What Are You Listening To?

[SteelFreaxx]

 

Edited December 17, 2021 by SteelFreaxx

[Suminya]

 

 

[Jamescush147]

 

[Baranov_925]

It hits different, when you waiting for someone, who will never come back...

Edited December 18, 2021 by Baranov_925

[The Arizona Ranger]

 

[zizimonster]

Porridge Radio - Homecoming Song

 

[AJ_Radio]

On 12/16/2021 at 3:48 PM, dieselmanchild said:

Hell yea man, that 1990 - 2010 era of hip hop is absolutely stacked full of amazing artists and classic albums. I’m a bit of an old head I guess, and admittedly I am totally biased with nostalgia, but I definitely consider that late 90s/early 00s to be the peak of rap music in my lifetime thus far.

 

So much amazing music came from that era, and the accelerated growth of hip hop during that period was insane! Many huge artists of that era blew up to unprecedented heights and started bringing hip hop into the mainstream consciousness.

A Tribe Called Quest. De La Soul. Wu-Tang Clan. Smif-N-Wessun. The Pharcyde. Public Enemy. NWA. 2Pac. Notorious BIG. Dr Dre. Ice Cube. Snoop Dogg. The list goes on. 
 

Back then Hip Hop wasn’t in the eyes of the mainstream. Guys like A Tribe Called Quest (RIP Phife Dawg) were just regular guys living in normal homes/apartments. No flashy style or throwing money around like confetti. 
 

TV Shows and Movies back then that had rap music like this were typically reserved for stuff that had a rap theme to them. Kid n Play were a rap duo that starred in the House Party movie trilogy, and they did other stuff. Your Hollywood blockbusters at that time generally didn’t have rap music or themes, because it was more niche. 
 

When rap became mainstream around the early - mid 2000s, that was when it went downhill. 
 

I cannot sympathize or connect with any of today’s mainstream rap artists. What am I supposed to get out of Drake? Apparently the kids aged 10 - 14 love the hell out of him, but they’re kids, so they don’t know any better. 
 

MF DOOM for many years was one of my favorite underground rappers. It is sad he is no longer with us.

Edited December 19, 2021 by AJ_Radio
Added some more artists

[Infected Elite]

 

[LastMinuteSavior]

 

[Jamescush147]

 

This song has been stuck in my head all day.

[Helyx]

Nobody lets me choose seasonal music, for some reason...

 

 

[SmileSlice]

 

I love this band’s aesthetics and Melissa Bonny has an incredible voice!

[dieselmanchild]

On 2021-12-17 at 0:17 PM, Baranov_925 said:

Good to hear that. I'm rock'n'roller since 2000 (Stiff Upper Lip, All That You Can't Leave Behind, Reinventing the Steel), and rap was (and sometimes it is) very good refresh. Many records like Nation of Millions or Illmatic or Life After Death, have that ounces of heaviness, just like in good ol' rock \m/.

Hell yeah man, Rock n Roll is great too. My particular brand is classic rock… grew up listening to my Dad’s treasure trove of old cassette tapes and vinyls and took a real shine to the classic rock, psychedelic rock, and British Invasion bands of the 60s and 70s.

 

I know Hip Hip can be a little rough on the ears for some rock and metal fans, and a lot modern day stuff in particular sounds like such shallow drivel lol. But if you’re willing to dig down there’s actually a tons and tons of talented artists who display raw emotion and a lyrical/story telling depth out that can be really appreciated. There are many hip hop artists who pay homage to the rock classics too by sampling their music in their songs.

 

Rock is the shit. ?? And as the legendary rocker Dewey Finn said:

 

 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

I cannot sympathize or connect with any of today’s mainstream rap artists. What am I supposed to get out of Drake? Apparently the kids aged 10 - 14 love the hell out of him, but they’re kids, so they don’t know any better. 

 

Man I hated Drake so deeply for so long so it’s hard to admit it, but somehow over time there has been a very gradual thawing of my ice cold perception towards him. It kinda started when I noticed the relentless repping of his country and city, he really put the 6ix on the map in a big way and put on so many artists in Toronto. The music scene here has grown immensely and thrived this past decade with Drake’s dominance of the industry, and he puts the city on like no one else does so it’s hard not to respect him for that.

 

Then there was the fun of seeing him courtside at so many Raptors home games. The 2019 championship in particular was absolutely legendary with the way he trolled opposing teams, celebrity fans, and used the cameras to create endless memes and viral moments that kept the fun and hype train rolling endlessly throughout that run. That season was the most epic and memorable of my lifetime and Drake was a huge part of the insanity that unfolded throughout that Spring. 

 

Then…. there’s his music, of which I am terribly conflicted. I basically view Drake as the McDonalds of music, and when it comes to the numbers game and the absolute mastery of memes and viral marketing, Drake has the game completely on lock. He has created a well-oiled machine that cranks out hit after hit after hit of vapid, shallow garbage singles that are specifically engineered for endless pop radio play and huge streaming numbers. I can’t stand this version of Drake.

