With all of the Lil Pump drama thats been going on for a couple weeks, there's been a renewed interest in hip-hop in China, and as a Chinese person I can give an in-depth look into the various artists and style in China, for those that want to know a little bit more than just Higher Brothers.
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Credit to u/JamRed10 and u/itsobs for making the first two guides, but they were missing quite a bit when capturing China as a whole.
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Hip-hop in China is just now becoming a big deal with the second season of The Rap of China having just ended (and is accused of becoming maybe a little too mainstream), and can be divided into two categories :

• "Western" style features trap beats and Western style (Higher Brothers, Tizzy T, etc.). If these people spoke English they wouldn't sound that different from their American/Western counterparts, and often gain some traction outside of China.
• "Chinese" hip-hop, which is very under-appreciated outside of China, is a blast to the past far beyond the time of Tupac and Biggie. Talkin about two-thousand year blast to the past, with flutes and the classic Chinese up-and down style mixed with a hip-hop beat and flow that would make you think Confucius is coming back to life. Songs in this category often include many Chinese idioms and ancient references, which is a big part of why it is virtually unknown out of the country. They usually discuss not the stereotypical "drugs and bitches" but rather things discussed in poems from the times of Li Bai(who is often cited as inspiration for a lot of things in China) such as romantic heroes, homesick travellers, and how to compose oneself in society.

Some examples of the Chinese style :
Gai - Self-control and Discipline
GAI ft Kungfu-Pen and AfterJourney - Tiger Mountain
Key.L - The Vigilante of the Forest
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Chinese rap is also divided into cities, as is Chinese culture as a whole to be honest. As such, groups tend to form exclusive to cities, with Chengdu and Chongqing becoming the two biggest ones (due to the dialects there being far superior to mandarin when it comes to the rhymes and flow needed for hip-hop to sound good). When looking at Chinese hiphop you will see "CDC" and "CSC" a lot, this is just "ChengDu Cheng" and "ChangSha Cheng" which simply means Chengdu City and Changsha City.
From Chengdu :

• The well known Higher Brothers group, including four people, MaSiWei, DZ Know, Melo, and Psy.P. They are the most well-known group outside of China. MaSiWei is an OG and has been around for quite a while before Higher Brothers, under the name OG Skippy.

Isabellae
Made in China
Aston Martin
OG MaSiWei - Learning Taoist Principles

• Ty. - the most successful outside of China (although not the most well-known). Raps about hard stuff that you don't usually hear in China, and even featured in a track in Crazy Rich Asians.

Successful
Mainlanders Supreme - slightly controversial outside the mainland for light dissing Taiwanese, Japanese, Filipinos (the song literally goes under the premise "20 years ago you all laughed at the People's Republic now you are all forced to fear us, all who want to get rich come to China)
You Can't See Me

• Fat Shady(Xie Di) - was somehow pretty popular with some decent stuff, however he got a lot of hate from making an over-the top xenophobic song discussing foreigners in China(literally called Fuck off Foreigners, which dropped his status quite a bit)

Shady Has it All
Fuck Foreigners....

• The other various artists from Chengdu RapHouse (where the Higher Brothers are from)

1. AnsrJ - had one of the best Lil Pump disses

Fuck Lil Pump

1. Wang Yitai/3HO - may not be the best rapper but he happens to have an amazing voice

Don't Close Your Eyes
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The Chongqing rappers are the main rivals to the Chengdu artists :

• The famous Gai, who co-won the first season of Rap of China and is somewhat credited with birthing the hip-hop revolution in China. He came straight from the streets from Chongqing and early in his career was known as "Gangsta God Gai". Keeps it real with a strong Chinese style and uses tons of Chinese references and idioms(Chengyu) to where his songs are often straight lyrical, like if Shakespeare came back from the dead as a Chinese person. On top of his rap skills, he has one of the BEST singing voices in China. The government dragged him off a very popular singing show because his voice was too good and they didn't want a former gangster breaking into real mainstream culture. Singlehandedly carries Chongqing hip-hop.

Empty Fort Strategy
A Western-Style Gangsta Rap Song - The Soul of Chongqing
Hotpot Soup
Singing Voice-
Love Goes Like the Tide
The Roar of the Ocean

• Bridge, Gai's mate

Big Boss
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The Xinjiang rappers are quickly making the Islamic province the capital of Chinese Hip-hop, with two Uyghur artists stealing the show in the latest season of The Rap of China. Just like their African-American counterparts, their minority struggle with a hostile government has pushed them into embracing an unknown musical style to show their struggle.

• AfterJourney - The big boi of Xinjiang beloved by all, he has beef with no-one and raps about the struggle of day-to-day life and his pride to be embracing a musical style rejected by his culture. He recently had a burst of international fame when he went to Britain and worked with grime-rap artist Cadell.

2 Much ft Cadell
Sorry
Yellow Skin Flow

• Air - Won the Rap of China season 2, has a good singing voice and raps about pretty much anything he wants to. More of a mainstream sound.

I Fight for my Homies and Hip-hop
My Mother is the Giant in my Life

• Nawukere/Lil-em, called the Eminem of China, due to him starting online doing Eminem covers. He easily raps with a speed that eclipses Eminem in Rap God and does so in three different languages, Mandarin, Uyghur, and English. Eminem is still considered far above him due to Eminem's lyrical meaning and writing ability, but Nawukere sure has the speed element of Em. He is also well known for his frequent use of Uyghur.

