Beside (beside@makeme.com)
Thu, 2 Dec 1999 20:06:54 +0100
From: Juuso Koponen <mekaanikko@dlc.fi>
> I have to comment on that. I'm no hiphop freak, but my personal opinion
>(shared by many here at the edge of Europe, that is, Finland) is, that
>lately (say, from 1996 or so), French hiphop in average has been a way
>more innovative, interesting and maybe even techincally on a higher
>level, than its US counterpart.
I havent heard too much french hiphop, but there really is *alot* of US
hiphop which is *very* inovative. Check the stuff from Anticon (sole, dose
one, them, etc), blackalicious and latyrx, anything related to Project
Blowed, Living Legends, Divine Styler ("wordpower 2" has been out in the
states for close to a year, but will get its european release trough mowax
soon), Company Flow (faaar from my faves, but atleast El-P's beats are
innovative).. etc. There is so much stuff going on over there that (sadly)
never gets much attention.
And as for being "technicaly good", i cant even remember the last time i
heard a album as well produced as Blackalicious' "nia".
>lotsa fine current hiphop artists, too (Mos Def, Sir Menelik, Peanut
>Butter Wolf, just to name a few),
Ill agree that Mos Def is nice, but i really cant get into Sir.Menelik...
having a weird flow is ok, but you have to be able to back it up with good
lyrics.. as far as i see it thats where he fails. And Peanut Butter Wolf..
hmm.. hes a decent producer, but apart from "run the line" i still havent
been able to move me.. atleast not in the same way as producers like Fat
Jack, Primo, DJ Shadow, Chief Xcel, Evidence and Mighty Mi.
>respect to the originators, but there is a lot great stuff out here too.
>>From France, Germany (tho that's not so much my cup of tea), UK, Sweden,
>even a few groups out of Finland (well, mostly it's not so great, but
>there are some nice groups)
Word to Finland! I dont know why, but it seems like LA and Bay Area hiphop
is pretty big over there. If im not mistaken, B-Boy Kingdom even has heads
over in Finland!. Ive only heard one group from Finland, cant remember their
name, but they sounded very westcoast'ish (and i mean that in a good
way!)... much better than what i had expected.
Sweden isnt half bad either.. ive been pumping the new Petter album for the
last couple of weeks, even Ayo's album is nice. (i really should get ahold
of some Loop Troop tho).
Anyway.. you should look into some of the independent stuff (more
independent than PBWolf) coming out of LA and the Bay... im sure some of it
must be available in Finland (since B-Boy Kingdom has people over there).
p's
Beside
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