Artist #1 : Hobo Johnson

Hi Charlie ! It's been a while...

Okay, for those who don't know me, 2 things : I'm often bored and I like music. So, I thought that I could combine the two and write an article on the blog about music. But I'm going to do more ; I commit to writing an article each week about a not-that-famous artist we should all know. I’ll try to do different styles, but I can assure you there won’t be any metal/hard rock bands. Yes I know this means 40% of the OIB not reading my articles, but hey, we’re on Charlie’s OIB, only secondes go here – and the teachers. I’ll also create a youtube (NOT SPOTIFY SIBYLLE) playlist with a few songs from the artist.

So today, the artist is Hobo Johnson ! 

So, he is a Californian “rapper”, or emo rapper according to Wikipedia ; yes, I know when I say that you all think about a guy that mumbles about how he hates himself. Actually you’re very far ; his rap and the music are really dynamic. He is also really funny, and you can listen to his music at any time, it’s not demanding at all, as Radiohead for example. What I really like about him is that often he places the words slightly off beat which gives the impression he’s talking to us. He mentions a lot his dad – he seemed to have many problems – and maybe because he kicked him out of his house so he became homeless – his stage name comes from that. I have nothing more to say, so I’ll just talk about some of my favourite songs from him

Typical Story : I think that this song is more rock than rap, apart from the singing (is that how you say in rap music, I’m a normie, excuse me) itself. When I feel bit down and don’t want to listen to Radiohead – yes, them, again – I listen to this song, and it kind of boosts me.

Ugly Kid : I just love the music in this song, really beautiful. I don’t know what else to say. 

Additional information : He made a lot of lives in numerous gardens and an incredible one in Tiny Desk ; I’ll put all the videos in the playlist ! 

Here's the link : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKEiDghku6LGg-Z133ndOvMvu3FOzbsnD

HIP-HOP Part 1: The Birth

Hello hello,

I wanted to write something about hip-hop (Lisa's great article inspired me I must confess). 

It is something very dear to me and I would like to share on the subject and if you happen to dislike or don’t know a lot about it then this article is for you. 

Hip-hop is such a wide universe I’m sure you’ll find something to entertain or transport you into this magical universe.  I think there is an undeniable historical aspect to hip hop culture that is almost as interesting as the music itself (or maybe I’m just weirdly fascinated by the period). Hip Hop is almost 50 years old; it was born in the 70s in New York, in the Bronx to be more specific, at a time when economical struggle was gathering young people with 2 ideas in their minds: the urge to party to escape the current situation, and question the established order. But I’m not qualified enough to tell you about this life changing creation, I will leave you with these 3 recommendations to discover it on your own:

1.      SERIES AND CINEMA:                                                                                                     

     The first thing coming to my mind would be The Get Down. You’ve probably heard of it, if you haven’t, it’s a series directed by the great Baz Lurhmann (Romeo + Juliet, The Great Gatsby, Moulin Rouge!) about the creation of hip hop. It’s amazing the songs in this series are a work of art on their own. It stars some pretty famous actors like Jaden Smith (The Pursuit Of Happiness), Jimmy Smits (Dexter, Sons Of Anarchy) or even Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito.

      Hip-Hop’s birth inspired many directors or even rappers who decided to make a movie out of their stories: Eminem starred in the almost-autobiographical 8 Miles, Notorious was made about the rap legend Notorious Big, or more recently a movie was made about the pioneer group N.W.A, called N.W.A: Straight Outta Compton. 

2.      COMICS AND BOOKS:                                                                                                          

      I’ve recently discovered Hip Hop Family Tree. This is a series of comic books by Ed Piskor, retracing the birth of hip hop. This is a great way to learn about hip hop and the major rappers behind the movement. You will find yourself dived in this overwhelming 70s musical atmosphere. In a similar spirit, I could recommend The Rap Year Book by Shea Serrano. This instructive book retraces famous songs from the early 80s until nowadays, feature some really entertaining drawings and graphics.                                    And if you still haven’t had enough, famous rapper Jay Z wrote a biography but I haven’t read it so I wouldn’t know if it will increase your hip-hop knowledge. Or you could read Tupac’s poetry book The Rose That Grew from Concrete.

