My Musical Journey: Hip Hop
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- Опубликовано: 19 июн 2018
- A viewer sent in a question asking about how I got into extreme music. That’s a bit of a convoluted question so I decided to film a series of videos talking about how I got into the various genres that I’m into.
Today’s video is going to be discussing how I got into hip hop.
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Mainstream/Underground separation at the end of the 90s was incredibly real
im watching videos where KRSONE tells everything about it
Biggie got me into Hip Hop. MF DOOM made me a Hip Hop head.
MAD MAN I’m 17 I was listening to biggie in the first grade because of mom lmao she had all of his albums, then in the 2nd to 4th grade I was really into the west coast beef I was looking up all that stuff up on RUclips 😂😂 I even made my uncle buy me the N.W.A. Album In the 3rd grade. But In the 8th grade I got really into music, Kanye became my favorite artist of all-time, Andre 3000 Danny brown mf doom, and some new school like Tyler the creator became some of my favorites.
ALL CAPS to you friend, long live DOOM
This is a dope series, thanks Myke. Baker 3 and the Tony Hawk game series probably influenced my music tastes more than I realize.
Tony Hawk, mainly Underground 2 but also some American Wasteland, definitely got me some music. However there was actually stuff in those games that I am a huge fan of now that I knew nothing of as a kid for some reason, don't even remember hearing them. Like it floors me that "No Jumper Cables", a remix of it, by Aesop Rock and "Trying to Find a Balance" by Atmosphere are both on Underground 2. Freaking ridiculous, I'm a huge huge huge fan of Aesop Rock and a fan of Atmosphere for a long time now but back when I was mainly playing that game as a kid I just don't hardly recall hearing those tracks.. Maybe "Trying to Find a Balance" but I just do not remember "No Jumper Cables" remix..
Typically, at least in my experience, people who are fans of multiple genres still have one genre that they love far more than the others or a genre they know far more about than any other genre. Myke is one of the few people I know that I legitimately feel equally enjoys every genre he listens to and is as passionate about each of them.
issa drink there was a real connection between American musicians and Brazilian musicians in the late 60s when Bosa Nova was created. Its a shame that tradition didnt carry over
I've had a similar experience. From elementary to middle school, I was more into mainstream music. Around 6th grade, I went through my "Wannabe White Phase", where I hated hip hop, and only listened to rock and alternative (Linkin Park, Guns N Roses, Metallica, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.) The only hip-hop I was fucking with was Eminem. Then somewhere in high school, I swerved back to hip hop. Mainly when I was in band camp, I was listening to the alternative hip-hop like Odd Future, Pro Era, TDE, etc. Tyler The Creator, Kendrick Lamar and Chance influenced my taste in high school, around my early high school years. I was going through my "REEL HIP-HOP" Phase. Anything that wasn't lyrical, I didn't vibe with. Then around my sophomore year, I got into the rapper Blu, and artists like Erykah Badu and he basically changed my taste. He made me appreciate producers like Dilla, Madlib and Exile. I was more into Soul, Jazz, and Funk. Now that I'm going through my senior year in college, I mainly listen to mainstream, underground, indie and everything in between. Mainly anything that catches my ear.
wannabe white phase is the worst...
blu was the artist that made me really get into hip hop
Myke the Kid C Town back at it again!
I got into hip hop back in 2004 mainstream radio (50 Cent, Eminem, Black Eyed Peas, OutKast), then, I start digging for Rap and non-radio hip-hop. I really wish U.S underground hip hop were bit more famous here in Brazil. Btw, cool vid, Myke.
Claro que tem um brasileiro por aqui kkkk
Achei que eu fosse o único! Satisfação, cara!
Entendo esse final perfeitamente! É difícil demais achar fãs do rap underground do EUA, o que é triste, porque é o melhor. Você ainda teve uma leve sorte, porque o mainstream não era de todo mal
Hip hop was never really on my radar until I realized how deeply thematic listening to and album front to back is. Artists like Kendrick and Tyler really showed me how you can turn an album into a movie
I got into hip-hop because of one group of guys who call themselves "DeadEndHipHop," idk if you know them Myke, but if you see them tell them thanks from me because they really changed my life!
Mo Naqvi Why would someone not into hip hop go into a channel called Dead End Hip Hop?
I was a surface level beginner to hip-hop, so I only listened to Drake and Chris Brown and stuff and I randomly found these guys DEHH channel and they changed my life. Now I'm into all types of hip-hop weather it be Billy Woods, Death Grips, MF DOOM, Aesop Rock, Open Mike Eagle, Roc Marciano etc.
