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HHH Essential Album of the Week #118: Goodie Mob - Soul Food - HipHop

HHH Essential Album of the Week #118: Goodie Mob - Soul Food - HipHop

HHH Essential Album of the Week #118: Goodie Mob - Soul Food

Posted: 27 May 2020 06:53 AM PDT

Every Wednesday we discuss an album from our Essential Album list

Last week: 2Pac/Makaveli - The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory

All previous posts: Here

Stream/Purchase Spotify

Background/Description

(Courtesy of music journalist Geoffrey Weiss)

Coming out of the same collective that birthed OutKast, Goodie Mob played an essential part in the rise of Southern rap. It starts in the Southern Baptist church and the red clay soil. It continues in the Dungeon, part tabernacle, part studio—blending voodoo healing rituals, slithering freestyles, and biblical spoken word. It slinks out the S.W.A.T. (southwest Atlanta), 10 miles to Curtis Mayfield's home studio, where Goodie Mob cooked Soul Food.

Origins can be corporeal or spiritual. In this case, they're inextricable. To understand why Soul Food stands up two decades later is like asking why people still revere sacred revelations. These texts are no less profound or unprovable than they ever were. They question the meaning of "truth" until it's unclear whether the gate was put up to keep crime out or keep your ass in. It's less about whether it's the government or the criminals peeking through your window; it's more about realizing that they're often indistinguishable.

We often mock the notion of "struggle rap," but the best rap emerged from the struggle. Yet the first bars of Soul Food aren't rapped, they're sung: "Lord it's so hard living this life." A weary benediction to the creator, Cee-Lo's screechy rasp is half-angel, half-devil, gifted and damned. This isn't blues, but it draws from the same poisoned well, feverishly trying to purify. Spirituals from the dirt. The Rhodes that belongs to Superfly. Death isn't knocking at the front door, it's in the house, snacking on the macaroni in the fridge, sitting on top of your chest. Freedom is the only goal. Different demons, same outcome.

OutKast was the face of Dungeon Family, but Goodie was the spine. Aquemini is the widely hailed masterpiece, but Soul Food is the vital nerve. The album is everything at once: the feast, the list of secret family recipes, the feeling of standing out in the cold. Goodie Mob initially referred to T-Mo and Khujo; T-Mo and Cee-Lo had known each other since nursery school. In a 2011 interview, Cee-Lo described his first trip to Organized Noize's Dungeon headquarters. "I sang and rapped for them and everybody thought it was cool. Then [producer] Rico [Wade] walked in with [OutKast's] Big and Dré. Dré got real excited like, 'That's my man Cee-Lo I told you about, who do them real good story raps.' Khujo and T-Mo showed up. Khujo was known for being a brawler. Then Gipp pulls up, jumping out a Cadillac, wearing a white lab jacket, because at the time he was attending beauty school, to do hair."

The arrival came on 1994's Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. Cee-Lo won The Source's Hip-Hop Quotable with his debut verse on "Get Up, Git Out". It established a worldview—trafficking in dualities and skeptical of extremes. ("I get high but I don't get too high.") It's not just the conventional Christian cycle of sin and penitence, but the seeker's quest for divine revelation. This is faith in its purest form, constantly tested but never abandoned.

Even though the quartet's chemistry was obvious, the idea to form as one came only after LaFace Records head L.A. Reid dangled the prospect of a deal. They planned to split into separate entities afterwards, but it didn't happen until 2004's high water mark of saltiness, One Monkey Don't Stop No Show.

The label expected Southernplayalistic II and it got Paradise Lost in East Point. Until OutKast, most rap from Atlanta focused on the booty shake. After MC Shy D and Kilo Ali fell from fame, Jermaine Dupri jacked G-Funk for Kriss Kross and "Funkdafied". Tag Team scored a smash by sanitizing bass music. There was Arrested Development, obsolete even before the Fugees rendered them superfluous. There was the TLC of the condom eye patch era. Then there was Goodie Mob, ancient by the time they were in their early 20s.

All the wisdom is on Soul Food. Maybe it was Dungeon poet Big Rube, bellowing parables in their ear. It could've been the spirit of Curtis, still alive, but paralyzed, threatening to barge in on the proceedings at any time.

"We were taught hip-hop from men: Melle Mel, Grandmaster Flash, Dougie Fresh, Kurtis Blow," Big Gipp told NPR a couple of years ago. "I learned more from Chuck D than I learned from school at the time." In a radio interview earlier this year, T-Mo picked up this thought: "We never made little-kid rap, always grown man stuff. We felt like we were chosen to say something."

When I first heard Soul Food shortly after its release, I loved it, but didn't understand it. It's easy to drown in the humid organ funk, the ecumenical harmonies, the rawness and technical skill of the four voices attacking like a Southern Wu-Tang or Public Enemy. There's thematic precedence in Poor Righteous Teachers and Brand Nubian, and Cee-Lo was a big fan of Busta Rhymes, Onyx, and Slick Rick.

But Goodie Mob betrays no direct ancestor. It's soul music gone to seed, fighting to ascend once again. If they can't make little-kid rap, it's because every song has consequences. You understand it better as an adult, because you've processed loss and tragedy. The genius of Soul Food is its ability to remind you of the damage, but offer the strength to hold on.

There's Cee-Lo starting off his verse about being $20 away from living on the streets and offering an idea that seems radical and alien in our culture 20 years later: "It would be nice to have more, but I kind of like being poor, at least I know what my friends here for."

If you can forget "The Voice" appearances and the damning Twitter comments, we'll always have Soul Food as the still life. Cee-Lo is the son of Baptist preachers, himself named for a minor sin, transvertebrating in the trap, possessed by something that might never return, vision blurry from crime, hounded by his own demise. Other than Biggie and Pac and Scarface, mortality had rarely been so starkly confronted. He's fatalistic but positive. If you're looking for the roots of the last two Kendrick albums, this is probably the most direct analog.

But there's no substitute for the clarity of these proverbs. If K.Dot strove to make his revelations oblique, Goodie opted for equally radical and introspective simplicity, putting the Clampett's and cross burners on the run. They're acutely aware of the cycle they're trapped in, but determined to learn lessons and derive strength from their surroundings.

