Define the decade?

The whole Decades thing last weekend got me thinking of the decade that is nearly passed. I remember only a couple of years ago finding it hard to categorize the 90's but now we are on the verge of another decade ending and this one is even harder to pin down! It is a very difficult task trying to define a music decade and it may take a good few years to decide what this decade really meant. But it's definitely interesting trying. Since the column is pretty much based on the hip-hop and soul side of things, that's what i'll be paying the main attention here!

On the surface this current decade is not over-flowing with music artists who really made an amazing mark. Many of the big players were already established from the 90's and there hasn't really been a major sound revolution in the music for a good while. The impact of the great producers such as the Neptunes and Timbaland has become even more pronounced but both of these were well known already in the 90's. Both have enjoyed huge crossover commercial success and there is no doubt that hip-hop and r&b producers are now massively in demand in the pop world too. Of the artists to capitalise on this Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake have done best, and both are unlikely r&b stars in 2009, alongside the Ushers and Ne-Yo's of the world.

In commercial terms it must also be recognised that another two huge names, Kanye West and Alicia Keys, were both very much products of this decade music wise. Both were schooled on the great music of the past, but both have made credible strides forward this decade while selling millions of records; a pretty difficult task! Alicia Keys is is total control of an impressive young career and she already has at least 3 or 4 classic soul singles to her name. Kanye has become bigger than ever while taking lots of risks, and it's not bad for a guy who was written off as a nobody when he first came out. The other commercially successful artist who has defined this decade is Amy Winehouse, remarkably so given that her first album was a slow-burner that didn't sell.

Mark Ronsons involvement in the second album helped, and his own style echoed another of this decades trends; live funk instrumentation rather than just samples. You can find this in much of the best soul and hip-hop these days and it's a welcome development. Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild and many more soul and r&b artists continue to make quality music, and it's fair to say that there is a better appreciation of the past than ever before aswell. In hip-hop this is also the case, and we now have live jazz bands paying homage to hip-hop classics that sampled jazz originally! But hip-hop, as much as it thrives underground, has had a more conflicting journey through commercial success.

There's more rappers selling more music than ever before, but the charts are awash with lightweight pop rap. In a way, this was always the way, and we should be thankful for the great hip-hop that still comes out today. Again, many of the best are not exclusively from this decade. Jay Z, MF Doom and even Missy Elliot, are three i've picked who have had a good decade, but all are rap veterans. This decade saw the world accept that the late J Dilla was one of the greatest hip-hop producers of all time, but many of the true heads knew this back in the 90's. Dr Dre, another great producer but one who sells lots of records, has helped define 3 different decades of music now but he is also not new. Hip-hop in the 00's will live under the shadow of previous decades.

In similar terms to Dre but with less hype, the soul singer and producer Raphael Saadiq has been doing it for years under his different guises but in truth i could mention many more. It is great to see artists such as M.I.A. and Santogold mixing up various styles into something new, and it's the same for the amazing Outkast and Cee-Lo of Gnarls Barkley (another 90's veteran). His side-kick Dangermouse is even more eclectic and produced seminal music all decade, as did Madlib and plenty others too. The more i think of it, when we look back in 20 years time, this decade may start to look better than it does right now!

Here are some tunes from the decade gone by! (Check out the Jay Z vid with Timbaland too)

