Nuthin But A G-Thang!

StevieG · 05-04-2005 4:34pm #1

Yes, It's Dr Dre and the west coast sound (California, not Connemara)
This weeks Black on Red music special is gonna be looking at this era.

Commonly known as G-funk, this sound exploded when Dre went solo after the huge impact of NWA's two studio albums. Written off by many, Dre took a young Snoop Doggy Dogg under his wing and released the hugely influential "Chronic" album. In stark contrast to NWA's anti-drug stance ("Dopeman", "Express Yourself") this album was a tribute to laid-back west coast blunted out sound. From the dodgy artwork to the sometimes mysogynistic lyrics it had it's detractors but no-one can deny it changed the face of hip-hop. I was very uncomfortable with the sexist side of it myself and will be doing my very best to concentrate on the more positive elements of this sound on Saturday.

The production was heavily influenced by George Clinton's abstract Parliament/Funkadelic sound which is why the term G-funk came about. Ironically this initial P-funk sound gained a new lease of life and i remember seeing George Clinton and Bootsy Collins rocking 50,000 kids to the sound of "Atomic Dog" in the States in 94 on the back of Snoop's sample on "What's my Name".

The likes of DJ Quik, Ice Cube, Ice T, Warren G, Too Short and many more were also important in this era and arguably it was Ice T who paved the way for much of the crossover with his late 80's work and appearance in "New Jack City". Ice Cube came out with the amazing "Amerikkkas most Wanted" and "Death Certificate" before "The Predator" while everyone from Nate Dogg to Kurupt quickly followed Dre with solo albums.

Dre famously came good again years later with Eminem who in turn paved the way for 50 and The Game while Snoop is arguably as popular as he ever was. Whatever you think about G-Funk, and i have a lot of reservations about some of it myself, hip-hop was never the same again and when the sun comes out on an early evening any summer this is the sound you will bumping from the Civics and the Starlets as every second sham in your neighbourhood lets it ride like Dr Dre!

Enjoy the mix, it's gonna be a west coast party this Saturday night between 9 and 10PM on Black on Red

RedFM 104-106
Saturdays 7-10PM

ven0m · 05-04-2005 4:48pm

Oh my damn god!!!! You wrote about the origins of G-Funk & didn't even mention Roger Troutman & Zapp...... shame on you...... :eek:

::: ven0mous :::

Makaveli · 05-04-2005 5:11pm

oh noes!

StevieG · 05-04-2005 11:28pm

ven0m wrote:

Oh my damn god!!!! You wrote about the origins of G-Funk & didn't even mention Roger Troutman & Zapp...... shame on you...... :eek:

::: ven0mous :::

Don't worry Mr Troutman wil get his dues on saturday. I wrote a quick piece of the dome, not a full history. Zapp had influenced both coasts and are undoubtably the biggest influence on one of my favourite crews, EPMD. But if ya wanna talk about those who i didn't mention we could be here all night-Slave, Cameo, Leon Haywoode, the list goes on and on and on......

David19 · 05-04-2005 11:34pm

This sounds good, hopefully I'll be able to listen. Thanks for telling us about it.

Kristok · 05-04-2005 11:51pm

yea nice one might give it a listen if im around on saturday, but no need to the history lesson around here i think we all know about it better than you explained.

David19 · 05-04-2005 11:56pm

Kristok wrote:

yea nice one might give it a listen if im around on saturday, but no need to the history lesson around here i think we all know about it better than you explained.

He was just setting the show up for us. Also it implies he's going to play a good selection of stuff, not just Dre and Snoops last few hits.

StevieG · 06-04-2005 12:10am

Kristok wrote:

yea nice one might give it a listen if im around on saturday, but no need to the history lesson around here i think we all know about it better than you explained.