In this music is the feeling of acid eating away your intestines when you can't afford to eat. It's the salvation and abundance of Sunday feasts, a heaping plate of soul food, chicken rice, and gravy. When these men rapped about food, it's like Henry Miller writing down the meals that he dreams of being able to afford eating.

"Soul food is gut food. It's food that sticks to you," Bun B told NPR in 2009. "So if you want music that's not just being made to get your money but that's being made to really inspire you, then Soul Food is that album."

The Dirty South comes from here. The Mob knew Bill Clinton was dirty years before Monica Lewinsky. Cool Breeze and Big Boi breaking down the rules, the warped education, the lies and the ability to correct them. It was originally the East Point native's song, but it was repurposed for the collective mission.

"Thought Process" thumps like a jeep on a dirt road, T-Mo looking for some change to survive. Combing the city streets, trying to get paid and keep his head from swerving. His consciousness doesn't stem from self-righteousness, but out of pain. He attended too many funerals before he could grow facial hair. Khujo is in the trap, one of the first times the phrase ever appeared on a major record. In this context, it's explicit: trap or die, a decade before.

"Cell Therapy" was their biggest hit, Orwell filtered through William Cooper's Illuminati conspiracy, glockenspiel, and Sega. In the mouths of Goodie Mob, it all makes sense. It's a record that celebrates community and the exposing of lies. The drug-free signs contradicted by the Bloods hanging out at the store. It's a call to arms and a request for salvation, praying in the shower and then heading out into mud.

Other than arguably The Chronic, no rap album had ever been this organic and musical. The samples are few, the funk is rolling. It's the feeling of being seized by something intangible and inaccessible. Ancestral spirit, echoing through minor-key pianos and accidental seances. Cee-Lo's verse on "Guess Who" is dedicated to his recently deceased mother. He leads the choir, the first time that singing was ever incorporated so seamlessly. It's an unofficial sequel to "Dear Mama". No surprise that 2Pac was allegedly obsessed with Goodie Mob, allegedly wanting to join the group.

The album will last forever because it strikes those universal chords. It's Bob Marley wailing for Zion. 2Pac searching for God and finding the Devil. Son House moaning about his death letter—the ghosts sulking over the burned land and the drugged searchers seeking hope in southwest Atlanta. It's an indictment of the cheating wrought by the government, a call for unity and peace—repentance for the sins and a requiem for those laid to rest. If their peers filled their albums with comic skits and violent schemes, Goodie Mob literally featured funerals. They warned against the New World Order long before it was a #StayWoke hashtag.

The first half of the record gets most of the attention. It has the hits, the most vivid slang, and the material that Goodie Mob actually still plays when Cee-Lo deigns to tour with them. But it's perfectly sequenced to the final curtain calls. T-Mo's verse on "I Didn't Ask to Come" contains opening bars as powerfully conceived as any in rap history: "Every day somebody gets killed/ What the deal/ It's 1995 and a nigga want to live."

Every line slaps like a premonition. They are priests, witchdoctors, ordinary men, virtuosos, trappers, and teachers trying to give the noose under their necks a little slack. Ready to roll up in the White House with an axe until they're ready to give them their shit. Cold and stressed like a man sitting on pavement under a bridge on I-20 West. Struggling and fighting to stay alive, hoping that one day they get a chance to die.

You can see the significance of Goodie Mob in anyone impacted by Dungeon Family, which is essentially everyone. The dark glass divinations of "Cell Therapy" are ubiquitous in our daily lives. But Soul Food taps most deeply into the roots of the past. They carried on the legacy of not just James Brown and Curtis Mayfield, but Martin Luther King and Medgar Evers and Rosa Parks and Emmett Till and all those who never got the chance to offer testimony. It worships the richness of the culture that blossomed in spite of constant oppression. If the South had something to say, this was its most coherent statement—musically, spiritually, philosophically.

It ends with "The Day After", the only way it could. It's 1995, a year before the New South starts to take root with the Atlanta Olympics. Goodie Mob's debut is there to usher in this new era and remind us of the old corruption. The sins of the past are revisited and recounted. Somehow, the hope for the future is never entirely dimmed.

They saw this dirty world filled with surveillance at every angle, but their desire to transcend refused to be extinguished. If the city is merciless, the harsh realities innate, the good dead over bullshit, T-Mo, Gipp, Khujo, and Cee-Lo reveal the path directly in front of our eyes—the one that we can never clearly see. They offered freedom for the famished, soul for anyone in possession of such a thing.

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Daily Discussion Thread 05/27/2020

Posted: 27 May 2020 05:31 PM PDT

Welcome to the /r/hiphopheads daily discussion thread!

This thread is for:

  • objective questions with right/wrong answers (e.g. "Does anyone know what is happening with MIXTAPE?", "What is the sample in SONG?")
  • general hip-hop discussion
  • meta posts...e.g. ideas for the sub

Thread Guidelines

  • Do not create a separate self post for these types of discussions outside of this thread - if you do, your post will be removed, as stated in the guidelines.

  • Please be helpful and friendly.

  • If a question has been asked many times before, provide a link to a thread that contains the answer.

Weekly/Monthly Threads

Other ways to interact

There are a number of other ways to interact with other members of HHH:

New to /r/hiphopheads or hip-hop in general?

Check out these:

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New Freddie Gibbs x Alchemist album ALFREDO on the way, single "Scottie Beam" feat. Rick Ross coming Thursday at noon EST.

Posted: 27 May 2020 03:09 PM PDT

Gibbs tweeted out a teaser with the single's release date.

Twitter user JeffesVault put the snippet into Shazam to pull up the track and album info. Here's another clip of Gibbs rapping along to the song on IG.

The real Scottie Beam retweeted it, which Gibbs then retweeted with the heart eyes emoji.

Meanwhile, JeffesVault has been plugging in other Gibbs snippets into Shazam confirming other tracks...

-Frank Lucas ft. Benny the Butcher and Griselda

-Babies and Fools ft. Conway

-1985

-Something to Rap About ft. Tyler, the Creator (s/o LthePerry02 in the comments)

Lots of rumors swirling that the record is coming on Friday. Music writer Gary Suarez tweeted "Heard one of the best rap albums of the year this weekend. (You'll get to hear it on Friday.)" and replies indicate he's talking about Gibbs. Will update the post if more info becomes available.

