Live Band Hip Hop
 

You hear the term thrown around every now and then, usually pertaining in some way to "The Roots" and props to them for becoming as successful as they have. However there are more bands out there than just "The Roots". I hope that we can use this thread to bring some of these other bands to light and share some really good music. Post links, videos, reviews, etc. I'll start things off, here's a video for a very high energy live band hip hop group "The Blend" with the song July, enjoy!



* Also look in the Mixtape thread in the General Music for a Live Band Mixtape I made earlier this afternoon.

Have you heard Art Official Intelligence? Aesop Rock's first band. Very good. Of course there is the Beastie Boys too and A Tribe Called Quest.

Yeah, I just put Artofficial's song "Big City Bright Lights" on a live band hip hop mix tape in the general music section. I use to have the full album, but then I had a little accident and ended up deleting some of my music and unfortunately that was one of the albums. Luckily I had most of it backed up onto my laptop, but it was only the Stranger EP

I have the album and someone else has asked for it so expect a PM soon.

Wait, is it Art Official Intelligence or Artofficial? I think we're talking about two different bands here. None-the-less I love Aesop Rock so if you have Art Official Intelligence I'd love to hear it.

It is Art Official Intelligence and is quite hard to get hold of for some reason. Expect a PM in the next day!

Check out Ozomatli, I saw them last week when they played before Bad Brains, and it was a complete surprise because I never heard of them before. Its a cross between funk, latin, and hip-hop. They had Chali 2na from Jurassic 5 rapping for them, and it was sweet. At the end they all picked up random drums, jumped off the stage, and created a conga line that eventually led to their merch table, lol. It was one of the most fun/entertaining shows I have ever seen

Ozomatli kinda kick a lot of ass.

As to a list of live band hip-hop...heh, I have one kicking around here.

Audible Mainframe
Animate Objects
Abstract Giants

Blend, the

Crown City Rockers
Cypress Hill

Flobots

G Band Free
G Love & Special Sauce
Gruvis Malt

K'naan

LuciDream

Matisyahu

Ozomatli

Q-tip

Rage Against the Machine
Rehab
Relax
Restoring Poetry in Music/Panacea

Skindred

True Live

WarsawpacK

Not a definitive list by any means, but a start I would say.

All those are featured in my Live Band Hip Hop mixtape in the general forums.

Not a bad selection to work from. A beautiful place to start for anyone looking to get into the 'genre'.

Also, I will be doing an expose of all the listed bands on my Wednesday night radio show.

The Herd are a good aussie group.



TZU is another.

I would be interested in finding albums by the Herd, that track sounds like it would be stellar with production and headphones. Thanks!

True Live are also Australian.

I'll try to find an up for you, but that song is a cover and I'm not sure if it's on one of their albums.

Damn. Well I can hope.

None the less, I would love to hear their full album.

The Art Official Intelligence album is up, anyone wanting linkage you know what to do bitchez.

I got it and really enjoyed it :) Thanks man.

Ozomatli is right, very cool live hiphop. Going to catch them (again) in a couple days. Should be killer, especially with Charlie 2na on the tour!

I want that Art Official Intelligence.

Badly.

Hopefully going to be catching K'naan live soon. That will be epic.

Please is always good :D

Point.

Please.

:D

I've seen alot of good hip hop bands. Many of them just back-up groups for headlining artists but with the talent to be their own entity. I was always disheartened that an equalizing style like go-go never really took off as an artform the way hip hop did. I think the rapper's ego never allowed for the musicians to become equals. Likewise, the industry turned it's back on musicians preferring to treat us like slaves rather than commodity.

Saw a few really good examples of legit hip hop bands years ago with some unique spins on the style: all-female band, A band called Flack which was a funky group of black and filipino rappers and musicians. They rocked. Another band mixed go-go/reggae/rapping/toasting but with real songs rather than just some grooves.

I would really like to hear this group Flack you wouldn't happen to have any of their albums would you?

That does indeed sound awesome. I would like to hear it as well, please :D

The Roots... they're playing with Jimmy Fallon now right?

I wish I knew what happened to them. All I knew is they were from around the Richmond, Va. area and I'm talking back in the early 90s. As far as I knew they never released anything but I'd like to believe they did and maybe changed their name. I've searched the web for them for years now. I saw them live and the image is still burned in my mind of this mix of black and asian musicians onstage funking out and making it sound real. I know someone has to have a tape of a community center performance they did for a Unity Day celebration. I have to track them down. Stay tuned.

Check these guys out.. Not bad. They combine hip hop, spoken word, female vocals, and hardcore grooves with elements of jazz, funk, blues,rock, soul,acoustic,etc..
myspace.com/thebreakdownband
Saw them here in toronto- lots of energy...

The best live Rap shows I have seen have to be The Roots & Common. I saw them both at The Commodore in Vancouver. Great venue for live acts.

The only live rap show ive ever seen is the Roots. And let me tell you, they blew my mind.

I saw Gym Class Heroes, they put on a pretty good show. It's basic, but they're good.

I've always thought this was a great concept and i would love to see more of it these days. I mean it adds a whole new element to the genre.

****ing love these guys, I really need to see them.

I would like to get that Audible Mainframe album sometime please fella!

You won't regret it...it's pretty fantastic!

Another awesome Australian hip hop band called True Live

One Drop, they have nothing on youtube but myspace has some of their songs.

myspace.com/onedrop


damn rules...

POS is live band, right?

I'm not sure, I know he use to play in a hardcore band before he focused on hip hop, but when I listen to his albums I feel like it's more studio musicians. I dunno, the bands I consider live are the ones where it's a collective of ideas and how to execute so each instrument is contributing.

I just consider it live band when there's a band playing all of the time instead of a beat. Beatboxing doesn't count though.

G Band Free, possibly one of my favorite hip hop groups ever. I love my Mac laptop that lets me convert videos into any format <3

If you're interested in the album, I have it uploaded so just send me a PM.

Animate Objects has had their new EP for free download off their website for awhile. If you're a fan of groups like The Roots, ArtOfficial, or Audible Mainframe then I would highly recommend grabbing this. I also have their LP Riding In Fast Cars With Your Momma uploaded so if you're interested just pm me.

Band Website For Download