I find the production of foreign (non-US) hip-hop tends to be different. Simply put, American hip-hop just hits differently and, in my opinion, better, than the stuff I hear coming from elsewhere. An obvious exception is Drake, but he definitely draws from the US producer well. I'll also throw in that much of the lyrics and flow I hear in foreign hip-hop tend to be a step behind and copycats of their American counterparts. I admit that I might have a massive bias but I'm ever hopeful that we hear new genres instead of facsimiles of existing ones (that are much better). Fun to see a deep dive on this!
Thanks Grant! Yeah, I think a lot is derivative. It’s also hard to generalize - I thought Italian and Ukrainian was very inventive and unique, and Russian tended to be less so.
I find the production of foreign (non-US) hip-hop tends to be different. Simply put, American hip-hop just hits differently and, in my opinion, better, than the stuff I hear coming from elsewhere. An obvious exception is Drake, but he definitely draws from the US producer well. I'll also throw in that much of the lyrics and flow I hear in foreign hip-hop tend to be a step behind and copycats of their American counterparts. I admit that I might have a massive bias but I'm ever hopeful that we hear new genres instead of facsimiles of existing ones (that are much better). Fun to see a deep dive on this!
Thanks Grant! Yeah, I think a lot is derivative. It’s also hard to generalize - I thought Italian and Ukrainian was very inventive and unique, and Russian tended to be less so.
That was a journey I didn't know I needed!
What an unexpected yet thoughtful and well done analysis
Thank you!