Imgur mirror in case anything gets deleted

submitted by /u/lcdmilknails
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Lil Yachty releases track list for Lil Boat 3.

Posted: 27 May 2020 02:04 PM PDT

https://imgur.com/hE8FDjw

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAtKUAWj1wc/?igshid=o7rlyfiouroo

  1. Top Down

  2. Wock in Stock

  3. Split/Whole Time

  4. T.D (ft. A$AP Rocky, Tyler, the Creator & Tierra Whack)

  5. Pardon Me (ft. Future & Mike Will Made-It)

  6. Demon Time (ft. Draft Day)

  7. Black Jesus

  8. From Down Bad

  9. Love Jones

  10. Cant Go

  11. Oprah's Bank Account (ft. Drake & DaBaby)

  12. Range Rover Sports Truck (ft. Lil Keed)

  13. Lemon Head

  14. Don't Forget

  15. Up There Music

  16. Westside

  17. Till The Morning (ft. Lil Durk & Young Thug)

  18. Whew' Chile

  19. Concrete Boys

submitted by /u/TheOnlyOneWhoKnows
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I think this is a fitting time to repost Skepta's "FUCK THE POLICE" energy during his performance of Shutdown

Posted: 27 May 2020 06:03 PM PDT

Cash Money Records Covers June Rent for Hundreds of New Orleans Residents

Posted: 27 May 2020 04:59 PM PDT

Ugly God has been arrested for fighting outside an hospital

Posted: 27 May 2020 07:45 PM PDT

Childish Gambino - This Is America

Posted: 27 May 2020 11:30 PM PDT

Nas - Cops Shot the Kid (ft. Kanye West)

Posted: 27 May 2020 01:20 AM PDT

Joe Budden premieres SAINt JHN - Roses (Remix) ft. Future on latest podcast episode

Posted: 27 May 2020 11:31 AM PDT

XXXTENTACION - Riot

Posted: 27 May 2020 06:55 PM PDT

21 Savage - Nothin New

Posted: 27 May 2020 12:54 PM PDT

An introduction to Drakeo The Ruler and the Stinc Team

Posted: 27 May 2020 03:57 PM PDT

Drakeo the Ruler is a rapper from LA currently locked up for gang conspiracy and drive by shooting charges. Drakeo's case is a little complicated though, at first he was acquitted of all his murder and attempted murder charges but then the DA refiled the charges (which shouldnt be able to happen) but due to CA Penal Code 182.5 which basically states that gang members can be charged for crimes done by other members even if they did not participate in the crime just for being associated, he is. Not only is Drakeo locked up, his whole clique the Stinc Team is locked up which is full of talented rappers from LA. I dont see any competition in terms of talent on the whole west coast against Drakeo. His wordplay and flow are unmatched and most rappers in LA nowadays are somehow influenced by him. Im trying to shed light on Drakeo and his case because hes undoubtedly talented and should be free right now. Honestly though, most of the west coast is really underrated. If you were to come to cali, the streets arent listening to Kendrick or Blueface or any of that. Their listening to Drakeo, Greedo, Yatta, and all the other rappers trying to make it out of Cali. Heres some of my favorites from Drakeo and the Stinc Team

Drakeo the Ruler - Flex Freestyle

Drakeo the Ruler ft. Bambino - Bulletproof

SaysotheMac ft Ralfy the Plug - Mary Poppins

Drakeo the Ruler ft. ALLBLACK & Bino Rideaux - Cyber Bullies

Drakeo the Ruler ft. KetchytheGreat - Bedrolls or Bankrolls

Drakeo the Ruler - Popular Freestyle

submitted by /u/xamdzcx
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[RIP] Houdini - Myself

