Street Rap Back?

First Tupac was back.  Then Reebok.  Then Snap Backs.  Well now I have my own declaration.  Street Rap Back!  I already wrote about how I think rap is at a similar place compared to where rock was at in the late 1980’s with hair metal.  So I’m sitting here waiting for a symbolic Nirvana of rap to come along and make rap edgy again.  And this is coming from the same person who was championing the new wave of hipster/glam/techno rap or whatever you want to call it a year and a half ago.  Now my tune is changing.  Below are some of the artists that are responsible for that switch.

Alley Boy

This guy is definitely on the top of my list.  This Definition Of F*ck Sh*t Mixtape Pt. 2 project he dropped last week really solidified him musically to me.  Dude brings the listener to the trap while he is hitting that lik.  It’s powerful when a rapper can do that.  Plus there are the things outside of the music.  There is the fact Alley has threatened to extort anyone trying to shoot a video in Atlanta without his approval.  Then there was the whole Yung L.A. incident.  Dude is just using violence as a marketing tool.  I’m a dirtbag and I kind of think that’s awesome.  Plus this guy hands down has the best face tattoo game in rap.  The cross next to his right eye is menacing as f*ck.  Getting a designer sunglasses logo or an ice cream tattoo on your face doesn’t scare me.  But that cross tells me Alley Boy has absolutely nothing to lose.  Not sure why, but it does.   The industry can be scared of real, but Alley will not be ignored.

Fat Trel

Hands down one of my favorite rappers out right now.  Funny I was just talking about face tattoos because face tattoo rap may be the newest and most important genre in rap.  The DC native mixes it up by having the matching eye face tatts.  Trel was down with Wale before beefing with him for jacking his delivery or something (who really knows).  While that’s a tough accusation to prove I do think Trel would have been a better signing for MMG over Wale.  Wale ain’t built for street style Lex Luger type music.  Fat Trel definitely is.  He also has this sweet Slutty Boyz movement going for him.  Trel pretty much raps about rolling on ecstasy and whore mongering in a clever and hilarious way.  It never gets boring.  It’s really party music with a street element.  That’s why I think Fat Trel has potential to win commercially.  Be sure to start with his No Secrets mixtape and then follow up with April Foolz.

Nipsey Hu$$le

I’m not giving up on this guy.  I think his business got f*cked.  He got signed to a major label at what might have been the peak of the decline in the music business to a label that seemed to be shying away from rap music.  However, I’m not interested in getting caught up in Nipsey’s business.  What I am interested in talking about is his music.  It’s just good.  From Bullets Aint Got No Name Vol 1-3 to his most recent offering The Marathon.  The music is there.  I know that isn’t necessarily enough in 2011, but I think the guy has what it takes to end up popping some Rosé in celebration of his success.

Boldy James

Gets out of prison.  Gets picked up in a hot boi Benz.  Returns to seclusion to be alone with his gun.  That’s some street sh*t.  That video is off his Trapper’s Alley: Pros & Cons mixtape that obviously had 28 songs on it to represent every gram in an ounce.  That’s what his music represents.  The struggle of a low level/hand to hand drug dealer.  It ain’t a glamorous life, as much as a way of survival.  A point Boldy makes sure is never lost.  Too be honest there are definitely some throw away tracks on the mixtape considering there are 28 tracks.  However a good place to start is with videos like “I Sold Dope All My Life” & “Jimbo“.  However you gotta listen to “Home Invasion” for the purposes of this post.  #Concreatures.  Get right or go left!

Trouble

I don’t want Trouble with Trouble.  That video was really my introduction to Trouble.  If you want to make a Street Rap Back post, the first thing you need to do is make a video with tons of dudes in DTE shirts/black masks in a hood cul da sac with tons of guns.  That gets my attention.  Plus it doesn’t hurt when you get Yo Gotti, Trae Tha Truth, and Waka Flocka on the remix.  So I had to back track and post his December 17th mixtape.  Trouble is just this new dude in the game naming names and simply not giving a f*ck.  I have respect for that.  Those DTE dudes certainly roll with an the attitude that they have nothing to lose.  It manages to keep things interesting.

2 Chainz

First off this guy actually got me to not call him Tity Boi.  I’ll let him live, but Tity Boi does have to be one of the best rap names ever.  He’s definitely the most buzzing or whatever artist on this list.  I might have been late to the bubble, but he dropped that Codeine Cowboy mixtape and 2 Chainz seemed to be the new name coming out of everyone’s mouth.  With lines like “I Just Call Her Boo, I Don’t Know Her Whole Name, Keep It On The Low Man, All We Eat Is Lo Mein” why wouldn’t it be?  Let’s be real the whole smoke hella blunts while drinking lean wave is cool these days and 2 Chainz has it down to a T.  Just ripping blunts and drinking lean out of his personalized Codeine Cowboy Styrofoam cups while in a western inspired Bon Jovi sampled crossover video.  Done and done.  2 Chainz gets in the f*cking post.  Plus his verse on the remix of Juicy J’s “A Zip & A Double Cup” was stoooopid.

“Smoking on a bunch of blunts/sipping on Ms Buttersworth/house with a bunch of sluts/I’m bout to bust a bunch of nuts/walking out the Double Tree/with my double cup“