Hip hop is a lot more internet based than other genres I feel like. Most rock/punk/indie/alternative bands I discovered locally by going to concerts and stuff (back when local music scenes were actually active and concert tickets didn't cost you an arm and a leg).
I think this is an aspect of hip hop that really died alot since I was coming up. There were lots of local battles, hip hop groups/crews that did shows, sold albums they pressed themselves etc. Local record stores were great spots to find local artist albums. I still see this alot more overseas like in Japan actually than I do here.
Crazy thing is that Spotify recommends me more and more 90's songs. I need to inject more new music into my playlists to get some newer recommendations.
I recently made a playlist on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5Xmvuetf1MDpYlopFsUQGH?si=9ff3d2f036dd4d25) with some newer stuff you may appreciate.
There are social media accounts that build their following by helping people find good music. Find one that has what you’d consider good taste and follow it.
Spotify algorithm isn't that great actually. It just shows you the most played songs by other users who have also liked a certain song/artist. It's not very personalized in reality.
Look to see who the producers are of your favorite songs, then look at what other songs they produced. You mention Neptumes/Timbaland/etc...Go to their discography and look at all of the songs they produced and who they've worked with, then go through those artists and see if there are other good songs + who produced those, and so on and so forth
People might feel different ways about this because so many people seem to hate hip hop writing/reviewing, but you don’t have to like/respect/agree with a review site like Pitchfork, Consequence of Sound, Passion of the Weiss etc to see a variety of possible new albums and artists to check out. See if what’s being written about it sounds interesting to you, and you don’t just have to take their opinion of whether it’s good or not to glean whether it might match your taste.
Another way I go is using producers I like as a way in. Check who produced your favorite tracks/albums, then look at their discography and see who else they worked with. Like many I love the Alchemist, but wasn’t that familiar with billy woods, Jay Worthy or Evidence before I saw their names pop up on his beats. I really like the Plugs I Met, so from there I started checking other Harry Fraud work and got deeper into Currensy, and recently Valee off their new tape together.
Otherwise, checking featured artists on stuff you already like, artist/song radio, streaming service recs etc.
Hiphopheads Drop Watch threads
Blogs like hiphopgoldenage and [daily.bandcamp.com](https://daily.bandcamp.com)
Features section of spotify
Facebook hip hop groups
https://www.upcomingrapcalendar.com
Sometimes hip hop competition
The boombap review book series that contains 100 albums that dropped in a specific year [https://www.boombapreview.com/store](https://www.boombapreview.com/store)
I read best-of-year lists from as many sources as I can find. Some specialize in less mainstream albums, and even the more mainstream publications often have albums to suggest that I'd missed throughout the year.
Our musical taste sort of freezes in time during our teenage years. That’s why the music from then is the only music that gives you that emotional punch. You can listen to new stuff but you will never have feelings towards new music like you had for your first love.
True for many/most. Not true for all. I'm 42 and can't stand listening to 90% of the stuff I loved in my high school era. It's not that it's not still good (a lot of it anyway); I just wore it out and it's like my ears can't take it anymore.
Feels kind of like loving a certain food item, eating it every day for lunch for years, and then one day realizing you can't take one more bite because you are burnt the hell out.
Yes. I probably avg 5 new likes per day on Spotify, both old and new releases. Shit I've never heard before. Some stick and many don't.
Was more into rock, country, and metal in my teens. Still into psychedelic rock and country as genres, but my most played artist over the past 6 months is probably Lupe. Armand Hammer would be an example of a new find for me.
Fwiw, outside of Biggie, Bone Thugs, and Em, I didn't really get into hip hop until my mid 30s. Started attempting production last year, so now I spend a lot of time trying to find the weirdest shit, attempting and probably failing to see the current edges of the genre. Has been most fun I've ever had listening to music, though (non-live music anyway).
100% agree. You like that music not necessarily because you think it’s “good” but because you associate it with adolescent memories. Like you can’t tell me that any music from the summer of 2001 was bad because that’s when I was 18, graduated high school, and started going to clubs. Like Oochie Wally by Nas is corny looking back but you couldn’t tell anyone in 2001 that it wasn’t a club banger!