Posted: 27 May 2020 09:40 AM PDT

Mick Jenkins ft. BADBADNOTGOOD - Drowning

Posted: 27 May 2020 04:44 PM PDT

Billboard Hot 100 Discussion - May 24-30 2020 | Savage reaches #1

Posted: 27 May 2020 10:36 AM PDT

Billboard Hot 100 chart

Position Title Artist ▲/▼ Last week Weeks Charting Peak
1 Savage Megan Thee Stallion Featuring Beyonce ▲+4 5 10 1
2 Say So Doja Cat Featuring Nicki Minaj - 2 20 1
3 Blinding Lights The Weeknd ▲+1 4 25 1
4 Rockstar DaBaby Featuring Roddy Ricch ▲+4 8 5 4
5 Toosie Slide Drake ▲+1 6 7 1
6 Life Is Good Future Featuring Drake ▲+7 13 19 2
7 The Box Roddy Ricch - 7 24 1
8 Don't Start Now Dua Lipa ▲+1 9 29 2
9 Intentions Justin Bieber Featuring Quavo ▲+2 11 15 8
10 Circles Post Malone - 10 38 1
11 Gooba 6ix9ine ▼-8 3 2 3
12 Adore You Harry Styles - 12 24 6
13 Stuck With U Ariana Grande & Justin Bieber ▼-12 1 2 1
14 The Bones Maren Morris - 14 35 12
15 Roses (Imanbek Remix) SAINt JHN ▲+1 16 9 15
16 The Scotts THE SCOTTS, Travis Scott & Kid Cudi ▼-1 15 4 1
17 Blueberry Faygo Lil Mosey ▲+3 20 15 16
18 Chasin' You Morgan Wallen ▲+3 21 17 18
19 I Hope Gabby Barrett ▲+4 23 21 16
20 Someone You Loved Lewis Capaldi ▼-2 18 54 1
21 Falling Trevor Daniel ▲+1 22 27 21
22 Does To Me Luke Combs Featuring Eric Church ▲+6 28 10 22
23 Nobody But You Blake Shelton Duet With Gwen Stefani ▲+2 25 19 18
24 High Fashion Roddy Ricch Featuring Mustard ▲+2 26 21 20
25 My Oh My Camila Cabello Featuring DaBaby ▼-8 17 24 12
26 Sunday Best Surfaces ▲+3 29 12 26
27 Everything I Wanted Billie Eilish ▼-8 19 28 8
28 Whats Poppin Jack Harlow ▲+4 32 15 28
29 Death Bed Powfu Featuring beabadoobee ▼-2 27 10 26
30 Flex Polo G Featuring Juice WRLD ▲+71 [FRESH] 1 30
31 Memories Maroon 5 ▼-7 24 35 2
32 Solitaires Future Featuring Travis Scott ▲+69 [FRESH] 1 32
33 X Jonas Brothers Featuring Karol G ▲+68 [FRESH] 1 33
34 Trillionaire Future Featuring YoungBoy Never Broke Again ▲+67 [FRESH] 1 34
35 I Hope You're Happy Now Carly Pearce & Lee Brice ▼-1 34 20 34
36 Before You Go Lewis Capaldi ▲+1 37 16 36
37 After A Few Travis Denning ▲+1 38 8 37
38 Party Girl StaySolidRocky ▲+10 48 4 38
39 Break My Heart Dua Lipa ▼-8 31 8 21
40 Daisies Katy Perry ▲+61 [FRESH] 1 40
41 RITMO (Bad Boys For Life) The Black Eyed Peas X J Balvin ▼-11 30 26 26
42 Beer Can't Fix Thomas Rhett Featuring Jon Pardi ▼-6 36 10 36
43 Be Kind Marshmello & Halsey ▼-10 33 3 29
44 Hard To Forget Sam Hunt - 44 8 40
45 Supalonely BENEE Featuring Gus Dapperton ▼-6 39 10 39
46 Hot Girl Bummer blackbear ▼-11 35 36 11
47 Dance Monkey Tones And I ▼-5 42 33 4
48 One Margarita Luke Bryan ▲+21 69 3 48
49 Ballin' Mustard & Roddy Ricch ▼-8 41 44 11
50 Heartless Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley Featuring Morgan Wallen ▲+8 58 17 50
51 Sum 2 Prove Lil Baby ▼-6 45 19 16
52 Walk Em Down NLE Choppa Featuring Roddy Ricch - 52 9 52
53 Trapped In The Sun Future ▲+48 [FRESH] 1 53
54 All Bad Future Featuring Lil Uzi Vert ▲+47 [FRESH] 1 54
55 Bluebird Miranda Lambert ▲+2 57 7 55
56 Chicago Freestyle Drake Featuring Giveon ▼-10 46 3 14
57 Be Something Polo G Featuring Lil Baby ▲+44 [FRESH] 1 57
58 In Your Eyes The Weeknd ▼-4 54 9 16
59 Dior Pop Smoke ▼-6 53 14 30
60 Emotionally Scarred Lil Baby ▼-4 56 12 31
61 Martin & Gina Polo G ▲+40 [FRESH] 1 61
62 21 Polo G ▲+39 [FRESH] 1 62
63 Righteous Juice WRLD ▼-14 49 4 11
64 Watermelon Sugar Harry Styles ▲+37 [FRESH] 9 54
65 After Party Don Toliver ▼-2 63 5 63
66 Level Of Concern twenty one pilots ▼-19 47 6 23
67 Go Stupid Polo G Featuring NLE Choppa & Stunna 4 Vegas ▲+34 [FRESH] 8 60
68 Hard To Choose One Future ▲+33 [FRESH] 1 68
69 Ridin Strikers Future ▲+32 [FRESH] 1 69
70 We Paid Lil Baby & 42 Dugg ▼-15 55 3 55
71 Hitek Tek Future ▲+30 [FRESH] 1 71
72 Yo Perreo Sola Bad Bunny ▼-8 64 10 53
73 If The World Was Ending JP Saxe Featuring Julia Michaels ▼-12 61 8 59
74 Ride It. Regard ▼-12 62 6 62
75 Too Comfortable Future ▲+26 [FRESH] 1 75
76 Believe It PARTYNEXTDOOR & Rihanna ▼-6 70 8 23
77 Here And Now Kenny Chesney ▼-18 59 7 59
78 P*$$y Fairy (OTW) Jhene Aiko ▼-12 66 18 40
79 Posted With Demons Future ▲+22 [FRESH] 1 79
80 Out West JACKBOYS Featuring Young Thug ▼-13 67 19 38
81 Touch The Sky Future ▲+20 [FRESH] 1 81
82 One Of My Future ▲+19 [FRESH] 1 82
83 In Between Scotty McCreery ▼-11 72 6 72
84 Harlem Shake Future Featuring Young Thug ▲+17 [FRESH] 1 84
85 God Whispered Your Name Keith Urban ▼-4 81 5 81
86 Pain 1993 Drake Featuring Playboi Carti ▼-35 51 3 7
87 Die From A Broken Heart Maddie & Tae ▼-5 82 6 80
88 Don't Believe The Hype Polo G ▲+13 [FRESH] 1 88
89 I Love My Country Florida Georgia Line ▼-15 74 5 74
90 Godzilla Eminem Featuring Juice WRLD ▼-12 78 18 3
91 Turks NAV, Gunna & Travis Scott ▼-31 60 8 17
92 Beautiful Pain (Losin My Mind) Polo G ▲+9 [FRESH] 1 92
93 33 Polo G ▲+8 [FRESH] 1 93
94 Go Crazy Chris Brown & Young Thug ▼-18 76 2 76
95 I Know Polo G ▲+6 [FRESH] 1 95
96 3 Headed Goat Lil Durk Featuring Lil Baby & Polo G ▼-53 43 2 43
97 Me Vs Me Moneybagg Yo ▼-9 88 2 88
98 July Noah Cyrus & Leon Bridges ▲+2 100 11 85
99 Drinking Alone Carrie Underwood ▼-10 89 3 89
100 Be A Light Thomas Rhett Featuring Reba McEntire, Hillary Scott, Chris Tomlin & Keith Urban ▼-14 86 7 71

Billboard 200 chart

Position Title Artist Sales Change Last week Weeks Charting
1 High Off Life Future 145,472 (15,822 pure) -- [FRESH] 1
2 The GOAT Polo G 97,375 (14,539 pure) -- [FRESH] 1
3 My Turn Lil Baby 54,774 (359 pure) -17% 4 12
4 Dark Lane Demo Tapes Drake 54,917 (867 pure) -31% 3 3
5 BLAME IT ON BABY DaBaby 40,923 (414 pure) -5% 6 5
6 Eternal Atake Lil Uzi Vert 37,936 (648 pure) -11% 8 11
7 After Hours The Weeknd 35,613 (2,588 pure) -11% 9 9
8 Hollywood's Bleeding Post Malone 35,044 (1,150 pure) -1% 10 37
9 Reunions Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit 35,848 (31,609 pure) -- 149 2
10 Good Intentions NAV 34,774 (7,116 pure) -74% 1 2

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Why is X artist higher than Y artist on the 200 chart, even though X artist sold less?

