The Flobots: Best Hip Hop I’ve Heard in a While

May 27, 2008 by Ryan 

Flobots: Fight With Tools

It’s sad but hip hop sucks right now.

I haven’t listened to a hip hop station in years! No one flows anymore, it’s basically one catchy phrase repeated to death. Last time I listened to hip hop radio I heard one song that was actually good, but it ended up being Nas’ Hip Hop is Dead.

It’s sad but the best hip hop I’ve heard in years is from a predominantly white group from Denver, Colorado! If you haven’t heard their single Handlebars, here’s a live performance on Last Call with Carson Daly. My wife watched this with me and she said, “They’re kinda intense!” To their credit, unlike most rap, they sound as good or better live than their radio single. Finally, a song I am motivated to learn all the lyrics like Warren G’s Regulators, Outkast’s Bombs Over Baghdad, or the Beastie Boys’ Paul Revere.

Their newest album reminds me of a jazz version of Rage Against the Machine. Yeah, jazz. They have a trumpet player and a female violinist (awesome)! And like Rage, they are political, so they might run contrary to your political views. If you want to hear some good music (and you’re secure in your political stance), check out the Flobots.

Filed under: Music
Tagged: , , , , , ,

Comments

6 Responses to “The Flobots: Best Hip Hop I’ve Heard in a While”

  1. taylor on May 27th, 2008 2:32 pm

    The Ottley kids know the lyrics to this song and sing it all the time. But Olivia changed it to, “I can read my bike with no training wheels, no training wheels…”

  2. Ryan on May 27th, 2008 4:45 pm

    Taylor! When am I going to get a password to your awesome blog?!

  3. dw on May 28th, 2008 7:39 pm

    I dig the Flobots for all the reasons you’re listing. They remind me of a mix of Cake and RATM. And I love the fact they have so many people doing different things. It makes the song more layered, if you know what I mean.

  4. HipHopSince1976 on May 29th, 2008 12:46 am

    U r a @#%$ (EDITED) dummy. The radio is dead.
    HipHop is alive and kicking
    Stay Tuned @
    http://www.HipHopSince1976.Com

  5. Ryan on May 29th, 2008 12:49 am

    So I went to your site and saw Nas, Biggie, Pac and saw some of what you post about and thought, “Good. He’s got taste.” Which makes me think that you should feel in many ways that “Hip Hop is dead.” Not that there aren’t fools out there that can still flow, but right now the biggest names representing hip hop (at least to the rest of music) are nothing compared to Jay-Z, Dre, Tribe, KRS-One…You can’t tell me Lil’ John has been good for rap can you? Yeahhhh!!! Okaaayy!!! Now no doubt there’s underground and more local rap which stays true and it looks like you’re pointing them out, I respect that. But I live in UTAH! I aint gonna hear about fools spittin’ in New York clubs and such! I would have kept your comment if you weren’t cursing right after a comment from my 6 year old nephew!

    UPDATE: I just edited it and put it back on.

  6. Chris on May 30th, 2008 8:30 pm

    Ryan, I agree with you 100%! Nobody’s put out a good LP since, well for years. The local underground hip hop is still dope though.

    Cya

    P.S. Randy said I could come back and work at the office in Rexburg.

Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!