blog: Hiphopopotamus

We just took a quick glance at the top 10 on the Billboard 200 for this week, only to find that the sole representative for hip hop is Kanye West with his vocoder-heavy, nearly rap-free record, 808s and Heartbreak at #8 (T.I.'s Paper Trail is resting in solitary [oops] at #12).

The hell is going on? Is hip hop dying? Is it already dead? Or are the hottest artists just hiding beneath the radar?

We miss that Golden Age of hip hop, the mid-80's to mid-90's days when artists took chances, made an art of sampling, spoke freely and authoritatively without fear of public backlash and more than anything, RAPPED. If something sounded like Auto-Tune, you know it was probably a Zapp sample. All those sounds that would have been perfect for a ringtone? Actual keyboards, damnit, either sampled or played live in the studio.

Whatever the case, it looks like some of our favorite vendors out there are feeling the same way. Karmaloop has three tees for the Golden Age Hip Hop Head out there, including RockSmith's ATLiens Tee, the Tricknology Tee by Alphanumeric, and a more abstract reference to rap's glory days, the Do As De La Does - No Swine! Tee from Sons Of Liberty.

Atlanta representers OutKast put the south on the map (sorry, 2 Live Crew) with Andre3000 and Big Boi's debut, Southernplayalisticcadillacmuzik, before coming right back two years later to completely space the rap world out with ATLiens, featuring the single "Elevators (Me & You)." The ATLiens Tee takes reference from that single's chorus, and Karmaloop brings back an old winner because 2009 gon' be that year that all y'all playa haters can bite us... around this bitch...

Where is the Prophet when we need him most? Karmaloop teams with Alphanumeric to bring you the Tricknology Tee, in memory of Jeru the Damaja's classic banger "Revenge of the Prophet" from Wrath of the Math. As you can see, Tricknology is up to his old games of mind control, so take a tongue-in-cheek stab back at the bastard and let the herb know you think for your own damn self.

Finally, new Sons Of Liberty joint, the Do As De La Does - No Swine! Tee cites the vintage video for De La Soul's "Breakadawn" joint from Buhloone Mindstate which features Pos rocking this tee back in '93.

Rocksmith has come to the plate swinging with some more tees that touch on the Golden Era, all of which can be seen here, and definitely check out the rest of Alphanumeric and Sons Of Liberty for more forward-thinking, original future classics.