A: This is because of a discrepancy between Billboard's ranking and the ranking from the website that the sales data is scraped from

Q: Where do you get the sales data from?

A: https://hitsdailydouble.com/sales_plus_streaming

Billboard updated a day late this week due to Memorial Day

submitted by /u/RobYaLunch
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Lloyd - Get It Shawty

Posted: 27 May 2020 08:33 PM PDT

[DISCUSSION] The Sugarhill Gang - The Sugarhill Gang (40 Years Later)

Posted: 27 May 2020 10:05 AM PDT

Sugarhill Gang is the self-titled debut album by influential rap group The Sugarhill Gang.

The album was released in 1980 for Sugarhill Records and was produced by Sylvia Robinson. The single "Rapper's Delight" was the first rap single to become a Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching #36 on the U.S. pop chart and #4 on the R&B chart. Although "Rapper's Delight" was the only charting single, the album also included the minor hit, "Rapper's Reprise". The remainder of the LP consists of several down-tempo soul tracks and a disco instrumental, as Sylvia Robinson did not believe an album consisting entirely of hip hop music would be commercially viable in 1980.

  1. "Here I Am" – 5:09 (Craig Derry, Nate Edmonds)
  2. "Rapper's Reprise (Jam-Jam)" (ft. The Sequence) – 7:40 (Sylvia Robinson)
  3. "Bad News (Don't Bother Me)" – 6:45 (Guy O'Brien, Henry Jackson, Michael Wright)
  4. "Sugarhill Groove" – 9:52 (Guy O'Brien, Henry Jackson, Michael Wright, Sylvia Robinson)
  5. "Passion Play" – 5:10 (Brenda Reynolds, Nate Edmonds, Ray Smith)
  6. "Rapper's Delight" – 14:37 [4:55 – shortened single version] (Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers)
  • Rappers – Big Bank Hank, Master Gee, Wonder Mike (The Sugarhill Gang)
  • Backing Vocals, and Rhythm Arrangements – Positive Force (tracks 3, 5, 6)
  • Bass – Bernard Rowland (tracks 3, 5, 6), Douglas Wimbish, possibly Chip Shearin[3][4] (track 6)
  • Drums – Bryan Horton (tracks 3, 5, 6), Keith LeBlanc
  • Guitar – Albert Pittman (tracks 3, 5, 6[5]), Skip McDonald, possibly Brian Morgan[4][6] (track 6)
  • Keyboards – Nate Edmonds, Skitch Smith
  • Percussion – Craig Derry, Harry Reyes, John Stump
  • Vibraphone, Backing Vocals – Sylvia Robinson
  • Special Guest Appearance – Tito Puente
  • Special Effects – Billy Jones, Nate Edmonds
  • Producer, Engineer, Mixed By – Billy Jones, Nate Edmonds, Sylvia Robinson
submitted by /u/TheRoyalGodfrey
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Kanye showing how effortlessly he makes songs during the Yandhi era (2018)

Posted: 27 May 2020 07:05 PM PDT

KXNG CROOKED I - I Can't Breathe

Posted: 27 May 2020 03:38 PM PDT

Ka - Our Father

Posted: 27 May 2020 11:10 AM PDT

2Pac - They Don't Give a Fuck About Us - (Unreleased - OG Vibe)

Posted: 27 May 2020 09:58 AM PDT

RIOT - XXXTENTACION

Posted: 27 May 2020 09:23 PM PDT

Prefuse 73 - Hide Ya Face ft. Ghostface Killah & El-P

Posted: 27 May 2020 03:55 PM PDT

Killer Mike Speaking In 2016 On Police Brutality

Posted: 27 May 2020 11:03 AM PDT
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Daily Discussion Thread 05/26/2020 - HipHop

Daily Discussion Thread 05/26/2020 - HipHop

Daily Discussion Thread 05/26/2020

Posted: 26 May 2020 03:49 PM PDT

Welcome to the /r/hiphopheads daily discussion thread!

This thread is for:

  • objective questions with right/wrong answers (e.g. "Does anyone know what is happening with MIXTAPE?", "What is the sample in SONG?")
  • general hip-hop discussion
  • meta posts...e.g. ideas for the sub

Thread Guidelines

  • Do not create a separate self post for these types of discussions outside of this thread - if you do, your post will be removed, as stated in the guidelines.

  • Please be helpful and friendly.

  • If a question has been asked many times before, provide a link to a thread that contains the answer.

Weekly/Monthly Threads

Other ways to interact

There are a number of other ways to interact with other members of HHH:

New to /r/hiphopheads or hip-hop in general?

Check out these:

submitted by /u/ModsLittleHelper
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Top Ten Tuesday: Lil Uzi Vert

Posted: 26 May 2020 04:53 PM PDT

Here's how this works:

• One song per comment.

• The thread will be put into contest mode (randomized comment order).

• Upvote the songs you like.

• Please don't downvote!

• Search/use ctrl+f to see if anyone posted the song already.

• Try to limit yourself to posting one or two songs.

• Please post a link with your song.

• The 10 songs with the most upvotes will be HHH Top Ten.

• Have fun!

Here is is our spreadsheet with all past results, made by /u/elektrikg33k.

Our upcoming schedule:

05/26/20 - Lil Uzi Vert

06/09/20 - ?

