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Kanye West freestyling circa 1996

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Kraftwerk

Member
The birth of Yeezus


More info from uploader;


The original location of Fat Beats launched on July 14, 1994 which means FB just turned 20 years old! Business was doing so well 2 years in that Joseph Abajian decided to move the store from it's small 9th St. basement space into a 2nd floor location on 6th Avenue.

August 1996 (day?) was the grand opening of the 406 6th Avenue location. It was also the beginnings of our independent movement which had recently started bubbling about a year before. Yesterday I started converting old Hi8 video tapes to DVD and came across some interesting footage from that day.

Now we had a lot of the usual suspects in the place that day such as ILL BILL, Arsonists, Lord Finesse, Adagio, Breeze Brewin, A.L. Skills, Percee P, J-Live, Mr. Live, Chino XL, Al Tariq, Black Attack, Xzibit, Shabaam Sahdeeq, Rawcotiks, Ak Skills, Rob Swift, Roc Raida, DJ Spinna and many, many more.

But what took me by surprise was the appearance of this 19 year old kid who at that time nobody knew. Now I've had this person as a guest on my radio show years later, but it's pretty crazy to see this footage in '96 and think "damn, this dude was in my house then?" and not even know. More to come...
 
He's absolutely not freestyling in this video. At least not most of it. Which is probably why most of these kids are just kinda solemnly nodding at him and not reacting.

It is fun to see this guy as a hyper-ambitious teenager trying to get on, though. Lotta energy there, even if he's trying to control it. I even like that he was the kind of kid to break into a freestyle cipher like "Fuck it, I'm going to do these writtens." Eager.
 

J10

Banned
He's absolutely not freestyling in this video. At least not most of it. Which is probably why most of these kids are just kinda solemnly nodding at him and not reacting.

It is fun to see this guy as a hyper-ambitious teenager trying to get on, though. Lotta energy there, even if he's trying to control it. I even like that he was the kind of kid to break into a freestyle cipher like "Fuck it, I'm going to do these writtens." Eager.

Someone doesn't know what a freestyle is.
 

Makai

Member
image.php


Is that you in the beginning?

This is a fascinating video. His voice is pretty much the same but he's much more laid-back today. It's a big part of his sound and I didn't notice before.
 
Gonna have to hunt that down on youtube now.

I just went looking. Couldn't find the shoes clip - but I found him winning the 95 DMC's, including a bit where he picks up the mixer and uses his torso to hit the cross fader while mixing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFyJE1bB5Dw

edit: here's him losing (getting robbed, more like it) a battle to DJ Supreme back in 1991.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq3Avgpm-xw

J10 said:
Someone doesn't know what a freestyle is.

Well, he opens with some clumsy shit, and then IMMEDIATELY goes into pre-writtens, and not just a couple memorized phrases and punchlines that he's randomly stringing together - that's a fuckin verse he had practiced before he got there. And then he closes with some more clumsy shit (actual freestyle) before the mic gets taken. So technically there's SOME freestyle in there, I guess :)

I personally saw shit like that happen all the time back then. which is what makes it so.. charming, I guess, to see someone like Kanye doing it back in 96. He just wants to impress everyone in that room so bad that he pretty obviously just goes for it even though everyone in that room's gotta know he's not freestyling.

He gets a couple of 'em to grin, though. So that's a victory, right?
 
I just went looking. Couldn't find the shoes clip - but I found him winning the 95 DMC's, including a bit where he picks up the mixer and uses his torso to hit the cross fader while mixing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFyJE1bB5Dw

edit: here's him losing (getting robbed, more like it) a battle to DJ Supreme back in 1991.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq3Avgpm-xw



Well, he opens with some clumsy shit, and then IMMEDIATELY goes into pre-writtens, and not just a couple memorized phrases and punchlines that he's randomly stringing together - that's a fuckin verse he had practiced before he got there. And then he closes with some more clumsy shit (actual freestyle) before the mic gets taken. So technically there's SOME freestyle in there, I guess :)

I personally saw shit like that happen all the time back then. which is what makes it so.. charming, I guess, to see someone like Kanye doing it back in 96. He just wants to impress everyone in that room so bad that he pretty obviously just goes for it even though everyone in that room's gotta know he's not freestyling.

