[CLum]

Most of my favorites don't have the greatest production but I still love them non the less. Just wondering if there are any that will hold up to our high standards.

Lets please keep to the topic. We don't need another audiophiles against hip-hop thread.

 

[s m @]

Well, I like and listen to some hip hop, but I'm still going to say that in general SQ doesn't matter too much for this genre. To me, on the vocals (as much as I like some of it) there's just not the subtlety there that demands audiophile quality recording. It's not the same as someone singing, where pitch comes into play, as well as timbre etc. And the other portion of hip hop recordings, the production (ie. music/instruments) could in theory benefit from good SQ, but in practice it's hard to really achieve, or even pin down. The reason being, what you're hearing there is actually (in most cases) a recording of a recording -- samples. So even if the guy putting the end product together wants to pay attention to SQ, what he's working from is not often a direct, high-rez digital recording, and never original analog tapes, or anything like that. Most often the source of the sounds is a beat up old record. And just culturally I don't think much attention is paid to SQ by the people who make hip hop music.

So that's a long way of saying, no I don't have any hip hop that I'd consider to have great SQ. But that's OK. I will say that my favourite way to hear that kind of music (and many others) is on vinyl, since it has that full low end that really works well for it.

I also know that some Ice Cube CD's were reissued in the HDCD format, but I've heard they sound terrible. Also NWA's were too I think, haven't heard anything about those.... that sort of thing's not really my cup of tea.

 

[jjhatfield]

Quote:

Originally Posted by s m @ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, I like and listen to some hip hop, but I'm still going to say that in general SQ doesn't matter too much for this genre. To me, on the vocals (as much as I like some of it) there's just not the subtlety there that demands audiophile quality recording. It's not the same as someone singing, where pitch comes into play, as well as timbre etc. And the other portion of hip hop recordings, the production (ie. music/instruments) could in theory benefit from good SQ, but in practice it's hard to really achieve, or even pin down. The reason being, what you're hearing there is actually (in most cases) a recording of a recording -- samples. So even if the guy putting the end product together wants to pay attention to SQ, what he's working from is not often a direct, high-rez digital recording, and never original analog tapes, or anything like that. Most often the source of the sounds is a beat up old record. And just culturally I don't think much attention is paid to SQ by the people who make hip hop music. So that's a long way of saying, no I don't have any hip hop that I'd consider to have great SQ. But that's OK. I will say that my favourite way to hear that kind of music (and many others) is on vinyl, since it has that full low end that really works well for it. I also know that some Ice Cube CD's were reissued in the HDCD format, but I've heard they sound terrible. Also NWA's were too I think, haven't heard anything about those.... that sort of thing's not really my cup of tea.

Very true s m (love the grinch avatar btw). BUT, and I know this is a small but, but the one element of the music that is not sampled are the vocals. I really enjoy, for example, the way Doom's voice sounds on the Madvillain album.

Stoupe's (of Jedi Mind Tricks) production is always really slick and clean. He uses lots of classical and ethnic European samples. I'm not sure if the SQ of Jedi Mind Tricks' albums would necessarily live up to the high standards Head-Fi audiophiles have, but I'd put Legacy of Blood and Servants in Heaven, Kings In Hell up for contention.

I also think Ghostface's new album sounds ridiculously good SQ wise.

 

[Aman]

Hip hop music can't have good sound quality, ever. It's the characteristic of the genre. The computer-generated sound is not supposed to have realistic qualities. The rapper isn't supposed to contain a wide pitch, but rather, a mastery of speed, percussiveness, rhythm, and lyric.

There are hybrids of hip-hop where quality sound can be achieved, but straight hip-hop music will never be audiophile quality. But, for that kind of music, it doesn't matter. Saul Williams, Blackalicious, Beans, Aceyalone, and Wu Tang will sound good on any system.

 

[debrey]

I find that lots of more recent good hip hop has great production. I found it useful when testing out headphones... You get the subtlty of echos, oversampling, and all sorts of beautiful production.

Some good places to look:

Quasimoto The Unseen (I heard a lot of new stuff for the first time with my Shures).

Madvillian Madvilliany (already mentioned)

Cannibal Ox: The Cold Vein

 

[Zanth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aman /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hip hop music can't have good sound quality, ever. It's the characteristic of the genre. The computer-generated sound is not supposed to have realistic qualities. The rapper isn't supposed to contain a wide pitch, but rather, a mastery of speed, percussiveness, rhythm, and lyric. There are hybrids of hip-hop where quality sound can be achieved, but straight hip-hop music will never be audiophile quality. But, for that kind of music, it doesn't matter. Saul Williams, Blackalicious, Beans, Aceyalone, and Wu Tang will sound good on any system.

Not always so at all. Try any of K-OS' albums, most notably his two most recent. Both offer a variety of instruments played by real people with him interchanging rapping with full on singing. His records are astounding and I generally abhor hip hop.

 

[vapman]

k-os has some of the best recorded stuff i've heard. I'm not very picky about recording quality in hip-hop (my two favorite hip-hop albums are Sole's Bottle of Humans and cLOUDDEAD).

 

[jjhatfield]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zanth /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not always so at all. Try any of K-OS' albums, most notably his two most recent. Both offer a variety of instruments played by real people with him interchanging rapping with full on singing. His records are astounding and I generally abhor hip hop.

I'll have to check out K-OS, I'll admit I've never heard of him. Also, kind of a duh recommendation, but along the same line are The Roots, who also use lots of live instrumentation. Also debrey: word on the Cann Ox recommendation.

I don't think I can necessarily vouch for its SQ, but what a great record.

 

[cantsleep]

give him some live album recommendations.

 

[fat pat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mckickflip /img/forum/go_quote.gif k-os has some of the best recorded stuff i've heard. I'm not very picky about recording quality in hip-hop (my two favorite hip-hop albums are Sole's Bottle of Humans and cLOUDDEAD).

bottle of humans is wonderful, sole ftw

 

[Debaser86]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cantsleep /img/forum/go_quote.gif give him some live album recommendations.

Cold Crush Brothers vs. Fantastic Romantic 5

 

[Solitary1]

The Roots. They play instruments, and generally have good sound quality in their recordings. Also, the Black-Eyed Peas have a 2-disc XRCD set out.

 

[daggerlee]

Why can't hip hop have good production? I actually find hip hop to have some of the best production of any music period. since they use relatively few instruments/sounds in comparison to say, rock, each track has much more dynamic range and doesn't need to be compressed to fit in and be heard, as opposed to, say, any recent rush album. I don't really see why hip hop needs to have sound qualities of 'rock' records to be considered audiophile quality.

 

[JSTpt1022]

I don't listen to alot of hip hop but I am always surprised by how good some of the tracks on Kanye West's Late Registration sound. Not outstanding, but at least pretty good for what I am used to of the genre.

 

[CLum]

Wow I forgot that i made this post. Some good recommendations so far. Already have the new roots album and I look into the K-OS.