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lil_Uzi_Vert_discography

please take 5 seconds to ctrl+f the thread to see your song has already been posted

we've officially on a bi-weekly schedule

and as always pm me if you want to see a certain artist here

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Toronto Rapper Houdini Reportedly Shot Today, Condition Unknown

Posted: 26 May 2020 04:57 PM PDT

Waka Flocka Says He is Dedicating His Life to Suicide Prevention And Mental Health

Posted: 26 May 2020 06:52 AM PDT

George Floyd, man murdered by Minneapolis police, was featured on DJ Screw's tapes as "Big Floyd"

Posted: 26 May 2020 09:15 PM PDT

[FRESH VIDEO] Lil Yachty - Split/Whole Time Split / Whole Time

Posted: 26 May 2020 09:02 AM PDT

[FRESH] LUCKI - idgaf days b4 may 30 :)

Posted: 26 May 2020 09:34 PM PDT

[DISCUSSION] DJBooth has removed a recent tweet promoting a Gunna interview due to his recent usage of whippets on Instagram Live.

Posted: 26 May 2020 12:16 PM PDT

Tweet 1 twitter imgur

We removed a recent tweet promoting Gunna's new Genius interview (from this past Friday) in light of his inappropriate behavior on Instagram Live on Monday. DJBooth does not condone the use of whippets or any other aerosol-based drugs.

 

Tweet 2 twitter imgur

Let me be very clear: We are NOT drawing a line on drug use of any kind. The piece of content we removed, which was from another outlet, highlighted "generational influence," which, given Gunna's recent actions, felt very contradictory. That's it.

 

Tweet 3 twitter imgur

Accountability matters to us. Optics matter. I don't need anyone else to agree with me. It's my company.

 

Tweet 4 twitter imgur

There is no policy. There is nothing to discuss here. But if you'd like to have me on to discuss the state of music journalism, I'd gladly make time.

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Run the Jewels Is Rewriting Rap’s Rules: "El-P and Killer Mike teamed up in their 30s after careers on hip-hop’s commercial periphery. Now their lighthearted side project is their high-stakes life’s work." | Jeremy Gordon profiles RTJ for NYT

Posted: 26 May 2020 08:36 AM PDT

[FRESH VIDEO] ZillaKami - ACAB ft. Nascar Aloe (Official Music Video)

Posted: 26 May 2020 12:03 PM PDT

Big L - Put It On

Posted: 26 May 2020 07:37 PM PDT

Kanye West rants about Michael Jordan and the Wizards on the Yeezus tour (2013)

Posted: 26 May 2020 08:09 AM PDT

Juice WRLD & Trippie Redd’s “Tell Me You Love Me” single is releasing this Friday

Posted: 26 May 2020 12:54 PM PDT

This is backed up by an industry insider here

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[FRESH VIDEO] Gunna - ROCKSTAR BIKERS & CHAINS

Posted: 26 May 2020 01:02 PM PDT

KENNY BEATS & TIMBALAND - JUDGING BEATS LIVE

Posted: 26 May 2020 12:41 PM PDT

IDK - Lil Arrogant (ft. Joey Bada$$ & Russ) [song has no hook, they’re just straight rapping]

Posted: 26 May 2020 09:20 PM PDT

G Herbo announces PTSD Deluxe Album (14 new songs) - May 29

Posted: 26 May 2020 02:36 PM PDT

Young Thug talks to Gunna for Interview Magazine, pictures shot by Gunner Stahl

Posted: 26 May 2020 04:31 PM PDT

Vic Mensa - ORANGE SODA

Posted: 26 May 2020 08:08 AM PDT

XXXTENTACION- ILOVEITWHENTHEYRUN ft. Yung Bans & Ski Mask The Slump God (AMV)

Posted: 26 May 2020 08:41 AM PDT

[FRESH DISS TRACK] LUPE FIASCO - PAT ON THE BACK

Posted: 26 May 2020 12:01 AM PDT

Chapelle - That New Tupac

Posted: 26 May 2020 03:26 PM PDT

[FRESH] THAIBOY DIGITAL - TRIPLE S

Posted: 26 May 2020 11:07 AM PDT

Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine: ‘We’re thinking about who’ll be the next Steve Jobs’ – Talking beginnings, business and billion-dollar Beats, Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine reveal how their partnership kickstarted a digital revolution... | British GQ Cover Story

Posted: 26 May 2020 11:17 AM PDT

Link

It takes a beat to find music mogul Jimmy Iovine's Los Angeles mansion. Hang a right off Sunset Boulevard, swerve up past the Armand Hammer Golf Course and soon you'll find yourself staring at Hugh Hefner's old place, the Playboy Mansion – or, rather, what is left of it.

Jimmy's place, pretty much directly opposite the late Hef's lair, was designed by Wallace Neff, the architect who developed what became known as the "Californian style". It's a sprawling, multilevelled labyrinth, with bright, white-washed walls, a John Pawson-style pool house, a home cinema the size of your local Everyman and a football pitch in the back garden; the house and gardens are influenced by Spanish and Mediterranean buildings of the mid-20th century. "I've been here three decades," Iovine confesses as he welcomes us, a catheter hanging out of his left arm from a saline and vitamin IV he took earlier this morning in a bid to banish an encroaching head cold. "Still not entirely happy with it, if I'm being totally honest..."

Iovine, as one might imagine, isn't a man who gets complacent or comfortable. I'd first met him a year ago at London's Connaught hotel, where he and his wife, Liberty Ross, pretty much always stay. "She's currently doing up a large place in the countryside," he explained over Earl Grey and chipotle smoked salmon finger sandwiches. "This suits me fine, as this hotel is walking distance from Annabel's. You go? I'm there pretty much every night for an hour or so."

Yet, unlike some puffed-up billionaire moguls who lock themselves away behind a wall of head-bowing flunkeys or behind a convoy of blacked-out G-Wagen windows, Iovine was nothing but convivial and happy to talk about it all: how he got his first foot on the ladder as a music engineer with John Lennon in the early 1970s; the production he did on Born To Run with Bruce Springsteen; working with icons such as Tom Petty and Patti Smith; becoming cofounder of Interscope Records; how he came to sign controversial rapper Tupac Shakur at the dawn of "gangster rap's" commercial success; his dalliances with Suge Knight, Biggie and Death Row Records; his global success with Eminem, 50 Cent and, of course, his unique business partnership with Dr Dre and the formation of Beats Electronics and Beats By Dre, their headphone and music streaming company that was sold to Apple for a jaw-slackening $3 billion.

