Category talk:Underground rappers

Inclusion criteria
What are the criteria for being in this category, exactly?--Urthogie 16:04, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

i dont know but why is slug not on this list?..... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.179.46.86 03:06, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

word also: emc (and its artists in their solo form), epmd, blaq poet, nas (maybe), big daddy kane, gang starr (though guru would go a bit commercial from time to time, he was still mostly true).. in fact, most rappers are underground. though underground is a very loose term, it's considered to be the opposite of commercial. whether or not a track is commercial relies heavily on the production as well as the lyrics.

so if the song aint got: whining rnb singers, excess video ho's, a rapper/singer (note the slash), repitition of the current leading brands of designer fashion etc., lil wayne, an annoying hook, annoying synths (or other overuse of that new crappy production technology), excessive hi hats (seriously, commercial music loves hi hats), akon, any crunk elements at all, a featured pop/rnb artist (also, any female artist who has made it to the charts is usually bad), slow sung/rapped lyrics in a hyped beat, repetitive lyrics, a remix (in the case the original was a hit) or more remixes (more than one remix is fucked up - though it can sometimes be done well - as primo helped gang starr prove with militia/militia pt 2/capture), the song is probably not commercial.

however, if it: has funk/soul elements, samples from a funk/soul/blues etc. track, good lyricism, is produced by someone like dj premier or alchemist, uses an mpc;

the east coast is usually the best source of underground rap.

west coast and gangsta rap kinda started the commercialisation of hip hop, though not always commercial. i'm still having a tough time finding good west coast rap.

the southside revolutionised commercial hip hop.. though ugk's old tracks are pretty good and underground. their last 2 albums contained many more commercial elements, but personally i feel they achieved a great balance.

a few commercial tracks i know (mostly singles from mainly underground album, or i chuck the disc in a fire): Bun B-Sext Me, Bun B-Trillionaire, UGK-Take Tha Hood Back and Tha Dogg Pound-Good Pussy (the whole album got burnt with only a little remorse for the few good bits).

just some personal notes from a producer at college studying music analysis...

Some of these rappers are commercial. You should add if some of them went from underground to commercial like eminem. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.82.187.246 (talk) 01:29, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

DECADES? FEMALES? I would like to see the breakdown by decades, and also knowing which artists are females or which groups include females Sylvia Blossom (talk) 13:53, 13 June 2013 (UTC)

Yes of course. Eminem is underground. Nas went underground on his debut album, "Illmatic." And of course, Guru and the Gang Starr foundation went strictly underground in the 90s and 2000s. Paul Gnanguenon (talk) 18:10, 18 August 2018 (UTC)