New column about AraabMuzik, Clams Casino, DJ Burn One, Oddisee, and J Rocc.
When the excitement over Detox started up again last year, Dr. Dre even teased his next, next album — an instrumental project called The Planets, with songs inspired by the “personalities of each planet.” We’re still waiting for Detox, so the chances of ever hearing Dre go all Gustav Holst are slim, but a nutty, no-rapping release about space actually sounds more interesting than a decade-in-the-making sequel to The Chronic 2001. Plus, there’s plenty of enthusiasm for boundary-pushing instrumental hip-hop right now…
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In case you don’t read a comment on a Spin article from weeks back: I’m curious, where do you locate the whole Low End Theory scene in all this? It just seems like a huge omission in the article. Maybe it’s my SoCal bias but FlyLo and them seem to have been a huge thing in instrumental hip-hop (or something?) for a couple years and it’s weird not to hear anything about them, even if it’s just like an explanation of why they don’t count or something.
quan
25 Jul 11 at 5:59 am
Quan-
Probably my fault, but it’s interesting how much of this article seems answered with, “what about [BLANK]?” Not in a bad way, just, I guess I did something wrong. Anyways, I’ll just answer here, since I feel like I can be more honest. For me, I don’t think that stuff has much to do with what’s going on now. That stuff isn’t all that interesting or innovative, especially compared to Araab or Clams, and Flylo didn’t drop any like album-like statement this year. Also, Flylo is like super well-recieved, so not sure what you mean about “not hear[ing] anything about them.”
The narrative is also different: I’m interested in underground/internet hip-hop producers successfuly transferring to solo instrumental work.
For real though, tell me where I’m wrong. I just don’t and have never heard anything all that interesting in that whole scene.
brandonsoderberg
25 Jul 11 at 6:08 am
By “not hear anything about them” I was just referring to your article’s omission.
It’s not that I’m like riding for the Low End stuff on some “OMG THEY’RE SO AWESOME, YOU’RE AN IDIOT IF YOU DON’T LIKE THEM” shit (though I’m kinda psyched that elmatic has heard of Tenshun, who’s from San Diego). Just that, I guess similar to that other thing about the rebirth of regular dude rappers or whatever, you set up Clams/Araab, etc. as this new movement/musical trend of instrumental hip-hop. But then I’m like, haven’t the Low End dudes been doing instrumental hip-hop for the past couple years and, if not necessarily to artistic success, definitely to some level of prominence/respect? I know you don’t find much interesting about Low End but it’s like the first logical question that popped in my mind. And I think Low End is a big enough thing to have to address in some way when talking about instrumental hip-hop even if just to make the distinction between the Low End movement/brand of instrumental hip-hop and the Clams/Araab brand of instrumental hip-hop that you’re talking about. To me, I’m kinda like, rebirth? I didn’t know instrumental hip-hop died. Hell, I was pretty sure it was kinda thriving.
quan
26 Jul 11 at 4:22 am
I mean rebirth in the sense that for the first time in what feels like forever, some really interesting shit is happening in instrumental hip-hop. I mean Flylo and all that stuff is just boring and tedious. Most of the other instrumental hip-hop is precisely that: hip-hop without the rappers. Clams, Araab, all the dudes I mention are making music that’s hip-hop tinged, a ala Dilla or Shadow.
There’s also you know, all the stuff I mention about marketing and context that I think too has led to a rebirth. And if you or ellmatic or whoever think anyone’s riding for the dudes you mentioned the way they are for Clams or Araab you’re just incorrect. Except of course Flylo, though again, I wouldn’t categorize that as hip-hop even, and Flylo didn’t come up the way Clams or Araab did: grinding out beats, moving steadily into a new sound.
Brandon
26 Jul 11 at 4:31 am