Buddhism / Nonduality Influenced Metal Bands

[Lhug-Pa]

When I was trying to fit in with Straightedge kids I listened to some Hardcore, and when I was trying to fit in with Hipsters I listened to some Indie-Rock; but out of all the genres that I don't listen to very much anymore, Hip-Hop and B-Boy Funk had a genuine appeal. Now I mostly listen to Orchestra, Symphony, Baroque, and Bhai Joginder Singh, because I'm trying to fit in with Spiritual people.

In defense of Hip-Hop, when most people think of it they are thinking of Rap or Pop instead of Hip-Hop. Here's an example of actual Hip-Hop (the recording for YouTube could be a lot better, but it's the best upload of this song that I could find):







There's a lot more where that came from, and with better upload quality too; so maybe I'll post more.

[padma norbu]

When I think of hip hop, I'm thinking of Nicki Minaj, Lady and whatever else was hot the year and the year before. In fact, I remember categorizing 50 Cent and Snoop Dog as rap once and was corrected by a fan through snickering: "rap..you said rap...that ain't rap, it's hip hop" ... so, basically, what I gathered from that was that hip hop has more melody and isn't just rhyming constantly.

[Lhug-Pa]

50 Cent is Pop-Rap with a dash of Hip-Hop at times. And I would consider Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog to be a hybrid of Hip-Hop and Gangster Rap.

"Real" Hip-Hop is Rakim, KRS-ONE, De La Soul, Hieroglyphics, Gangstarr, Apani B Fly Emcee, Jurassic 5, Divine Styler, Bahamadia, House of Pain, The Beat Junkies, T-Love, A Tribe Called Quest, Jedi Mind Tricks, Peanut Butter Wolf, D.I.T.C., MF Doom, Dilated Peoples, etc.; all of which have a completely different flavor than what most consider "Hip-Hop".

There's definitely a fine line between Rap and Hip-Hop at times.

Some people think that if Hip-Hop isn't all political and intellectual then it's "just Rap", as if Hip-Hop can't be happy or upbeat. But this isn't necessarily true. Although I personally would usually turn to Electro, B-Boy Funk, or Hip-Hop DJ's cutting up and mixing old Soul records, when I wanted more "fun" Hip-Hop.

Then of course there's the real Old School stuff from the late seventies to mid-eighties (Grand Wizard Theodore, Cold Crush Brothers, Kurtis Blow, Blondie (yes, Blondie), Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, etc.).

Anyhow, did anyone listen to the Akbar song that I posted?

[padma norbu]

So what do you call all the newer stuff? Here in the states, it's pretty much all hip hop now.

PS I listened to just enough of the video you posted to know I don't like it. I heard the way he delivered his lines and I've heard it before, it's like an intense delivery knock you down on the floor, cuz its life like that so real its unreal, gotta slap yourself to wake up you know how it feel? :: little doodly noisy over a simple beat ::

[Lhug-Pa]

Like the RZA (of Wu-Tang Clan and Kill Bill soundtrack fame) said, many radio stations claim that their station is the "Home of Hip-Hop" or "Where Hip-Hop lives", but they don't play any Hip-Hop records.

And like I said about that Youtube vid, the upload quality is poor, so it sounds a lot more crisp and clear straight from record (in fact, that song is only available wax, and by people who recorded the vinyl playing non-digitally just to get it up on Youtube; so it must be real Hip-Hop ).

Here's a similar song by Rakim Allah:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ8g4FCNYtQ


Pete Rock:





I like RZA's ending line there "From the Valley's of Ohio to the sands of Cairo/'still hit like the whirlwind kick of Ryu".



Of course the Genius comes through with the Chess metaphors and similes.

Speaking of genius, MF Doom is a lyrical genius, literally:





The kind of Hip-Hop that I've mostly liked is too raw for a lot of people, I guess an acquired taste like Asunthatneversets said about Heavy Metal.

Aren't you from New York Padma Norbu? I thought that artists like Rakim and KRS-ONE are as well known to people out there as Britney Spears is to Midwest suburbanites lol. Or was it Boston? I remember seeing you mention somewhere that you're from the East Coast.

I found some other good tracks, but I lost my post and don't have time to repost it all.

[padma norbu]

All of this is hip hop as far as I know; I'm familiar with all the artists you've mentioned thus far. Everyone calls it hip hop. For a while in college I thought Wu Tang must be something really cool because all these skater kids and graphic designers loved them. Then, I heard them and was quite disappointed. Every time anyone has told me that such-and-such artist is different (KRS-1 comes to mind), I was always disappointed. Whatever you call it, imo everything got less creative and more annoying after Run DMC and De La Soul ... I actually liked those guys.

[Lhug-Pa]

Wu-Tang Clan is hit or miss. On one song they'll rhyme about being Conscious, uplifting the Black Community, etc.; but then the next song they'll glorify drugs and violence. It would be one thing if they implied something like "Yea it's horrible, but that's just how it is"; however they don't always imply that, because they often imply the glorification of it rather. Maybe it's in a way merely in the context of entertainment (such as with violent rated R movies), but still not good IMO.

