Many of you will have realized my penchant for country rock and Americana, but fewer if any will have realized that I have a love for hip hop music, mainly because One Buck Records hasn't featured any hip hop yet. But that'll change. I might be wrong, but I guess a lot of One Buck Records readers are fine with having little to none hip hop in their lives (prove me wrong, people!). But to get a leg into the genre we'll start with hip hop that only has one leg in the genre - and the other firmly planted on a country road.
Country rap, or as I prefer it being called, hick hop has been a genre for about twenty years now. Some would point to Kid Rock and "Cowboy" but other than singing about Rock's wish to be that, it doesn't have particularly firm roots in the genre, though Kid would soon afterwards unironically embrace country music after trying to be Bob Seger for a couple of years. I'm not counting the ever popular duet option of either a country singer with a guest rapper or vice versa. Do it entirely, or don't do it at all.
So, the first real hick hop artist that really broke through was Bubba Sparxxx. I'm not a huge fan of his debut album (including the hit "Ugly"), but lead single "Deliverance" from the follow-up of the same name is a fantastic piece of business. Timbaland's beats were state of the art then and are still beautiful twenty years later. It's just a beautifully constructed track. Sparxxx himself ain't no slouch himself, coming up with some rhymes that always make me smile: "You took your wealth and knowledge and gave it to the poor / only to find that your savior's manure". And the chorus casts him as a modern day Huckleberry Finn: "I've been travellin' for some time / with my fishing pole and my bottle of shine". Hick Hoppers The Lacs followed in his foot steps a couple of years later, channeling a certain John Denver classic here in "Country Road".
Sparxxx' work might have been the spark that lit a dozen country rap artists, but Brooklyn producer Rench pushed things further with his Gangstagrass project, which mixed rap and bluegrass to often astounding effect. Half of the album of the day are Gangstagrass cuts, you will probably at least familiar with "Long Hard Times To Come", used as the theme music for the great Justified.
And then there's of course the third option, country or Americana acts covering rap songs, with two prime examples on this album: Thai-American Hugo's bluegrass version of Jay-Z's "99 Problems" and one of my first exposure's to the sub-genre, The Gourds' hilarious take on Snoop Dogg's "Gin And Juice", complete with the most redneck-y vocals you can imagine. Fun stuff.
So, ready for some Hick Hop y'all?! Then let's get the hip hop hoedown started...
Hick Hop
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/RMmg5YXn5DA
Howdy y'all! Any of y'all gotta favorite hip hop artist?
ReplyDeleteA Tribe Called Quest
ReplyDeleteCall me old skool...
We could call you a number of things, but never would I dare to call you old...
DeleteIt's hard to top ATCQ, but my favorite rapper is Rakim.
ReplyDeleteI think I heard The Gourds version of Gin and Juice before I knew it was a Snoop Dogg song. Great copy. One of the last 45s I bought was Tone-Loc's Wild Thing b/w Funky Cold Medina. And the reconstructed Quicksilver had the song Peace By Piece had some rappin' going on. That was about my extent going toward Hip Hop until my stepson introduced me to The Beastie Boys.
ReplyDeleteHuh. That must've been some re-issue because "Wild Thing" and "Funky Cold Medina" were both single a-sides issued six months apart from each other. They're both great, though. "Funky Cold Medina" makes me smile every time at some of the lines.
Delete'Paul's Boutique' and 'Licensed To Ill' couldn't be made in 2024.
DeleteI have only individual songs, as the music doesn't speak to me to an album-listening degree. The closest I have to an album's worth is Luscious Jackson's 'In Search Of Manny'. You might like it if you like this:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLv8EjfmbBg
C in California
Agreed on the "album problem" of rap artists, especially since rappers like to fill their albums up to capacity with skits, interludes, remixes and what have you. In a genre not known for its variety it's difficult to sit through a double vinyl album's worth of that stuff.
DeleteSo, yeah, I prefer most hip hop in a compilation format as well.
'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill' is an exception to the "album problem".
DeleteThat is definitely 100% true.
DeleteThis looks like a fun one! Something I never would explore on my own but will probably enjoy a lot. First artist that comes to mind when I think of Country Rap/Hick Pop would be the great indie artist Buck 65 from 20 years ago who definitely deserves to be on Volume 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjxfF7T97z0
ReplyDeleteMost of the hip-hop I've listened to are similarly lower profile and low-key artists like Digable Planets, De La Soul, Basehead (awesome!), Luscious Jackson, and the Beastie Boys, especially their 90s albums with Money Mark on the keys (e.g. Check Your Head). Thanks OBG!
Note is taken...
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