Uptown Notes

Remember when Gangstarr was talking about that mass appeal? I’ve always felt there were some rappers that had that mass appeal, but never could quite put my finger on it. Now the folks I’m referring to are groups or individuals that you wouldn’t suspect would end up on my musical rotation, but when they come around, they get burn, consistently. These are the groups that you see doing collaboration and go… wtf? Four groups/rappers quickly come to mind:
1) UGK – Undergroud Kingz
2) DJ Quik
3) MOP- Mash Out Posse
4) Too $hort

Real talk, why is it so hard to resist a UGK song? I was listening to that new Ear Drum and Talib’s collabo with UGK immediately pulled me in. And it’s not just me, one of my homegirls recently commented when she gets to the pearly gates they were gonna be like, “Wait, you’re a feminist and you listen to UGK! They had a song call Pregnant Pussy.” The fact is that no matter where most of our morals stand, there’s something about these folks’ music. I’ve never been a big Quik fan, but I know a lot of headwrapped, vegan, third-eye concentrating, backpack wearing, Quik fans. Why? I’m not sure at all. His and Short’s music really fall in the clasical etymological definition of miscogyny. My favorite of them all is MOP. Since I first heard them, I’ve been down to rob the bodega and yap fools. Why, I don’t know, but their material is so ill to me. For some their guilty pleasures, but to me they’re as much a part of Hip-Hop as break beats and BDP. I guess this will help motivate me to retype my long post on Hip-Hop and Accountability that got lost in cyber space.
There is no true point to this post other than to say out loud that these groups are transcendent and wonder why. Why could they easily be categorized as exploitative and harmful, but still draw me and others in. Is it there content, their flow, or something beyond that. You feel me? And for the all the UGK Kast fans this is my joint!