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Over the past few months, I've been receiving an increasing amount of promos featuring hip hop crossed with hipster musicians (and I use the term hipster as a term of endearment, not a slur, so don't catch feelings over it). I generally don't have a problem with artists crossing over into other genres, but there's something about this particular combination that bothers me on some intrinsic level. Perhaps it's because the pairings usually end up sounding more like the basis for an iPod marketing campaign than an actual artistic endeavor. Pharoahe Monch and Jay-Z going to rehab with Amy Winehouse, Common doing duets with Lily Allen, Kanye jacking Daft Punk beats - none of them were terrible songs, but they seem better suited for the background music at the local Gap store than the soundtrack for my car's stereo.
One rapper who does manage to successfully pull off the "hipster hop" sound, though, is Mickey Factz (previously featured here). I think one of the main reasons for that being the fact that he's always embraced that whole culture, from the electronic beats that he spits over to his love for exclusive Nike dunks and "One of One" hoodies. Whereas most mainstream rappers seem to be jumping on the sound just to be part of the latest trend, Mickey's been there since the beginning, and it ends up sounding a lot more genuine.
With that said, I've got a track today featuring Mickey Factz and hipster sensation Uffie. I've never understood the internet's fascination with Uffie, but Mickey sounds quite good rapping over one of her beats:
Mickey Facts and Uffie - Talk Yo Ish
Two more tracks from Mickey (both zShare links):
Mickey Factz feat. Royskopp - You Remind Me (featuring the beat from the Geico Caveman commercial)
Mickey Factz - Stop Me
For more from Mickey Factz, including links to download some of his mixtapes, stop by his MySpace page. And shoutout to Steven from Laced Magazine for passing along the tracks.
10/01/2007 08:31:29 PM posted by Fresh