That's super dope Mo Naqvi
That's really cool man.
First off, sick shirt Myke. Camu's posthumous record is some really unique shit, love that album.
Secondly: I'm glad you mentioned Sole's early stuff, because his name doesn't come up often, but I love Bottle of Humans, Selling Live Water, and Learning to Walk, I love his passionate delivery of the non-rhyming stream-of-consciousness lyrics. Too bad he took an extreme nosedive from that and became complete dogshit.
My hip-hop journey:
I was first exposed to hip-hop while playing GTA San Andreas as a kid. I was mostly into the rock and the rap radio stations in that game, which would've introduced me to 2Pac, N.W.A., Cypress Hill, Too $hort, Public Enemy, Kool G Rap, Slick Rick etc., if it wasn't for the fact that I wasn't really a music fan at the time and I rarely ever enjoyed more than one hit song from the same artist. As I said under your previous video, punk and alternative rock was my real gateway into music, and for a time, I kinda forgot about a fact that stuff other than guitar music exists (even though I had in fact enjoyed pieces of not only hip-hop, but also electronic music and jazz as kid), so later on, I started to rediscover the rap I used to listen to, and while I still liked that kinda music, I had a same problem as you: I was super into artsy and alternative stuff, and relatable message, and gangsta-rap/90's hip-hop wasn't really that. But later down the road, I became friends with a guy who, similarly to me, had a thing for chill music you can really vibe out to, and he showed me electronic music and hip-hop that was like that. One day, we were chilling at my place and he put on album called Metaphorical Music and that's how Nujabes quickly became not only my favorite hip-hop artist, but just one of my favorite musicians in general. I got into the work of his frequent collaborators, like Shingo Annen, Apani B, CYNE, Substantial, Five Deez. After that, I was simultaneously exploring contemporary, and old school hip-hop. Got into Wu-Tang, Denzel Curry, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Kendrick Lamar, MF Doom, Joey Bada$$, Souls of Mischief, etc... Like for most people, another huge breakthrough for me was Death Grips. And while they became one of my favorite bands, I don't really think of them as a hip-hop group. Not because I'm a traditionalist, but because I think they mix so many genres and the presence of the other genres is so strong that their hip-hop aspect doesn't seem like the main part of their music. To me, considering them hip-hop would be like considering Rage Against Machine hip-hop. Anyways, they're still relevant to the hip-hop topic, because 1.) through them, I got into a bunch of experimental rap stuff, like Clipping, B L A C K I E, Lil Ugly Mane, Danny Brown and Dälek. 2.) while I used to not care about critics and music vloggers, I knew that Fantano notoriously liked DG, so I began watching his stuff to see what he has to say, and he made me realize that music reviewing is not some corporate bullshit by/for people who think there are objective facts to the quality of music, but just another cool way of having a healthy music discussion. So I started exploring music-related RUclips channels, and it didn't take too long to stumble upon DEHH and after that, your channel. Yes, your channel is really important my hip-hop journey, because half of the rappers you named in your video, I know them because of you. You got me into Aesop Rock, Atmosphere, El-P, and pretty much this entire late 90's / early 00's indie rap scene. And I guess this where I'm at now.
Myke, you're the only person I've ever heard talking about amazon lists. When I was getting into extreme metal/grind/powerviolence, amazon lists were my number one go to for finding new shit! true early 2000's music nerd shit.
I'm 19 and sadly the majority of my early experience with Hip Hop just happened to be whatever was on the radio. I got bored with it and just fell out of listening to it for a while. In around 2011-2012 I was then at the point where I wanted to go out of my way to find artists that interested me and I found A Tribe Called Quest who are now my favorite hip hip group ever. They just appealed to me on a completely different level to what I was exposed to at the time. It made me search out of even more artists like them and I found a lot of great music because of it. Thanks a lot Mike and DEHH for introducing me to so many other artists who I now love.
Myke, I woulda never guessed you for a 90’s skate-head! So sick! My diverse taste and many of my early musical journeys came from my obsession with skate videos also!
Great video once again Myke! I definitely agree with you on both Def Jux (El-P, Cannibal Ox, Aesop Rock, etc.) and Anticon (Sole, Alias, Doseone, Pedestrian) changing the way how I listen and view on how far it can take. Speaking of Anticon, if I'm not busy that day, I might go to this show in NYC in July where they are dedicating it the memory of Alias and Sole, Doseone, and many others are going to perform.
I had a similar journey to hip-hop. It started with the mainstream stuff from radio which I eventually got bored of, but then I discovered nerdy rap songs in the Pro Skater movies and video games.
like what?
