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> Is puff Daddy Hip Hop? or wu-tang clan (spelling??) Eminem?? <
Puff Daddy is a hip hop entrepreneur. It's hard to put faith in a man who is as old as I am, makes millions off of the music and culture, and clearly admits he wasn't into the music until 1989.
Wu-Tang Clan "were" hip hop, but have become entrepreneurs as well. I'm closing shop on a mailing list I ran for six years on the Wu, and you have two sides of the argument. One is that with growth, there is money, and it's impossible for someone to rap about being broke and down and out when you're making millions. But Bruce Springsteen still talks about the factory workers and not being able to face the wife because you lost all of your money on a dice came, when he is living comfortable with his tambourine player.
If you want to get into the Wu-Tang, I would recommend anything they did between 1993-1996, including:
Wu-Tang Clan-Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Method Man-Tical
Ol' Dirty Bastard-Return To The 36 Chambers
Raekwon The Chef-Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
The Genius-Liquid Swords
Ghostface Killah-Ironman
Now, you did say that you wanted to steer clear of hip hop that boasted of the gold chains, the baggy clothes, and the foul language. All of these things are present on the above albums, but they are some of the most well-crafted hip hop albums of that era, a sound that was widely imitated during that time. I would also recommend the Gravediggaz first album, 6 FEET DEEP (NIGGAMORTIS for everyone outside of the U.S. This was a collaborative effort between Prince Paul and The RZA, and also featured Too Poetic and Fruitkwan.
IMHO, the Wu are now better as separate entities. As mainstream as Method Man is, he is consistent. I'll always be a fan of Ghostface Killah. If The Genius, arguably the best lyricist of the Wu, would be more upfront and stop making little cameos on records by Nigo and Afu-Ra, he would be praised like Rakim. Inspectah Deck still has much skill. But U-God is a joke, Raekwon is still busy trying to figure out how to dumb his music for white people (his words, not mine), and RZA doesn't know whether to be Bobby Digital or Prince Rakeem.
p.e.a.c.e.
-John Book
www.john-book.com/Crut
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon Jul 09 2001 - 21:41:47 CEST