Word: hip-hop
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...when he was just 17, Rakim released his first album Paid in Full with sidekick Eric B., and the track "Eric B. for President" instantly became a hip-hop classic. Although The Master, his second solo release doesn't match the freshness and energy of that early work, Rakim's rich-as-gold rhymes are as smooth and full of groove as ever. He flows effortlessly in funky tracks like "Uplift" and "All Night Long," and his silver-tongued baritone plays skillfully against Nneaka Morton's soft vocals in "I'll Be There." But it's in "When...
When gangsta rap came under fire as a threat to America's moral values, a few people stood up and defended hip-hop artists as troubadours of the ghetto, even if artists that truly deserved that tag were few and far between. Nasir Jones (aka Nas, aka Nasty Nas, aka Nas Escobar, aka Nastradamus) was one such rapper. Nastradamus, his newest album, cements his reputation as urban troubadour or, as "Come Get Me" announces, "America's foremost young poet." From "The Prediction" to "The Outcome"--prophetic and apocalyptic spoken-word joints from poet Jessica Care Moore--Nas' album...
Forget the braggadacio of "Hate Me Now" and the "damn I've got money now" sentiment that seems to have infected every other major hip-hop artist; Nas has started wrestling with the issues at the core of life in places like the Queensbridge Projects, where he grew up. This is not to say that he has completely abandoned mindless thug banter, such as the "Kill, Kill, Kill/Murder, Murder, Murder" refrain of "Shoot 'em up," but he has certainly clawed his way into hip-hop's most elite circles of lyricism. Any doubters should check out "Project Windows," a track...
...Next Wave is also getting screen time. Q-Tip is set to star in a film for New Line, which he co-wrote, titled Prison Song. He describes it as a "hip-hop opera" that explores the pressures of the penal system. Mos Def and the Roots' Thompson have roles in Spike Lee's Bamboozled, a film that satirizes television. The Roots' Black Thought has a starring role in Brooklyn Babylon, the forthcoming film by Marc Levin, director of the edgy Slam...
...know, the kind that flush when you move away. Korn is drawn to the dregs, society's emotional refuse, exploring--none too deeply--such issues as suicide and child molestation. There's even a new song titled Trash. In the past, the group's music has been tinged with hip-hop. Issues is virtually all yowling, sludgy rock. In fact, it's almost undifferentiated white noise, as if the band were content to echo the roar of its crowd. This CD has a few intriguing moments of raw energy. Still, I'm waiting for the flush...