 

This practice has made him one of the most commercially successful music artists in history, but also made him incredibly easy to hate and damaged his reputation as a legitimate rapper. But if you bin the pop radio crap and dig deep into his catalogue, he’s actually got a lot of legitimate bangers, proven his skill as a lyricist, and helped create a new style in his early work that has since become synonymous with the Toronto hip hop scene. 
 

It took me a long time to appreciate his music and accept the fact it’s not all hot garbage, but yeah… most of it is. His newest album CLB was certainly uninspired hot trash all the way through.

 

[AJ_Radio]

2 hours ago, dieselmanchild said:

Hell yeah man, Rock n Roll is great too. My particular brand is classic rock… grew up listening to my Dad’s treasure trove of old cassette tapes and vinyls and took a real shine to the classic rock, psychedelic rock, and British Invasion bands of the 60s and 70s.

 

I know Hip Hip can be a little rough on the ears for some rock and metal fans, and a lot modern day stuff in particular sounds like such shallow drivel lol. But if you’re willing to dig down there’s actually a tons and tons of talented artists who display raw emotion and a lyrical/story telling depth out that can be really appreciated. There are many hip hop artists who pay homage to the rock classics too by sampling their music in their songs.

 

Rock is the shit. And as the legendary rocker Dewey Finn said:

 

My biggest issue is autotune. It's why the Top 40 stations have been absolute crap for over a decade, all about style over substance with no staying power. Britney Spears and N'Sync started that trend over 20 years ago, but it has never fully gone away. Justin Beiber, somehow has been in the public eye for 15 years now after Usher discovered him. Yes, he is Canadian. Yes, he got his start on YouTube. But he is completely shallow. Same with Chris Brown. There are very, very few people in my own generation that I can truly respect.

 

All of the good stuff is the indie, underground material that doesn't have autotune. I grew up on some post grunge bands like Blink 182 and Matchbox 20, both of which are mainstream. What is generally accepted as the mainstream these days in 2021 is absolutely fucking appalling.

 

2 hours ago, dieselmanchild said:

Man I hated Drake so deeply for so long so it’s hard to admit it, but somehow over time there has been a very gradual thawing of my ice cold perception towards him. It kinda started when I noticed the relentless repping of his country and city, he really put the 6ix on the map in a big way and put on so many artists in Toronto. The music scene here has grown immensely and thrived this past decade with Drake’s dominance of the industry, and he puts the city on like no one else does so it’s hard not to respect him for that.

 

Then there was the fun of seeing him courtside at so many Raptors home games. The 2019 championship in particular was absolutely legendary with the way he trolled opposing teams, celebrity fans, and used the cameras to create endless memes and viral moments that kept the fun and hype train rolling endlessly throughout that run. That season was the most epic and memorable of my lifetime and Drake was a huge part of the insanity that unfolded throughout that Spring. 

 

Then…. there’s his music, of which I am terribly conflicted. I basically view Drake as the McDonalds of music, and when it comes to the numbers game and the absolute mastery of memes and viral marketing, Drake has the game completely on lock. He has created a well-oiled machine that cranks out hit after hit after hit of vapid, shallow garbage singles that are specifically engineered for endless pop radio play and huge streaming numbers. I can’t stand this version of Drake.

 

This practice has made him one of the most commercially successful music artists in history, but also made him incredibly easy to hate and damaged his reputation as a legitimate rapper. But if you bin the pop radio crap and dig deep into his catalogue, he’s actually got a lot of legitimate bangers, proven his skill as a lyricist, and helped create a new style in his early work that has since become synonymous with the Toronto hip hop scene. 
 

It took me a long time to appreciate his music and accept the fact it’s not all hot garbage, but yeah… most of it is. His newest album CLB was certainly uninspired hot trash all the way through.

 

I never liked Drake. Never have, never will. That's like my peers in their 30s who still follow Lebron James having a cultural impact on my generation in particular, and is still a role model for the kids coming up in the sports world.

 

It honestly depends on who you grew up with and how you perceive modern performers. My early childhood was spent watching Michael Jordan performing legendary basketball shots for his Chicago Bulls, and he is simply my #1 all time favorite of the NBA. I suppose if I instead grew up on Lebron James, my opinions of him would be different. But the fact is I grew up on Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Michael Jordan and Karl Malone.

 

Seeing the Miami Heat or Cleveland Cavaliers play against the Golden State Warriors or some other team every year..... or every other year turned me off the sport. Stephen Curry I wasn't a fan of either, nevermind the fact he is the same age as me. And unfortunately like many other sport stars, he decided to go political particularly when Donald Trump was president. Just play the damn game, leave your stupid opinions on social media out of the public eye.