Tune of the day! Jay Z

Kanye West rocks Jam at the Pavilion with Kid Cudi at the N.A.S.A. gig

Kanye West suprised loads of Cork music fans by turning up last night to my Jam night in the Pavilion in Cork and performing alongside fellow rapper Kid Cudi at an intimate gig by hot U.S. supergroup N.A.S.A.! Earlier Kanye had rocked Live at the Marquee in Cork for the 3rd time but the 300 strong crowd at the much smaller Pavilion couldn't believe it when he took to the stage just after 1a.m. and rapped on his own "Gifted" track from N.A.S.A.'s "Spirit of the Apollo" album, which features guests such as Kanye, Tom Waits, M.I.A, George Clinton and more.
I was tipped off only shortly before-hand, and made sure that Kanye's visit was kept slightly under wraps. He was basically unwinding after his show and our staff made sure he was left to mind his own business. He is friends with Sam Spiegel of N.A.S.A. and he wanted to hang out and see the show. Most of the people in the club didn't know he was there till he jumped on stage! I warmed up for Kanye on his previous two visits to Cork but this was his first time meeting him properly. Kanye was well cool, very laid-back and down-to-earth, a million miles from the public persona to be honest. I was pretty happy that he came down to our club but when he got up and performed I nearly hit the roof! Kid Cudi joined in too and they sane his "Day N Night" number and it rounded off a terrific night for everyone who was there. Kanye's performance at the Marquee was a much more mature and rounded one this time, and everyone at the Pavilion could see the passion that the guy has for his music. Respect!

Death of Auto-tune = Rebirth of hip-hop?

Jay Z has released the biggest hip-hop tune so far this summer with "Death of Auto-tune". It's been massive since it first leaked a few weeks ago and it has provoked loads of debate in hip-hop, which is a good thing. The last time something like this happened was when Nas released "Hip-hop is dead" a couple of years ago but the Jay Z track is far superior and likely to shake things up more.

Nas has always been acclaimed as one of the best modern day rappers and his legacy was secure from the day he released his stunning "Illmatic" album 15 years ago. Jay Z came out the same time with "Reasonable Doubt" and though both went through dodgy periods before their own rivalry helped bring back the hunger, it is safe to say that both are still two of the finest rappers in the world today. Jay Z has undoubtedly got a bigger profile at this stage though and this is one of the reasons why it is good that he is behind this incredible new tune. There are hundreds of rappers bringing out tracks with similar sentiments every year, but when the likes of Jay Z lambast the entire hip-hop industry people tend to sit up and take notice, especially since he is a respected business player now too.

Musically, it's an impossible track to ignore which helps. The distinctive horn samples come from "In the space" by French film composer Janko and it will stay in your head all day. The bridge is inspired by Steams "Na na hey hey kiss him goodbye" and it is a banging production by No I.D. Kanye West, who recorded a whole album using auto-tune last year, is being heralded as a co-writer and producer in some circles but it seems likely that this is not the case. Kanye will hold down some production duties on the new Jigga album though and it is fairly likely he had given Jay Z his blessing for this track, since he himself has more-or-less left auto-tune behind since last year too.

Auto-tune is a pitch correction vocoder that's use has exploded in hip-hop over the last few years and the likes of Kanye and T-Pain have been using it very heavily in commercially successful hip-hop and r&b tunes. Even though it echoes some of the great sonic vocoding sounds that Roger Troutman made famous with Zapp nearly 30 years ago, the use of auto-tune became very fashionable within modern day music and it is far to say that Jay Z is right to attack the over-kill we are experiencing. He is in fired-up form and starts with rhymes that leave is in doubt that mainstream hip-hop is his target, proclaiming "This is anti auto-tune, death of the ringtone, this ain't for i tunes, this ain't for sing-along". Jay Z proceeds to basically tear it up over a few minutes that will certainly make many rappers think twice before they hit the studio next time out. The tune is everywhere and the different versions are already coming out too; hopefully Jay Z's tune will result in many other big name rappers stepping up their game because at the moment mainstream hip-hop is very poor.

Jay Z and Nas have both been guilty of watering down the genre themselves but overall it is fair to say that they are hip-hop fans at heart. Kanye too is is an innovator who still has respect and as a fan of hip-hop I hope that all of these big names inspire others to get back to what Jay Z is saying are the basics of the genre. There are too many guest producer driven albums featuring too many guests spots and too many gimmicks. I'm not nostalgic and moaning that the old stuff was always better and I'm certainly a fan of the best modern day stuff but I do hope that Jay Z's influence helps create a situation where we can turn on MTV in 12 months time and hear plenty of quality hip-hop rather than generic ringtone rap!

Bart v Kanye

Thanks to @brenjamin on Twitter