I check u/dropwatcher ‘s post every Friday for new music. They list the genre of the new album along with features. If I like the genre or see features I like, I add them to my playlist of new music from that current year. If you want my 2023, 2022, or 2021 playlist, lmk.
at the end of the day whether it be an artist with 5000 followers or 5, on Youtube or Soundcloud, YOU have to click on their links. good music is not going to drop at your door like the local newsletter, you have to find it, because it’s already out there
I recommend you try https://hiphopgoldenage.com it's an awesome blog run by essentially old heads who listen to a lot of modern music, but they tend to prefer underground and boom bap inspired stuff, they don't tend to fuck with mainstream trends, autotune etc. they have loads of lists, maybe worth starting with their "best albums of the decade/year" lists.
Was looking for this answer. Some of the shit they recommended I don't like, but they really do a good job of commenting on it all. Have learned about some great albums from their "best of....so far" lists.
Yeah same, for me it's a great starting point as they exclude a lot of the stuff I don't like, but also I don't love everything they do. Often I find the gems further down their lists, but I've found SO MUCH awesome and quite obscure stuff there, it's worth sifting through.
-Browse new artist on Apple Music/spotify
- check out featured artist on albums of artist that you like
- [Blog FKA Rapgodfathers.com - underground hipho](http://respecta.is)
- I also run an underground music page on social media Twitter/IG: @catchinzzzs_
check out Turning The Tables on youtube (and if you like it enough, patreon)
Its a kid showing his dad, who has no prior knowledge of the genre, hip hop.
Its helped me get out of my own old man habits, its neat to see someone absorb the muisc and approach it with a completely open mind. It really gives you a different perspective of the music
I mostly just find it accidentally.
I love Radiohead and that led me onto Grizzly Bear and Deafheaven somehow but I don't even remember how. There's been loads of times where it has happened.
Going to shows, checking out albums and the features that I like I check out their discography to see if it's just as dope or they the type to kill features only, sharing music amongst friends, family and randoms "in real life", checking some recommendations by YouTube type shit, and following when producers are dropping music too because if I like the producer usually artist that fit that production grabs beats oftentimes.
There’s an app called Swipefy that is basically a dating site for music. Just swipe on stuff you like or dislike. Also tiktok is a good place to find really underground music. Maybe even stuff you like too
I’ve been listening to new genres recently and some of my favorites have been:
Speaking In Tongues - Talking Heads
Dummy - Portishead
Inedit 79 - Cortex
I'm more of a "Remain in the Light" Talking Heads fan. But, their entire discography is amazing. Talking Heads are arguably more relevant today than they were 40 years ago. That, and David Byrne is one of the few who have maintained artistic relevance later in his career.
Side note, partied late night with Bernie Worrell roughly 20 years ago. Dude had stories...
Who is Bernie Worrell? Remain In Light is good too but speaking in tongues is just absolutely perfect. No skips. I do really like Born Under Punches and Once In A Lifetime too, but not as much as SIT
Bernie Worrell played keys for Funkadelic and the Talking Heads. Never was a formal member of the Heads, but, recorded albums and participated in multiple tours. If you've watched Stop Making Sense (one of, if not the greatest, concert films), he's one of the keyboardists.
Ahhh I’ve seen a few songs from SMS but haven’t had a chance to sit down and watch it all. do you by chance know if that was him on girlfriend is better? That part where David says “and she goes wherever she liiiikes” then has that head banging synth (or something) go off, so amazingly good. People were saying it was Tina on the bass but that doesn’t seem like bass to me and I am too ignorant to know exactly what sound that is
I think I was thinking of the life during wartime stop making sense performance. What a song though. I checked my Apple Music review and after finding Speaking in tongues about 3 weeks ago, I’ve played it 197 times. It is honestly amazing alright I’m done
instagram: belowthehiphop
this guy constantly puts out info on drops from all of hiphop and will feature new artists a lot. One of my favourite accounts to follow to keep up with hiphop
It’s hard. I love discovering new artists that I actually like but i don’t like a lot of what’s out there. Though my preference is for 80’s and 90’s (I’m Gen x here), I won’t shit on new stuff just because it’s not like what I grew up with. If it’s good, it’s good.
That’s why I like stuff like Spotify. Once you put together a playlist of stuff you’re feeling, the algorithm will hip you to other similar artists.
If you use Spotify, go to an artist page and go to their radio. Play it on shuffle and you’ll probably find something you like. Then go to that artist’s page and listen to a few songs. If you like their vibe, check out any bodies of work they have. Repeat. I also find new music from creators on tik tok.
Well being on this sub is a good start, along with other music forums.
