Random Fashion Thoughts (Part 3: Style farmer strikes back) - our general discussion thread

[sinnedk]

90s r&b like Mariah Carey?

Re Radiohead never got into them, just liked a handful of songs but their fans do love em

 

[dieworkwear]

I remember R&B being crazy embarrassing in the 90s. Like, I'd have Boyz II Men, Jodeci, Sade CDs in my room, but if my friends came over, they'd go under the bed. It was all Gangstarr, Black Moon, and Mobb Deep at that point.

Years and years later, I was at a hip hop club and the DJ put on Boyz II Men. Everyone there was about my age, I estimate, like in their 30s. Dudes went absolutely wild. Like just buck wild crazy. It was revelatory.

 

[erictheobscure]

exactly

i will always stop flipping around the car radio if i hear tlc

 

[justridiculous]

I have! A friend of mine is on that album, Aloe Blacc.

Aloe Blacc's a friend of yours?? I really love his stuff; big fan.

 

[Patrick R]

Re black metal. You want loud? Go to a death/black metal concert.

Been to plenty. Not my favorite music (I’m mostly an 80s/90s hip hop and late 90s Up Records guy), but it can be a lot of fun live.

 

[dieworkwear]

I've found it interesting to see how pop music is less of a guilty pleasure now -- it's just considered pleasure. I think for guys my age, 90s R&B is mostly nostalgia. But one of the reasons why you weren't allowed to like that stuff back then -- aside from it being too "soft" for masculine guys -- was that it wasn't considered "Real Music." If you were going to listen to R&B, it had to be some obscure 1970s B-side you dug up from a record shop.

But nowadays, people listen to Rihana, Katy Perry, and Beyonce without any guilt (notably Destiny's Child was another no-no group for "serious music people" back in the '90s).

Carl Wilson's book "Let’s Talk About Love" talks a little about this. There's also a book called Tastemakers, which is super old (I can't remember the author) that touches on this idea. Online, some people write about it under the term poptimism, which is a portmanteau of pop and optimism. It's the idea that music taste is often about social signals and demonstrating some kind of sophistication (you see this a lot in clothing, where there's high and low brow taste. Manton's "Good Taste" thread is all about this idea).

Pop music has always been popular, by definition, but I think a lot of "serious music" people are much more OK now with just liking things on face value. Like, it's OK to enjoy something cause it's an earworm. I feel like this comes up in other areas of culture too. It used to be taboo to like anime, but now you see all sorts of hip hop kids getting into it. Streetwear, similarly, is no longer considered low culture, it's just culture.

 

[OccultaVexillum]

@dieworkwear are you really friends with Aloe Blacc? Ask him why he stopped rapping, Emanon was great, I’d like more of that.
I used to hang in similar circles to his wife Maya when she was a VJ in Sydney.

Also, another reason why Lemaire is the best is the compilation he put out with Stones Throw. It was right around the same time Madlib got access to the Blue Note archives and did those albums. I still want a Lemaire x Stones Throw tee. It’s a perfect match of my love for basic underground hip hop and basic French fashion.

LEMAIRE,CHRISTOPHE PRESENTS - Where Are You From? - Amazon.com Music

LEMAIRE,CHRISTOPHE PRESENTS - Where Are You From? - Amazon.com Music

www.amazon.com

 

[dieworkwear]

@dieworkwear are you really friends with Aloe Blacc? Ask him why he stopped rapping, Emanon was great, I’d like more of that.
I used to hang in similar circles to his wife Maya when she was a VJ in Sydney.

Wow, small world. I know Maya.

I put out some early Emanon albums. I paid for the production and designed the artwork. Aloe and I go way back to like the 5th grade. We ran in the same crew and share the same birthday, so we celebrated some birthdays together.

I agree, I prefer his rap stuff, but also appreciate how far he's gone with his music career. Exile still does that 90s styled hip hop though. Aloe appeared in this relatively recent song:

Spoiler

 

[OccultaVexillum]

That’s awesome. I remember that small run of Ill Boogie EPs, that’s when I first heard Emanon. I’m trying to remember the other artists that had an EP in that series? All I can remember is Akbar and the NY mc whose name escapes me. That whole Earplug series was really good though, and Living Legends and Mystik Journeymen and that whole Bay Area extended family was really big in Sydney around then so it makes sense Emanon kind of caught on locally in that scene. The last Aloe verse I remember was on the Evidence sophomore album. Liner Notes I think the song was?
And yeah Exile is still great. Blu is one of my favourite new(we) artists and the two albums with Exile are definitely his best.
I remember being kind of blown away the first time I heard that Aloe song with Amon Tobin (or whatever his name is) and thinking “damn he made it!”

 

[Alexidb]

@dieworkwear Apologize right now for putting Sade in the guilty pleasures pile.

 

[mmmargeologist]

@dieworkwear does Aloe Blacc post on SF? What does he think of lane?

 

[dieworkwear]

That’s awesome. I remember that small run of Ill Boogie EPs, that’s when I first heard Emanon. I’m trying to remember the other artists that had an EP in that series? All I can remember is Akbar and the NY mc whose name escapes me. That whole Earplug series was really good though, and Living Legends and Mystik Journeymen and that whole Bay Area extended family was really big in Sydney around then so it makes sense Emanon kind of caught on locally in that scene. The last Aloe verse I remember was on the Evidence sophomore album. Liner Notes I think the song was?
And yeah Exile is still great. Blu is one of my favourite new(we) artists and the two albums with Exile are definitely his best.
I remember being kind of blown away the first time I heard that Aloe song with Amon Tobin (or whatever his name is) and thinking “damn he made it!”

Yea, I think we talked about Mystik Journeymen once.

Some of my favorite memories back then was recording the Wake Up Show on my boombox. I used to skip family dinners just to record that show (which was highly disrespectful in hindsight, but that show as like my lifeline as a teen). Some of my favorite groups back then were like Hobo Junction, Hieroglyphics, Freestyle Fellowship, etc. Also, all the mainstream acts like Tribe, De La, Mobb Deep, Nas, Public Enemy, etc.

@dieworkwear Apologize right now for putting Sade in the guilty pleasures pile.

I still like Sade! No guilt there.

 

[Alexidb]

 

[erictheobscure]

when i was growing up i thought sade sounded unbelievably cheesy--like the kind of thing a bunch of middle-aged realtors would listen to at a party they hoped would turn into an orgy

and now i like sade unironically

 

[Parker]

Sade is the queen. Love her so much. And I non-ironically loved her 80s first albums. Her band is incredibly good too.