He gets a couple of 'em to grin, though. So that's a victory, right?

Damn, some of the routine was rough but that mixer part was badass.
 
When does Yeezy's next album drop? There were lots of rumors a while ago and then nothing.

Didn't we get some song snippets as recent as a month or two ago with that Adidas AD? I think it'll be out in the fall/winter still. His tour starts back up then so he might be using that time to figure out his plan. Yeezus did a lot of uncommon shit in regards to it's marketing or lack thereof so he might be trying to figure out how he wants to go about the next one.
 
Written freestyles predate improvised ones.

"written freestyles" is pretty much an oxymoron.

And if you know enough about the history to know that factoid (and you're not wrong, of course - the term "freestyle" has been used in more than a few different ways when it comes to hip-hop/dance music over the decades), you know that nobody in that room, and nobody in 96 in general was considering kids running into the middle of a cipher with 18-24 memorized bars a freestyle. :) you were opening yourself up to get clowned for doing something like that, really.

off the top = freestyle. I'm pretty sure everyone in that room was using that definition, and continues to use that definition.

Damn, some of the routine was rough but that mixer part was badass.

He was always so fucking good at the showmanship angle. One of those battles features some of the first beat-juggling I ever saw. I remember on one of those tapes Short-Kut did some shit with "Pistol-Grip Pump" that I didn't even know was possible - and then he topped that by killing the motors and beat-juggling in reverse. This was like 96? It was like watching someone do a 720 dunk after throwing a touchdown to himself.

yeah, here it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz8pSd95eIQ
 

J10

Banned
Kool Moe Dee, hip hop pioneer, in his book There's a God on the Mic, said:

"Until 1986, all freestyles were written. Any emcee coming off the top of the head wasn't really respected. The sentiment was emcees only did that if they couldn't write. The coming off the top of the head rhymer had a built-in excuse to not be critiqued as hard."

"There are two types of freestyle. There’s an old-school freestyle that’s basically rhymes that you’ve written that may not have anything to do with any subject or that goes all over the place. Then there’s freestyle where you come off the top of the head."

"Coming off the top of the head definitely wasn't our forte from back in those days. Back then, freestyle was really about writing rhymes outside of your records, about any subject just for the specific point of blowing up the crowd."

"Kool G Rap's 'Men At Work' is a classic example of what an old-style freestyle is and it's one of the best I've ever heard. Don't know how well he comes off the top of the head, but his score is based on the real old-school freestyle."

Improvised rapping is not some sacred holy thing in the context of hip hop. Originally it wasn't even respected if you came into a cypher completely unprepared. We know there are two definitions, but the one you're championing isn't even the original form. gonna side with the pioneers on this one.
 
Improvised rapping is not some sacred holy thing in the context of hip hop. Originally it wasn't even respected if you came into a cypher completely unprepared.

Again - if you know enough to know that, then you know what the fuck I'm talking about when I say "that's not a freestyle."

It's not like anyone in that room (or anyone in 96 in general, or even since) would have seen something like that happen in a freestyle cipher and gone "wait, wait... hold on, guys. Be fair. Kool Moe Dee once spoke on the subject of writtens and the nature of freestyle on a historical basis...."

I already said you're not wrong, but now you're just sorta splitting hairs for the sake of doing that sing-song voice know-it-all shit. Moe Dee even acknowledges in that passage you're quoting that the meaning of the term changed from when he was participating in those sorts of situations. Which I've also acknowledged, so I don't know why you're still pressing this. I already said you weren't wrong. Just that it doesn't really apply anymore.

Basically, the one definition superceded the other one. People who came into a cipher spitting writtens got side-eyed. Sometimes they got clowned. Sometimes the written was so good people gave it a pass. But everyone recognized that shit wasn't really a freestyle. Not in 96, and not since. You can have a couplet or two in your back pocket, some punchlines on deck ready to go. But memorized 12-18 bar verses is a completely different thing.

This is such a weird argument to be having, holy shit. I've time-traveled to rec.arts.hip-hop on usenet in 1998 :)

@Carpe - this was the first freestyle to pop into my head: Supernatural on the Wake-Up Show. I think this was 97?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTLWYLOD1RY
 

J10

Banned
It still very much applies. You're wrong. Kanye was freestyling in that video. People rapping written free association verses in a cypher or on a mixtape today are also freestyling. The definition has been expanded, not replaced.
 