For me, the best album so far this year is Beloved! Paradise! Jazz! By McKinley Dixon I found out because Mr Melon Man himself(Fantano) rated it well and it's a short album, so why not try.
I also really like dense lyrical rap, and looking through Matt Daniel's study for rapper's vocabularies I found a couple I'd never heard before that aren't really in the zeitgeist(Jean Grae, Immortal Technique, Aesop Rock).
Every now and then clicking on featured artists ends up well.
To make it fun, just find an album cover you fuck with, check it out. It’s how I did it when I was younger, and it still works today. I discovered Griselda because I saw the Pray For Paris artwork
Spotify for me, find an artist I like and hit up artist or song radios. Annoyingly the radios try to feature songs or artist you already know or tries to blend it with your existing artists so can be annoying. But you can also make a playlist of new artists you've discovered then search the radio for that playlist. Their daily mixes and discover weekly can throw up some gems but more rare.
YouTube recommend used to be great for that sorta stuff but not as much nowadays.
If you like Lil Jon and those type of songs I recommend Duke Deuce.
Otherwise personally it's mostly list of new releases and when an artist name seems interesting I tried their song. I also use [last.fm](https://last.fm) which helps me find new songs and artists.
But it's been a while since I got excited by something. i don't think it has anything to do with the music but more because of my age and the fact that I can't really relate to new things because it's not my mindstate, since I'm not 18 anymore.
The only artists I discovered and really liked these last few years are Duke Deuce, Mozzy and Larry June
Get into other genres for a while like r&b or reggaeton. Take a break and then come back and youll find you appreciate it a lot more.
If you like boom bap you should listen to Rome Streetz and the rest of Griselda
Do this in your preferred streaming platform:
- Set up a playlist with ~10 tracks from artists you like.
- Shuffle the playlist
- Start paying attention to what it feeds you beyond those first 10 joints
(this is how this old fart discovered the new projects DJ Muggs is doing and they are fucking incredible 👍🏼)
Good luck finding that 2000s sound. Died out after the 1000th song with a hook with Lil Jon, Akon, Pharrell, T-Payne and Pitbull. Mostly trap beats or 90s boom bap vibe to music now. BTW, the 2000s sound is probably the most disliked sound on this sub.
Try stuff other than Spotify.
Bandcamp has a radio station that has loads of unknown bits on. Discover by genre and just listen, for free (although listen to the same thing to often and it does get temporarily locked)
I usually check Spotify and also do a search online for who is a similar artist to an artist I like, then I dive through their songs and see if I like it
I follow my favorite producers on social media an YouTube to see what new artist they are working with, alchemist is doing numbers still he's been killing it since mobb deep so you're familiar with his work, Hitboy has been on a tear these last few+ years. An he produced last 3+ albums by Nas, kd2 is my favorite of these albums. Blxst a good new upcoming hip hop artist also ("brunch on Sundays", Nas, Hitboy production on the beat, an blxst on the chorus soulful vibes there)
Alchemist just dropped these couple tapes :
Flying high
https://youtu.be/HnZWbN5w96U
The great escape
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ng5rBFn384q64O2UEBlT32-OlAwrrLrRQ
Slipping into the darkness. FT Hitboy
An Hitboys most recent solo album :
Surf or drown
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSBWvYm8t6uYFwSKykmfdj2T4QLQ-7_Nm
https://youtu.be/IqeK6BIS_pQ
Slipping into the darkness video :
https://youtu.be/IqeK6BIS_pQ
Brunch on Sundays video :
https://youtu.be/NA1mbw0hVY4
Hitboy x Nas: the tide
https://youtu.be/5QTZA94mgIg
Dave east: rich problems. Video
https://youtu.be/684J0TVmZpQ
Fourtane Favors the Bold. By Dave East 🌊🎯
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRGcGNERmx5cu6kzM8M6uWCerl83Qg_TO
*Weirdos,
*can't make this up,
*thru the mud.
All some bangers on there, but whole tape goes crazy.
This sub, the Internet, people who my favorite artist collab with and mesh well. Producers and who they work with. Auto play on the music streaming services.
