Hip-Hop Tracks That Challenge Presuppositions About The Genre
 

I got thinking about this when I was making my hip-hop mixtape for Screamingskull. What hip-hop tracks have you come across which prove the public perception of hip-hop as mysoginistic, homophobic, and racist to be utter bollocks?

Heres a few I'm aware of:

One Self - Over Expose -
Yarah Bravo, Vadim's wife and regular rapper sets a few things straight about women's role in their perception in popular culture

DJ Vadim feat. Sarah Brown - Your Revolution Will Not Happen Between These Thighs
- brilliant feminist rap track with the legendary russian DJ Vadim, and brilliantly sharp and clever rhymes from Sarah Brown

The Last Poets - Niggers Are Scared of Revolution
can't be classed as hip-hop of course, but a real influence nonetheless, iconic track from the definitive proto-rappers

Mike Ladd - For All Those Killed By Cops
one of the most uplifting tracks I can think of, beautiful poetry over expert turntablism from Ladd

Man Parrish - Hip-Hop Beep Bop
'the' track by early hip-hop pioneer Man Parrish. Along with DJ's like Afrika Bamb Parrish set the stage for the Golden Age/Daisy Age of Hip-Hop to come. Parrish was anything but the hip-hop stereotype, he was a white gay man, who'd frequently DJ at New York's S&M clubs throughout the 80s.

"Thou Shalt Always Kill" - Scroobius Pip vs. Dan Le Sac? Perhaps? I thought it was pretty intelligent stuff, and with a white and bearded MC.. not your run of the mill fare.

"Guns, Bitches and Bling were never part of the four elements and NEVER WILL BE"

Man, will I drink to that.

Its a good suggestion, and I was going to put this on my list but decided Dan Le Sac is not a hip-hop DJ by any measure. But y'know, kind of I guess. Certainly a track the words of which I will have inscribed on my grave. (seeing these guys live this summer!:p )

MF DOOM - pot holderz (ft count bass d)

goodie mob - guess who (about their moms)

cam'ron-suck it or not, family ties

geto boys-gangster of love, trigga happy nigga, let a ho be a ho

biggie-fuck me

eminem-kim, just the two of us, criminal, kill you

ol dirty bastard-gotcha money, shimmy shimmy ya


in other words, who the fuck cares? its all in good humour anyways. i like my mc's dirty and offensive and hilarious. the best mc's are the guys who can interweave between street poetry and blatant hatred and violence without it even sounding odd. i cant stand the "preach-y" rappers, like common and mos def. its boring goddamnit.

oh dear

NWA - The Dayz of Way Back [this track became the classic mid-1990s westcoast gangsta rap
sound typified in "The Chronic" to come out afterwards]

Makaveli - Hit Em Up [people had talked shit on records before but this shit changed the whole nature of it]

DR DOOOM - No Motherfuckin Chorus [shit talking with no names, brilliant!]

i wouldn't just make a list of tracks that challenge presuppositions about hiphop, you could make a list of artists who've never conformed to those presuppositions in their entire career, and once you start to look back over the years a significant number of artists don't fit in to the cliched view of hiphop at all, including some pretty big names, which just goes to show that the aforementioned presuppostions are only the presuppositions of the ignorant.

White and Nerdy by "Weird Al" Yankovic

i love hip hop. i dont care about presuppositions. if anyone has prenotions of hip hop 30 years into the genres existence, theyre plain fucking stupid, or have lived under a rock, or perhaps a large boulder.

Yes, your very right, but certain tracks can prove their ignorance.

A Beast Caged-Dalek

Saul Williams!!!!

saul williams bores the shit out of me. just sounds like flow-less dull preachy false-poetry. but thats just me.

gimme some dipset.

anything intersting you said was negated by the dipset comment.

What T&B said was true.

say what you want about dipset, but theyve released about 4 banging mixtapes this millenium, camron's purple haze was a masterpeice, and now jim jones and juelz are doing their thing. dipset is fucking great. fuck pretensions.

i agree w/ you... cept for that dipset shit. that camp produces some of teh shittiest rap i'v eever heard. that one jim jones song is banging though! "baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllll iiiiiin!"

listen to camron's purple haze and diplomatic immunity mixtape right now. if you still think that dipset sucks you know nothing about hip hop. good, witty, funny rhymes and killer club beats.

oh i know plenty about hip hop... and i don't liek club beats, there corny.

so timbaland's beats are corny? because i think theyre downright brilliant (mostly).

he's talented sure, but there corny

Boogie Down Productions.

They're not that great but their politics and opinons are a lot better thn most rap dudes out there.

boogie down productions-criminal minded is a classic

I saw them last winter and it blew everyone away. After the gig and went to the kebab shop next door to the club and bought a bottle of coke, and everyone was giving me the evil eye for it.

i quite like one be lo, hes definitley an mc im surprised hasnt blown up yet. he has some mainstream appeal too, but for whatever reason no one seems to talk/care about him.

Saul Williams - Penny For A Thought
GZA - B.I.B.L.E.
RZA - See The Joy
Wu Tang Clan - Life Changes
Nas - Be A Nigger Too
Dead Prez - Mind Sex

That's a pretty good list.

cept for the dead prez mind sex one. that is shit is mad corny yo. rest of that album is superb though. :)

It's not one of my favourite tracks off the album, but there's no denying it challenges the assumption that all hip-hop involves disrespecting women. It's just a nice change of pace.


My fav off the album is easily I'm A African.

its bigger than hip hop is one of the best driving tracks ever.

Stetsasonic - Talkin' All That Jazz
Grandmaster Flash - The Message
Public Enemy - Fight The Power