So, I'm listening to The Roots, right? And I'm thinking about commercial hip-hop versus real hip-hop and how and when the two can overlap. I mean, it's all up to opinion. You're going to have people who say Kanye West isn't real hip-hop. I'm going to tell those people they're crazy and give them a list of reasons why. (This is one of them.)
Hip-hop, to me, is hip-hop. It's a feeling, an attitude, a swagger, a movement, more than anything. It's not just music or the way that music is made. I listen to a lot of it, from varying decades and artists, and I don't doubt that any of it is 'true' hip-hop.
Yes, The Roots use live instruments instead of samples and 808s, but (despite what I said to someone earlier) that doesn't make it any more 'real' than, say, Jay-Z.
So of course I had to go to my good friend Youtube and watch videos of some of my favourite artists in the studio. That Kanye one, I've seen a bunch of times, mostly because I like anything that shows any level of genius I simply cannot comprehend. "Doesn't sound right? Well, I'll just hit this series of buttons here and it'll be all good." How does one perfect his craft that way?
It's no secret I adore Jay-Z. He's the best rapper, in my opinion, and I love how seriously he takes his craft and his art, and I stumbled on something that proved that all for me again.
I have always respected Timbaland. He's a genius in his own right and I have loved a lot of his work. He was doing incredible things before he got 'popular', and I love that.
Then you see him in the studio with Jay and he's just like, "Alright, here's what I've got," and plays a bunch of beats.
What I love most about this? Jay knows immediately which beat he wants. It plays for two seconds and he knows he wants it. I wish the camera was on him so we could see his reaction. But he knows it's a hit and he wants it. Then he basically walks into the booth and starts rapping.
It's incredible, too, how Timbaland is talking about how Jay is a genius. There's just a level of respect there that I find really amazing, to be honest. Plus, Timbaland says he's the best around and he's still recognizing that in someone else, and that is probably what makes me respect him.
I want to know what's going through Jay's head when he hears beats for the first time. He's probably come up with raps for beats he never even chose. I also wonder if he's ever driving around and listening to other peoples' music and coming up with rhymes in his head that no one'll ever hear.
I love hip-hop. I love what it stands for and how it started and where it's going. I love that it's like a bunch of families that get together and support one another, and that 'feuds' are mostly non-existent these days. It's probably, overall, my favourite genre of music.
Then again, next week I might change my mind and be listening to something else entirely and calling that my favourite.
This post is archived under
jay z,
kanye west,
the roots,
timbaland