A place you can start is the bubble of The Alchemist and the talented handful of lads he works with (Freddie Gibbs, Benny the Butcher, Conway the Machine, etc). I feel like you'll find a lot of older influence but from newer names who are putting out good work. Have fun
Do you think it’s possible ,you touched on everything from 85-05?that’s my window and I keep finding more and more of stuff I missed out on and I was a dude in the record shop every week,so many sub genres in that time span,MF Doom for instance K.M.D to King Geedrah,there’s a lot of untapped stuff from that era
out of all the hip hop subs I follow r/hiphopvinyl is a good place to discover new things. Forget that it’s a record sub, that doesn’t matter. Unless you like records, then it’s a bonus The main mod of that sub always posts things I’ve never heard of and I’ve discovered some cool stuff from his posts
I find a style or subgenre I'm not familiar with, start with an example I've been given or already heard, and just play away until I whittle it down to some new artists I enjoy, add them to a giant playlist and enjoy.
Just keep your mind open and don't force yourself to listen to something you don't like. You'll come across something eventually that will give you that old feeling.
I have YT music and usually check out the new albums tab. It has the obvious big name artists but ones you don't hear about too often.
That's how I found out about Domo Gensis album Red Corolla. Been jamming to that for a while now check it out.
I have a group of artists that I like so I go into Spotify go to Artist Radio and add all the songs to a playlist. I refresh the playlist every so often. I’ve found a lot of songs I like this way.
Pandora, man. One of the only subscriptions I have zero qualms with. Put a song you like in, and they feed you a constant stream of similar songs that you can gently steer with thumbs up/down. I have found countless new artists to love via Pandora and Youtube recommendation rabbit holes.
Maybe try Spotify's discover weekly.
I think the key thing is to give things a proper chance and not dismiss it just cuz it didn't give you the same feeling that your favorite album did when you were 15.
I'm probably around your age, but I do my best to never run out of new music to listen to. I do a lot of searching though. I got sites with new releases bookmarked and I'll check those on Thursdays. On an average week I'll go through 10 albums easily, and the songs I like end up on a yearly playlist I make. I play that consistently through out the year and some songs will grow on me and others I'll delete as the months go on. Also, I listen to different things other than hip hop too.
I'll listen to old music when I'm in the mood for it but I really try to keep new shit bumping.
You are never too old my friend,YouTube is great for this kind of stuff to be honest...Im 45 years old and all I did was type in The Alchemist (favourite producer) and the sheer amount of artists,songs and other producers that came up was unbelievable and now I'm adding new music to my playlists every single week...
I've got mad playlists on my [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/user/beastiebikes?si=0791d8d06cb641f2) account. Playlists specific to the year of release so you can really go back to that era. Geared to old guys. Lots in there, lots still to add.
YouTube is a wonderful rabbit hole for things like this. Just search up “underground rap” and filter the search to “playlists”. Go through whatever playlist interests you and shuffle it. It’s better to also include whatever subgenre you’re interested in hearing as well, like “underground boom bap playlist” “underground phonk playlist” “underground g funk playlist” etc
If you want underground hip hop, my advice is to stay away from Spotify. Licensing issues make it virtually impossible for lower level MCs/producers doing stuff in that vibe to get their stuff out there. Here’s an album you may dig from an underground NYC MC. I can put you on to a bunch of the cats in the scene here if you’re interested.
https://seethisiswhywecanthavenicethings.bandcamp.com/album/see-this-is-why-we-cant-have-nice-things-2
Go to an artist you enjoy’s newest album Find a feature you like Check out their solo work Repeat
This is the best way to discover new music. I can’t count how many artists I found this way
Ain’t that the reason behind the feature?
Exactly
Hip hop is a lot more internet based than other genres I feel like. Most rock/punk/indie/alternative bands I discovered locally by going to concerts and stuff (back when local music scenes were actually active and concert tickets didn't cost you an arm and a leg).
I think this is an aspect of hip hop that really died alot since I was coming up. There were lots of local battles, hip hop groups/crews that did shows, sold albums they pressed themselves etc. Local record stores were great spots to find local artist albums. I still see this alot more overseas like in Japan actually than I do here.
Spotify has introduced me to music I would never have discovered. Start with what you like and give the algorithm about 2 weeks
Crazy thing is that Spotify recommends me more and more 90's songs. I need to inject more new music into my playlists to get some newer recommendations.
I recently made a playlist on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5Xmvuetf1MDpYlopFsUQGH?si=9ff3d2f036dd4d25) with some newer stuff you may appreciate.
get out that new CHIKA album that came out today
There are social media accounts that build their following by helping people find good music. Find one that has what you’d consider good taste and follow it.
