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Originally Posted by Martian
Xzibit is a rapper from Detroit who has nothing to do with Eminem or the ICP. So is Kid Rock, although he crosses genres and may not be considered rap by some. Also Obie Trice, who while a friend of Eminem is not a part of D-12 and of course D-12 themselves. The 313 is sometimes referred to, which is the area code that covers some of South Detroit (and also, ironically, Grosse Pointe) as well as the 8 Mile Road, made famous in Eminem's movie (which again, ironically, ends in one of the highest class neighbourhoods in the city).
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Obie Trice would still be handing out tapes at concerts without Eminem. And Xzibit was indeed born in Detroit, but makes no mention of that in his music, and is usually aligned as a west-coast MC (and his sound is a lot more west-coast gangsta rap than Detroit).
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If I made factual errors, fine. I did type that up at 3 in the morning, I made the rather prominent mistake of typing Ice T instead of Ice Cube and I'm far from the biggest and best source on the subject out there. But you're assuming two things here. One is that I don't really know what I'm talking about. Music of all sorts is a primary interest of mine and rap and hip hop is quite prominent, so it behooves me to know a bit about them. You've also strongly twisted what I said. What I wrote was primarily about mainstream hip hop and public perception and how it differs from the so-called 'underground' hip hop. It has nothing to do with white vs. black except insofar as hip hop is widely considered a 'black' style of music. I'm sure we all remember Snow and Vanilla Ice, both of whom took flak for being 'white rappers', regardless of there other merits or (prominent) lack thereof.
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I didn't mention the Ice T/Ice Cube thing ( I knew who you were refering to). But to me it seemed you simply grabbed two cities at random that were assumed to have large populations of poor blacks. Expecially when the music you mention as being "gangsta rap" originated primarily in LA/Compton. Also, KRS-One is one of the most conscious rappers ever, little of what he did could be considered radio friendly fluff.
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Also, the more experimental hip hop is more prominent in the UK, or so I understand it. Perhaps some of our brit members could chime in on this, but in between I highly recommend listening to The Streets, particularly their album A Grand Don't Come For Free.
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There's plenty of what could be defined experimental hip-hop coming from the US. This isn't the music forum so I won't run off a list of artists, but I think that the most groundbreaking and quality hip-hop still originates in America. Maybe the more experimental stuff is more the norm there, but it's largely because hip-hop as a whole isn't as large there as it is here (and also being imported, they probably aren't as grounded in past hip-hop).
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Pigglet - thanks for catching that. I was thinking Ice Cube, but Ice T is what came out. However, I intentionally left out Yella and Ren, focussing on the three who are more well known post-NWA. Yella and Ren (and Arabian Prince if you want to include him, although I think he was only on Straight Outta Compton) fell out of the spotlight after NWA broke up and bluntly put, I have no idea what either of them are up to at this point.
And if you haven't listened to Kanye West yet, definitely do yourself the favour. He's quite the refreshing change from 'thugz' like fifty cent.
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I will say I'm sorry, in hindsight I was probably a bit more vehement than was warranted. But it seemed that the intent was good, just some of the info I disagreed with and felt really didn't help adress the issue (of hip-hop being able to be quality music, and elevating above the typical radio fare). And if you would like to know some different quality US hip-hop fare, feel free to ask
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