Awesome story telling, Myke. Excellent video!
I got into Hip Hop by listening to a lot of gangsta rap like Pac, NWA, Dre, Snoop, etc. but then got more into the “alternative hip hop” that had more elements of jazz, soul, and funk so I started listening to artists and groups like A Tribe Called Quest, OutKast, The Roots, Mos Def, Common, De La Soul, Slum Village, MF Doom among others. J Dilla, Nas, and Kanye were also a huge influence in my taste of hip hop.
50 cent’s get rich or die tryin’ was the first album I ever listened from start to finished back in 2005 and that was the album that got me into hip hop/rap! Graduation by Kanye West was another album that really got me into the genre as well
Love this Myke!!
Always good to hear from you.
Dude thats pretty much how my journey started out aswell. More so with hip hop. I wasnt big on punk, only got into a few bands. But its crazy how big skate videos and old extreme sports games promoted the hip hop, punk, and metal genres. Plus as a kid i used to do a lot of blind buys with old compliation albums and threw those i would discover more music that i still enjoy today.
These are really cool videos, Myke. I find that my taste aligns a lot with yours so I always end up discovering some great music from these. Thank you
Love these type of videos 👌You have such a vast taste in music I’m excited to hear what got you into these genres and at what point in your life.
, listening to you talk about hip hop gave me goosebumps because I remember in 1998 discovering the underground rap scene and falling in love with hip-hop all over again
Love this series, and kinda eerie: I had a super similar experience getting into indie rap, except for me it was getting into Busdriver and the whole Project Blowed (and later Hellfye Club) scene, as well as (of course) Def Jux. Keep up the good work!
Oh my... I can’t wait for the extreme metal one! Good work!
I heard "It Ain't Hard to Tell" by Nas on MTV and Gangstarr's Moment of Truth on a Dave Mierra game. And from there that was all she wrote. Hip Hop head for life.
Back in the early 2000's,those amazon.com lists were the shit! I first heard Company Flow's "Collude/Intrude" on a skate tape around that time and I was so blown away by it.
Dope Video Myke, its great to hear how some one developed their interests
Great video my dude. Ive been on a bit of a "anything not hiphop" trend lately. Ive been waiting for that one new hip hop album that blows my mind (other than death grips) and brings me back to the genre, reminding me why i love it in the first place. That hasnt happened yet, but you rattling off all these hip hop artists i havent heard in forever makes me want to go back and revisit some of those under ground classics. Cheers
I had always heard a lot of music growing up as a kid. I heard a lot of stuff from NY, Atlanta, California, etc. but when I started hearing stuff from Texas that was so blatant in letting you know where it was from, I was old enough to get a sense of regional pride. Then THPS 4 came out and I had another resurgence of trying to dig in crates and find more. Hasn’t stopped since. ✌🏾👽
I'm nerding out that you got into def jux too, that's also what got me obsessed and started my growth with hiphop. Cage and the weathermen hold a huge place in my heart. And also Kamu, nice shirt yo. RIP.
I got into hip hop by it being a fairly common sound on the radio and all the rappers being talked about amongst my peers. When I first really started diving into hip hop the first artist I really enjoyed was Eminem. I only really knew about mainstream rappers and Eminem is such a widely known name. His style fascinated me, much like you C-town the fact he didn't rap so much about the typical money and women so much made him the more interesting listen. He really got more into the more lyrical side of hip hop. Hearing his punchlines and rhyme schemes was incredible. From there I found an artist named Tech N9ne, whose flow and style was just captivating, the man could rap over so many types of beats, even rock n roll beats and make it sound amazing. Ever since I have really enjoyed a lot of lyrical hip hop, watching dehh and looking at some of my favorite artists collaborations I found more artists I really enjoy and it has made me a huge fan of hip hop.
I am so happy you talked about Cage in this video! He's so talented and I love his early work especially Hells Winter. Weathermen are great I also love some Leak Bros. Side note I saw Souls of Mischief perform at a warehouse rave when I was a teenager, good times!
How dope! I would've loved to be alive during the era of music that you grew up on. But then again I grew up on that music as well, just a lot later than when it came out.
I got into the Ems/Pacs/Redmans... first, then did my history on Hip Hop from the late seventies on to the following decades. After that I came back to the Big Ls and Casuals of the genre; meaning the stuff that was considered underground. And the rest is history.
I love this vid!
Awesome video! so many great recs for me for artists I haven't heard too
A lot of great stuff I knew before here but tonnes new stuff to listen too, thanks man!
