saddassa aramchek wrote:
>Spearheads status in the States: They are not well liked They dont have
>any sales but they get all this press ,to this point, for being
>positive and playing with live instro's and Michael Franti is
>Multiracial.....etc. Actually ,he is a lousy rapper. In fact he tried to
>do what the Fugees and the Roots Did. The difference these two bigger-
>selling groups arent as positive and political AND THEY have More
>TALENT. I have a UK ep with "Positivity" on it . It had a good beat but
>the subject matter and rap flows are seriously wack!!
Man, obviously this is a matter of opinion ... but I strongly disagree. I
dont just like Franti and Spearhead because of what they stand for,
although that is part of it (and I dont see anything wrong with that given
the failure of lots of MCs to stand for anything at all other than
themselves...). Listen again to both albums ... his rhyming is funny, it's
intelligent, it's conscious, and he locks into the different grooves and
adds a rhythmic layer over the top that is seriously funky, I reckon.
>This
>brings up something about the UK hip hop scene. The Uk never got over
>86-87 when Hip hop exploded and is still looking for rappers in that
>vein. Even the rap groups in the Uk try to come with that style which
>only hampers their ability to get U.S. acceptance. Speatrhead is
>like Living Colour they get credit for what they stand for not for
>executing.
This kind of attitude really frustrates me ... from my perspective down
here in Australia at least, it seems that the problem is that people in
America (in general ... most of the people on this list are *exceptions* to
the sweeping generalisation that is to follow...) *only wanna hear hip hop
that sounds American*. Hip hop in an English accent, a French accent, an
Australian accent? Forget it! If there wasn't so much American cultural
imperialism in the music industry, then maybe so many people from other
places wouldn't be trying to sound American, and maybe those who stay true
to their local roots (which, after all, is one of the great aspects of hip
hop .. that it fosters local expression) would actually get heard in
America once in a while instead of being ignored. (Of course, the reason
many people have turned to big beat and turned away from lyricism is tied
up with this issue, but that's another post.)
On this tip, Franti is one of the few big names in hip hop that actually
makes a conscious effort to embrace hip hop as a global, rather than US,
style. When he's toured here he's done benefits for Aboriginal community
radio stations and all sorts of other shit like inviting locals onto the
mic to freestyle with him. He actually *embraces* the diversity of
voices/accents/localities in what he does. In this respect, here he is
"executing" something that many US hip hop artists claim they "stand
for"...
Peace
..Kurt