rap
Rhythm and Poetry; rap music is a genre centered around speaking truth to power with style.
Illmatic- The Beginning
By Brian Salkowski (Originally written in 1998) A look at the album, the era it emerged in and the style it cultivated.
A Queen Shares Her Life
Artist: Mary J Blige Album: My Life Released: November 29, 1994 Distributed by: Uptown MCA Produced by: Sean "Puffy" Combs, Chucky Thompson, Nashiem Myrick, Dalvin DeGrate, Herb Middleton, Prince Charles Alexander, Poke
God's Son
By Brian Salkowski Artist: Nas Album: God's Son Deluxe Editon Released: December 13, 2002 (Ill Will/Columbia Records) Produced by: Agile, the Alchemist, Alicia Keys, Chucky Thompson, Eminem, Ron Browz, Salaam Remi
Illmatic & It Was Written
By Brian Salkowski It's no secret that I'm very biased when it comes to Nas and Hip Hop. I believe Nas is the best, emerging in the best era of Hip Hop in my opinion. Yea there were some solid and creative albums and artists that was released since his entrance, but generally the era of great wordplay has come and went. One thing that constantly gets brought back up is the debate of which album is better... Illmatic or It Was Written? My answer is equal. Nas' greatest accomplishment with 'It Was Written' was being able to deliver a tracklist which varies from an underground hip hop sound to a more mainstream sound by once again recruiting the hottest producers in the game: DJ Premier, Dr. Dre, and Trackmasters, Mobb Deep's Havoc among others. He did it with flawless delivery between the differing sounds. As far as the content being compared to It Was Written, they are both great in different ways.
Conscious vs Commercial Rap
By Brian Salkowski "Rap is the rock 'n' roll of the day. Rock 'n' roll was about attitude, rebellion, a big beat, sex and, sometimes, social comment. If that's what you're looking for now, you're going to find it here."
The Rewind effect
By Brian Salkowski Have you ever been listening to a song, and stopped what you were doing to rewind because the lyrics were so dope? It’s the highest compliment that you can pay a rapper and something you should strive to make happen in your lyrics as an MC.
Success Comes in 3's
MY REVIEW By Brian Salkowski *Artist- Nas *Album- Kings Disease 3 *Production - Hit Boy *Released by Mass Appeal , Distributed by The Orchard
Rap Gets Hardcore
(Originally Written In August 1998) By Brian Salkowski *Artist- Lil Kim *Album- Hardcore *Released- November 12 1996
It Was Written, Very Good
Artist: Nas *Album: It Was Written *Released by: Columbia Records on July 2, 1996 *Producer (s): DJ Premier Dr. Dre Havoc Rashad Smith L.E.S. Live Squad Trackmasters
Multi-Hyphenate Actor, Recording Artist, and Filmmaker Amir Royale Drops Seductive Single “Pruane” (feat. Lulu Kirtchuk and Devereaux)
From Amir Royale I’ve tasted toxicity. I’ve lusted after romance in a way that may have been unhealthy for a couple of years. I’ve misunderstood cues during intimacy before but have also had partners not reciprocate my passion or attention to detail. “Pruane” is about being in that center space between ‘DTF buddies’ and ‘soulmates.’ That unspoken sense of attachment intertwined with the minutiae of apathy. Somewhere smack in the middle of possessive and protective, sexual and sensual, in-love and out of it. We search for the love we think we deserve – and the people that are right for us; we often overlook or undervalue them. Maybe one day I’ll finally start getting all this stuff right. ‘Til then, I’m content sitting still. Walk good, take care. 🌺❤️🩹🌺
StageScene MagazinePublished about a year ago in BeatNas & Jay Z- 21st Century Booker/Du Bois
A deep dive into Hip Hop rivalry, Jay & Nas and the history it represents & how it's a mirror to what is going on in the macro verse of social media & politics.
"H-E Double Hockey Sticks"
By Brian Salkowski The lifespan of a given slang word or even a explicit cuss word is fleeting, as new ways of saying the same thing evolve and gain popularity. Thus certain words and phrases can become markers of particular historical moments. When Malice of The Clipse rhymes on “Zen” that “I’m from the old school when the gat was a jammy,” he is calling attention not only to the shifting street terminology for firearms, but also to the power of words to define time and place. (This example is especially ironic since “gat” as used in hip-hop is itself a slang term more than a century old derived from the Gatling gun.) Using the term def, for instance, to say that something is great means that you are most likely somewhere in New York in the 1980s. Def waned in popularity as other terms (phat, dope, fly, official) took over, only to fade out as well; back in 1993, Rick Rubin, co-founder of Def Jam Records with Russell Simmons, even held a mock funeral for “def”—complete with casket. Just like “gat,” it will probably be resurrected. Slang is so prevalent in rap that it supports a cottage industry of online and even print lexicons, the most prominent of which is the Web-based “Urban Dictionary.” The Web site Rap Genius offers line-by-line analysis of rap lyrics, interpreting slang and uncovering nuances of expression. We encourage readers who may be unfamiliar with some of the words in the lyrics to use such resources to explicate these poems of the present, just as one might use the Oxford English Dictionary to discern shades of meaning in poems of the past.