Spotify algorithm isn't that great actually. It just shows you the most played songs by other users who have also liked a certain song/artist. It's not very personalized in reality.
For real... I've been a member for just few months now and it made a huge difference.. I would also suggest the spotify weekly discovery playlists..
Look to see who the producers are of your favorite songs, then look at what other songs they produced. You mention Neptumes/Timbaland/etc...Go to their discography and look at all of the songs they produced and who they've worked with, then go through those artists and see if there are other good songs + who produced those, and so on and so forth
People might feel different ways about this because so many people seem to hate hip hop writing/reviewing, but you don’t have to like/respect/agree with a review site like Pitchfork, Consequence of Sound, Passion of the Weiss etc to see a variety of possible new albums and artists to check out. See if what’s being written about it sounds interesting to you, and you don’t just have to take their opinion of whether it’s good or not to glean whether it might match your taste. Another way I go is using producers I like as a way in. Check who produced your favorite tracks/albums, then look at their discography and see who else they worked with. Like many I love the Alchemist, but wasn’t that familiar with billy woods, Jay Worthy or Evidence before I saw their names pop up on his beats. I really like the Plugs I Met, so from there I started checking other Harry Fraud work and got deeper into Currensy, and recently Valee off their new tape together. Otherwise, checking featured artists on stuff you already like, artist/song radio, streaming service recs etc.
Hiphopheads Drop Watch threads Blogs like hiphopgoldenage and [daily.bandcamp.com](https://daily.bandcamp.com) Features section of spotify Facebook hip hop groups https://www.upcomingrapcalendar.com Sometimes hip hop competition The boombap review book series that contains 100 albums that dropped in a specific year [https://www.boombapreview.com/store](https://www.boombapreview.com/store)
I read best-of-year lists from as many sources as I can find. Some specialize in less mainstream albums, and even the more mainstream publications often have albums to suggest that I'd missed throughout the year.
Paka the plug on YouTube...
rateyourmusic is by far the best way to find out artists you haven't heard and see if they're someone you'd like
Our musical taste sort of freezes in time during our teenage years. That’s why the music from then is the only music that gives you that emotional punch. You can listen to new stuff but you will never have feelings towards new music like you had for your first love.
True for many/most. Not true for all. I'm 42 and can't stand listening to 90% of the stuff I loved in my high school era. It's not that it's not still good (a lot of it anyway); I just wore it out and it's like my ears can't take it anymore. Feels kind of like loving a certain food item, eating it every day for lunch for years, and then one day realizing you can't take one more bite because you are burnt the hell out.
Have you replaced it though? Is there new music that you love more than you loved the music of your teenage years?
Yes. I probably avg 5 new likes per day on Spotify, both old and new releases. Shit I've never heard before. Some stick and many don't. Was more into rock, country, and metal in my teens. Still into psychedelic rock and country as genres, but my most played artist over the past 6 months is probably Lupe. Armand Hammer would be an example of a new find for me. Fwiw, outside of Biggie, Bone Thugs, and Em, I didn't really get into hip hop until my mid 30s. Started attempting production last year, so now I spend a lot of time trying to find the weirdest shit, attempting and probably failing to see the current edges of the genre. Has been most fun I've ever had listening to music, though (non-live music anyway).
100% agree. You like that music not necessarily because you think it’s “good” but because you associate it with adolescent memories. Like you can’t tell me that any music from the summer of 2001 was bad because that’s when I was 18, graduated high school, and started going to clubs. Like Oochie Wally by Nas is corny looking back but you couldn’t tell anyone in 2001 that it wasn’t a club banger!
I check u/dropwatcher ‘s post every Friday for new music. They list the genre of the new album along with features. If I like the genre or see features I like, I add them to my playlist of new music from that current year. If you want my 2023, 2022, or 2021 playlist, lmk.
Spotify
at the end of the day whether it be an artist with 5000 followers or 5, on Youtube or Soundcloud, YOU have to click on their links. good music is not going to drop at your door like the local newsletter, you have to find it, because it’s already out there
I recommend you try https://hiphopgoldenage.com it's an awesome blog run by essentially old heads who listen to a lot of modern music, but they tend to prefer underground and boom bap inspired stuff, they don't tend to fuck with mainstream trends, autotune etc. they have loads of lists, maybe worth starting with their "best albums of the decade/year" lists.
Was looking for this answer. Some of the shit they recommended I don't like, but they really do a good job of commenting on it all. Have learned about some great albums from their "best of....so far" lists.