      3.EXHIBIT:                                                                                                                       

      I only have one to recommend sorry… Hip-Hop : un âge d'or 1970-1995 is an exhibit taking place at the MAC and it’s up until the 14^th of January. I don’t think I’m learning anything to you here, I’m sure you’ve already all seen the posters of this exhibit in Marseille. And if you haven’t seen it yet, I would strongly recommend you do, as I think it is the ultimate element missing from your amazing Hip Hop discovery. The exhibit doesn’t really include a lot of recent groups or artists (even if some of them are still doing music like IAM or Snoop Dog), however I’m sure you’ll recognize some faces as it also follows the birth of the French hip hop’s stage. There is a lot covered there: from New York to Marseille, the 70s to the late 90s, posters, pictures, audios, clothes…  

Hip-Hop is mainly a musical movement so I guess I should recommend some music but I’m not sure where to start, so I’ll leave that for another article. However, there are some amazing playlists out there to discover a variety of classical hip-hop songs (the “Ultimate Hip Hop Playlist” by The Guardian on Spotify for example) or I could even recommend listening to The Get Down’s soundtrack, because trust me, it is that good.

I hoped you enjoyed reading me,

Inès.

Big Flo & Oli - The proof that French rap can be awesome

Hi there Charlie.

It has been a while since I posted an article, so here it is, hope you'll like it, I'll try to make it a bit different from what I usually do.

So! now that you know me and my tastes in terms of music, you might think "oh well, another article on rock I guess", jokes on you, today I'm talking about rap, French rap!

So for most people, French rap is usually synonym of an over "autotuned", poorly written and commercial music (and I think our "local star" here in Marseille is a perfect example of that). But hold on, if Maitre Gims, Kaaris, Jul or even Black M manage to hold an important place in the box office, we shouldn't forget that French rap also used to be this:

Now I don't want to sound like the average (old) guy saying that "uuuuuhhhhh only old rap is good uuuuuhhhh", because I'm not. Honestly I'm not that much into rap, though I had the chance to discover some new talents thanks to a YouTuber that I think most of you know here: LinksTheSun. Indeed, thanks to him I could discover two young people from Toulouse: Big Flo & Oli.

Florian and Olivio are two young talents that emerged thanks to Internet, and you probably know them for songs such as "Comme d'hab" or "Gangsta". These records are indeed quite good (Gangsta is one of the funniest songs I know) but they are perhaps not the ones that show how much they are talented. In fact if most people know them, it's not because they preted to own thousands of guns and being the toughest guys on the planet, but mostly for their honesty: they don't pretend to be someone that they are not, they are completely honest about their life of average young adults (and also the changes that their career brings into their life). If their thematic was the only good thing about them, they wouldn't be that famous right? So here is the thing:

They are extremely talented.

Lyrics, rhymes, rhythm, flow, figures of speech... these guys have everything. And when you mix that with great music (both of them went to the conservatory), it gives us one of the best rappers that we can now hear. They are really making (street) poetry. But perhaps some of you might not know them already, no problem, here are some excellent records from them:

Je suis is certainly my favourite song from them, I have no words.

Aujourd'hui is one of those "feel good" songs that you can listen to when you feel down.

Jeunesse Influençable is (to me) one of their most serious records, one of those songs that want to show the youth (or perhaps ask them) what is going wrong with them.

Gangsta is clearly the song that represent them the most: just average young adults who assume their average life.

That's all for me Charlie, I'm trying to change a bit the form of my articles, so I won't post much articles before I find a new style.

See ya!

P.S: You should go and see LinksTheSun's analysis of Je suis, it's simply brilliant.