Great video Myke. El-P and Defjux got me interested underground rap as well but that was in about 2008 from a free mixtape that was on adult swims website.
Dope!! Glad you keep it 💯 on DEHH!!
Oh damn, My introduction to hip-hop was with Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise. After being obsessed with that track as a kid, in the sense that, i had never listen to anything like that before (as a mexican, I only get to listen to either Ska, from the rock kids, or Banda music, from the regular douchebags). I became very interested in G-funk, and that classic 90's hip-hop (The Chronic was a revelation to me), and I ended up checking more unconventional stuff through out the years. I always was interested in weird genres and stuff that would go more into creating an atmosphere, rather than a melody alone, and such, I ended up loving more smooth hip-hop, and amazing sampling (I still adore both Madlib and J-Dilla for those same reasons). Great video Myke, as always, it's interesting to see where did you get your fondness for hip-hop.
Gleaming the Cube was a game changer for me too. It was the first time I ever saw the DRI logo.
This is a great series! You should do a separate video talking about mainstream and underground rap!
I second it.
DEF JUX WAS MY LIFE back in like '02-'06 when I was in high school. I discovered El-P, Aesop Rock, and Rjd2 on college radio, and recorded that program on blank cassette tapes a few times, right around when all my friends were listening to Eminem/50 Cent. My parents were encouraging me to not listen to Eminem's explicit lyrics, and even were cool enough to take me to a few shows (Mr. Lif, Blackalicious, Rob Sonic) as I was under 18. And today, my dad's still into Aesop Rock.
Great series mate. Cheers!
This is fantastic. Though we have different paths to the music we got into your story is still very similar to mine in a lot of ways.
Rap came first for me in the form of Snoop and Dre when I was in 5th grade and then I moved to Green Day which I read the liner notes which lead me to more obscure bands, which then lead me to more obscure bands. I wrote rap off because I didn't feel I could identify with gangsta rap (as that was all I was really exposed to), but then I was turned onto indie rap (atmosphere, eyedea, sage francis, aesop rock) and then I started down the similar road I took with punk which was who influenced these guys or who are these guys running with.
I was into metal too but I dropped off at the peak of "nu metal" and never really got into anything heavier beyond the victory records style heavy hardcore music.
I love this series! Keep it up!
Good stuff Myke, I'm guessing we're around the same age given some of the names you dropped. There was a great underground UK hip hop scene in the 90s, some great albums from that period being The Brotherhood - Elementalz, Blade - The Lion Goes From Strength To Strength (before the Mark B days) and my personal favorite Gunshot - Patriot Games.
State side I obsessively listened to The Goats - Tricks Of The Shade, that album and crew are massively underrated.
Damn Myke, my musical discoveries is almost similar to your’s. My exposure to hip hop was through my Dad’s tapes. When I was 4 he would often play House of Pain and Rob Base. I would discover other music through movies and video games like Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3, Tony Hawk’s Underground 2, Def Jam Fight 4 New York, GTA Vice City and GTA San Andreas. I’m glad I discovered other genres of music through this.
LOOOL omg, when i was 11-12 I used that EXACT same method via Amazon's recommendation algorithms to get well versed in hip hop. I still vividly remember hearing OB4CL for the first time off its clips and it blowing my mind
Rodney mullen is my fave skater ever bro that video was amazing. Del went along with skating in such a perfect way in those videos
My introduction to hip hop started with 2Pac, Dre and Eminem. But when I heard Enter the WuTang I was hooked. I starting going on Amazon to use those lists you mentioned to get started on my cd collection. I saw this album called Deltron 3030 on some list so I bought the cd. My mind was blown after listening to that album. These days I rely on suggestions from the youtube community and sometimes twitter. Thanks for recommending that Funcrusher Plus album. Im gonna buy those early El-P albums when he rereleases them.
Check Deep Cuts channel. Aside from the typical review stuff he does videos like 5 albums to get into X, and then in the description he puts another 5, so you get 10, plus the comments section always suggest a fuck ton of albums, and there's always these conversations that are very interesting. And if you like all that you can check their Discord, they do a couple listening parties per week. Those guys flood me with suggestions, so I always have something to check out.
cool, I'll check out that channel. Thanks for the recommendation.
Greydon Square is currently my favorite MC. It’s not even close.
Omg gleaming the was amazing. I still watch it
Holy shit Myke, we had the exact same method. Amazon lists lead me to almost every artist you mentioned. No wonder we have such similar taste with hip hop.