 

Drake is in the same class as Lil Wayne, Cardi B, Future, Young Thug, Rich Homie Quan and Iggy Azalea. The one positive I can give for him is his name at least sounds normal. I can't say the same for the others.

 

By the time Drake got popular, I was already in my mid 20s and was already digging hits by MF DOOM. If you want me to list two rappers that were/are in the mainstream eye that I can actually respect from the 2000s, that would be Ja Rule and Eninem. They did gimmicky stuff too back in the day, but the competition back in the early - mid 2000s was so much better. I was just coming up in the world at that time which is perhaps why I respect them a lot more.

 

Drake is like Rihanna to me. Both handsome and attractive, but lacking that actual talent that keeps guys like me interested. People tell me all the time I'm weird or different because I don't respect two people in my generation of musicians. I tell them I simply don't care.

 

You're never going to see things in the same light as an adult as opposed to when you are a child. When it comes to today's kids in high school and college, Drake and Rihanna have all the fans in the world. Older guys like me aren't impressed. Which again, goes back to Eninem and Ja Rule, I was hooked to them the same way the kids of the Zoomer generation are hooked to Drake. And that's the truth. To them, Drake is a role model.

 

We obviously come from different backgrounds, but this nonsense that I have to like people within my generation is complete bollocks, to say the least.

[Baranov_925]

 

[dieselmanchild]

3 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

LeBron

Bruh don’t even get me started on LeFlop James. I hate LeBron with a passion, for so many reasons, the least being having to watch him dad-dick my poor Raptors for years in the Eastern Conference. ?

 

I could write a novel on why I think he’s a piece of sh*t, but I’ll spare you and everyone else.

 

 

3 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

Eminem

For any real hip hop fan or old head, it’s hard not to respect Eminem and his amazing career, even if he’s not your favourite artist. He came up the hard way, having to earn respect as a white artist by battling on the streets and in rap competitions to prove his skills, an art form that is sadly all but dead with this lazy and shallow modern culture.

 

And not only did he make it, but he went on to literally become the most successful musical artist of this century, and has had a monumental impact on hip hop culture and it’s growth since he blew up. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves for this IMO, but if you were around in the late 90s you know first hand how he really helped bridged the gap between white consumers and the world of hip hop in that era. This touches on exactly what you were saying earlier about how hip hop hasn’t quite cracked the mainstream back then. In that time period, Eminem exposed millions of young white kids like myself to rap music, and helped make it cool and propel the genre into the mainstream.

 

The amount of musical records he holds under his belt, and which he continues to quietly break on a damn near monthly basis to this very day is just mind boggling. In the words of the man himself, “I sound like a broken record every time I break a record.” ?

 

He has an unprecedented longevity in music, and is still cranking out new stuff frequently and topping the charts for YT/Spotify & sales numbers every single year, despite the fact he debuted over 20 years ago. He basically exists in an entire league of his own if we are being totally honest, and a lot of people really have trouble accepting this nowadays.

 

Also, fun fact but Eminem is the only artist of any genre that I’ve been consistently listening to for 20 years straight and without tiring of his music. As far as I’m concerned, he’s one of the greatest to ever touch a microphone.
 

3 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

Drake

 

Lmao, another thing that made it so hard for me to take Drake seriously for many years was the time he spent as an actor before he suddenly become a rapper. ?

 

Idk if you know the history, obut there’s this long running show here in Canada called ‘Degrassi’, which is basically a coming-of-age drama show aimed at a teenage audience that covers all sorts of social issues and relevant topics. Well Drake played this kid named Jimmy who was like this total happy go lucky jock and star basketball player, who eventually gets shot during a school shooting and ends up in a wheelchair for the rest of the show.

 

Well one day out of nowhere, he suddenly dropped a mixtape and started charting on Billboard and doing a couple music videos, and it was just sooo fucking weird seeing “Jimmy from Degrassi” waving his hands, posturing, and acting all hard as a rapper. It was quite jarring, and absolutely hilarious for most of us who had seen the show at one point or another.

 

I’d imagine his reception in the U.S. was a bit different and he probably just debuted as this hot new up and coming rapper, but at least here in Canada he was widely recognized from his stint on Degrassi and we used to clown the hell out of his for it. So my dislike for him started pretty early on lol.

 

Anyways…

 

To get back on topic with this thread let me hit y’all with one of Jimmy’s… errr I mean Drake’s* bangers:

 

Or another one or my favs:

 

[dermarx]

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by dermarx

[The Arizona Ranger]

 

[ziggypossum]

 

[Kratosaur]

 

[zizimonster]

Amyl and the Sniffers - Gacked on Anger

 

[AegisAvenger]

 

[Kratosaur]

 

 

Edited December 20, 2021 by Kratosaur

[StraightVege]

Iced Earth - Jack

[fyiByas]