The Intelligent Hip Hop/ Rap Discussion Thread

[Ak3mi]

Excellent thread
My favorite music is Rap & Drum and Bass
Here are my favorite rappers and crews, I only really listen to good lyrical bars or really tasty tunes
Redman & Method man
Dr Dre & Eminem
Notorious & Tupac
Public enemy & Mos def
Immortal technique & Army of the Pharaohs
Wu-tang (All of there members I love, but Gza is my favorite out of them because of his tune Knock Knock)
Cunninlynguists & Gang Starr
Dmx & Busta Rhymes
KRS One & Styles P
JMT & Jus Allah (Vinnie Paz from JMT is one of the best lyricist for rap out there)
Sage Francis & A Tribe Called Quest
Those are the most well known rappers I listen to,all the rest are really quiet underground or only done a few collaborations with some other artists. Because I live in England I also listen to English rap. Il name a few good ones.
JME & Skepta (Brothers both really good)
Roll Deep (Crew but really good)
Lethal Bizzle & Ghetts ( The movement)
Professor Green & Dizze Rascal ( Old school stuff that is)
Frisco & Foreign Beggars
Wretch 32 & D Double E
Klashnekoff (Terra Firma)
SkinnyMan & Mike GLC ( Really good those two)
Beezwax & Genesis Elijah
Devlin & Kyza
Those are the rappers which you will be able to find quiet easily I know more but you have to be in England to get a hold of there amazing Cd's and Bars
Realise that English rap is called Grime so its probably not going to appeal to you as much as it does for me. But give it a try were pretty good, Better then some of the main stream rappers, but they got the money and these guys done . Take notice that there are some bad tunes that these artist have made but try to look around more, if you want me to tell you the best songs which they have made I will just Msg me Enjoy and I hope I helped some of you young enthusiasts to get into Rap a bit more

[ievoi]

Ever since Samurai Champloo, I got really into Nujabes and Nomak and expanded on instrumental hip hop from there. Those two weight heavily in my favorite producers though. Give their albums a listen if you haven't. I love the songs Luv (Sic.) Pt. 3 with Shing02 (Nujabes) and Nomak's Sanctuary off of his album Calm. They also helped introduce me to Substantial (who I believe is an Anime fan). He's got a great flow and subject wise, is really positive and meaningful. Check out the Substantial/Burns collaboration.

Just saw Cunninlynguists live and they're definitely are live. Great show and their latest couple albums (Strange Journey 1 & 2 are excellent). Kno is an incredible producer.

CYNE is probably one of my favorite groups that are considered "intelligent hip hop". Great flow and beats behind them (Evolution Fight & Time Being are great albums). They really strike a balance between intelligence and smoothness.

[SilentKnight]

So I came across this awesome video ideal for bashing the living shit out of ANYONE who says that hip hop requires no musical talent and that rappers are just brainless idiots talking about money, women, drugs, and guns over a synthesized computer beat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oU0I8APK-o

-Spread knowledge not ignorance
VerbalEssence

[d' airscapez]

Tupac, Lupe Fiasco, Nas, Jay-Z and Bone Thugs N Harmony. these guys are just simply amazing.

[Westlo]

Originally Posted by dasrune

i haven't listened to much canibus, but from what ive listened to he's just a bad rapper constantly getting put in his place by other rappers i don't like.

Canibus is the biggest disappointment of the last 10-12 years of hiphop, went from ripping every guest appearance he went on to dropping dud album and getting blackballed by LL, too scared to go @ Eminem (who he thought ghost wrote for LL in their beef) and than went to rapping with a thesaurus.

He had some dope opening lines back in the day...

At a thousand degrees celsius I make MCs melt, f my record label I appear courtesy of myself.

And 2nd Round K.O is still one of the tightest diss tracks of all time.

[dasrune]

isn't canibus still "beefing" with eminem and a few other d12 members?

[Westlo]

No idea but he missed his chance to make a big deal out of it, LL's diss tracks must've really hurt Canibus if he's still pissed at Em because he "thinks" he wrote them.

