Liam Michael Arthur Briggs, also known as DJ Anti Hero, says hip-hop has lost its way. Tomorrow night in Taichung at Light Lounge, he aims to put that to rights with Marcus Aurelius and Mr Blends in a night of block party hip-hop spun by DJs who really know their stuff.
“There are still plenty of artists pushing it and putting out quality, but it’s the exception rather than the rule,” said Briggs on the current state of rap.
After hip-hop blew up and the genre became more defined, “the industry saw a certain formula that worked, that consistently made money,” said Briggs. “They chose a certain sound that worked ... formed a cookie cutter and started churning out what was safe for them to sell and what they knew would be easy to digest.”
Tunes on offer at Light Lounge will include some golden era hip-hop, “which was the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was much more diverse than it is now,” said Briggs.
Since the 1990s, “there is music produced that is as intelligent both in lyrics and beat production, by guys like Rhymefest and EMC,” said Briggs, “but for the most part, the hip-hop people hear in clubs and on the radio is that it has become a self-perpetuating stereotype ... of the sort that hip-hop originally fought so hard against.”
“Musically however,” said Briggs, “the production value has gone up — but the musical quality has gone down.”
Rock A Block, tomorrow from 10pm until 5am at Light Lounge, B1, 85, Huamei W St Sec 1, Taichung City (台中市華美西街一段85號B1). Admission is NT$300 with a drink.
As you may have heard already, there is only one other party going of note going on this weekend before Halloween.
Adam Freeland from the UK produces sounds perfectly pitched to The Wall, where he plays tonight: nu-breaks and indie-electro. Interestingly, he is only playing in Shanghai and Taipei in Asia before heading to San Francisco and then to cap it all off, Leeds, England on Nov. 5.
Adam Freeland tonight from 11pm until 4am at The Wall (這牆), B1, 200, Roosevelt Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路四段200號B1). Admission is NT$900 on the door.
On the Net: www.freeland.fm; www.thewall.com.tw
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