I dunno man if you have the knowledge yourself don't read it whats the problem? As far as i can see there's more than a few here who don't seem to know their history so a little background info isn't gonna go amiss. Anyway, it wasn't written with this site in mind, i've a lot of very young listeners in Cork (and elsewhere) who are eager to learn about an era of music that evolved before some of them were even born. As someone lucky enough to have lived through this era i don't see the problem with a passing on a little background info.

ubu · 06-04-2005 12:34am

Kristok wrote:

yea nice one might give it a listen if im around on saturday, but no need to the history lesson around here i think we all know about it better than you explained.

stfu

Kristok · 06-04-2005 1:17am

StevieG wrote:

I dunno man if you have the knowledge yourself don't read it whats the problem? As far as i can see there's more than a few here who don't seem to know their history so a little background info isn't gonna go amiss. Anyway, it wasn't written with this site in mind, i've a lot of very young listeners in Cork (and elsewhere) who are eager to learn about an era of music that evolved before some of them were even born

Fair enough if it wasnt meant for here but in that case maby just a rough playlist might be better.

ubu wrote:

stfu

Whats your problem.

StevieG · 06-04-2005 1:40am

Sweet I'll throw up the full tracklist later in the week. I don't see the problem with the initial post but each to his/her own. If i was spamming the place i'd say something!

Fair enough though, it's the music that will do the talking better anyway. A lot of the original breaks by the likes of Parlaiment/Zapp will be included in the mix too to give more of a backdrop to the G-funk era.

ubu · 06-04-2005 11:10am

Kristok wrote:

Whats your problem.

That you think you are Hip-Hop almighty, "i dont need a history lesson cuz im skooled in teh Hip-Hop already".

The guy posted about his show and gave a bit of brief backround info and you critisise him for it, there are plently of people on here who wouldnt know about it and the post was aimed at them, no need to be so condescending, ffs poeple on here still try to defend Ja Rule as a legit Hip-Hop artist, clearly if they do something like that they know nothing. :cool:

Kristok · 06-04-2005 12:40pm

Ive never claimed that I am Hip-Hop almighty youve got a chip on your shoulder dude and the fact that you are bringing up ja rule shows how close minded you are to other peoples opinions. In fact im going to take back what I said in my first post about there being no need for the history you obviously need to be told simple facts like these im sorry I forgot there are idiots who read this board.

ubu · 06-04-2005 7:55pm

Kristok wrote:

In fact im going to take back what I said in my first post about there being no need for the history

Job Done

Kristok wrote:

I forgot there are idiots who read this board.

too true, http://www.audioscrobbler.com/user/kristok, kinda debases any argument you will ever make.

Kristok · 06-04-2005 8:12pm

what exactly is that suppose to prove, other than youve got a chip on your shoulder.

ubu · 06-04-2005 8:44pm

With taste like that, it proves that you have no right to preach about Hip-Hop...thought that was obvious, but then again there are alot of idiots on this board. :rolleyes:

Kristok · 06-04-2005 9:47pm

Theres the snobish attitude that i was waiting for, you listen to mc unknown-therefore-great and think that makes you a REAL rap fan. You do realise that not everyone likes the same rappers as you right.

I dont know what your reason for the personal attacks is but i honestly dont care at this point.

Makaveli · 06-04-2005 11:49pm

http://www.audioscrobbler.com/user/kristok/

Why did you reset your stats?

ubu · 07-04-2005 12:10am

Kristok wrote:

Theres the snobish attitude that i was waiting for, you listen to mc unknown-therefore-great and think that makes you a REAL rap fan. You do realise that not everyone likes the same rappers as you right.

I dont know what your reason for the personal attacks is but i honestly dont care at this point.

i think if you go back to the start of the thread its clear that you are the one who came on to this thread with the snobbish attitude for no reason, and its that post i had a problem with

Kristok · 07-04-2005 12:59am

I cant find a way to close the account so i just reset it. Its not really anyones business who i listen to, i set the page up to see what came up not for ubu to be an idiot and post. But seeing as he cant play nice i took it down.