Don't Wanna live on the Streets (entirely in Uyghur)
Three Pass ft ICE (skip to 1:50 to hear him go fast)
A REAL MAN

• Huang Xu, raps about his life of poverty and struggle in Xinjiang

Yellow Green Indigo Blue and Purple
The Changsha rappers are not really trying to gain international recognition, but rather make music they enjoy. This leads to their style encompassing pretty much the entirety of the hip-hop spectrum, depending on what they feel like doing.

• The group C-Block is by far the most well known out of Changsha, featuring Kung-fu Pen, DamnShine, and Key.L. They have done all sorts of musical styles based on nothing but what they happen to feel like making, from jumpy '90s style that's kind of like Run-DMC but at the same time not, underground sounding tracks talking about the police and vigilante life that takes influence from NWA, to just the ancient Chinese sounding classics.

My Life Goes Up and Down Like a Bungee so Just Jump
Power to the People
The Flow of Jianghu
Three-Man Wanderers

• Kung-fu Pen, while not the best artist out there, is an absolute performance god. Whenever he is onstage, he is always is full of energy and can get a crowd maximum hype real quick. He has a pleasing deep voice and emits an aura that makes you want to like him.

Li Sao

• Key-L is the singer of C-Block, but also raps incredibly well. He works by himself often unlike the other two, and strongly embraces the old Chinese style. He encompassed this in one of his lines "They all say Key.L, you rap like an ancient man long dead / Well are you really dumb enough to have to pick up a book to understand my lyrics?"

Soldier of the Mandate of Heaven
Dark Dreams ft SIO

• Damnshine doesn't tend to work alone, and considers himself to not be up to the levels of his comrades. He is nevertheless quite good and gained fame through his Higher Brothers diss where he even took shots at Masiwei vs Beibei. He got to perform with and meet Snoop Dogg.

HIGHER BROTHERS DISS

• Sio/Dirty Xio used to be a part of C-Block and was seen frequently with them, but has since split and is now doing his own thing. He often sounds "spooky", like he will haunt you to your grave, and is often compared with 21 Savage for using his very deep voice to simply talk over a beat.

Those Disgusting Memories
Rap from Nanjing is pretty much just one guy

• Jony J - has been around for a long time and has never been super famous but always good, had quite a funny moment when he was eliminated from Rap of China for forgetting the lyrics to his own song.

Tao Lu
Xi'an

• This comprises the infamous HongHuaHui group, who is well known for their more "defiant" lyrics. They've been heavily censored due to this. The two most famous in the group I would say are PG One and BeiBei(who famously demolished Masiwei in the 8-mile).

PG One - Zhong Er Bing
Bei Bei - So Fresh

• Pact(Pa-ke-te) has only just recently gained fame, and always seems kind of bored, but this results in his style being really chill and easy to vibe to.

I Love Xi'an City
Taiwanese rap has been around far longer than it has on the mainland, and includes some really good stuff. The ancient Chinese style is sadly absent from the music there. Whether or not you consider Taiwan to be connected to mainland China, the rap game most certainly is, and artists across the strait will frequently collaborate.

• MC Hotdog (and Chang Chen-yue) are an incredible duo with some great stuff. Hotdog's been in it for a looong time. I'm going to be honest, I thought they were black people speaking Chinese when I first saw them because they do look like it(lol).

MC is Coming
Your Average Guy
MC Hotdog and Chang Chen-yue ft Kungfu Pen and PACT - Goodbye Hiphop
There's quite a lot from Taiwan, enough to make another post like this, so I will just leave you with Hotdog, and if you're interested, find some more by looking into it.
Guangdong

• Chillgun, pretty chill. Good music with some Cantonese thrown in.

You're Like That

• Tizzy T, used to work with Chillgun but they had a falling out.

Ya Boi Tizzy T ft MC Hotdog
Tibetan Rap is quite young, and often talks about the Tibetan lifestyle in the wild terrain, far from the problems of the cities.

• Uncle Buddhist, he was born in the pasture area but grew up in the city and thus he’s confronted with sharp contact between the Tibetan tradition and modern life. He released the first ever Tibetan hiphop album, making him the OG of Tibetan rap. (even though it came out less than a year ago lol)

