Whilst reading one of my favorite music blogs, Gorilla v. Bear, I found this great Diplo remix of "Bama Gettin Money" by Huntsville rappers PRGz. I had never heard of this group before, but was kind of amused by the prospect of these guys repping Huntsville in the same way that Three Six Mafia does Memphis or the No Limit/Cash Folks did New Orleans. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are a lot of folks living pretty tough lives in Huntsville, but its a pretty small city that I've always thought of as a pedestrian sort of locale. I've got family there, and its just never struck me as very tough, at least not in the same ways as many of the cities we associate with hip-hop. Plus, they're main export is Space Camp. In any case...Diplo is an artist I first discovered while browsing through CD's in the DJ booth of UGA's college radio station. I really liked his combination of Southern rap staples like 808 kicks and high hats with strings, weird synth sounds, and heady samples. This remix does one of my favorite things, which is to combine gritty gangsta rap-style vocals with heart-strings-pulling, cinematic sounds. I don't know what it is about this combination, something about the way the pain hidden in otherwise boastful and hedonic lyrics is drawn out by the blue notes in the music. Plus, there's a highly recognizable sample from an 80's hit, which I can't place right now, but which adds to the fun of the song. Check it out, and I'm sure you'll agree:
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