Philaflava.com ::

:shrug:

very very few people do ny throwback rap well, and imo he is one of them. the problem is that likely he'll never break out of that mold, while action is already well on his way to doint it

drizzle wrote::shrug:

very very few people do ny throwback rap well, and imo he is one of them. the problem is that likely he'll never break out of that mold, while action is already well on his way to doint it

I would easily take rappers like Spekt, Ortiz or Sean P over ML. Even Reks, who isn't even from NY.

shrug, indeed.

Funny i see it the opposite way.

Action Bronson is technically better than Mayhem Lauren, but his handling of concepts is quite clumsy. He's better at talking obstusely about nothing and everything all at once like the Ghostface/CNN/Royal Flush/Tragedy records that seem to form the bulk of his listening.

Mayhem Lauren, on the other hand, sounds uninspired and lost when he tries to do the b-boy, talk about nothing type of verse. He is excellent when he picks a topic (and is handed the correct beat since he is tone deaf in comparison to Bronson) though, and has a knack for emulating his often distant-sounding influences while injecting some physicality and emotion into his performance. His flow leaves a lot to be desired though, on a strictly technical level.

Both are absolutely horrible at talking convincingly about sex and relationships and need to learn a thing or two about balancing the 'hood with some finesse.

I'd rather hear them rap in a group together with Thirstin' to be perfectly honest.

Putting aside whether or not Ortiz is even a good rapper ... Is he really a NY throwback rapper? I mean, i know he says he is, a lot, perhaps too much, but what exactly does he throw back to? He seems more enamored with the throwback concept than any past era of rap.

i actually used the term rather concepts poorly in this case, your take on it is more accurate.

what i meant by 'creating interesting concepts' is that action is more capable of doing things beyond the scope of ny traditionalism. 7000 thoughts and got the fever are fantastic focused takes on specific topics, but the underlying ideas themselves are very canonical to this kind of music. bronson goes beyond that canon, not completely off the reservation of course, but enough to stand out.

Thun wrote:Funny i see it the opposite way.

Action Bronson is technically better than Mayhem Lauren, but his handling of concepts is quite clumsy. He's better at talking obstusely about nothing and everything all at once like the Ghostface/CNN/Royal Flush/Tragedy records that seem to form the bulk of his listening.

Mayhem Lauren, on the other hand, sounds uninspired and lost when he tries to do the b-boy, talk about nothing type of verse. He is excellent when he picks a topic (and is handed the correct beat since he is tone deaf in comparison to Bronson) though, and has a knack for emulating his often distant-sounding influences while injecting some physicality and emotion into his performance. His flow leaves a lot to be desired though, on a strictly technical level.

Both are absolutely horrible at talking convincingly about sex and relationships and need to learn a thing or two about balancing the 'hood with some finesse.

I'd rather hear them rap in a group together with Thirstin' to be perfectly honest.

Agreed on where Action's strengths lie. As far as the finesse thing, to a certain extent Action's ear for beats allows him to inject different moods into his songs, without actually relying on his lyrics to do so. Meyhem is not so lucky.

It's not like I'm saying ML sucks, it's just that there are several people in that same lane who are much better than him, IMO

Thun wrote:
I'd rather hear them rap in a group together with Thirstin' to be perfectly honest.

pretty much this. They are good rappers, but I can't really get through a full album of either.

Also, does anyone know Despot's reasons for being the slowest and least productive rapper in the history of rap? Does he have an important day job? A family of 12 to feed? Is he super lazy? Or a perfectionist?

DLG wrote:

Thun wrote:
I'd rather hear them rap in a group together with Thirstin' to be perfectly honest.

pretty much this. They are good rappers, but I can't really get through a full album of either.

Also, does anyone know Despot's reasons for being the slowest and least productive rapper in the history of rap? Does he have an important day job? A family of 12 to feed? Is he super lazy? Or a perfectionist?

All the above, maybe?

Funny thing is, when I think of rappers who have taken forever to put stuff out, some of the first to mind are Breezly Brewin, Jay Electronica, Despot and Roc Marciano (that UN album came out in 2004, and he was around in the 90s).

Pretty good company.

Or maybe I only remember the good rappers who don't put out stuff and forget the others because, of course, they are forgettable.

drizzle wrote:i actually used the term rather concepts poorly in this case, your take on it is more accurate.

what i meant by 'creating interesting concepts' is that action is more capable of doing things beyond the scope of ny traditionalism. 7000 thoughts and got the fever are fantastic focused takes on specific topics, but the underlying ideas themselves are very canonical to this kind of music. bronson goes beyond that canon, not completely off the reservation of course, but enough to stand out.

Agreed, Bronson has a zany, imaginative, surreal side that suits him well. Mayhem is not equipped to rhyme eccentric stream of consciousness type raps over left field beats.