Dreaming of Tibet
Do Whatever You Want

Artist: The Roots
Album: Things Fall Apart
Listen:
· Youtube
· Spotify
· Apple Music
· Google Play Music
Album Background
To understand the lead-up to Things Fall Apart’s release, its important to recognize the dilemma The Roots found themselves in as they set out to record the follow-up to 1996’s Illadelph Halflife. The Roots were a bit….out of place - at least within the context of the day’s hip-hop environment. While hip-hop’s mainstream was dominated by the East Coast-West Coast beef, the larger-than-life personalities of Puff Daddy and Jay-Z, and the bubbling rise of Southern hip-hop, The Roots were at a bit of a cross-roads. They represented the push-back to Bad Boy, a critical darling that combined jazz and hip-hop in a way that satisfied everybody – except the mainstream. They weren’t the only acts pushing back, but The Roots lacked what other acts that managed to push through the East Coast-West Coast beef had: an identity. This isn’t to say The Roots didn’t have anything to say, they just hadn’t figured out a way to package together their unique blend of neo-soul, jazz, and hip-hop in a way that the masses could latch onto.
While their previous record had pulled from the grittier New York sound that Wu-Tang had helped bring to the forefront of hip-hop, a different set of influences would help shape Things Fall Apart. While band-leader ?uestlove spent time working on D’Angelo’s Voodoo¸ he focused on learning from his contemporaries, citing DJ Premier and J Dilla as major influences in his evolution of sound. They helped him learn to play “dirty”, making his beats off-kilter and less – well – clean. Nobody doubted ?uest’s capability as a drummer, but if anything he was too studied for the era. His beats didn’t give rapper Black Thought much room to explore his grittier side, and in the era of Biggie’s violent narratives snatching the spotlight, The Roots needed a darker edge to help snatch some of the spotlight. In his 2013 memoir Mo’ Meta Blues, ?uestlove talks about a turning point in his production career, in which he played an early version of eventual Things Fall Apart stand-out “Double Trouble” for Dilla and DJ Premier. “I knew that the other guys respected me as a drummer… but I also wanted them to respect me as a producer”.
What the record came to be was nothing short of pioneering: a seamless combination of the burgeoning neo-soul movement and the gritty sounds dominating the hip-hop charts; a masterful combination of the live instrumentation they had perfected over their previous three projects, and the new-age sampling that was dominating much of hip-hop’s sound. This combination of sound - so inherently old and new, chaotic but focused, hard-hitting but psychedelic – gave Black Thought room to flex his lyrical muscles, cementing himself as one of the top lyricists of the era (and his place in my top 3 rappers of all-time).
Album Review
Before getting into the tracklist, I feel as though it is important to discuss both the album’s title and it’s art. Things Fall Apart is named after the classic (and often spark-noted) novel of the same name by Chinua Achebe. The Roots – and associated acts within their lane, such as Common and Mos Def – were meant to parallel the main character of the novel, Okonkwo. Okonkwo leads an African tribe during the rise of European colonialism, and despite being respected by his peers and being considered the strongest warrior amongst his peers, he is unable to fight back against the colonizers, with his peers submitting to the invaders’ authority. While not explicitly stated, The Roots’ “colonizers” are the previously mentioned acts that dominated the airwaves in the late 90’s, as the “bling era” truly got into full-swing. Much like Okonkwo, The Roots were not simply going to cower and accept this new leadership in hip-hop. That being said (spoilers if you for some reason haven’t read the novel, and are interested in doing so), The Roots know this is ultimately a losing battle. The labels (read: colonizers) had too many resources invested to overcome, and the most that could be done was to hold the line.
The main artwork, known as “Woman Running”, comes from a riot in Brooklyn during the height of the Civil Rights era. It depicts two black teenagers being chased by dozens of police officers, and the genuine fear in the woman’s face is as powerful of an image as you’ll find: aggressive, unflinching, in-your-face. This iconic image represented the injustice of the Civil Rights era and captured the eye of anybody who happened upon it. There were four alternative covers as well: “Ace in the Hand”, showing mob boss Giuseppe Masseria’s dead, outstretched arm holding a single Ace playing card; “The Church Bombing”, depicting a mostly-destroyed church, with remaining stained-glass that portrays persevering hope and spirituality; “Baby in the Rubble”, an iconic shot of a baby left behind in the aftermath of Japanese destruction in China in the 1930’s; and “Crying Child”, showing a malnourished Somalian child and representing the famine that still ruled much of the world.
Track-by-Track Review

1. Act Won (Things Fall Apart)

The album begins with two samples of dialogue, laid over brooding instrumentation that at times sounds like it is trying to cut through into the forefront, with drum-kicks and the spinning of records cutting into and out of the audio. The most important part, however, is the dialogue: a conversation cut from Spike Lee’s 1990 movie Mo’ Better Blues, and a quote from Harry Allen, an activist and PR genius who helped Public Enemy invoke emotion in their audience to inspire conversation and change. The first clip seems to represent The Roots’ internal dilemma, in which Denzel Washington’s character complains that black people aren’t supporting their art. “If we had to depend upon black people to eat, we would starve to death…..It incenses me that our own people don’t realize our own heritage, our own culture, this is our music.” This same dialogue had to have been happening internally, as The Roots were unable to find support for their music amongst a market dominated by braggadocio that they felt wasn’t doing enough to talk about the very real issues plaguing their community.
Wesley Snipe’s character retorts back that “The people don’t come because you grandiose motherfuckers don’t play shit that they like. If you played the shit that they liked, then the people would come. Simple as that.” By beginning the album with this clip, the band acknowledged their own reputation, of making brilliant music that nobody wanted to listen to outside of their core fanbase. They had a dedicated following, but if you weren’t a Roots fan, then you didn’t particularly give a shit about them. It foreshadows what is to come for the rest of the record: a change in sound, combining the brilliant music they knew they could create with the sounds that piqued the interest of the public. The Harry Allen quote furthers this, suggesting that hip-hop records and, by extension, The Roots are “treated as though they are disposable…they are not maximized as product, not to mention as art”.

1. Table of Contents (Parts 1 & 2)

This track begins with Black Thought seemingly killing time, waiting on the drum-line to kick in, building up towards his verse as the instrumental builds up to the kick. When the instrumental does kick, it is meant to immediately let the listener know: this isn’t like the previous records from The Roots. It’s messy, even chaotic, and showcases the influences of the contemporaries he’s spent ample time with – namely, J Dilla, as it’s mixed in a way that keeps listeners on their toes at all times. It creates a platform for Black Thought to stretch out over the track, with the drumline cutting in and out to allow for Thought to mix up his flows. While on its surface, Thought’s verse may come across as aimless and simply a well-constructed way for him to say that he’s the best rapper out, it is important to remember what this track represents. This is the turning point in The Roots’ career, as they blossomed out of their shell from a technically proficient but at times tasteless jazz rap band, into an interesting and unique group determined to stand out in the now-crowded hip-hop scene. As Black Thought’s verse fades out, an abrupt switch brings about Part 2, with Malik B on the vocals. A more focused, albeit barer, beat gives Malik room to lay down a verse chock-full of internals and dense rhyme-schemes that switch up constantly, showing that it isn’t just the instrumentals that were going to be constantly changing up on this record.

