OKay, i read some (it became quickly redundant) of the posts in this string,
and I can see the point that Charlie is making, but I think that he is over
looking one thing: vocals meen about this much (pinching fingers together)
to Herren in regards to traditional hiphop. The people he has and will work
with are the more underground, progressive MCs. Not to say that Atlanta
doesnt have any. And I wonder how many rappers are up for having their
rhymes "butchered" on an album, it must take a certain amount of artistic
understanding between the two camps so no feelings are hurt.
Also, there are many regional aspects to Herren's compostitions, ones that
extend past simple vocal samples. For the most obvious, look at the pace of
his composition: its the south all the way. I originally did not believe the
whole stigma of "the slow paced south" untill I spent a few months there,
and it became horribly apparent that this is true, things are just more at
ease in the south. I couldnt cope with it, but hey... to each their own. If
you want some reference point to this, listen to the old Outkast song
"Elevators (me and you)", not really the lyrics as much as the structure of
that track, it should be the south-national-anthem.
"The Dirty South" is a term that has become too broad and too incompassing.
Just because a camp is from the south shouldnt imply the "dirty south"
style. The Hot Boyz (or what ever) and the Mr P camp are NOT dirty south,
there is little dirty about them, in fact,they should be in the "generic
south". Same with all of the Def Jam South (or what ever they are calling
the label) artists. I just dont like the term any more, too many people are
exploiting it (see here the Outkast "We're bouncing" skit on
Stankonia....classic diss).
Also, I would draw attention to the instrumentation Herren uses, which are
very indicative of the Southern tradition of music, most notable being the
stark and (at times) grimmy piano. The bass tones are also very rustic
sounding; if any are done on electric, it has to be muted as hell.
I am not too found of the criticism that the phrase "rebuilding hiphop from
the ground up" is getting. It seems that if any artist trys to take hiphop
in a new direction, he is lambasted for not staying true to the form (see
here Tricky and the uprise of the term 'trip-hop'). I am at times shocked to
read on other posts how much hate there is for groups like J5, who are doing
things all together new (or just doing the old stuff better), there is just
SO much stagnation in the genre, and when something accisabley new comes
along, its copied to death.
Too often the vocals of ANY style of music directs the attitude toward the
whole composition, resulting in an over-exageration in the importance of a
vocalist. With the Herren style of hiphop, the vocal plays just as important
a role as the instrumental. Remember back in school hearing music teachers
say "The voice is an instrument"? Well, 95% of the rappers out there have no
attachment to this( most notable that DO use their "instrument" would be
Blackthought{opinion}), so hiphop becomes nothing but a steady beat to talk
over, the musical side of a piece gets lost, and the content of the vocals
becomes the focus point of the song. This is fine when the vocal message
SHOULD be the focal point (see here Wesley Willis :] ), but too often, great
production is muddled by the message (see here tonights Grammy award
controversy Eminem: content is garbage but production is amazing).
To say that the approach to hiphop sanz-lyric is not hiphop is just
bullshit, the more respected producers arent noted for "giving a beat that
doesnt get in the way of the rapper".
The Herren approach lets the voice become an instrument in hiphop, a gamble
of a practice givin the "hater" mindset of many hiphop enthusiest ( i cant
spell at all_).
And, um, Charlie...Herren colaborates with MANY area musicians in the
creation of his music (see here the Samadha Trio), so I wouldnt say he is
turning his back on the local artistic scene.
But, fuck, in the end, who cares? Its not like most people will be able to
identify the MCs on the Prefuse stuff, what do you really have to go on?
Dont approach the Prefuse as you would a conventional producer, i would
almost put Herren more in line with the "turntableist" approach to hip hop,
but then again, you cant really put him in ANY catagorie at the moment,
untill some name is invented for it (i dont want that job, no one should).
Wait, what was the point of this...shit...minutes gone by.
benine
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