So rad. dälek was the first hip-hop I got into. Absence in particular was the first album I heard from him. The mixture of trip-hop, noise and shoegaze infused into their sound really interested me. Soon after that, Public Enemy came around due to reading interviews where dälek mentioned the influence they had on him and the sound. Then from there I gave EL-P a try when I'll Sleep When You're Dead just dropped. That was the one that would truly shape my love for the genre. The reviews were amazing so I decided to give it a try. I am glad I did, because then it opened my world up to the Def Jux catalogue as well as Company Flow. El-P is now my favourite producer, MC and lyricist ever. And the rest, is now history.
Found this channel from when you reviewed "Leviathan" with Anthony, great channel can tell your super passionate about music. Also don't mean to bring up race but I'm half black so it"s cool how you talk about misconceptions on musical taste and race ,i can totally relate to not fitting in with my family or people at school because of the music and art i like.
I can't quite remember exactly but back in the day (2000s) I would listen to some 50 Cent, Finnish rap n radio shizz. But then after my "metal phase" in my early to mid teens, I got into hip hop like hell in my late teens. Always been more mainstream than UG/indie stuff but I do like some less known stuff too. Now I'm a hip hop head.
The short version for me is: I got into hip hop via jazz. I was heavily into the likes of John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, and Miles Davis. So when I heard A Tribe Called Quest I completely fell in love. From there I got into East Coast and more experimental/underground/indie (whatever I should call it) hip hop. Like Souls, Nas, Mos Def, DOOM (I actually fell for his eclectic and somewhat Jazz-inspired production), and a bit later Kendrick, especially TPAB.
For me I got into hip hop when I heard Nas untitled in highschool. Went over to Illmatic and was blown away. I was on my own anti mainstream phase as well and would only listen to mostly 90's hip hop. I went to punk and metal after that, but 2 years ago I heard RTJ2 and was amazed. Right now I'm actually catching up with all the Def Jux guys I missed. Only have a few left.
This is excellent series
the analog days, when all you could do is read credits on records for your recommendations, took a whole lot more effort without a handy algorithm doing all the legwork for you! I found out about britcore just by asking for anything with scratching in it and making the record store guy play up to the chorus section for me, import 12's were £5 to £10 even in the late 80's early 90's!!! nice to hear your recollections, dope content...
Please do a video on Def Jux. I think your journey towards Def Jux might resemble that of a lot of people, include myself. Would be interesting to hear.
Jux made hip hop seem super vast and fresh again for me. The beats were bleeding edge, MCs had crazy skills and interesting themes to explore and zero fucks given about what the genre "should be".Meant a lot to me in my 20's and partly shaped my appreciation of music to this day.
I started in late August 2016 at 11 with Eminem and old stuff, moved on to Kendrick and got into new school conscious shit around late September 2016, newly 12. I got into Tyler and kind of underground-ish alternative stuff around early January (WOLF was my SHIT). I kept exploring, really getting into old Earl around mid April. I kept getting into sadder, more experimental, and more varied around late May, with stuff like newer Earl, Goblin, Bastard, MF DOOM, really getting into Danny Brown around early July. My tastes became a bit more varied, digging into Kanye, Travis, and Jay-Z's stuff but stayed similar until about December 2nd, 2017, when I found BROCKHAMPTON. This kind of renewed my interest in finding new music. I really sunk my teeth into more alternative stuff, some of it more hip-hop based than others, really getting into Frank Ocean, Steve Lacy, NERD, Death Grips, Outkast, Aesop Rock, Denzel Curry, ans Open Mike Eagle. as well as some more Kanye. I also tried accepting more mainstream stuff like Ski Mask, Rae Sremmurd, Playboi Carti, Lil Pump, and Young Thug as 2018 came. More recently, I've found J.I.D, wifisfuneral, Jonwayne, Atmosphere, Post Malone, Jpegmafia, ODB, Injury Reserve, Lil Ugly Mane, 6LACK, Jaden Smith, and clipping.
I may be telling my age, but one of the first rap songs i heard, was by Jimmy Spicer (RIP), who had the longest rap song called "Super rhyme", back in '82, i was about 13. A classic song.
This is some good shit here Myke, thank you
Love the shirt!
Got into hip hop, by recording songs on the radio, as well as requesting music videos on the BOX, first hip hop song I ever saw on that channel was the "Jazz" video by Tribe Called Quest
Of course Eminem and Kanye got me into hip hop, I listened to their entire discographies on repeat until I started listening to artists like Kendrick Lamar around the time To Pimp a Butterfly came out, which absolutely blew my mind trying to dissect every aspect of that album. Then I began watching reviews and those reviews would channel my focus into artists like MF DOOM, El-P & Run The Jewels, Aesop Rock, and other partially underground artists. And from that point on I became supremely interested in the underground. Delving deeper and deeper with the help of RYM, DEHH, & Fantano.
