Saturday, January 16, 2010

ToffeeBoy In Da Hood



I'm sure you all remember the jazz post I did last year and that you've all bookmarked the page so that you can refer back to it as and when you need to.

No?

Well, nevermind. Here I give you the second episode of this occassional series which revels in the excitingly snappy title Regular 'Spillers Post Music That You Wouldn't Really Expect From Them, Knowing Their Musical Tastes A Bit As You Do*.

This time, I'm posting a few of my favourite rap/hip-hop ... errr ... favourites. I'm sure they're all painfully mainstream for all the homeboys (and girls) who love this sort of stuff but what the hey. And for those who are unconvinced of the merits of rap/hip-hop (and if these are actually two different animals then I apologise) this could provide an easy way in. Or not. Who knows? Or, indeed, cares?

Say No Go
Fight The Power
Mr Wendal
Ms Jackson
Can I Kick It?
I Wish
Gravel Pit
Jump Around
Lose Yourself
Television, The Drug Of The Nation

* We came up with lots of ideas for similar themes last time out - none of which have materialised. Pull thy fingers out, please.

17 comments:

steenbeck said...

I love this post!! I love the spirit of it and the way it's written ANd this is the PERFECT time for it. I know most of 'em, My boys are telling me to get my fat butt over to the lego pit, and then it's bed time, but I hope to be able to listen tomorrow. Thanks for this, Toffee.

Abahachi said...

I did actually try to put together a Boy Bands post, and gave up because I honestly couldn't find enough songs that I actually liked. Even finding two or three songs that I could actually tolerate was a struggle. Will be happy to do this if I can think of an alternative genre that might not be expected of me...

TracyK said...

Toffeeboy, as another hip-hop sceptic, this list is pretty much the kind of hip-hop I enjoy too: I do have a little playlist which follows this pretty well, with the addition of Kick Push, thanks to Steenbeck! I do think it's probably hip-hop lite though, which doesn't bother me, obviously. Very melodic and singable and won't make you look utterly ridiculous as the only indie kid in the village being down with ver kidz.

Makinavaja said...

Great post TB. Maki does disco next?

ToffeeBoy said...

@ steen - I thought you'd probably enjoy this, but then the words 'preaching' and 'converted' spring instantly to mind...

@ Abahachi - drop your standards (a bit) and go for it!

@ TracyK - I like the phrase 'hip-hop lite' but I'm getting a tad worried about how many of the comments on my posts include the word 'lite'. Don't know Kick Push - enlighten me please ...

@ Maki - yes please. Can't wait!

steenbeck said...

Toffeeboy - sometimes it's interesting to hear what other people like in a genre that you like, if that makes sense. Actually I was thinking about it at work today, and I think you and I have quite a bit of overlap, music-likingly. And then it veers off.

It's just been such a rough week in our RR community, and in international news, and (as much as I like the topic) in unsettling songs, and it was nice to see a post like this.

For the record, I knew all of them but eminem; don't have jump around, but one time at a bar when I was in college my roommate put it on the jukebox about 15 times in a row hee hee; and my sister-in-law likes I wish, it's a funny track, but I don't have that one either. Like it, though.

And (sorry, TracyK) KickPush is Lupe FIasco...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl83mI69nX4

Cute as a motherflippin button, baby!

I'm also feeling ? (what's the word?) from my least-donded, most strongly-worded-buke-in-RR-history week. Phew. These subjective subjects can make you feel very out of touch with humanity, eh?

Oh, and there's a kick push 2, also good, a little darker...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xktwzdUt3gA

steenbeck said...

And I forgot to say, I don't think it's painfully mainstream, lots if just classic and wonderful. But what do I know?

Blimpy said...

Gravel Pit is a classic, the video's funny too.

Blimpy said...

these tunes are ace, apart from the lyrics to "mr wendal" which are so far off, it;s unreal.

Unknown said...

Nice to see indeed Toffee, and these choices make complete sense when taken in the context of your pop sensibilities, except maybe Gravel Pit.

Abahachi said...

Really, I can't; it would be like nominating songs for RR that I don't actually like but which fit the theme. I do have an idea for an alternative that could conceivably come as a surprise to at least some people on here, but, since I'm currently about two weeks behind in writing my (ahem) inaugural lecture, taking place on Wednesday, I don't have time at the moment.

barbryn said...

That's pretty close to the list I'd post if I were doing this (whither "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style" though?).

One of these days, I'm going to do a post on "Classy songwriters whose 80s output is really enhanced by lots of reverb and synthetic strings"
:)

ToffeeBoy said...

@ steen - I often try to see the 'Spill regulars' musical tastes in terms of a Venn diagram. I have overlaps with most of y'all but apart from perhaps sourpus, fuel, frogprincess and Mark68, the overlaps are generally smaller than the ... ? ... underlaps? (There must be a better word). I know that I share a love of Belle & Sebastian with you - speaking of which, have you heard the God Help The Girl album? It's Stuart Murdoch's side project: came out last year and I've only just listened to it properly in the past few weeks. Loving it ...

I'll certainly check out Kick Push.

@ blimpy - I know what you mean about the lyrics to Mr Wendal. I've never been quite sure what angle they're taking but I love the lines:

"Uncivilized we call him,
But I just saw him,
Eat off the food we waste."

@ ejay - I remember someone expressing surprise about my liking Gravel Pit before. To me, it's just pure pop from start to finish. Perhaps it's all about context. If you come at the song from a Wu Tang Clan perspective it sounds like a Wu Tang song - if you hear on the radio, it's a pop song. It's certainly their most accessible song that I've heard but I can't fail to like a group that sampled one of my absolute favourite songs (Never Grow Old by The Charmells in the song C.R.E.A.M.).

@ Abahachi - oh, alright. You're excused. But don't keep the class waiting too long ...

@ barbryn - yes, 'My Definition' wouldn't have been out of place on this list. And I, for one, am keenly looking forward to barbryn's "Guide to Classy songwriters whose 80s output is really enhanced by lots of reverb and synthetic strings". You see, you and I have this gift for coming up with amazing titles for posts - while the rest of them just sit there and look up at us in awe ...

debbym said...

I'm just sitting here looking up at you in awe...

ToffeeBoy said...

Who, me?

tincanman said...

A very listenable list tBoy. The wu-tang suprised me a bit 'cause for some reason I thought they were a hardcore indie band. They have that Black-Eyed Peas thing going a bit.

Oh and I'm going to rob an idea from Skee-Lo and give my kids 'hood names (just don't tell Mrs Tin). I like that.

As always Toffer, thanks for notbeing afraid to go out on a limb.

ToffeeBoy said...

@ tincanman - thank you for the kind words.

PS. I'm looking forward to meeting Little Wookie Tin one of these days. That boy will go far (or girl) ...