Suburbs vs. Skyscrapers (Or Why Your Boss Extorts You For Lunch Money Every Single Day)

Aug 31, 2007

Suburbs vs. Skyscrapers (Or Why Your Boss Extorts You For Lunch Money Every Single Day) · by Thaddeus Clark

“Everything looks the same when you’re blazing by, City lines run from you devious to the eye,
In previous times parameters were defined, Now we keep intersecting with the transient kind…”

Some people are waiting for the day when an alien species lands on earth and kills all of our Crunk, Hipster, & Gangster Rappers (except the ones from NYC of course).

These people may or may not also be waiting for Season 7 of the Sopranos, Armageddon, and quite possibly, Jesus.

For them hip-hop is last on the donor list and in dire need of a soul transplant.

Maybe they’re right?

Or maybe they’re looking for something that isn’t there?

Because my Astronomy teacher says “if you’re always staring into the sky you’re not going to see what’s in front of you.”

Can’t artists innovate in different ways?

If I’m not mistaken you can innovate through “Incremental Progress” or you can take “The Leap.”

We all know what The Leap sounds like…

Leaps are paradigm shifting, nothing will be the same, “I know where I was when I heard it“ moments for music.

But it takes a keener eye to see the incremental innovation of The Roots, Young Jeezy, or Jay Z.

These types of artists keep improving on one template by expanding their sound, delving deeper into concepts through their songwriting, or both.

Unfortunately, if you as a fan have any of the following symptoms:

Persistent bitterness due to lack of sexual activity?
Confusion arising from ironing clothes too often?
Indigestion from eating at places where they actually seat you?

Then the incremental innovations that have been happening in hip-hop may be slipping right-past your rolling eyes.

You may even tune out completely and miss when someone makes another leap.

By then it’s too late.

Thaddeus Clark is 1/2 of Side Hustle.
Side Hustle is currently preparing “Sidewalks & Streets.”
If you can understand what “demo” means and promise to not listen on some little-ass-speakers,
then you can preview Side Hustle’s rough recordings here.

Comments for "Suburbs vs. Skyscrapers (Or Why Your Boss Extorts You For Lunch Money Every Single Day)"

I couldn’t agree more, a lot of people spend so much time complaining about the quality of hip hop and the lack innovation that they miss the songs they were longing for.

— Ammon-Ra Aug 31, 09:52 AM
dont want to be negative nancy, and I can see how this is innovative for hip hop, but for music as a whole, its just dudes rapping over early 90s electronic warp/harthouse/r&s grooves.

kind of like timbo discovering trance music and incorporating it into his hip pop beats….

— wax Aug 31, 11:14 AM
innovative songs are great; innovative albums are even better.

For those whose formative years were shaped by tons of great albums, it’s often hard to shake that preference.

I’d be curious to hear from older heads who came up before the album explosion.

— eauhellzgnaw Aug 31, 11:42 AM
truly next level blogging.game stepped up thoughts unlocked and what you have here is a timely commentary on the state of the culture. whereas 13 years ago we watched all the media outlets for the next dope shit. these days you need to look farther than what is being served. its like high school cafeteria lunch meat compared to sonic restaurants. but where the fuck are the sonic restaurants?

— Jay B Aug 31, 12:48 PM
Wax – all this time I thought artists were creating music from scratch with no previous influences, but you’re now showing me the light.

The Beatles = just some White guys banging on guitars and drums and trying to sing like the Black guys they grew up listening to…

Run DMC = just some dudes from Queens rapping like the guys from Manhattan but without the shiny suits…

D’Angelo = just some guy singing and playing the Rhodes like that one Blind Guy who did it in the 70’s…

The tools artists use and the influences that inspire them are the “music as a whole,” and part of a continuum; not lesser versions of something that “just” happens.

“It is just that we should be grateful, not only to those with whose views we may agree, but also to those who have expressed more superficial views; for these also contributed something, by developing before us the powers of thought.” – Aristotle

— Thaddeus Clark Aug 31, 01:09 PM
I have no idea what that was, but it wasn’t a boring read.

— sankofa Aug 31, 01:55 PM
as long as there is hip hop there will be someone there to say why it isnt as good as: (insert favorite mc here)
now as sad as the lack of proper coverage on real hip hop is, there is something nice about it… you can be a self righteous ass at the drop of a dime and school “them ignant mufucka’s” you should feel all warm and fuzzy inside… after all you have the knowledge that real hip hop never died, it just got chased away by the replicators afraid of having their gimmicks exposed… theres an infinite amount of scapegoats or reasons as to why the “sonic restaraunts” got turned into kentucky fried audio… rant over.

— lil sum'n sum'n Aug 31, 07:59 PM