I enjoy rap and hip hop (or “the hippity-hop”) as much as the next pasty white person of my generation. That is, I own Raising Hell, It Takes a Nation of Millions…, Paid In Full, and Straight Outta Compton; but I make no claims to having any “street cred”, or any variation thereof (I believe I just made my point with the use of “thereof”). This does nothing to diminish my enjoyment, it’s just a statement of fact.
Back in the early 00′s, I was introduced to a different kind of rap music. There are a variety of labels bandied about this particular subgenre (“avanthop” being the most egregious example), but basically, it’s hip hop with no boundaries. Behold the best track by Subtle, from their best album, A New White:
Stream-of-conscious lyrics (seriously, if you can figure out what this song is about, let me know) over skittering beats and washes of keyboards shouldn’t be this captivating. But danged if it isn’t catchy. Hell, it’s almost pretty.
(Oh, and many thanks to Baroness for finding grooveshark for me).