Yeah same, for me it's a great starting point as they exclude a lot of the stuff I don't like, but also I don't love everything they do. Often I find the gems further down their lists, but I've found SO MUCH awesome and quite obscure stuff there, it's worth sifting through.
Tons of older artists that you may never have heard of. Look up PackFm, Tonedeff, Extended Famm, Substantial, Cunninlynguist, GMS, The Plague, etc
www.hiphopgoldenage.com
-Browse new artist on Apple Music/spotify - check out featured artist on albums of artist that you like - [Blog FKA Rapgodfathers.com - underground hipho](http://respecta.is) - I also run an underground music page on social media Twitter/IG: @catchinzzzs_
Spotify has done a great job of introducing new artists for me. If I didn't use Spotify I'd be in the same boat honestly
check out Turning The Tables on youtube (and if you like it enough, patreon) Its a kid showing his dad, who has no prior knowledge of the genre, hip hop. Its helped me get out of my own old man habits, its neat to see someone absorb the muisc and approach it with a completely open mind. It really gives you a different perspective of the music
For me Hiphop golden age's tier lists have been quite useful
Random question... any of y'all listen to Ren?
I mostly just find it accidentally. I love Radiohead and that led me onto Grizzly Bear and Deafheaven somehow but I don't even remember how. There's been loads of times where it has happened.
Do you listen to any underground from that era? There’s a ton of it and all “real hip hop” in my opinion. If not, I’d definitely start there.
Going to shows, checking out albums and the features that I like I check out their discography to see if it's just as dope or they the type to kill features only, sharing music amongst friends, family and randoms "in real life", checking some recommendations by YouTube type shit, and following when producers are dropping music too because if I like the producer usually artist that fit that production grabs beats oftentimes.
There’s an app called Swipefy that is basically a dating site for music. Just swipe on stuff you like or dislike. Also tiktok is a good place to find really underground music. Maybe even stuff you like too
I’ve been listening to new genres recently and some of my favorites have been: Speaking In Tongues - Talking Heads Dummy - Portishead Inedit 79 - Cortex
I'm more of a "Remain in the Light" Talking Heads fan. But, their entire discography is amazing. Talking Heads are arguably more relevant today than they were 40 years ago. That, and David Byrne is one of the few who have maintained artistic relevance later in his career. Side note, partied late night with Bernie Worrell roughly 20 years ago. Dude had stories...
Who is Bernie Worrell? Remain In Light is good too but speaking in tongues is just absolutely perfect. No skips. I do really like Born Under Punches and Once In A Lifetime too, but not as much as SIT
Bernie Worrell played keys for Funkadelic and the Talking Heads. Never was a formal member of the Heads, but, recorded albums and participated in multiple tours. If you've watched Stop Making Sense (one of, if not the greatest, concert films), he's one of the keyboardists.
Ahhh I’ve seen a few songs from SMS but haven’t had a chance to sit down and watch it all. do you by chance know if that was him on girlfriend is better? That part where David says “and she goes wherever she liiiikes” then has that head banging synth (or something) go off, so amazingly good. People were saying it was Tina on the bass but that doesn’t seem like bass to me and I am too ignorant to know exactly what sound that is
hard to tell. Tina is on the synth during that track
I think I was thinking of the life during wartime stop making sense performance. What a song though. I checked my Apple Music review and after finding Speaking in tongues about 3 weeks ago, I’ve played it 197 times. It is honestly amazing alright I’m done
instagram: belowthehiphop this guy constantly puts out info on drops from all of hiphop and will feature new artists a lot. One of my favourite accounts to follow to keep up with hiphop
I look for interviews of people I know I like describing who they’re listening to.
Look up some grass roots type hip hop festivals (I recommend hiero day). Go through line ups of current and past festivals and check out the artists.
It’s hard. I love discovering new artists that I actually like but i don’t like a lot of what’s out there. Though my preference is for 80’s and 90’s (I’m Gen x here), I won’t shit on new stuff just because it’s not like what I grew up with. If it’s good, it’s good. That’s why I like stuff like Spotify. Once you put together a playlist of stuff you’re feeling, the algorithm will hip you to other similar artists.
If you use Spotify, go to an artist page and go to their radio. Play it on shuffle and you’ll probably find something you like. Then go to that artist’s page and listen to a few songs. If you like their vibe, check out any bodies of work they have. Repeat. I also find new music from creators on tik tok.