It still very much applies. You're wrong. Kanye was freestyling in that video. People rapping written free association verses in a cypher or on a mixtape today are also freestyling. The definition has been expanded, not replaced.

Not really, but I'm not interested in continuing this any further, either.

post a freestyle already. :)
 
Again - if you know enough to know that, then you know what the fuck I'm talking about when I say "that's not a freestyle."

It's not like anyone in that room (or anyone in 96 in general, or even since) would have seen something like that happen in a freestyle cipher and gone "wait, wait... hold on, guys. Be fair. Kool Moe Dee once spoke on the subject of writtens and the nature of freestyle on a historical basis...."

I already said you're not wrong, but now you're just sorta splitting hairs for the sake of doing that sing-song voice know-it-all shit. Moe Dee even acknowledges in that passage you're quoting that the meaning of the term changed from when he was participating in those sorts of situations. Which I've also acknowledged, so I don't know why you're still pressing this. I already said you weren't wrong. Just that it doesn't really apply anymore.

Basically, the one definition superceded the other one. People who came into a cipher spitting writtens got side-eyed. Sometimes they got clowned. Sometimes the written was so good people gave it a pass. But everyone recognized that shit wasn't really a freestyle. Not in 96, and not since. You can have a couplet or two in your back pocket, some punchlines on deck ready to go. But memorized 12-18 bar verses is a completely different thing.

This is such a weird argument to be having, holy shit. I've time-traveled to rec.arts.hip-hop on usenet in 1998 :)

@Carpe - this was the first freestyle to pop into my head: Supernatural on the Wake-Up Show. I think this was 97?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTLWYLOD1RY

DIDNT THE HIERO / HOBO BATTLE TEACH US ANYTHING??!!

alt.rap
 

DJMicLuv

Member
Kanye West is, was and shall always be a fucking moron.
I was programming better beats than him on fucking SpecDrum when I was 11.
To other morons he's a genius but to anyone who knows anything about music composition and production he's a fucking clown.
 
Kanye West is, was and shall always be a fucking moron.
I was programming better beats than him on fucking SpecDrum when I was 11.
To other morons he's a genius but to anyone who knows anything about music composition and production he's a fucking clown.

How many grammy's you got breh?
 

neptunes

Member
Kanye West is, was and shall always be a fucking moron.
I was programming better beats than him on fucking SpecDrum when I was 11.
To other morons he's a genius but to anyone who knows anything about music composition and production he's a fucking clown.
Tell 'em why you mad
 

Courage

Member
Kanye West is, was and shall always be a fucking moron.
I was programming better beats than him on fucking SpecDrum when I was 11.
To other morons he's a genius but to anyone who knows anything about music composition and production he's a fucking clown.

Let's hear your beats then.
 
Kanye West is, was and shall always be a fucking moron.
I was programming better beats than him on fucking SpecDrum when I was 11.
To other morons he's a genius but to anyone who knows anything about music composition and production he's a fucking clown.

I wanna hear
 
Kanye West is, was and shall always be a fucking moron.
I was programming better beats than him on fucking SpecDrum when I was 11.
To other morons he's a genius but to anyone who knows anything about music composition and production he's a fucking clown.

However Kanye hurt you, it wasn't your fault.
 

ItIsOkBro

Member
Kanye West is, was and shall always be a fucking moron.
I was programming better beats than him on fucking SpecDrum when I was 11.
To other morons he's a genius but to anyone who knows anything about music composition and production he's a fucking clown.

is that you ray J
 

Zombine

Banned
Kanye West is, was and shall always be a fucking moron.
I was programming better beats than him on fucking SpecDrum when I was 11.
To other morons he's a genius but to anyone who knows anything about music composition and production he's a fucking clown.

tumblr_lrjhiofp841r3opg1o1_250.gif
 
Kanye West is, was and shall always be a fucking moron.
I was programming better beats than him on fucking SpecDrum when I was 11.
To other morons he's a genius but to anyone who knows anything about music composition and production he's a fucking clown.
Kermit.jpg
 
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