Monday, November 29, 2010

The Chap-Hop war wages on!

It seems that the rap scene in England is a more diverse platform than I had hitherto believed it to be! It seems that there's a war waging in the relatively new genre of 'Chap-Hop'. A chap, for those unfamiliar with the movement, is a very particular type of gentleman. If you'd like to learn more you can find all the information you'll need at The Chap, a local English publication of note and of no small influence.

As Chap-hop is a burgeoning musical tradition there are only, as far as I can tell, two artists vying for recognition as England's preeminent gentleman rhymer. The first is Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer (yeah, I've appropriated his name for rhetorical value) and in this short clip I hope you'll get a good sense of his style, although he does have a rather sizable body of completely original material as well.

His competition is Professor Elemental. In this clip he's responding to Mr B's presence in the chap-hop scene in a rather eloquent but in no way convoluted manner. It was actually this video that first peeked my interest in the Chap Hop scene, and I'm only including it second as it references Mr B explicitly and I had hoped to avoid any confusion or ambiguity regarding the song's subject.

So, now that you've familiarised yourself with the Chap philosophy, and with the works of both Professor Elemental and Mr B the Gentleman Rhymer, I shall leave it to you, the reader, to discern for yourself who is the most deserving of England's recognition and admiration.

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