KRS-ONE is considered one of the best of all time, but he's really hit or miss for me too. A friend of mine said he thinks that KRS-ONE thinks himself the most poignant person ever, when he's not. He can come off that way, and there are MC's who I would consider to be more poignant. KRS-ONE is still classic though.

De La Soul is great.

Never been much of a Run-DMC fan. I think they're partly responsible for the over-commercialization of Hip-Hop (West Coast Gangster Rap and Southern-Bounce styles kind of ruined it too). Although I don't think Hip-Hop ever reached its full potential. For example Canibus is another lyrical genius, however a lot of his music has so much negativity woven into it that it just ruins it for me (not to mention that only some of the production for his songs is very good). But I've never been in his shoes so I can't judge. Just not my cup of tea in regard to a lot of his work. If Canibus always sought great production and had more positive lyrics, he could have taken Hip-Hop to a level it had never known.

If all the very best of Hip-Hop that has ever been made got compiled into a few dozen albums, it would still be pretty phenomenal. But yeah, Old School and early to mid 90's is overall the best.

Notice how the songs I've posted have all been swear-word free (well, the RZA dropped the 'N' word, but of course he's allowed to without it being a curse-word). There is a relatively large amount of Hip-Hop like this, although I wish there were more. Guess that's the Kali-Yuga for ya.

Also, many Hip-Hop artists rhyme about "Illuminati"-related topics; although unfortunately for Palestinians and naive Westerners, some Hip-Hop artists claim Islam but then turn around and support Zionism.

A lot of Hip-Hop artists are Freemasons too. In fact, some Hip-Hop lingo comes from Masonry, and some Masonic lingo in turn comes from Islam.

[treehuggingoctopus]

Not really OT, but simply irresistible here: Lemmy the old hippie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KGgOFFQxnY

As one of the comments said, "I am coming to the conclusion that there was never NOT a time when Lemmy was a badass."

There's a still earlier Lemmy, two or three years before he joined the Sam Gopal ensemble - less hippy and much more rockabilly; will post it when I've re-found it. Curiously, the one Sam Gopal album on which he sang features also stunning displays of Lemmy's soft and tender side By which I mean, he actually can quite nicely sing

[gregkavarnos]

Wu-Tang Clan is hit or miss. On one song they'll rhyme about being Conscious, uplifting the Black Community, etc.; but then the next song they'll glorify drugs and violence.

It's because Wu Tang Clan are not a band but a syndicate.

[Lhug-Pa]

It's because Wu Tang Clan are not a band but a syndicate.

They even have a group that's part of "The Wu-Tang Family" called "The Syndicate".

There are some members of the Wu-Tang Clan who support Zionism, like the Caucasian Ashkenazi "Wu-Tang Fam" member known as "Remedy", and the Wu-Tang Clan members who have gone on tour with him in Tel Aviv while he shouts Zionist propaganda on stage. Although I think there was some sort of beef about this with the Moroccan Muslim "Wu-Tang Fam" member known as Cilvaringz.

And East Coast Hip-Hop is usually not associated with Gangster Rap, however I've heard the RZA, and Vinnie Paz from Jedi Mind Tricks, make references to possibly being involved with the Bloods.

Wu-Tang also rhymes about having Mafia and apparently even Chinese Triad ties too.

I've read some things that implied that Chinese Triads were originally authentic Buddhist/Taoist-hybrid 'Mystery Schools', before they became corrupt (see the writings of J.S.M. Ward and Manly P. Hall 33°).

[tobes]

Thoughts on GZA's Liquid Swords?

Never really dug hip-hop, then listened to this....

[Lhug-Pa]

Looks like it's a dead link. Which song is it?

Mastakilla and GZA/Genius are my favorite Wu-Tang MC's, with RZA probably coming in third.

Liquid Swords and Beneath the Surface are two of the best Wu-Tang Clan albums for sure.

I'm not such a big Wu-Tang fan anymore, although listening to their music is a guilty pleasure every once in a while.

By the way, the Wu-Tang Clan offshoot I mentioned earlier is "Wu Syndicate" not "The Syndicate".

[Virgo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ8g4FCNYtQ

I remember I bought the day it came out.

Kevin

[asunthatneversets]

When I was trying to fit in with Straightedge kids I listened to some Hardcore
.

Me too, except I still do... been straight edge for 10 years now.. Woooo. I love indie rock and hip hop and all that too though, love all music.

[Lhug-Pa]

I never did claim Straightedge though. I was just drug-free when I used to run with those kids (and am drug-free now, although I wasn't for a number of years). Still see some of them around every now and then, and we're still cool.

My brief Hipster phase was only because of the girls, and I wasn't all that successful at that. Met some cool kids though, and can still do Indie-Rock every once in a while.

[Lhug-Pa]

Although isn't any "it was only a phase" scenario because of the girls?

Jokes aside, it's good to see that you've stayed true to the Straightedge way of life Asunthatneversets. A lot of kids sold out (but according to one Hipster kid I knew, they just grew up; as if he had room to talk lol).