disco's pre-mainstream roots.

― Andy K, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

GRRRRRR.. ONLY IF.

Anyway.. Blackalicious... SUMMER HIP HOP IS RESCUED!

― Brian MacDonald, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

this doc looks like it might be good despite the awfulness of this poster
http://users.tellurian.net/garage2/pg/images/MAESTRO_garagesite.j pg

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The thing is ... the review never said 'finally.' It was talking about 'a' good summer hip-hop album.

― Dare, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

god damn it brian this was supposed to be a disco thread!!

― geeta, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I are guilty. I apologize.

― Andy, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

no that was great andy!!

― geeta, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i love how ethan doesn't even read pitchfork and i had to point this review out to him.

― jess, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

read Last Night a DJ Saved My Life and The Last Party for good disco bio/background/history

― M Matos, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

wait, we're all agreed that saturday night fever is an awesome movie, right?

― dave k, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

it's certainly better than blackalicious or gil scott heron!

― jess, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It's better than Cool as Ice.

Alright well I'm off to snort some coke and listen to "Disco Duck."

― Andy K, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

here and here = good roots-of-disco starting points

― marek, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

This might be a good time for me to ask, what the fuck is up with the beat on Paragraph President? At the end of the bars it feels like there's a microsecond cut off, I can't even listen to the track.

― Jordan, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

hiphop albums where all the song titles are based on de la soul quotes are good because you can guess what the sampled chorus will be

― ethan age 6, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

sorry, but disco was black and gay long before it was affluent and white. It never stopped being black and gay, it just stopped being disco and turned into Garage and House. There was a whole culture around that scene that never stopped existing. The culture was never represented in mainstream media, but that does not mean that the culture did not exist.

― mt, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Wait, if it's black and gay then only gay black people listened to it...? That is quite an exclusive club.

― bnw, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Michael is absolutely right, but I almost think at this point the "underground" aspect of disco is better documented in the music press than the mainstream pop phenomenon.

You know what's a pretty good movie about disco is Boogie Nights.

― Mark, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

To clarify..."Cool as Ice" was the movie, "Ice By Ice" was the book.

― Sam, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Brian: yeah, I like Nia better as well. Blazing Arrow is good, but not nearly as good as Nia, to me at least.

― Orange, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

That is quite an exclusive club.

At the time, the general populace was either unaware or wanted no part in it. I doubt the doors to the clubs and warehouses had signs attached to them saying "NO BREEDERS OR CRACKERS." I had no desire to take part in the Dungeons and Dragons craze; I wouldn't fault D&D enthusiasts for being exclusive when I was the one doing the excluding.

― Andy K, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

No problem, Andy. Maybe you didn't know this, but I don't read 'em, I just post 'em. ;)

― Todd Burns, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Whatta editor

― J Blount, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"The 'Disco Sucks' campaign was a white, macho reaction against gay liberation and black pride more than a musical reaction against drum machines. In England, in the same year as the 'Disco Sucks' demo in America, The Young Nationalist - a British National Party publication - told its readers: 'Disco and its melting pot pseudo- philosophy must be fought or Britain's streets will be full of black- worshipping soul boys.'"

― marek, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Only by killing disco could rock affirm its threatened masculinity and restore the holy dyad of cold brew and undemanding sex partners. Disco bashing became a major preoccupation in 1977. At the moment when Saturday Night Fever and Studio 54 achieved zeitgeist status, rock rediscovered a rage it had been lacking since the '60s, but this time the enemy was a culture with "plastic" and "mindless" (read effeminate) musical tastes. Examined in light of the ensuing political backlash, it's clear that the slogan of this movement-- "Disco Sucks!"--was the first cry of the angry white male."

― marek, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i.e. a larger number of people than you'd think are still unsettled about the whole thing.

― marek, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm starting to think that listening to disco is probably the best way to rebel against your parents. Either they used to listen to it and are now embarrassed by it, or they listened to ROCK AND ROLL, MAN and will be absolutely mortified when they discover Donna Summer posters in their kid's room.

― Nate Patrin, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

haha i saw norman mailer use "plastic" as a swearword on as tv interview abt a yr ago => i *think* he invented it in its insulting sense

― mark s, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Does this mean that "Go Plastic" actually means "Go Fuck Yourself"? DAMN that Squarepusher is a filthmonger.

― Nate Patrin, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Garage and house are to disco as alt.country is to country.
Disco was country.
Country is the real disco.
Ergo
Um
Forgot what my point was; something about Pauline Rubio and LeAnn Rimes and Iio and Shania and Kylie. And Brooks & Dunn.

― Frank Kogan, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

And John Conlee and Terri Gibbs.

― Frank Kogan, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Pauline = Paulina

― Frank Kogan, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Sorry back to original thread late as usual. Its winter here in the antipodes and blazing arrows is fabulous in the (relative) cold too. why is it seasonally biased anyway, they obviously made it in other months of the year! Whats a good winter hiphop album that I should be listening to then huh ! HUH!!

― Parker, Sunday, 2 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Wintry hip hop: Cold As Ice by M.O.P., Cool Monsoon by Massive Attack & Mad Professor, Chillin' With Santa by Derek B (note: not very good), Cold Wind-Madness (aka The Coldest Rap, Pt. 2) by Ice T, Millie Pulled A Pistol on Santa by De La Soul, He's Santa Claus by the Disco Four, Christmas in Hollis by Run DMC, Ghetto Santa by Spider D, Let The Jingle Bells Rock by Sweet T and Jazzy Joyce (not good).

― Martin Skidmore, Sunday, 2 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Also Winter Warz by Ghostface Killah!

― Martin Skidmore, Sunday, 2 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME IN HOLLIS, QUEENS!

― Josh, Sunday, 2 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

that fucking "elf" scared me.

― jess, Sunday, 2 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Christmas records not eligible (i.e. not universally winter).

― Frank Kogan, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Cold Vein?

― o. nate, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Blueprint (exception: Girls Girls Girls and that's cause Jay-Z's on vacation)

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

God I once sat for 4 hours on shrooms listening to a christmas rap album on repeat back in the day. Worst afternoon of my life, probably.

"Dana Dane is coming... to town!"

― jacob, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Blazing Arrow is quite nice. Best hip-hop album since Labor Days.

― o. nate, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.