1. The Next Movement

While Table of Contents showcased the new, chaotic direction TFA was about to undertake, The Next Movement made a more explicit statement: this isn’t just the beginning of a new record; it’s a change within hip-hop. The Roots weren’t going to let the more profound, raw hip-hop styles they loved be pushed to the side by the Bling era, and Thought makes that abundantly clear, spitting

Yo, the whole state of things in the world ‘bout to change
Black rain fallin’ from the sky look strange
The ghetto is red hot, we steppin on flames
Yo, it’s the inflation on the price for fame
And it was all the same, but then the antidote came

With DJ Jazzy Jeff scratching and Jazzyfatnastees provided background vocals, ?uestlove’s funky drumline provides a base for Black Thought to lay not only two energetic and technically impressive verses, but also one of the most addictive hooks he’s written to date. While Thought exclaims that he’s “The Dalai Lama of the mic”, The Roots as a collective hit you with a right hook meant to prove that they can make accessible, hit music while still being true to who they are as artists.

1. Step Into the Realm

On Step into the Re(a)lm, ?uestlove showcases a little-known technique used often in the early 90s: the pause tape. ?uest described this process in an interview with DRUM! Magazine, saying

“When you wanted to create a drum loop, you get a recorder, press record and pause at the same time. When the drum break came, you would let the paused tape go right on the 1, and then pause it on the 1 again. After you did this about 20 times, you would have about five minutes of drums.”

Obviously this process was incredibly tedious, and was left behind by improved sampling technology that was prominent by the time the group was recording this project. Yet, a not so subtle homage can be heard on this track, with the backing track fading in and out, with the break coming at the end of the 45. This makes the already somber instrumental give even more room for Malik B and Black Thought’s hard hitting bars to pack an even bigger punch. The beat fades away for Thought to spit about his “mic slapping you senseless” and rolling through your hood “cocked back, Me and Hot Mack, the ’98, El Dorado Cadillac Jacks”.

1. The Spark

While Black Thought can tend to get most of the shine when talking about The Roots’ pens, Malik B showcases on “The Spark” why he’s not an MC to be trifled with. With another head-bopping drumline from ?uest backing him, Malik spits on his purpose in life, driven by his faith in Islam. His faith is at odds with his violent tendencies, which he states are products of his environment. While he struggles with this internal conflict, he warns any who oppose him that are “wondering what’s in my heart, velocity or piety; yo, it depends on which one you bring to surface; at times I get trifled but to worship is my purpose”. He continues his exploration of this internal struggle between peace and violence, stating his full Islamic name is Abdul Malik, meaning servant of God. But just bars later, he spits “show me the vault or the safe, cause I’m on the paper chase”. While Malik explores this internal struggle, a smooth bassline combines with a keyboard-laden backtrack (both courtesy of D’Angelo) to give him room to shine, and they way his vocals are layered on certain bars really helps make his bars hit on what feels like his chance at the spotlight on this record.

1. Dynamite!

While it feels almost wrong to use the word “banger”, given its connotations and tendency to be used to describe records lacking lyrical muscles or real meaning…..this track’s kind of a banger. J Dilla’s production hand shines, sampling a funky guitar from Nirvana (not that one, a 60’s jazz band by the same name). The track manages to stand out amongst an already stacked tracklist, with Black Thought’s hook proving to be infectious (edit: it’s taken me way too long to write the next track review, I keep coming back to this). Thought and Rehani Sayeed go back and forth throughout the track, effortlessly weaving into and out of each verse, talking about the importance of being present while riding this beat with some absolutely insane flows. And god DAMN is the beat on this thing sick. It’s quintessential Dilla, seemingly basic on the surface, but the more you listen to it the better it sounds. And while it may not seem like some technically complex thing, there’s a reason nobody could go toe-to-toe with Dilla: he was the only one who could make beats like this. For that matter. As soon as you finish reading this….go spin Donuts. I mean, listen to Things Fall Apart first if you haven’t. But like, right after. Donuts.

1. Without a Doubt

This Lady B-assisted joint features a sample flip from fellow Philadelphia artist Schoolly D’s “Saturday Night”, and you’d be hard-pressed to argue that they don’t do the beat justice. With ?uest’s production hand spinning the sample into and out of the drumline, it gives the song a lot more unpredictability, and this gives Black Thought room to lay two of his most under-rated verses in his illustrious discography. That being said, this song acts as an ode to Philadelphia, with Lady B’s hook bringing things together. Thought’s verses constantly change flow, and the beat almost sounds like it reacts to his bars, giving them more space where he needs it. And this song further pushes what this entire album seemed to state: “Warn, ring the alarm, cause here The Roots come”.

1. Ain’t Sayin’ Nothin’ New

So you like rapping? What about when one of the greatest MC’s of all-time raps his ass off, with one of his greatest influences matching him bar-for-bar? I don’t say this lightly when I say this is some of the best rapping you’ll find on this entire project, with Black Thought and Dice Raw absolutely spazzing on an infectious ?uestlove beat. They make it clear that the popular acts of the day don’t impress them, and suggesting that those guys, well, aint sayin nothin new. Dice Raw raps like HE’s the one who belongs on everybody’s top 10 lists, and honestly might have gotten the better of Thought on this track. That’s not to say Thought doesn’t deliver great verses, but Raw has more moments in which he shines.

