The Changing Face of Hip Hop

Every so often I post the hip hop charts from WMCO. New hip hop music makes it way to my office on a weekly basis. Some of it stands out from the pack, some of it is judged by its cover (and the judgment is usually accurate). But the point is, the music is new and the charts are always changing ...

So here goes :: this week's badasses!

My favs are DJ Vadim, Sage Francis, and Red Cloud; fav never to make the list: Gutterfly.

1
EL-P
I'll Sleep When You're Dead
Definitive Jux
2
J DILLA
Ruff Draft
Stones Throw
3
DJ VADIM
The Sound Catcher
BBE
4
WAX TAILOR
Hope And Sorrow
Decon
5
BROTHER ALI
The Undisputed Truth
Rhymesayers
6
MOVE.MEANT
The Scope Of Things
Wax Paper
7
GABRIEL TEODROS
Lovework
Massline
8
SAGE FRANCIS
Human The Death Dance
Epitaph
9
REDCLOUD
Hawthorne's Most Wanted
Syntax
10
BUSDRIVER
RoadKillOvercoat
Epitaph

Dream on and aim high ... kfox!

A New Month, A New #1

It's been about 30 days since I last posted the WMCO Hip Hop Charts. some folks have staying power ... the charts tend to look drastically different after six weeks. My favs are BusDriver, Ghostface and Wax Tailor.

1
BUSDRIVER
RoadKillOvercoat

2
VARIOUS
Om: Hip Hop Volume 1

3
MACROMANTICS
Moments In Movement

4
GABRIEL TEODROS
Lovework

5
El-P
I'll Sleep When You're Dead

6
VARIOUS
Everything

7
MOS DEF
True Magic

8
SURREAL AND DJ BALANCE
Future Classic

9
GHOSTFACE KILLAH
More Fish

10
WAX TAILOR
Hope and Sorrow


Do what you do hip hoppers, but keep it legal! --kfox

2006 ... a brief recap

Well ... this seems a bit premature, but CMJ's deadline for the best of 2006 was this past Friday.

I primarily culled this off the top of my head, but I thought it would be best to revisit the archives and not soley employ my selective memory.

Generally speaking, 2006 was a fine year for hip hop. I'll elaborate in another post closer to the end of the year.

Here is the WMCO Top 10 Hip Hop albums/cds for 2006:

#1 THE ROOTS "Game Theory"
#2 GHOSTFACE KILLAH "Fish Scale"
#3 PSYCHE ORIGAMI "The Standard"
#4 OH NO "Exodus into Unheard Rhythms"
#5 PIGEON JOHN "...And the Summertime Pool Party"
#6 P.O.S. "Audition"
#7 J DILLA "The Shining"
#8 SERGIO MENDES "Timeless"
#9 COLLECTIVE EFFORTS "Medicine"
#10 WAX TAILOR "Tales of the Forgotten Melodies"

Let me know what you think ... stay true, kfox

Pardon the Interruption ...

Hey, hey, hey ... I have a lengthy stack of what promises to be 'this year's best and brightest in hip hop.' Well, in my humble opin, that is an exaggeration. But, heck, I won't really know until I check it out now, eh?

Whatever the case may be, the cds keep piling up and the entire stack was recently ignored because I discovered a highly acclaimed disk that I thought was never sent my way (the love, it does exist; people to organize the onslaught of music mail to seek out goodies sent my way ...? Well, you know how that one goes).

So what is the high charting lovely that has left me pumpin my fist? Wax Tailor! Ooooooh wee... Labeled as electronic & dance (and ask me if I'm mad about that ...?). It is what it is and it is good music. Lots of it is instrumental, interspersing snippets from movies and other pieces of aural archives, Tailor's "Tales of the Forgotten Melodies" is genius. Awesome arrangements of social commentary and memories of days gone by.

I still need to get back to the task at hand and that is giving you the low on:

• Lupe Fiasco - for someone so anxious to get this, I sure as hell am slow at giving you some insight, huh?
• Common Market - likin this one mostly; need to listen more thoroughly
• Sol.illaquists of Sound - if I judged a disk by its cover, I'd say I'd like it; it's colorful with some drawings (could I give a sorrier description?)
• Finless Brown - Originally based in Cleveland, they bounced to the west coast a few years back to pursue their music career (gotta give love to Paulie Rhyme yall)
• There is more, but I don't want to give you an idea of how behind I am on listening to the music (I wish I could say I've been listening to overly academic topics submitted by overzealous researcher-type students, but you already know ...)

I'm out hip hoppers ... off to prep for another full day 'on the quad,' kfox