Listening Then And Now

It's interesting listening to music you listened to at a different time in your life.

I remember when I was in high school and really got into listening to rap music. It was

around 2003/2004 and I found rap music from earlier than 95, 96, 97 generally boring. There

was really a change in the rhymes (becoming more complex) as well as the beats becoming

more interesting somehow around that time. At least I felt that at the time.

Back then to find some of the dopest rap albums I'd never heard of I would search The Source

Magazine's list of Five Mic (perfect in their out of five mics rating system) Classic

albums. I would listen to The Low End Theory, Let The Rhythm Hit Em, 3 Feet And Rising,

among others. These albums would just leave me flat compared to more current albums I was

into such as The Eminem Show, The Ownerz and Get Rich Or Die Tryin'. These albums were

somehow just more fun, more emotive, more complicated, more varied. However now over a

decade later I actually enjoy listening to Let The Rhythm Hit Em, The Diary and Death

Certificate.

I was listening to Let The Rhythm Hit Em by Eric B & Rakim, which was released

in 1990, when I was 3. In a way the music was somewhat simple compared to modern rap albums

, but man those simple choices were so effective. At the time it must of have been

mind-blowing hearing the complex rhyming of Rakim compared to the Sugar Hill Gang and

Kurtis Blow, just a few years earlier. A lot of the complexity of Rakim's double and

triple rhymes as well as internal rhyming wasn't regularly adopted till the mid 90s. I also

listened to the beats Eric B put together, noticing when every instrumental element would

drop in and out. The beats were somewhat simplistic, but so effective and a lot of what

he introduced as far as dropping elements in and out, and forming different intros and

outros are used today to great effect. 

There's a lot of Hip Hop that hasn't moved far from those type of beats. This isn't intended as a criticism, because let's face it, those elements and methodology are so effective. You could call them 'classic'. Also a lot of

rap music is centered on emphasizing what the rapper is saying, rather than overpowering

it. It is difficult to add a lot more to it without taking away from that. It's a fine

balance, based on a repetitive, minimalist style. Again some of these words make it seem

as if I'm dissing the music, but I love repetitive music. I love minimalist music. Just

because something is simple doesn't mean it isn't f*****g awesome!

Reviews

[Sunny]

The first line is perfect! I'm still pretty young but when I here songs for Middle school it's like a blast from the past. And I so many memories come back! I love it!