Despite the heaps of cash, the cultural markers achieved and the hard work already put in, however, there was something else simmering away underneath Iovine's skin during that first meeting. Something that perhaps wasn't dealt with in The Defiant Ones, the stunning four-part series about Iovine and Dre's lives and dovetailing career paths that came out in 2017, a piece of filmmaking that not only entertained, but educated an entire new generation about the pair's rise and impact on music, technology and culture. I got the distinct impression that Iovine felt – and feels – that he still has work to do. He has an innate restlessness. I felt it while in London and I can feel it today as we take a tour of his pad, artworks by Jasper Johns, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol dropping in and out of shadow as we walk and talk.

Dr Dre (real name Andre Young) is also somewhere in the house; he's here to talk, a coup considering Dre just doesn't do interviews any more. (I mean, why would he? He's Dr Dre.) Iovine and I poke our heads into one of the upstairs rooms where the producer, rapper and hip-hop icon – fresh from working with Kanye West – is getting camera-ready. Dre, ever polite, stands, grins and does something entirely unnecessary: he introduces himself. As we leave him to get a fresh trim, Iovine quips to everyone but no one in particular, "Why's Dre got a bigger dressing room than I do? It's my fucking house!"

We walk back down the stairs to find a place to talk. Iovine and I settle in what can only be described as an "office" of sorts. "I guess this is a den," the mogul explains. "I do a lot of thinking in here. Some phone calls. I was just in here the other night playing guitar..."

While the rest of the house is a hue of ivory and biscuit with pops of antique furniture, the chosen room has walls the colour of charcoal. In the centre is a large Damien Hirst sculpture – "Baloo" the bear on his back, tumbling with "Mowgli" from The Jungle Book, both covered in pieces of luminescent coral – from a series entitled "Treasures From The Wreck Of The Unbelievable", while on the far wall is an enormous image of an eye's iris (Iovine's own, as it turns out). But it's the details you want to zoom in on here, as that's where you'll find the clues and show-stoppers, all priceless relics from Iovine's distinct career and life.

Against the window there's an original black and red U2 iPod from 2004, when Iovine was still chairman of UMG's Interscope Geffen A&M Records. It is under well-polished plexiglass and signed by the band, Iovine and Steve Jobs.

On the far bookshelf is a single black Maxell C46 cassette tape with "Because The Night" scrawled in red pen on the "A" side label. As Iovine explains to me, "That's the original demo that Bruce [Springsteen] gave to Patti [Smith] in September 1977. I was working with both of them. Bruce had recorded the track but he wasn't happy with it. It was, as he said, 'just another love song'. Incredible song, of course. I told him I thought Patti deserved a hit and asked if I could take it to her. He told me, 'If she can do it, she can have it.' Patti added her own lyrics and it went on to become her biggest single."

In the corridor that leads from the office to one of many sumptuous living spaces is perhaps the single most important framed piece of paper Iovine owns: the original (2006) patent for the Beats By Dre headphones Dre and Iovine designed and manufactured for Beats Electronics. Looking at it, it's like peering at Iovine's very own Rosetta Stone: a grail after which everything would be different.

"Beats Electronics, Beats headphones and Beats Music streaming service were formed and were successful for two reasons," Iovine explains, as Dre sits down to join us, the pair on two suede armchairs. "Streaming was coming, we knew this from Napster – although the music industry was in denial and had tried to shut it down, the genie was out of the bottle. Piracy on the internet was going to be a problem and it was just a matter of time before more and more people listened to music through a streaming service. The other problem was hardware: the products that people were using to listen to the music. That's where Dre came in. Dre was the sound connoisseur – here was someone who had spent an entire career in a studio, working with music and beats."

A quality streaming platform and great-sounding headphones: Iovine knew, even back then, that these were two of Apple's blind spots. Yes, Apple had put "1,000 songs in your pocket" with the iPod – and beautifully so – but Iovine, ever the pioneer, knew that eventually the company would need more than the flat-out purchasing power of iTunes; they would need a streaming service, available via a subscription that connected all their products and customers in a hub of algorithmically enhanced content.

"We came along at the right time with the things they needed," he continues. "That's why the sale [of Beats to Apple] made sense. I've said before that Beats to me always felt like it belonged with Apple, because of the way Steve [Jobs] and Tim [Cook] were able to marry technology with culture. They knew, as I know, that the really cool shit is happening at the intersection of the most rapidly expanding industries. This is why education has got to change too." Education? "Yes, education. That's the goal."

Ah, so there's the source of that niggle. Who would have thought this would be Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre's next moonshot: to revolutionise the way institutions, first in America, and then ultimately internationally, educate future generations. "I think [Dre and I] are now in a position to think about who's going to be the next Steve Jobs, the next Bob Iger, the next Dr Dre... It's always been something at the back of my mind," Iovine explains, "and it's staggering to me why no one else is looking at it like we are.

"Look, we always wondered what would happen. Now we know: companies, content companies, are being bought by tech companies. Right? And when we were working on Beats we had a similar problem. We couldn't find employees who could speak both languages: employees that were savvy at the tech and business, the back end, while also kings of creativity, liberal arts and content. It was a problem even before we launched Beats Music. That's why we started looking into it, due to a shortage of hire options for Beats. Now it's no longer an option – this is happening. In 2020, if you want to run with the best, you have to speak both languages; you need to know the 'why' of the other person down the line. And this is what our school is aiming to do: to bring those worlds together to create the next generation of leaders."

On 2 October 2019, Dre and Iovine cut the ribbon on the Iovine And Young Hall, a permanent home for their one-of-a-kind school. The programme started in 2013, with the music entrepreneurs gifting the University Of Southern California $70 million to create their academy, a school where students could earn a unique bachelor's degree in arts, technology and the business of innovation. "I met with Jimmy early on," explains Erica Muhl, an accomplished composer of contemporary classical music who became the first executive director of the Jimmy Iovine And Andre Young Academy and then its new dean when the academy was named the university's newest professional school in 2018 – only the 20th full-standing school in USC's 140-year-old history. "Right from the start it was obvious that what Jimmy wanted was something that had never been done before: to specifically address the need for hybrid thinkers, people who understand all sides of the way business is done today."