Straight from the old school, ayo, Raw’s in full effect
I’m like, Lex Luther with rifles filled with kryptonite
When you grip the mic, its like, c’mon kids, lets say goodnight!
You don’t like me? But don’t even know why you should hate me
You scared to face these so I still remain safely

1. Double Trouble

I feel like I wasted the “So you like rapping?” line a song too early. A song meant to pay homage to the original “double trouble” routine from the movie Wild Style, Black Thought and Mos Def put together one of hip-hop’s greatest examples of rappers trading bars. Ever. The beat, which ?uest told Drum Magazine took him about five hours to get the drums right for, is the epitome of the “dirty” sound that has come up so often throughout this write-up. Right from the get-go, Black Thought steers into this dirty sound by scatting at the top of the hook. As far as the bars go, there isn’t really anything I can say that does it justice. If the idea of Black Thought and Mos Def trading bars doesn’t speak for itself, then I probably can’t help you.
It’s also crazy to think that this song originally featured Talib Kweli as well, but there were too many bars for one song. Black Thought chose to steer into a Run-D.M.C. style track, with the back-and-forth bars meant to play like a tug-of-war between the rappers. This song’s background has one of my favorite hip-hop stories as well, with Black Thought recounting Mos leaving mid-recording to “go get a fish sandwich” and not coming back for a week. So there’s that.

1. Act Too (The Love of My Life)

This song acts as an ode to hip-hop itself, with Thought calling it the love of his life throughout the track. He weaves in stories of struggling in his quest to make it in hip-hop, saying “it was all for you” and that he wouldn’t have made it in life if it weren’t for hip-hop. While Thought’s verse isn’t much deeper than just being a love letter to hip-hop, the guest verse provided by Chicago rapper Common is far more critical of the direction of hip-hop. While referencing his incredible song “I Used to Love H.E.R.” from Resurrection, Common expresses his discontent with the state of hip-hop, with bars aimed at N.W.A. (when we touch, it was more than just a Fuck the Police) and Puff (Her Daddy’ll beat H.E.R., eyes all Puff-ed). He seems to have the same underlying attitude of hip-hop being the love of his life, but instead expresses his discontent with the way hip-hop’s other suitors choose to treat her. For Common, it was always about love, and hip-hop had been overrun by hate. The beautiful beat acts as a perfect backdrop for these two to portray their love of hip-hop.

1. 100% Dundee

While not the most popular song on the album, this one has stood out as one of my favorites from day one. Right from the get, Thought comes out the gate just spazzing – “Yo, on these seventy-three keys of ivory and ebony; I swear solemnly that I’ll forever rock steadily”. The title and hook act as a reference to Crocodile Dundee, where if hip-hop is the wild, the Roots are the absolute best out there, akin to Mick Dundee hunting fake MCs. With Rahzel beatboxing and Kamal Gray shining on the piano, the beat is just dirty enough to give Black Thought and Malik B room to spit some of their best verses on this whole project (Note: I think I’ve said that on almost half the songs on this project. It’s just that kind of album. Sorry). As far as the content goes, it basically re-iterates the ideas presented by calling the track 100% Dundee. They’re a level above everybody else in hip-hop, and they’re out to kill any fake MC’s who dare stand in their path.

1. Diedre vs. Dice

A short 45-second interlude, Diedre vs. Dice consists of a short Dice Raw verse that was probably just too dope to be left off the project, but wasn’t able to be extrapolated into a full-fledged idea/song. With a barebones beat consisting of a dirty drum-line from ?uest and some strings that come into and out of the instrumental rather quickly, Dice Raw warns that “to me, these punk MC’s is nothin but fruit”. While short, it provides a needed break in the album that has just been going full-force for about ten tracks straight.

1. Adrenaline!

And just as Diedre vs. Dice provides a mild break in the heavy-hitting instrumentals, Adrenaline! Comes right back with a stand-out performance not only by four spitters, but also by Kamal Gray on piano absolutely shining behind ?uestlove’s beat. While by this point in the project it should come as no surprise that Black Thought, Malik B, and Dice Raw all come through with heavy-hitting verses, a pre-Roc Beanie Sigel verse may come out of left field a bit, but his talent shines through already. This song is as Philly as it gets, with every rapper on here making references to Philly spots and icons. And the hook, while as barebones as a hook can really be, still manages to act as an earworm.

1. 3rd Acts: ? Vs. Scratch 2 … Electric Boogaloo

This interlude, consisting entirely of scratching, was probably just put here so they could put Electric Boogaloo in a song title. Note: I really wanted to type a long-winded thing about how the lyricism just doesn’t stand up to some other tracks on the album and do this whole thing. But The Weeknd album comes out in like an hour and a half. So….priorities.

1. You Got Me

Here we are. The big one. If this is the only track you’ve heard from The Roots, that’s okay. You need to fix it, but it’s okay. This is one of those songs that transcends beyond a genre or an album a little bit. Even though this album is amazing, this song reached a whole different level that the rest of the album never reached. This track won the group a grammy, and is far and away their biggest hit, despite not having anything that screams “Hit Single” about it. The hook, originally written by a then-unknown Jill Scott, is performed on the album cut by the amazing Erykah Badu.
The track tells the story of Thought meeting a woman from Philly while performing in Paris and linking when they get back, and the struggles of their budding relationship. The hook combines with Eve’s verse to act as the woman’s perspective, with her questioning if Thought only loves the mic before ensuring him that she could be trusted. The hook reassures this – “Baby don’t worry, you know that you got me”.
The instrumental on this thing is absolutely beautiful, with a rather simple guitar and drumline being supported by background vocals and strings to give an airy, euphoric sound that just plays so well into Erykah’s voice. It isn’t until the outro that you hear a whole lot out of ?uestlove, but this is one of the few tracks where he almost doesn’t need to take the center stage.