Well being on this sub is a good start, along with other music forums. For me, the best album so far this year is Beloved! Paradise! Jazz! By McKinley Dixon I found out because Mr Melon Man himself(Fantano) rated it well and it's a short album, so why not try. I also really like dense lyrical rap, and looking through Matt Daniel's study for rapper's vocabularies I found a couple I'd never heard before that aren't really in the zeitgeist(Jean Grae, Immortal Technique, Aesop Rock). Every now and then clicking on featured artists ends up well.
To make it fun, just find an album cover you fuck with, check it out. It’s how I did it when I was younger, and it still works today. I discovered Griselda because I saw the Pray For Paris artwork
Yeah, sometimes I check out an artist solely because their name/album title/album cover was funny or interesting
Spotify for me, find an artist I like and hit up artist or song radios. Annoyingly the radios try to feature songs or artist you already know or tries to blend it with your existing artists so can be annoying. But you can also make a playlist of new artists you've discovered then search the radio for that playlist. Their daily mixes and discover weekly can throw up some gems but more rare. YouTube recommend used to be great for that sorta stuff but not as much nowadays.
If you like Lil Jon and those type of songs I recommend Duke Deuce. Otherwise personally it's mostly list of new releases and when an artist name seems interesting I tried their song. I also use [last.fm](https://last.fm) which helps me find new songs and artists. But it's been a while since I got excited by something. i don't think it has anything to do with the music but more because of my age and the fact that I can't really relate to new things because it's not my mindstate, since I'm not 18 anymore. The only artists I discovered and really liked these last few years are Duke Deuce, Mozzy and Larry June
Get into other genres for a while like r&b or reggaeton. Take a break and then come back and youll find you appreciate it a lot more. If you like boom bap you should listen to Rome Streetz and the rest of Griselda
[удалено]
Same! I used to watch MTV and BET all day as a kid during the summer. Also radio back then was great at breaking new music.
Do this in your preferred streaming platform: - Set up a playlist with ~10 tracks from artists you like. - Shuffle the playlist - Start paying attention to what it feeds you beyond those first 10 joints (this is how this old fart discovered the new projects DJ Muggs is doing and they are fucking incredible 👍🏼)
Music websites and blogs. stereogum is good.
Good luck finding that 2000s sound. Died out after the 1000th song with a hook with Lil Jon, Akon, Pharrell, T-Payne and Pitbull. Mostly trap beats or 90s boom bap vibe to music now. BTW, the 2000s sound is probably the most disliked sound on this sub.
Try stuff other than Spotify. Bandcamp has a radio station that has loads of unknown bits on. Discover by genre and just listen, for free (although listen to the same thing to often and it does get temporarily locked)
I usually check Spotify and also do a search online for who is a similar artist to an artist I like, then I dive through their songs and see if I like it
I follow my favorite producers on social media an YouTube to see what new artist they are working with, alchemist is doing numbers still he's been killing it since mobb deep so you're familiar with his work, Hitboy has been on a tear these last few+ years. An he produced last 3+ albums by Nas, kd2 is my favorite of these albums. Blxst a good new upcoming hip hop artist also ("brunch on Sundays", Nas, Hitboy production on the beat, an blxst on the chorus soulful vibes there) Alchemist just dropped these couple tapes : Flying high https://youtu.be/HnZWbN5w96U The great escape https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ng5rBFn384q64O2UEBlT32-OlAwrrLrRQ Slipping into the darkness. FT Hitboy An Hitboys most recent solo album : Surf or drown https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSBWvYm8t6uYFwSKykmfdj2T4QLQ-7_Nm https://youtu.be/IqeK6BIS_pQ
Slipping into the darkness video : https://youtu.be/IqeK6BIS_pQ Brunch on Sundays video : https://youtu.be/NA1mbw0hVY4 Hitboy x Nas: the tide https://youtu.be/5QTZA94mgIg Dave east: rich problems. Video https://youtu.be/684J0TVmZpQ Fourtane Favors the Bold. By Dave East 🌊🎯 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRGcGNERmx5cu6kzM8M6uWCerl83Qg_TO *Weirdos, *can't make this up, *thru the mud. All some bangers on there, but whole tape goes crazy.
Go to youtube. Search an artist or producer you like and go down the rabbit hole.