My story is almost the same. I got really into hardcore punk from the 80's and 90's as a teenager (I'm 23 btw) and I totally abandoned hip hop for a while for pretty much the same reasons you cited, even though it was the genre I grew up with. Another thing I grew up with also were the Tony Hawk games. And on those soundtracks were alot of the hip hop artists you mentioned. Trying to find a balance was also the song for me that did it. It was on the Tony Hawks underground 2 soundtrack along with No Jumper Cable by Aesop Rock and a whole bunch of other things. After rediscovering them through the internet, and remembering what I loved about hip hop, I basically went head first down the rap rabbit hole.
Funny thing is I liked the first THUG soundtrack with all the hip-hop too but at the time punk and rock tracks in that game had more of an impression. Thug 2 is really where I said I need to see what these rappers have. First Aesop album I had was NSP which I didn't even know at the time he just released but looked for bazooka tooth because I really like NJC. Was a little surprised hearing it wasn't the remix from the video game. Atmosphere also quickly became a favorite of mine and was surprised how many artists were somewhat connected.
Alejandro Ramirez All the Tony Hawk games left huge impressions on me music wise. I mean "The Shape of Punk to Come" by Refused is my all time favourite album. After it gained that title I realized that I heard "New Noise" for the first time playing THUG. My Top 5 Rappers are Aesop Rock, El-P, MF DOOM, Kendrick Lamar and Busdriver. With K-Dot being the exception, all of them were introduced to me by those soundtracks. Tony Hawk, Need for Speed and GTA OSTs have fathered a whole generation of music nerds :D
I got my Walkman in like 1997 and my older brother gave me a shoe box filled with tapes. The two tapes I fell in love with are biggie big poppa/warning and ahmads back in the day. From there I became hooked. I would record videos from the hit list, MTV jams, and rap city on VHS. Around this time we got our first family computer. I discovered two sites ohhla for lyrics and audio2g for music. From there I took a deep dive into the genre. I remember reading the lyrics to Illmatic before I actually heard the songs.
I started listening to hip hop with some golden age stuff like some Wu Tang Clan, some B.I.G, LL Cool J, NWA when I was a kid, but would only listen sporadically and just to a few songs. After that the only artist that grabbed my attention while growing up Nujabes. It was only when Killer Mike released R.A.P Music that I became a little more invested with the genre.
Great one Brother.
Ever since my dad played for parties is when I was into hip-hop. Big shit that was on in the 90s and early 00s but sometimes 80s stuff too. Around the 00s is when I heard more of the underground and saw how it was more lyrical and concentrated on being original. I think i'm pretty balanced in my love for both punk and hip-hop. The only exception is I love the early punk/hardcore and for hip-hop mainly I've listened to golden age and afterwards.
My parents used to play me some of Hip hop for me, usually Eminem. They wouldn’t play explicit stuff. For example, they would only play the chorus for My Name Is, but not the verses. Then it was mainly whatever was on the radio. I also liked a lot of Jay Z, especially Blueprint 3 for some reason. The song that made me change the way I listen to hip hop and music, and that was u by Kendrick. I didn’t know music had feelings and stuff until then. Then I became obsessed and I’m still obsessed
This video show how it's easy to discover new artists.
This mirrors my journey back into hip hop almost to a T, I pretty much hated radio rap and since I didn't grow up with internet I wasn't aware of underground music (it's not like BET was going to play them.) Then I started having access to the internet because of my grandparents but I was looking up metal and rock bands. Then one day I heard Check The Rhime by A Tribe Called Quest and that was so different from every rap song I've ever heard, Their beats were different, their flow was different, their lyricism was different, hell, their overall presentation was different. Through Tribe I found out about Native Tongues who fit my vibe to hip-hop to a thousand. And I have to credit Rockstar for including Ultramagnetic MC'S, Gang Starr, Public Enemy and Masta Ace in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas as I probably wouldn't have learned about them until much later. I discovered Del through Gorrilaz and that led me to Hieroglyphics, Pharcyde, The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy and The Coup. As for Ultramagnetic, that led me to Organized Konfusion, Company Flow, Cannibal Ox, Arsonists, MF DOOM, Aesop Rock, Busdriver and pretty much underground rap in general. Just recently I learned about The Likwit Crew, Artifacts and Epidemic. All of this started because I heard a song by A Tribe Called Quest.
dope video bro
Before hip hop it was all Michael Jackson for me. Then I heard Forgot About Dre when I was 8 or 9. I heard 2pac and Biggie songs before, but never fully dived into the genre until Eminem. Then that led me to listen to more people who came before Em.
