New shiny slice the pie thread

champie

Thanks Jason I should have known better than to expect anything more.

I also had some glitches which cleared up when I logged out and cleared out the cookies.

jasonwatkins

darlo_fan wrote: »

the best way to approach it is that you try to review as you think fans of the genre would. Try to think about what is successful in the charts, and work out why you think that is, then apply that to the track you are listening to and rate accordingly.

see this, as i've always said, is where i think the voting model on that site falls over.

someone who is a fan of rock or pop will not be able to tell if a hip hop song is commercial viable because they'll largely think that they all sound similar.

they'll rate a hip hop song highly in one case, and a real fan of hip hop would likely listen to the same song and think "bloody hell that's awful - generic and unoriginal" and rate it down.

it's nobody's fault - it's just personal preference really.

i've sorted all the duff songs as well ..

jasonwatkins

champie wrote: »

Thanks Jason I should have known better than to expect anything more.

i've just realised actually that you probably thought i was being sarcastic - i really wasn't. it was a hamfisted attempt to say that there's no real way I can tell you what makes a good hip hop song - in much the same way you couldn't tell me what makes a good pop song or rock song.

very sorry if there was any misunderstanding - meant no offence ...

sarahs999

It is hard with hip hop, but there are some things I always mark down as a matter of principle. Excessive cursing gets a big markdown from me; we're meant to be finding commercially viable tracks and these just aren't. Tuneless and lazy rapping over a soulless loop of classical/filler music also gets a big markdown. Those are the easy ones.

I also mark down anything that ticks the big hip hop cliches box (which include: I'm a serious gangsta; I can rap better than anyone else; hos and !!!!!es are flocking to me; your !!! is big and I like it; I will kill you if you look at me funny; guns and money are the only important things in life). I just find all that lazy. We've heard it all before.

I mark up anyone who clearly has made an effort to be political (commenting on the state of the 'hood in an interesting way, directly complaining about the system/injustice etc) and anyone whose music is more than just a loop you could find on a free hip-hop backing tracks CD. Also anyone who is particularly clever with their rhyming/lyrics.

Apart from that there's not much more I can do, except go and learn more about hip hop, and I really don't want to do that. Far more interesting genres of music to learn about...

jasonwatkins

if you listen to some stuff by nas, mos def, jurassic 5 or the roots - that's good hip hop for me.

one of the greatest rap songs of all time (IMHO of course ) is "What they Do" by the roots.

have a listen .. it's all about the cliches in hip hop, and the video is just absolutely spot on as well. and .. all the instruments are actually played properly and live - nothing sampled when you listen to the roots.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CdWOoL31IJc

champie

sarahs999 wrote: »

I also mark down anything that ticks the big hip hop cliches box (which include: I'm a serious gangsta; I can rap better than anyone else; hos and !!!!!es are flocking to me; your !!! is big and I like it; I will kill you if you look at me funny; guns and money are the only important things in life). I just find all that lazy. We've heard it all before.
.

Sarahs I thought that was what hiphop was supposed to be about and jason that ferocious dog in that video really got me.:rotfl:

jasonwatkins

champie wrote: »

Sarahs I thought that was what hiphop was supposed to be about and jason that ferocious dog in that video really got me.:rotfl:

i love the bit in that video where the two guys are in the car and the line comes up "where are we going?"

i personally can't stand the "b*tches and ho's" type of hip hop and the "gangsta" stuff as well - i heard a track the other day by a british "crew" that was called something like "gun sign" where they rapped about making the gun sign and just glorified a lot of stuff that's wrong with that lifestyle today.

but then you do find some gems .. this song is possibly the most unintentionally funny song i've ever heard ..

http://www.slicethepie.com/Music/ViewArtistProfile.aspx?ArtistId=5229

play the song "Merking Again"

CreditonJules

Don't expect to make loads of money out of STP! To get a reasonable amount per review you have to work on a percentage spread - which to me is just complicated.

I tend to score each artist as I feel fit!

If you are no good at getting a good star rating (like me) they convert your "earnings" into voucher money. You do get 10p a review with this (which is far better 3p if you only have 2 stars)!

With this voucher money you can invest in the up and coming artists. Invest £5.00 or more and if they raise the cash to proceed to make their record (a staggering £15,000.00) you get a copy of their album, your name on the CD cover and a cut of their profits. :j

It's a long term gamble but you are using "virtual" money to begin with anyway! I love listening to the new artists who knows there may be a real up coming star there and I can say that "I was there" when they were discovered!!

STP have just opened up a new Scout room which as guitar bands in it - much better than all that rap hip hop stuff!

jasonwatkins

CreditonJules wrote: »

Don't expect to make loads of money out of STP! To get a reasonable amount per review you have to work on a percentage spread - which to me is just complicated.

It's not entirely true .. sort of true .. but not entirely ...

The principle of STP is to rate songs how you think others would rate them based on if you think it would be a commercial success.

"The spread" is nothing more than using the full spectrum of ratings from 0-10. This sometimes is impossible when you are fed a stream of average songs though. If you rate honestly, you are guaranteed to drop stars but maintain a decent accuracy. If you rate dishonestly, the opposite will likely happen.

champie

jasonwatkins wrote: »

If you rate honestly, you are guaranteed to drop stars but maintain a decent accuracy. If you rate dishonestly, the opposite will likely happen.

I started to trust my own feelings on and give the marks I believe is deserved rather than try to go with what I think others will would give and I found my accuracy drop quickly. But I got two stars and then for a brief moment as my accuracy got better three stars. Mind you a few rap songs got me back to 2 stars again and my accuracy suffered as well. From my experience when I lost accuracy I lost a star.