[Ak3mi]

Tupac, Lupe Fiasco, Nas, Jay-Z and Bone Thugs N Harmony. these guys are just simply amazing.

Yeah they are all good rappers, bone thugs N harmony, tupac and nas for sure, Tupac is one of my favorite rappers of all time.
But seriously Jay Z nowadays is awful, his mainstream rap is so corrupted compared to what he used to make. Lupe fiasco is a great guy to listen to but his lyrical skill is somewhat like fat joe's, very unintelligent, but still good show :P

[dasrune]

Not a Lupe Fiasco fan but he is the definition of marketable conscious rap. He makes social observations on pop culture, talks politics, and touches on his own religion every now and again, while Fat Joe just jumps on whatever trend in rap is big at the moment.

[suiryoku]

Intelligent/Conscious rappers I like are:

J. Cole
Lupe Fiasco
Jay Electronica
Nas
Little Brother

And a whole bunch of others that aren't coming to mind right now.

[Dilla]

Too bad about Little Brother, it looks like they're finished.

[khouram]

It's not all about the mainstreem artists, and don't get me wrong they are good but trust me there is alot of talent out there which don't talk about gang violence and drugs, they just talk about life and how much they enjoy it and how they want to be in life and some of their troubles which dont involve violence. and try these artists i really got into them because hip hop is abit low at the moment, and these hip hop tracks are abit jazzy and have really good lyrics in them. If i wa sto compare their lyrical style it would be like Lupe Fiasco, Kid Cudi, and Drake (Not Cudi's mainstream songs, his mixtapes, with songs such as soundtrack to my life and pursuit of happiness. Same wiith drake, his mixtapes, songs like Enjoy your self, Fear and more)
These are the artists im talking about:
Blu
Dom Kennedy
Fashawn
Illa j
PAC DIV
U-N-I
TiRon
If you want to know songs in particular im talking about send me a message because these guys are really good.

[Avid_Listener]

My favorites are Lupe Fiasco, J. Cole, B.o.B, Kanye West (I'm talkin College Dropout and Late Registrations days), Ludacris, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Jay Electronica, Kero-One and Method Man

[grylsyjaeger]

I don't listen to this sort of music much but do know I prefer the older stuff. Like N.W.A or Skee Lo off the top of my head.

[dasrune]

genuine question, can you actually listen to a skee-lo album or do you just mean his one hit?

[Black0raz0r]

I was last Friday in Vienna on a concert from the Vienna Hip Hop band "Vamummtn"

it...was...AWESOME!!!!!

the latest video from them
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yjdPVsYuK8

[Ak3mi]

About 4 days ago Guru from Gang Starr died, he was very telented, RIP.
Just recently gotten into Damian Marley with Nas, they seem to have a good flow and beat with some of there songs. Should check them out.

[Ballad]

I don't feel like reading through the whole thread, but has anyone ever heard of Aesop Rock? He is amazing, imo. Definitely my favorite rapper. I like Talib Kweli and Mos Def, Jedi Mind Tricks, Immortal Technique and Lupe Fiasco too.

[grylsyjaeger]

Originally Posted by dasrune

genuine question, can you actually listen to a skee-lo album or do you just mean his one hit?

Just the one song. I meant it as a reference to the era of stuff I'm used to listening to.

[ash0ka]

I'm glad I found a hip hop thread where people aren't hating.

This is what I generally listen to:
Atmosphere
Brother Ali
Budo and Krukid
The Coup
Cunninlynguists
D. Black
De La Soul
Dessa (from Doomtree)
Fashawn
Fresh Espresso
Grieves (favorite hip hop artist ever)
Grynch
Haiku D'etat
Jake One
Lupe Fiasco
The Physics
SOL
Wu-Tang

Pretty much anything that's on Rhymesayers Entertainment I'm down with. There's many more underground artists I love, but those are probably the ones who get most rotation on winamp.