For me it started in 5th grade when 50 and G-Unit were on top. Made my parents take me to the store to buy The Massacre when it came out and everything lol. After that era died down a little I just listened to radio stuff for a couple years and it that was around Tha Carter 3 era. In 8th/9th grade I was all into the Young Money but I hopped onto rap forums and my tastes expanded. First I got more into Em but eventually I started getting into underground rap and 80s and 90s rap. Spent like the rest of high school exploring all the classics. Felt like I damn near listened to everything from obscure backpack stuff to more popular classics. In like 12th grade someone on a forum introduced me to 90s Memphis hip hop and more stuff out the South which I was kinda neglecting. Had a phase where I listened to that stuff for a while too.
During my exploration phase I was still listening to new stuff too though, tried to keep up with every new release, underground and mainstream. For some reason I fucked with Lil B and SpaceGhostPurrp the hardest outta the new wave and I slowly shifted my listening more towards the early internet rap scene which ended up evolving into the Soundcloud rap scene we have today. Nowadays I don't keep up with everything and just pick and choose what I listen to which is a little bit of everything. Don't really have a preference, just depends on my mood. I guess it's cuz I grew up on the internet and was exposed to damn near every subgenre.
So for hip hop definitely for me was around Middle School I was a little more attracted to Southern rap then the New York rap that I was surrounded with in Pennsylvania but being a nerdy and geeky Kid myself even their hard talk was a little disenfranchising for me I also had a real big punk FaZe from about seventh grade to 10th grade then i went thru a metal phase until o was about 20 when i discovered why 'elephant eylash' and the anticon crew
Sick shirt bro!
Early childhood: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Weezer, Sublime, Cake, Stone Temple Pilots, and Maroon 5.
5th grade:Huge 80's music phase because my stepdad introduced me to music in that decade like Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, etc.
Middle school: My Heavy Metal/Punk phase which was primarily Metallica, A7X, Hollywood Undead, Linkin Park, Nirvana and Green Day Also Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Doors, AC/DC, Black Sabbath
All of this while being strongly against rap.
Sophomore year was went I got into hip hop, starting with Logic, J. Cole, and K-dot, then I gradually got into loving and appreciating older hip hop and rap in general, and my whole musical mind just expanded and I never looked back since.
R.I.P. Eyedea
Dann Vixm *R. Eye. P.
Damn dude, it's crazy how similar your experience with hip-hop is to mine. Props for mentioning Techno Animal. Anticon was my shit too. Did you get into Living Legends at all? Grouch, Eligh, Mystic Journeymen? Also Aceyalone 'Book of Human Language'?
My hip hop journey was started with beastie boys, snoop dogg, Dr Dre, busta rhymes, aka mainstream shit. Since I grew up with rock & metal, I of course fell into the rap rock numetal phase(ratm, Linkin Park, limp b) but somehow discovered Kanye West & Jay z then 50 cent, crunk chopped&screwed, lil Wayne, Rick Ross, on and on mainstream shit until I decided to check out the greats(big, Tupac, nas). I was familiar with the radio hits growing up but really digging into the albums made radio seem so dead before even streaming really took over.
Im like pretty similar, when i was a kid i was really into mainstreme rap, as i got older i got more into punk, but i started listening to doomtree, especially p.o.s, and that got me into underground rap
Do a whole Def Jux vid Myke. Plz
That would be cool as f**k.
“Trying to find a Balance” is how I discovered Atmosphere as well. Finding the video on Music Choice on demand.
interesting to hear your journey Myke! based off of what i heard, i think you’d enjoy Injury Reserve’s album Floss. they’re an underground hiphop group that blends mainstream hiphop with elements of punk. check em out when u get the chance!
Randy Tiet Injury Reserve is amazing
I listend to seven travels because it was released on epithap in europe and laughted my ass off. That got me in to hip hop. And then i got introduced to el p so on.
Hieroglyphics and Brand Nubian is what got me into indie hip hop. Also I had the exact same aversion to metal as you did to mainstream hip hop back in the day. The people I didn't care for in middle school and high school loved metal so it took me until the very end of the 2000's to start appreciating it. They almost ruined metal for me.
I guess you could say Tribe was a big influence to me as well, but that was slightly more mainstream.