Surely, I ask Muhl, trying to breed a generation of multi-skilled innovators isn't without its challenges? Usually, whether in the UK or the US, students will, sooner or later, have to home in on a particular set of attributes – whether that be law, music production, tech or business. Can these challenges be taught to the same students all in one course? "The idea is to find industries where these skills intersect and see what we can learn from them. Take the music industry, for example, [which] is going through its third or fourth largest disruption in under ten years."

For Muhl, Iovine and Dre, ultimately it's about getting students more career-ready: "We have a limited number of years and classes with each student that comes in," Muhl continues. "And the generation that comes in today is more impatient than ever, mostly due to the fact that their access to information has never been so uninhibited. Thus their expectations of their daily lives have changed. But it's not just about going to work sooner; it's about wanting to have an impact once they are there. They have more power in the palm of their hand than any generation in history – and it's power to influence, to understand and to do good. We are what we like to call career agnostic here. For the first time in history students can come to our school, define or redefine their horizons and then become empowered to follow a particular path that might be very different to the one they'd previously thought about."

Students from the Jimmy Iovine And Andre Young Academy have already gone on to land roles with some of tech's biggest companies, becoming product designers at Facebook, AI engineers at Apple, marketing and development executives at Google. "We've also had some students already aiming bigger with their own innovations," continues Muhl. "An extraordinary group that graduated last year have founded a company called Wren and they've developed an application that allows an individual to calculate their carbon footprint within minutes and then do something about it by directly funding a carbon protection programme. They just got their first $1.5m in seed funding. I also have a graduate team developing mock MRIs for paediatric patients and another called Infinity Box, which is all about recyclable shipping materials."

For Dre, such educational opportunities, such a springboard, was something he never even dreamed about growing up. "I grew up around violence. It was only about survival where I was from, you understand?" Dre started out by attending Vanguard Junior High School but was transferred due to gang violence and was mostly raised by his grandmother in the New Wilmington Arms housing project in Compton. Although further down the line he did attempt to enrol in an apprenticeship programme at Northrop Aviation Company, his poor school grades meant he didn't get in. From that point on he focused on his social life and music, becoming DJ "Dr J" at a club called Eve After Dark in the early 1980s. It was here that he met an aspiring rapper called Antoine Carraby, who would later become DJ Yella of NWA. "We know that one of these kids that comes out of our academy has the potential to do something that will change the world," continues Dre. "That's the number one thing for me. To provide that nurturing and start that I never received."

So what about those kids from underprivileged backgrounds? The academy takes around 25 students a year, from about 400 applications, and all presumably must pay fees. Iovine, as always, has an answer: "So we're going to start a high school," he announces, with typical nonchalance. "We're starting it right outside of USC. And it's for that neighbourhood. And it's going to be free. We're doing it with Laurene Powell Jobs [Steve Jobs' widow] and XQ [a fund launched in 2015 to change state schooling in America] and the USC. We want to give underrated kids an edge. We want to market our high school, we want to make it appealing for kids to stay in school and learn. Most don't want to be there." Dre is firmer still: "Most [kids] hate it."

What was Dre's experience of high school? "To be honest with you, it was a pain in the ass. I never liked school. Fortunately for me I was able to build a life and career without it, but that's not possible for everyone. I [now] understand the possibilities it can create. Back in my old school, sure there was math and reading and all that, but nothing for me to get my teeth into. I'm an artist. This thing we're building, it has everything I needed."

"I hated every second of school," nods Iovine, smiling at his business partner. "There wasn't one second of it I enjoyed. Kids nowadays won't stand for that, not the smart ones. All they see all day is Instagram and this and that, while millennials read time and time again how Mark Zuckerberg left school and became a trillionaire. What kids want nowadays is a shot at the ring – that's what they want. So the best way to empower these impatient kids is to give them the tools for this new world we live in: give them an education, combining liberal arts with tech. The thing that Dre and I can sprinkle over the curriculum is our hustle. That's what we as individuals can offer, that "don't quit" attitude. I've never claimed to be smarter than anyone else; I just had more hustle. I could just take more pain than anyone else."

"I don't remember not having hustle," agrees Dre when I ask if he too had that same ferocious drive growing up. "I would hustle if I was cutting grass, just to be able to buy shoes. I came from a place where you had to go out and do your thing if you wanted to have those nice things. It was never going to come to you; you had to go out and fight for it." So who taught you how to strive for the top? A mentor? A teacher you remember? Another artist? "Yeah, I'm sitting next to him," say Dre, laughing as he points at Iovine. "I never liked the business side of things, I just knew I had to take care of it. Beforehand, I had to figure it out myself. Teach myself how to create, be a DJ, how to engineer, and so on."

What about Iovine? Did he have good teachers? "I was very fortunate along the way," he explains. "I came out of Brooklyn, no skills whatsoever. I got a job, I met a woman called Ellie Greenwich, who took me from a job in a clothing store and got me a gig at three different recording studios. Then inside those studios I found my own mentors, people who taught me everything, from how to sweep floors to working a console. A guy named Roy Cicala at the Record Plant studios, while working with John Lennon, taught me how to record a record. Literally step by step, all the while with Lennon on the other side of the microphone. Incredible generosity. And the other man is David Geffen. He's someone who's been a constant with me; I always check in with him. He's turned business into an art form. Great taste, killer instinct. In fact, I'll see him this week. I'll fly to where he's at and then just sit and talk."

Time is almost up; the LA sun is dipping just below the swaying trees that line up like guardsmen at the back of Iovine's yard. After our conversation, we all bump shoulders and continue to dip in and out of topics as we roll back through the house. Dre has family waiting and has to shoot, and Iovine has a 4pm meeting waiting in the living room, although, to be fair, his guests are more than absorbed with the rolling TV news about the death of basketball star Kobe Bryant that happened yesterday. "What a terrible tragedy," Iovine says, shaking his head. "Awful. And [Bryant] was probably just rushing as he knew he had kids waiting for him at his own institution, the Mamba Academy. He didn't want to let them down." Does it make you wonder, I ask, about maybe slowing the pace, about putting the breaks on the hustle? "Slowing down?" Iovine walks off, laughing quietly to himself. After a few paces, he turns, looks at me with his arms outstretched, his palms upturned to the wide, royal blue Californian sky. "What do you mean slow down? I told you: I'm officially retired!" And with that Jimmy Iovine goes back into his house, back to his extraordinary life and back to work.

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