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Alternative hip hop (Bohemian hip hop) is a style of hip hop distinguished by socio-political lyrics, sparse beats that sample few and/or unusual sources (see jazz rap) and uniquely positive rhymes. Alternative hip hop artists generally have not achieved much or any mainstream success, although they are often critically acclaimed.
Interestingly, alternative hip hop has developed differently from virtually every other musical genre, with its originators (De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest) being more popular than later innovators (Guru, Mos Def).
The late 1980s
The other, released the same year, was the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique. Considered a flop at the time, the Beastie Boys' unorthodox topics such as eggings ("Egg Man"), Karma ("What Comes Around") and their Jewish heritage ("Shadrach") combined with their unique flow and biting wit made a perfect subject for the Dust Brothers' masterful sample-laded production (highlighted 7 years later in Beck's Odelay), comprising what is known as the genre's lost classic.
In addition to 3 Feet High and Rising and Paul's Boutique, influential singles were released one year previously, in 1988 (see 1988 in music), by Gang Starr ("Words I Manifest") and Stetsasonic ("Talkin' All That Jazz"); these two singles fused hip hop with jazz in a way never done before, and helped lead to the development of jazz rap.
1989 also saw the release of:
All four of these albums helped establish the Native Tongues Posse, a group of Afrocentric hip hop artists ideologically inspired by Afrika Bambaataa's Universal Zulu Nation.
Early 1990s
During the early 1990s, mainstream hip hop was dominated by the West Coast sound (like Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg). Other artists found success difficult to achieve, though some East Coast acts, such as Puff Daddy's empire of East Coast hip hop artists (Bad Boy Records) gained chart success (Mary J. Blige' 1992 What's the 411?) as well as critical success (Nas' 1994 Illmatic), though rarely both at the same time.
Diversification and controversy
Alternative hip hop's incendiary and confrontational politics began causing occasional controversy, with Brand Nubian's One for All even being accused of reverse racism. X-Clan's To the East, Blackwards was similarly criticized. Paris's "Bush Killa" (from Sleeping With the Enemy, 1993), which denounced the Gulf War and then-President Bush, brought the genre some publicity, both positive and negative.
A Tribe Called Quest's 1991 album The Low-End Theory is regarded as one of the most influential recordings in alternative hip hop, especially with its timely indictment of the perceived commercializing and demoralizing effects of the music industry, then tearing hip hop apart into multiple competing genres, all rushing to sell out for mainstream success; the album also tackles subjects like date rape and rap feuds. The Low End Theory includes the virtuoso upright bassist Ron Carter and the Leaders of the New School (which included future superstar Busta Rhymes).
While A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul are considered jazz-rappers, the pioneer of an actual fusion between the two genres is usually said to be Guru, whose 1993 Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1 was a critically acclaimed solo debut with live jazz backing. A jazz band including Lonnie Liston Smith, Roy Ayers, Branford Marsalis and Donald Byrd solos in the background while Guru (and guests like the Senegalese-Frenchman MC Solaar) raps.
Stubbornly insisting on sticking to their themes and ideas, alternative hip hop artists were able to incorporate elements of virtually every form of music around at the time.
Hardcore artists like Basehead (Play With Toys, 1992) and jazzy Afrocentrists like Poor Righteous Teachers (Pure Poverty, 1991) continued innovating an alternative to pop hip hop in the early part of the decade, mixing in rapcore and heavy metal influences alongside bebop, doo wop and the blues.
Canadian duo the Dream Warriors (And Now, the Legacy Begins, 1991) and West Coast group Digital Underground (Sex Packets, 1990) helped bring De La Soul's humor to the emerging genre.
Other genres sometimes labelled alternative hip hop
Alternative hip hop generally refers to a specific style of hip hop that is opposed to the mainstream sounds of gangsta rap. However, certain other hip hop genres are also alternative and are sometimes referred to with the same term, including a mixture of heavy metal, hard rock and hip hop that would eventually come to be known as rapcore, and a mixture of 1970s-style soul music and hip hop called nu soul.
Rapcore
Nu soul
The end of the 1990s
In spite of nu soul and rapcore gaining mainstream acceptance, gangsta hip hop artists like Jay-Z (Reasonable Doubt, 1999) and DMX (...And Then There Was X, 1999) still dominated the charts as the end of the millennium neared. Critics and listeners regarded alternative hip hop as going through a lull, as even mainstays like A Tribe Called Quest (Beats, Rhymes and Life, 1996) released lackluster albums.
Post-2000 alternative hip hop
After the turn of the millennium, as the United States (still by far the world capital of hip hop) found itself confronted by the War on Terror, lyrics grew increasingly anti-mainstream, with some advocating radical actions on the behalf of various anarchist and socialist ideas. The Coup's album cover for Party Music (2001) proved controversial after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks due to its depiction of the duo holding a stick of dynamite and a detonator, ready to blow up the World Trade Center; other groups like Dead Prez (Let's Get Free, 2000) similarly raised controversy for militant and confrontational lyrics.
In 2001 and 2002, several surprisingly popular albums were released. These included:
See also: List of alternative hip hop musicians
Sound samples
from 1991's De La Soul Is Dead - note: the legendary trio are one of the early legends of alternative hip hop, here demonstrating their bizarre, almost stream-of-consciousness humor
from 1991's The Low End Theory - note: humor and obscure cultural references are characteristic of this crew; this song features off-kilter references to Alex Haley’s Roots, Duke Ellington, Superman, Ed Norton, Dougie Fresh and Ralph Kramden, as well as calls for black unity
from 1993's Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1 - note: begins with French language rapping from MC Solaar, probably the first non-American rapper to gain any fame in the US here combined with Guru's trademark, light jazzy accompaniment
from 1999's Black on Both Sides - note: known for his righteous lyrics and scathing commentary, this song (with a lyrical theme focusing on mathematical operations and figures) comments on mandatory minimum sentencing, poverty, unemployment and the minimum wage, privacy, violence, jail and the police
from 1999's A2G EP - note: this crew has gained underground fame for their unique brand of quirky rapping, here demonstrated by a song which alliterates through the alphabet
from 1999's Soundbombing, Vol. 2 - note: collaboration between some of the most influential performers of alternative hip hop
from 2000's Let's Get Free - note: beginning with a sampled speech before moving on to Dead Prez’s militant socio-political lyrics, also characteristically criticizing pop hip hop (specifically Master P)
from 2000's Quality Control - note: lyrical inventiveness is the hallmark of Jurassic Five, shown in this song by the frequent use of alliteration, rhyme, word-plays and assonance; these literary techniques are so widespread that the song is difficult to decipher in spite of relatively clear diction and medium tempo
from 2001's Expansion Team - note: humor and social criticism are paired in this duo, here focusing on the latter with a commentary on materialism
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