Myke, you should really check out the English material from Slovenian rapper N'toko (and his experimental group Moveknowledgement). He was born in America in his youth (so he doesn't sound like a complete Russian haha) and has amazing content and versatility. He's also very very much overlooked by the mainstream rap audience in Slovenia but adored by the left-field, which is why I bring it up. :D I think it could really appeal to your style, he was also very much influenced by the American underground seen, Def Jux, Cage and so on. :)
Bought the first Cypress Hill CD when it was released and never looked back.
I became a hip hop head when I heard Dr. Dre the chronic... yeah it was the mainstream shit at the time... but through that I became a fan of everything hip hop... now Im a hip hop nerd, collecting vinyl...
I got into hip hop from being a System of a Down fan haha. Lemme explain. Around 2005, there was this live compilation album called Axis of Justice that prominently featured Serj Tankian of SOAD. It also happened to feature two songs from the unbelievably dope Jurassic 5.
Back then, I listened to absolutely zero hip hop and was firmly of the "rap is crap" mindset prominent in the midst of the early 00s bling era. So I couldn't believe my mind when I found myself really, really, really digging J5. I was like "Shit! I didn't know rap could sound this good!" And it just grew from there, first to other alternative hip hop acts and onward from there.
Give us more of this journey but maybe with artist and stuff
This is funny cuz my experience is kind of similar except in a different generation I grew up loving hip hop then got into punk and metal and got bored of rap until a friend showed me hieroglyphics and Andre nickatina and got me into underground hip hop
As awful as Reddit can be the original r/hiphopheads essential albums list was really seminal for me. After I heard ATLiens, Illmatic and Doggystyle everything changed. And while the essentials list on r/hiphopheads was introducing me to the classics Fantano was making me hip to all the dope ass current rappers like Open Mike Eagle, Joey Badass, Travis Scott, Freddie Gibbs etc. It all happened very quickly at the beggining of 9th grade Eminem was my favorite rapper, at the beggining of 11th grade he wasn't even top 30.
The song that made me fall in love with hip-hop was Without Me by Eminem, i'm such a millenial fuck, lol! but I love every kind of hip hop, some of the mainstream, lo-fi, instrumental, old school, anything that I can get basically
Eminem was my intro into hip hop at a young age until I found good kid, maad city which changed my life
im 16 so bare w/ me
id known pop rap all my life like 50 cent n shit, and kanye west had some of my favorite songs when i was like 3-6, but i never really got into rap. when i was like 10 i really got into music in general and that was thru the beatles, and for like 9 months i listened to nothing but the beatles. i still know every word to any song by them. for the next 2 or 3 years, i listened to mostly rock and metal music, insisting rap music wasnt "real" music. that changed when kendrick dropped TPAB. my older brother bumped overly dedicated and s80 when they came out so i was fimiliar with it. idk why but listening to GKMC then TPAB just really hit for me. i then was into pretty mainstream shit like drake, j cole, kanye for a while there. then i listened to gambino's because the internet, and my love of the genre really began. i dont even really like that album anymore, but i think its more conventional song structure helped a non rap listener get into it. from there i got into acid rap, which led me to more slightly underground things like odd future. from there i delved into nerd rap shit, MF DOOM, aesop rock, brother ali, rhymesayers/def jux type shit. after listening to shit like that for a while i sorta took a break and got into extreme music, but then i got into almost purely 90s rap. i listened to TONS of native tongues music, with ATCQ still being my favorite group ever. all this was part of my "real hip hop" phase. mobb deep, wu tang, nas, black moon, all shit like that was what i bumped. after that i started warming up to more mainstream rap like migos, future, and young thug, the latter of the two i consider some of my favorites. around this time and a few months prior was also when XXXTENTACION was blowing up in florida, and he was ll the rage. thats kinda what warmed me up to more trap sounds, cuz his shows here were crazy. after all this i delved into old school southern shit, UGK, three 6, playa hataz, geto boys, david banner, shit like that. thats kinda where im at today, i like all those styles and more of hip hop, plus everything else music has to offer. yeah
damn dis shit long
My surrounding was listening to mainstream rap which was only about partying and I hated it but one day I played Total overdose and the song is the menu was a Delinquent Habits - return of the tres the song have a hype beat and the mix of english and spanish was entertaining while reading the comments on the youtube video of the song I saw someone mentioning Tech N9ne and listened to one of his song and I was mindblown by his crazy flow ,Tech N9ne introduced me to the other members of strange music and Ra the rugged man.RA introduced me to Vinnie Paz and Brother Ali.Brother Ali introduced me to rhymesayers.I still discover dope artist thanks to feature on the rappers I already known music.
Really cool series. Gotta ask where you got the sick Camu shirt, Myke?
Probably came out around the early 10s and it'd be hard to find one now.