Bronson hasn't quite perfected his style yet, though. Some of his transitions between ideas are abrupt and not in a good way, and there are a lot of instances in which he skips around ideas and images just to complete a multi. He's not nearly as bad as Saigortiz at this, though.

Also, Bronson needs someone to teach him how to use his voice better. It is not pretty when he's damned near screeching.

COOLEHMAGAZINE wrote:

Thun wrote:Funny i see it the opposite way.

Action Bronson is technically better than Mayhem Lauren, but his handling of concepts is quite clumsy. He's better at talking obstusely about nothing and everything all at once like the Ghostface/CNN/Royal Flush/Tragedy records that seem to form the bulk of his listening.

Mayhem Lauren, on the other hand, sounds uninspired and lost when he tries to do the b-boy, talk about nothing type of verse. He is excellent when he picks a topic (and is handed the correct beat since he is tone deaf in comparison to Bronson) though, and has a knack for emulating his often distant-sounding influences while injecting some physicality and emotion into his performance. His flow leaves a lot to be desired though, on a strictly technical level.

Both are absolutely horrible at talking convincingly about sex and relationships and need to learn a thing or two about balancing the 'hood with some finesse.

I'd rather hear them rap in a group together with Thirstin' to be perfectly honest.

Agreed on where Action's strengths lie. As far as the finesse thing, to a certain extent Action's ear for beats allows him to inject different moods into his songs, without actually relying on his lyrics to do so. Meyhem is not so lucky.

It's not like I'm saying ML sucks, it's just that there are several people in that same lane who are much better than him, IMO

Agreed, Action knows how to modulate his delivery to suit various moods, though as I noted above, sometimes this results in him sounding way too screechy and free jazz-y.

Thun wrote:Putting aside whether or not Ortiz is even a good rapper ... Is he really a NY throwback rapper? I mean, i know he says he is, a lot, perhaps too much, but what exactly does he throw back to? He seems more enamored with the throwback concept than any past era of rap.

I'm seriously interested in a response to this question. I'm not trying to pick a fight, but I can't promise I won't respond snarkily to the answer, either. But my snark will be rooted in sound logic and contextual reasoning, I promise.

Thun wrote:

Thun wrote:Putting aside whether or not Ortiz is even a good rapper ... Is he really a NY throwback rapper? I mean, i know he says he is, a lot, perhaps too much, but what exactly does he throw back to? He seems more enamored with the throwback concept than any past era of rap.

I'm seriously interested in a response to this question. I'm not trying to pick a fight, but I can't promise I won't respond snarkily to the answer, either. But my snark will be rooted in sound logic and contextual reasoning, I promise.

Ha. Well, I must admit that I would not have described any of these guys as "throwback ny rappers". I tend to find those sorts of terms to be very reductive and try to avoid the whole idea "bring new york" paradigm in my own writing.

So, in this particular case I was responding to dude describing Meyhem and Bronson as "throwback ny rappers" and imagining that it was a catch-all meant to include anyone who spits street or braggadocio shit over sample based beats. That would include Ortiz, yes, but that very well may not have been what the OP meant.

For myself, I don't really see Ortiz as a throwback, no. A throwback, to me, is someone who actively is attempting to painstakingly recreate some past aesthetic which presumably was past its peak before their time (i.e. Jurrassic 5, Brown Bag All-Stars, 88 Stick-Up Kids) OR goes out of their way stylistically to link themselves to a past era (i.e. Little Brother on "The Listening", Edan on Beauty and The Beat, everything Marco Polo ever did).

Ortiz's "classics" mixtape aside, he is not a throwback rapper. But then again, I don't view ML or AB as throwbacks in that sense either...at all.

My problem with ML is his blandness. Like I said, if I want that sort of hoodie and tims music, Ortiz is a better choice but honestly, MarQ Spekt is probably my favorite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtBIK-WrSyY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A9y0DNE ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJhEta3S ... re=related

His verses on those songs are better than anything I ever heard from ML.

Word. Not to Ortiz being better than anyone, but to the rest of your response. I'll check out those Spekt songs.

drizzle wrote:the song about being on a diet >>>>>>>

action is better than meyhem at this point. not a big difference in terms of raw abilities, but action is making better choices and steadily proving to be a better writer in terms of creating interesting concepts

I agree, Action is just more interesting. That's not to say Meyhem isn't dope, but he doesn't have je ne se qua.

