The Underground Hip Hop/Rap ThreadMusic

[Cade]

Rap has been generally frowned upon due to the dominance of Mainstream Rap and Hip Hop. Many people generalize Rap as trash and the only subjects about it are Money, Cars, and Women. Step into the underground and your mind will explode. Meaningful Rap lyrics with proper usage of things that make Rap lyrics amazing: Wordplay, metaphors, similes, subject matter, story, etc... Although there are some good mainstream artists like Lupe Fiasco, Eminem, Common, B.o.B, etc... The underground disproves all of Rap's stereotypes. Discuss some of the work of Underground Rap here.

 

[astrosdude91]

I push this group a lot, but for good reason. They are the response when people say there is no good hip hop music.




And a few others...




Who could forget the Roots!?

 

[cullenand]

Here are some of my favorites:
Diabolic Ft. Immortal Technique- Frontlines
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2r8kBnGtAU
Big L- Put It On- not underground but still great
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2r8kBnGtAU
Big L Ft. Kool G Rap- Fall Back- not underground but still great
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_9VHh1zd9Q
eMC- Winds of Change
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NiObiXyaZY
Jedi Mind Tricks Ft. Planetary- I Against I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ctpic0VhrA
Cunninlynguists Ft. Master Ace- Seasons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_76WM3YI5yk
Immortal Technique- Dance With the Devil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qggxTtnKTMo
Big Pun- You Aint A Killer- Not underground but still a great song
This is probably my favorite song of all-time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAJrSgA1E4s
Luniz- I Got 5 On It
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6tqn7uhYKk

 

[NotThePrez]

Above The Clouds-Gang Starr



RIP Guru

Edit: And on the subject of The Roots...

 

[overheating]

Aesop Rock.....enough said.

 

[Cade]

http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=/&gl=US#/watch?v=O5mSWLnJXY0

Stuff from one of my favorite underground rappers, K-Rino.

 

[Nessy]

Don't think that link works ^ Cade, good thread though.

I know some may not share his views on this, but J-Live has got serious skills:

J-Live and Thes One - Give It Up:
http://youtu.be/R7HZWrs426g

I like this too:

The Roots - Livin' in a New World (way too short though ):
http://youtu.be/8cZJYMCegSw

Siah and Yeshua Dapoed - A Day Like Any Other (another oldie... but Epic story is epic):
http://youtu.be/BHaa_tPGmOs

People Under The Stairs - July 3rd (second part of the story is the best):
http://youtu.be/a4w8_D3Derc

Just like the 2 songs above, this song isn't Meaningful.. but i'm a big fan of MF DOOM, and i don't know what it is about this short song, but it just makes me want to boogie and do air-guitar

Madvillain - Papermill:
http://youtu.be/_Kmd9SxV6A8

(Now back to Meaningful)

Wale Oyejide feat J-Dilla - There's A War Going On:
http://youtu.be/qM6mccSbNEw

It's a shame that the 'Shaman Family Remix' of this tune doesn't exist on Youtube... as although the greatest Hip-hop producer of all time (imo) J-Dilla (R.I.P) doesn't rap on it (still uses his beat though), it's even better and way more powerful than this ^ version (imo), it is available on i-tunes though... so if Meaningful Hip-Hop is your thing, i strongly recommend at-least sampling the preview.

 

[NotThePrez]

Here's some more:






And classic Digable Planets:


Yeah, I love this stuff.

 

[Nessy]

^ speed157, 👍👍👍 Great selection... Pete Rock & INI album is a classic, and Digable Planets album is a masterpiece.

Fakin Jax:
http://youtu.be/MlOw9FgdpSc

9th Wonder (Blackitolism):
http://youtu.be/SyeI43BeR54

[EDIT]

Forgot about this version.. love them equally the same though

Fakin Jax (Rude Youth remix):
http://youtu.be/Zue00Ulio7E

 

[Blitz187]

Everyone except At 1ness has posted mainstream stuff... Gangstarr, De La Soul, Pete Rock and Digable Planets for example have underground sound and lyrics that actually mean something... They are not Underground... Underground is usually independent artists and you can't just go out and buy their album in any record store...

Examples of real Underground artists would be GodFather Don, Scaramanga, NECRO, J-Zone, House of Repz, Monster Island Czars, MF Doom (although he's a bit more known now then 10 years ago), MF Grimm, Percee P., Funkghost, Celph Titled, RA the Rugged Man and so many more.... I'll be honest and say Im not totally up to date like I was a few years ago, but most of the stuff posted in here falls under the mainstream category.

Also check this thread for good vids... Towards the end of it, others and I posted some really hot tracks!

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=72989

 

[Pupik]

Everyone except At 1ness has posted mainstream stuff... Gangstarr, De La Soul, Pete Rock and Digable Planets for example have underground sound and lyrics that actually mean something...

Great stuff there, I still listen to some better-known stuff like Public Enemy, KRS-One, and a few others like Eric B. & Rakim who never received any radio airplay, although P.E. received tons of critical accolades and occasional vitriol back in their heyday. And I'd be lying if I didn't include the Beastie Boys for their stuff which definitely blurred and transcended the genre, but gets maybe a single per album, and disappears into obscurity for another 4-5 years.

I'd kind of written rap off for a few years, largely because a lot of the groups I listen to from 20 years ago are have largely disappeared (sadly, The Guru left us in 2010). The People Under The Stairs, Roots and Jurassic 5 are also pretty good, and they are comparatively recent.

 

[Blitz187]

@ Pupik

All the names you've put down there are serious hip hop classics. IMO the hayday of hip-hop was in the mid 90's... From '94 to '98... Thats also the time most big names brought out their first albums... NAS, Mobb Deep, Big L, Biggie and JayZ, to name a few... I still bump music from those years to this day... The newer stuff from today sounds to much alike and has questionable subject matter in the lyrics. Someone like Guru or Big L. actually had something to say and knew how to bring it with original flow!

 

[NotThePrez]

Blitz, thanks for the link for the thread! 👍 will definitely be checking it out. And also, I see what you mean about a lot of tracks being classic instead of underground. I've heard them be referred to as underground probably because of the fact that they aren't listened to anymore. But hey, maybe that's just me.

 

[jagdrag77]

Great posts here so far guys.

Not exactly underground, but the Hilltop Hoods are awesome, and Australian

Heres a few good ones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq8PyyMbrYQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFCWHshsw_M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJf4_hsVEXE

In my opinion, the best recent rap album has to be Bad Meets Evil, can't wait to see how Slaughterhouse go.