1. Don’t See Us

As the album winds down, the instrumentals stay a little more low-key, like in the preceding track. The beat on this thing constantly changes, with a basic drumline and handclap being the only consistency. The keyboards on this are great when they show up, and the beat just begs for somebody to rap over it. And that’s just what Malik B, Black Thought, and Dice Raw all do, with six verses packed into this track. That being said, this track is honestly one of the weaker full-length tracks on the project and one of the only knocks on it. That’s not to say that it’s bad, because the instrumental is cool and the rappers all provide nice verses. But compared to so many of the other songs on this track list, this track just lacks that it factor, that thing that jumps out and grabs you and makes you go “Oh shit, that was kinda crazy”.

1. The Return to Innocence Lost

The first time this song came on, I was just relaxing to this album and enjoying the unique sounds that make The Roots so incredible. There had been four or five times that I had stopped and went, “okay, I wasn’t ready for that, holy shit”. Boy was I naïve.
The Return to Innocence Lost is a spoken word poem by Ursula Rucker describing the vicious cycle of the hood. Anthony Tidd plays the guitar that weaves in and out behind her. I really don’t know how to describe how powerful this poem is, other than to say that it is one of the most haunting, disturbing things I’ve ever heard. When I write these track-by-track reviews, I usually sit and listen to each track 4-5 times before I start writing. I didn’t make it through the second round of this one. Its…. Incredible. And haunting. And powerful. And I could never do it justice in a hhh write-up.

1. Act Fore….The End?

The introduction of this track gives a peak into the way The Roots operate: don’t know what to do? Make music. With a piano sample from an old TV Series theme Eager Beaver, scratching throughout, and one final dirty drumline from ?uest, the beat was laid out there for Black Thought to shine all on his own. He contributes three stellar verses that make up for an otherwise forgettable hook, and while this “hidden track” doesn’t add a ton to the album as a whole, it’s still a good track and I wouldn’t dare complain about more music from The Roots.
Conclusion
While “political” or “conscious” hip-hop is usually associated with having bars aimed at political figures or talking about systematic change, much of Things Fall Apart doesn’t fit that mold. It’s almost as if the sound itself was a statement, because it isn’t like Thought was spending lines shit-talking Bill Clinton. He was talking about the Philly streets, about the area he grew up in. Yet, the political tag this album gets applied doesn’t feel inherently misplaced. Thought’s stories act as their own message, taking the concept of suffering going on in his neighborhood and putting it on this grand pedestal for all to see.
All in all, this project not only provides some of the best live instrumentation in hip-hop, but some of the best lyricism you'll find as well. This project has some clear influence, not only other other projects of the Soulquarian era, but decades later as well. You can hear it on modern classics like To Pimp a Butterfly, as well as on some of the instrumentals chosen by Chicago's SaveMoney collective and related acts. This album feels like a moment in hip-hop, where an entire sound cultivated into one big project that everybody can look back on as one of the pinnacles of an entire sound.
Five Favorites: Dynamite!, The Return to Innocence Lost, You Got Me, 100% Dundee, Double Trouble
Final Rating: 9.6/10
Discussion Questions?
· Had you heard this project before? If not, did you recognize the main cover?
· What is your favorite Roots album, and where does this one stack up?
· How do you compare this project to the other projects coming out of the Soulquarian era?
· Would you consider this project political/conscious?
· How well does this album hold up?
· If released today, do you think this album would be received better or worse?

