yeah, they had it last year too

Can anyone tell me of some decent rap bands? With bassists, drummers and the lots?

I reckon these sorts of rap bands would produce more synergy, and produce more a more aesthetic feeling than some mixer creating all the music on a keyboard.

Damn, that lineup is tight.

[QUOTE=badtaste]Can anyone tell me of some decent rap bands? With bassists, drummers and the lots?

I reckon these sorts of rap bands would produce more synergy, and produce more a more aesthetic feeling than some mixer creating all the music on a keyboard.[/QUOTE]
The Roots are known to be one of the very few hiphop groups to use live instruments. Their basic line-up consists of drums, bass, keys and vocals, but live they also have a guitarist or two. They play quite a big bunch of rock music live too. When I saw them they played Whole Lotta Love and stuff...

There aren't too many other such bands in hiphop, but there are some bands who have a similar sound to The Roots, and a lot of them use live-instruments as well, although those are mostly played by session musicians. Here are some bands:

Blackalicious (if you want some funky stuff)
Kanye West
Common (he used to tour with a whole live band)
Mos Def and his band Black Jack Johnson (his latest album was very bluesy and rocky, only about half of it was hiphop)

Then some real live bands:

Youngblood Brass Band (yes, this is hiphop with brass instruments, tubas, trombones and stuff like that are included)
Gym Class Heroes (I don't like em too much, pretty emo lyrically)
G Band Free (very underground band, but real good, you can download their full album here: [url]http://www.gbandfree.com/[/url] Be sure to check out Follow)

Also, check out this local guy Jerboa, he's a producer in the vein of DJ Shadow and RJD2, but inherits a lot of musical instruments into his music. [url]www.jerbmusic.com[/url] Au Cinema and White Windows (which is basically a rock song) are the songs to check out, but give the other ones a try as well, they're all quite great.

Atmosphere use a full band when they preform, so seek out some live mp3s.

[QUOTE=BillCosby]Has anybody heard about this? It's kind of amazing.

[url]http://www.rockthebells.net[/url]

Wu-Tang
Mos Def
Talib Kweli
De La Soul
Del The Funky Homosapien
Immortal Technique
Aesop Rock
Redman
Living Legends
Planet Asia
and more.

Dang.[/QUOTE]

Damn you west coasters.

The instrumental version of [i]Magnificent City[/i] is excellent. RJD2 is nuts, people, just flat-out nuts.

rage against the machine is rap with actual instruments and there my favorite band. the guitarist is sick

lol^^

I've heard "Powers" by Blackalicious and I was wanting to know if the rest of the album is like that song, because I f[SIZE="2"]uc[/SIZE]king love it.

I hate myself for not listening to him sooner.

Yes, the rest of [I]The Craft[/I] is like "Powers". Blackalicious is two dudes.


Can someone recommend something that is like Jeru The Damaja? I personally feel he works with Primo much better than Guru did (even out doing Guru on Gang Starr records). I just haven't heard much that has come close to his sound.

Check out One Be Lo. Great MC that reminded me a lot of Jeru when I first heard him. He was part of Binary Star (awesome in and of themselves) and he's released two solo albums, I think. I've only heard [I]S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M.[/I] but it was one of my favorites from last year, guy can flat out spit. Production is no where close to as good as Premier's but it's nice.

Thanks LF96 for the list. I'll look into the Roots first, and then work from there.

Does anyone have any Jeru albums?

I have [I]Wrath Of The Math[/I] and [I]The Sun Rises In The East[/I] by Jeru. Although most people disagree with me, I feel [I]Wrath Of The Math[/I] is his best album out.

Contact me if you want them.


This One Be Lo dude is alright, a lot better than his Binary Star stuff (which I straight up don't care for). Still, I don't hear much Jeru in his music.

I'd love to hear either of them.

Can you email one of them to me?

baerwitness at yahoo dot com

Any albums you are looking for?

Thanks!

Hey, would you mind sending them to me too, I would really appreciate it.

alldunn9999999 @yahoo.com

[QUOTE=Rams]This One Be Lo dude is alright, a lot better than his Binary Star stuff (which I straight up don't care for). Still, I don't hear much Jeru in his music.[/QUOTE]
I think Masters of the Universe is a hiphop classic. His solo work is pretty much in the same vein as the Binary Star stuff though, so I don't see why you wouldn't like them. I also thought S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M. was one of the better albums of '05, very strong album.

PS: I think I've posted this before, but Binary Star's Masters of The Universe is available for free and legal download here: [url]http://www.subterraneousrecords.com/motu.html[/url]
You should all download it, it's great.

[I]Masters Of The Universe[/I] is more like [I]Black Star[/I] which I don't feel at all. [I]S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M.[/I] is like [I]Reflection Eternal[/I] which has songs that I like. Neither of the emcees on Binary Star are all that spectacular.

LF how do you save the tracks though? they're all in quiktime and open up on another webpage...how can you actually 'take' the album?

"Right click, save as" should do the trick. You'll have to download them one by one though, there's no link for the album in a .zip or .rar file or something.

[QUOTE=badtaste]Can anyone tell me of some decent rap bands? With bassists, drummers and the lots?

I reckon these sorts of rap bands would produce more synergy, and produce more a more aesthetic feeling than some mixer creating all the music on a keyboard.[/QUOTE]

Yeah check out Aussie Act True Live they use keyboards, drums, violin, cello, upright bass and an MC both live and in the studio, seriously these guys are very good and i cant recommend them enough. Listen to Question this on their myspace.

[url]http://www.myspace.com/truelive[/url]
[url]http://www.truelive.com.au[/url]

Anyone here going to Rock the Bells? It's gonna be so tight.

any busdriver fans up in here ?

Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow is such an amazing album. I'm going to dig into their other stuff now.

[QUOTE=Knuckleheadz]Anyone here going to Rock the Bells? It's gonna be so tight.[/QUOTE]

My mommy won't let me. =(

I'll probably go when it comes to the Sleep Train Pavilion. You know, just so I can rub it in, Bill.

[QUOTE=Robert Crumb]I'll probably go when it comes to the Sleep Train Pavilion. You know, just so I can rub it in, Bill.[/QUOTE]
That's when I'm going too. It's gonna be so awesome.

[quote=angry armadillo]any busdriver fans up in here ?[/quote]Yo definitely. It's a lonely existence.

Howdy everyone. Could we try compiling a list of definitive rap/hip hop albums that are must haves? I'd like to get some albums which set new standards, or were 'revolutionary' for their time.

My knowledge of rappers isn't too great, so i'd like your assistance. I'm assuming we'd have some NWA, Public Enemy, Tupac, Eric B and Rakim, Ice T (?). So help me out here.