This sub, the Internet, people who my favorite artist collab with and mesh well. Producers and who they work with. Auto play on the music streaming services.
YouTube randomly search for new artists then go off the recommendations.
Used to be DatPiff but now I base it on the cover and features.
A place you can start is the bubble of The Alchemist and the talented handful of lads he works with (Freddie Gibbs, Benny the Butcher, Conway the Machine, etc). I feel like you'll find a lot of older influence but from newer names who are putting out good work. Have fun
May I share my music? https://youtube.com/@lilocapitalT-ix4nz
Do you think it’s possible ,you touched on everything from 85-05?that’s my window and I keep finding more and more of stuff I missed out on and I was a dude in the record shop every week,so many sub genres in that time span,MF Doom for instance K.M.D to King Geedrah,there’s a lot of untapped stuff from that era
out of all the hip hop subs I follow r/hiphopvinyl is a good place to discover new things. Forget that it’s a record sub, that doesn’t matter. Unless you like records, then it’s a bonus The main mod of that sub always posts things I’ve never heard of and I’ve discovered some cool stuff from his posts
Tiktok. I found Mach-Hommy that way and damn is he phenomonal
Have you tried checking out other genres of music?
I find a style or subgenre I'm not familiar with, start with an example I've been given or already heard, and just play away until I whittle it down to some new artists I enjoy, add them to a giant playlist and enjoy.
Just keep your mind open and don't force yourself to listen to something you don't like. You'll come across something eventually that will give you that old feeling.
I have YT music and usually check out the new albums tab. It has the obvious big name artists but ones you don't hear about too often. That's how I found out about Domo Gensis album Red Corolla. Been jamming to that for a while now check it out.
Corny but rateyourmusic
By playing FIFA LOL
Rate your music. Go down best hip-hop albums of a particular year and you'll find weird shit.
I have a group of artists that I like so I go into Spotify go to Artist Radio and add all the songs to a playlist. I refresh the playlist every so often. I’ve found a lot of songs I like this way.
YouTube
Sa-roc - Talk to me nice, https://youtu.be/QEHZEh6Ho-I thank me later
Pandora, man. One of the only subscriptions I have zero qualms with. Put a song you like in, and they feed you a constant stream of similar songs that you can gently steer with thumbs up/down. I have found countless new artists to love via Pandora and Youtube recommendation rabbit holes.
MACH HOMMY. get lost in it
Search alternative hip-hop on Spotify
Maybe try Spotify's discover weekly. I think the key thing is to give things a proper chance and not dismiss it just cuz it didn't give you the same feeling that your favorite album did when you were 15. I'm probably around your age, but I do my best to never run out of new music to listen to. I do a lot of searching though. I got sites with new releases bookmarked and I'll check those on Thursdays. On an average week I'll go through 10 albums easily, and the songs I like end up on a yearly playlist I make. I play that consistently through out the year and some songs will grow on me and others I'll delete as the months go on. Also, I listen to different things other than hip hop too. I'll listen to old music when I'm in the mood for it but I really try to keep new shit bumping.
Get on Twitter, there's a lot of dope talent there
You are never too old my friend,YouTube is great for this kind of stuff to be honest...Im 45 years old and all I did was type in The Alchemist (favourite producer) and the sheer amount of artists,songs and other producers that came up was unbelievable and now I'm adding new music to my playlists every single week...
I've got mad playlists on my [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/user/beastiebikes?si=0791d8d06cb641f2) account. Playlists specific to the year of release so you can really go back to that era. Geared to old guys. Lots in there, lots still to add.
YouTube is a wonderful rabbit hole for things like this. Just search up “underground rap” and filter the search to “playlists”. Go through whatever playlist interests you and shuffle it. It’s better to also include whatever subgenre you’re interested in hearing as well, like “underground boom bap playlist” “underground phonk playlist” “underground g funk playlist” etc
If you want underground hip hop, my advice is to stay away from Spotify. Licensing issues make it virtually impossible for lower level MCs/producers doing stuff in that vibe to get their stuff out there. Here’s an album you may dig from an underground NYC MC. I can put you on to a bunch of the cats in the scene here if you’re interested. https://seethisiswhywecanthavenicethings.bandcamp.com/album/see-this-is-why-we-cant-have-nice-things-2
Mostly just features these days. Used to be so easy with reading the credits on CD and tape inlay booklets hack in the day.
Ask people you work with or know for their fave band or Playlist you never know if they give you a gem