Ayo ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to the supermegathrillingyounicekeepgoingmightevenlearnsomemath Ultimate Song Contest.
It's my 7th day of self-isolation and I could slowly feel my brain turning to mush, so I thought to myself "Stob it! Do something creative!" And since I can't sing or draw or write fan fiction that includes JK as a very stern and angry police officer, I came up with the idea to hold a song contest.
Below you will find seven (get it? 7?) groups. Every group consists of 24-28 songs. I tried my best to keep them contained by album and release year; however, I had to move some songs around to not overcrowd the groups. Man, BTS has a looooot of songs. There is a high chance that I forgot some of them. Sowwy.
Here's how the game works:
Starting with Group 1, you pick your 15 favorite songs out of that group. Then you put those 15 in order from "Holy shit, this song slaps" to "Holy shit, this song slaps, but tinier". The song in first position will receive 15 points, second position 14 points...and the song in 15th position receives 1 point. "Excuuuuse me, but what about the songs that are left in the group?" you might ask. Well, those songs are out of luck for not making it into your top 15 and will be quarantined with zero points. Yes, it might hurt. Yes, you might shed tears. But you can get through this. It doesn't mean that you don't love those songs. You just don't love them as much as the other 15. After Group 1 you move to the next one until you're done with all seven. After the contest ends, I will evaluate all the submissions and calculate the points every song received, which will leave us with the ultimate top 15 of BTS songs.
Since you'll have to listen to a whole lot of songs, I will keep this contest open until April 1st or until we run out of submissions. Every song is available on YT, and you might even fall in love with a song again that you haven't listened to in forever because for the last 7 weeks all you've listened to is Black Swan.
To keep the comment section less chaotic, please keep your submission contained in one posting. Feel free to edit said posting to add groups until you're done with all seven. I will post a template in the first comment that people can copy, and that let's me see that that post is a submission instead of a regular comment. And feel free to chat with each other in the comments as well!
If any questions arise, please let me know! Happy listening, singing, dancing, twerking and crying. Borahae!
​
Group 1:
1.) We Are Bulletproof Pt. 2 (2 Cool 4 Skool)
2.) No More Dream
3.) 좋아요 I Like It
4.) 길 Road/Path (2 Cool 4 Skool hidden track)
5.) Intro: O!RUL8,2? (O!RUL8,2?)
6.) N.O
7.) We On
8.) If I Ruled The World
9.) Coffee
10.) BTS Cypher Pt.1
11.) 진격의 방탄 Attack on Bangtan
12.) 팔도강산 Paldo Gangsan/Satoori Rap
13.) OUTRO : Luv In Skool
14.) Intro: Skool Luv Affair (Skool Luv Affair)
15.) 상남자 Boy In Luv
16.) 어디에서 왔는지 Where Did You Come From
17.) 하루만 Just One Day
18.) Tomorrow
19.) BTS Cypher Pt.2: Triptych
20.) 등골브레이커 Spine Breaker
21.) Jump
22.) Outro: Propose
23.) Miss Right (Skool Luv Affair Special Edition)
24.) 좋아요 I Like It (Slow Jam Remix)
Group 2:
1.) Intro: What am I to You (Dark & Wild)
2.) Danger
3.) War Of Hormone
4.) Hip Hop Lover / Phile
5.) LET ME KNOW
6.) Rain
7.) BTS Cypher, Pt. 3: KILLER ft. Supreme Boi
8.) 핸드폰 좀 꺼줄래 Could You Turn Off Your Cell Phone?
9.) 이불킥 Blanket Kick
10.) 24/7=heaven
11.) 여기 봐 Look here
12.) 2학년 Second Grade
13.) Outro: Does That Make Sense? 그게 말이 돼?
14.) Danger Mo Blue mix
15.) THE STARS (Wake up – Japanese Album)
16.) I Like It Pt.2 ~In That Place~
17.) Wake Up
18.) Voice (RM Mixtape)
19.) Do You
20.) Awakening
21.) Monster
22.) Throw Away
23.) Joke
24.) God Rap
25.) Rush
26.) Life
27.) Drift
28.) I Believe
Group 3:
1.) Intro: 화양연화 Blooming Youth (The Most Beautiful Moment In Life Pt. 1)
2.) I Need You
3.) 잡아줘 Hold Me Tight
4.) 쩔어 DOPE
5.) 흥탄소년단 Boyz With Fun
6.) Converse High
7.) 이사 Moving On
8.) FOR YOU (Japanese)
9.) INTRO: Never Mind (The Most Beautiful Moment In Life Pt. 2)
10.) RUN
11.) Butterfly
12.) Whalien 52
13.) Ma City
14.) 뱁새 Crow-Tit/Baepsae
15.) 고엽 Dead Leaves
16.) Good Day (Japanese)
17.) Butterfly (Prologue Mix) (The Most Beautiful Moment In Life: Forever Young)
18.) 불타오르네 FIRE
19.) Save Me
20.) EPILOGUE: Young Forever
21.) House Of Cards (Full Length Edition)
22.) Love Is Not Over (Full Length Edition)
23.) Wishing On a Star (Japanese)
24.) It’s Definitely You – V + Jin
Group 4:

1. Intro: Boy Meets Evil (Wings)
2. Blood Sweat & Tears
3. Begin
4. Lie
5. Stigma
6. First Love
7. Reflection
8. MAMA
9. Awake
10. Lost
11. BTS Cypher 4
12. Am I Wrong
13. 21st Century Girl 21세기 소녀
14. Two! Three! (Hoping for Better Days) 둘! 셋! (그래도 좋은 날이 더 많기를)
15. Interlude: Wings
16. 봄날 Spring Day (You Never Walk Alone)
17. Not Today (You Never Walk Alone)
18. A Supplementary Story: You Never Walk Alone
19. Agust D (Agust D Mixtape)
20. Give It to Me
21. 724148
22. 140503 at Dawn
23. The Last
24. Tony Montana
25. Interlude: Dream, Reality
26. So Far Away

Group 5:

1. DNA
2. Best of Me
3. 보조개 ​Dimple
4. Pied Piper
5. MIC Drop
6. 고민보다 Go/Go Go
7. 바다 Sea
8. Crystal Snow (Face Yourself)
9. Don’t Leave Me
10. Let Go
11. Fake Love
12. 134340
13. 낙원 Paradise
14. Love Maze
15. Magic Shop
16. Airplane Pt. 2
17. Anpanman
18. So What
19. Hope World (Hope World)
20. P.O.P. Pt.1
21. Daydream
22. Baseline
23. Hangsang
24. Airplane
25. Blue Side Outro

Group 6:

1. Euphoria
2. Trivia 起: Just Dance
3. Serendipity (Full Length Edition)
4. Trivia 承: Love
5. Her
6. Singularity
7. 전하지 못한 진심 The Truth Untold (Ft. Steve Aoki)
8. Trivia 轉: Seesaw
9. Tear
10. Epiphany
11. I’m Fine
12. IDOL
13. Answer: Love Myself
14. DNA (Pedal 2 LA Mix)
15. FAKE LOVE (Rocking Vibe Mix)
16. MIC Drop [Steve Aoki Remix] (Full Length Edition)
17. IDOL (Remix) (Ft. Nicki Minaj)
18. Waste It On Me
19. Ddaeng
20. 4 o’clock – RM + V
21. Tonight – Jin
22. Scenery – V
23. Winter Bear – V
24. Heartbeat (BTS World OST)
25. Dream Glow
26. A Brand New Day
27. All Night
28. Euphoria (DJ Swivel Forever Mix)

