Avant- garde hip hop the new movement? Naturally it is as every culture evolves in its own way.
Hip hop experienced its golden age with the straight up boom bap sound of the nineties.
The heroes from back in those days were DJ Premier, DJ Babu, Gangstar , Wu-tang clan , Mos def and Talib Kweli … There is a whole list of names which could be added to the history of hip hop in the nineties.
The beats had grooving strong kicks and snares, yet somehow the music pieces remained simplistic in a fashionable way. Cut up samples in addition to mixed in vocals of old records spiced up the track’s appealing sound. Some of those artists are still in the game continuing their work.
For sure these musicians had their idols and examples from the eighties, such as DJ E3 and Afrika Bambaataa who produced a very electronic sound at the time.
Nowadays we notice an evolution towards a worldwide mixture of strong boom bap sounds and the electronic sounds of the eighties. In other words... our world has changed, provoking a compatible sound.
The new kids on the block have so many new techniques and synthesizers at their disposal, that the variety of sounds has virtually become inexhaustible. The moods and vibes they are unleashing upon the world’s eager ears are now easy to discover through media like Youtube and Wimeo.
Even though music labels struggle to make profit from record sales, these hip hop musicians keep on doing it, pushing boundaries in search of a new type of quality music.
The Dorian concept, Mike Slott, Delic, El Producto, Flying Lotus, Prefuse73 and Dynooo are merely a fraction of the future sound.
Crews like Antipop Consortium, Def-Jux and Cannibal Ox have found a way to communicate a poetic message through skillful wordplay on the new sounds of hip hop. In the UK scene rap became grime, where verses were spit on heavy bass lines and slow beats of dub step and grime.
The youth and veterans out there are searching for new ways to create an innovative sound and approach to hip hop music. We can only sit back and enjoy the new cultural hypes…
So if u ask me, bring on the avant-garde hip hop sounds!
Article written by Geert Van Laethem
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