COOLEHMAGAZINE wrote: So, in this particular case I was responding to dude describing Meyhem and Bronson as "throwback ny rappers" and imagining that it was a catch-all meant to include anyone who spits street or braggadocio shit over sample based beats. That would include Ortiz, yes, but that very well may not have been what the OP meant. .

no i was referring specifically to artists who explicitly reference 90s east coast rap is a pinnacle of rap music (often including references to eastcoast rap culture of the time as a whole, beyond teh music itself), strive to emulate that particular sound, and reject most other forms or subgenres

it's obviously a loose term but a little more specific than how you're reading it. Speqt for example does not fit into this category imo

drizzle wrote:

COOLEHMAGAZINE wrote: So, in this particular case I was responding to dude describing Meyhem and Bronson as "throwback ny rappers" and imagining that it was a catch-all meant to include anyone who spits street or braggadocio shit over sample based beats. That would include Ortiz, yes, but that very well may not have been what the OP meant. .

no i was referring specifically to artists who explicitly reference 90s east coast rap is a pinnacle of rap music (often including references to eastcoast rap culture of the time as a whole, beyond teh music itself), strive to emulate that particular sound, and reject most other forms or subgenres

it's obviously a loose term but a little more specific than how you're reading it. Speqt for example does not fit into this category imo

Word

DOPEST artists for years...

agree with thun about bronson's voice, that's what gets me the most. I really like his style and the way he rhymes but the voice is horrible after two verses.

It seems like he is trying to keep it really high-pitched when he has no need to. This is the part of his style in which I think he's imitating Ghostface the most. That high pitched semi-yelling, frantic tone works for Ghost but not for Action, simply because Ghost's voice is a lot stronger, cuts through the mix better and doesn't sound like he's struggling to maintain it at that pitch.

new track

http://www.nukeshare.com/3ro7hb6o3j3p/a ... s.mp3.html

cop the albums and support these cats....

drizzle wrote:

COOLEHMAGAZINE wrote: So, in this particular case I was responding to dude describing Meyhem and Bronson as "throwback ny rappers" and imagining that it was a catch-all meant to include anyone who spits street or braggadocio shit over sample based beats. That would include Ortiz, yes, but that very well may not have been what the OP meant. .

no i was referring specifically to artists who explicitly reference 90s east coast rap is a pinnacle of rap music (often including references to eastcoast rap culture of the time as a whole, beyond teh music itself), strive to emulate that particular sound, and reject most other forms or subgenres

it's obviously a loose term but a little more specific than how you're reading it. Speqt for example does not fit into this category imo

Ok, but what do you call it when an artist meets those criteria but doesn't actually evoke that era, meaning their music doesn't actually feel throwback?

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^new joint with action bronson and mayhem lauren on it. They both sound good, almost sounds like they read our complaints on this page, lol

Thun wrote:

drizzle wrote:

COOLEHMAGAZINE wrote: So, in this particular case I was responding to dude describing Meyhem and Bronson as "throwback ny rappers" and imagining that it was a catch-all meant to include anyone who spits street or braggadocio shit over sample based beats. That would include Ortiz, yes, but that very well may not have been what the OP meant. .

no i was referring specifically to artists who explicitly reference 90s east coast rap is a pinnacle of rap music (often including references to eastcoast rap culture of the time as a whole, beyond teh music itself), strive to emulate that particular sound, and reject most other forms or subgenres

it's obviously a loose term but a little more specific than how you're reading it. Speqt for example does not fit into this category imo

Ok, but what do you call it when an artist meets those criteria but doesn't actually evoke that era, meaning their music doesn't actually feel throwback?

i call on tyrone?

evoking the era doesn't necisseraly have to equate with making throwback music i think. aside from that, actively and purposefully trying to make music that sounds like a throwback, effectively recycling the sound in the process to diminished returns, is part of the criteria.

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^new joint with action bronson and mayhem lauren on it. They both sound good, almost sounds like they read our complaints on this page, lol

yeah this is nice

Not feeling the Statik Selectah joint. He's trying to make a whole album of that?

Thun wrote:Not feeling the Statik Selectah joint. He's trying to make a whole album of that?

Most Statik albums have that high tempo style on every track. It forces the artists to do that for about 10-12 songs straight.

Philaflava wrote:

Thun wrote:Not feeling the Statik Selectah joint. He's trying to make a whole album of that?

Most Statik albums have that high tempo style on every track. It forces the artists to do that for about 10-12 songs straight.

It just sounds so .... regular.

whats everyones fav MEYHEM track??

procelebritygolf wrote:whats everyones fav MEYHEM track??

"Got The Fever" easily.

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Best song I've heard all year. Beats are ill.

Just heard Dr. Lecter yesterday...it is a stellar album. Action Bronson is a dope MC without a doubt. The one extremely small criticism I could have is that his style may get tiresome for some throughout a whole album. His braggadocious lifestyle type rhymes can get redundant. "Eating rabbit drinking wine" etc... type rhymes. Other than that he has clever lines and a lot of character.

Action and Meyhem have the two best albums from this year imo (that I've heard). Only other one I may like more is that Malcolm and Martin LP. I also like Dirty Art Club- Heavy Starch, that is a great instrumental album.