Group 7:

1. 작은 것들을 위한 시 (Boy With Luv) feat. Halsey (Map of the Soul: Persona)
2. 소우주 (Mikrokosmos)
3. Make It Right
4. Home
5. Jamais Vu
6. Dionysus
7. Lights (Japanese)
8. Intro: Persona
9. Interlude: Shadow
10. Black Swan
11. Filter
12. My Time
13. Louder than bombs
14. ON
15. UGH!
16. 00:00 (Zero O’Clock)
17. Inner Child
18. Friends
19. Moon
20. Respect
21. We are Bulletproof : the Eternal
22. Outro : Ego
23. ON (Feat. Sia)
24. Chicken Noodle Soup – J-Hope/Becky G
25. Sweet Night – V
26. Who – feat. Lauv

Group 8:
1.) Promise (Jimin)
2.) tokyo (Mono - RM)
3.) seoul (Mono - RM)
4.) moonchild (Mono - RM)
5.) badbye (Mono - RM)
6.) uhgood (Mono - RM)
7.) everythingoes (Mono - RM)
8.) forever rain (Mono - RM)
9.) Seoul Town Road (with Lil Nas)
10.) Change (with Wale)
11.) Winter Flower (with Younha)
12.) Suga's Interlude (with Halsey)
13.) Song Request (with LeeSora)
14.) 1 Verse (J-Hoooooooooooooooooooope)
15.) I Know (RM & JK)
​
Edit: Removed Tear and The Truth Untold from Group 5 as already in Group 6.
Edit 2020/3/21: Added Group 8 with songs I had forgotten. I apologize to the queen that is "Promise". Thanks to u/Whyamievenhear for getting all the songs together!

So after Eastern Europe and South America, it was time to focus the attention on Asia and Underground Friday is a great day to so. Aside from a handful of Japanese bands, the region has remained quite obscure even for most people interested in early black and death metal. While I don’t think this continent has produced strong output as say South America, there are many acts worth listening to.
I applied the usual rules when writing this guide. It’s an exploration of the early scene with a cutoff date of 1994 other than one or two exceptions. If there’s a band you feel I missed her, give me a shout although I likely didn’t include because of dates/don’t like them very much.
Also, bear in mind many of these bands have very raw production. If you think Sarcofago is too noisy, then a lot of what is listed will not appeal to you.
Moving on, we start with Japan.
Japan
Sabbat The seminal black/thrash act that has been around for more than 30 years. Sabbat’s sound is filthy, no-thrills 1st wave black metal heavily inspired by Venom, Bathory and a healthy dose of traditional metal and punk. They have a very wide discography but your best bet is to try out the first two releases (Envenom and Evoke)
Abigail A band whose output is also quite large (although more modern), Abigail began more as a traditional black metal act before incorporating more thrash into their sound and becoming the act we all love. Pure awesome.
Sigh Sigh is more revered nowadays for their wacky avant-garde compositions, but their very early material is as pure as black metal gets.
Unholy Grave Another band that evolved in sound. Unholy Grave’s early output is death metal laden grind which later on incorporated more noisecore. Crucified is still a fine debut, particularly recommended if you’re looking for a faster Carcass.
S.O.B Japan’s answer to Napalm Death, S.O.B are a grind/hardcore punk band that took the early sounds of Discharge, Siege and other hardcore punk pushing it to its absolute limit. Really impressive debut when you consider it was 1987!
Deathpeed Super noisy 80s death metal from the hands of Takaho (current singer of Unholy Grave). Fun fact: Dead mentioned these guys as one of his favourite acts back in the late 80s
Necrophile Fast and furious death/thrash, sort of reminds me of Atheist at times.
Transgressor Rather than playing usual Japanese speeds, Transgressor just said “fuck it” and went a lot more mid-paced compared to their peers. Somewhere in between Autopsy and Celtic Frost. The debut is fantastic.
Maggoty Corpse One of the best demo-only bands from Japan. Maggoty Corpse played a mesh of different death metal styles, generally opting for more NYDM sounds but occasionally splicing it with Dismember-esque leads. Highly recommended.
Hellchild One of the early DM bands that took their sound from the early Florida scene. Not one of favourites, but worth at least giving a spin.
Zadkiel Do you like Motorhead? Venom? Punk? Please listen to this underrated gem that would make the guys from Midnight blush. I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS ENOUGH
Multiplex Another Japanese band with substantial grind influences (this is quite common as you can see). Some great riffs.
White Hell This is here more as curiosity than anything else. Possibly the first extreme act from Japan along with Sabbat, White Hell sounds like a hardcore punk band decided to imitate Venom and this was the result. Not amazing by any means, but alright for an occasional spin.
Voidd Noisy death/thrash with a slightly punk edge. Not the greatest band in the scene, but worth a try.
Eroded For those who can’t get enough of the grind-infused DM Japan loves to produce
Varam A death metal vocalist decides to front a bay area thrash band circa 1988. This is the result.
Singapore
Abhorer All discussion of Singaporean black/death must always begin with Abhorer, a raw black/death outfit that unleashed a couple of releases culminating in their only full length in 1996. Mandatory listening for anyone who wants to get acquainted with this scene. Personally I love their early noisy death/black demos/EP which invoke the best elements of Morbid Angel, Possessed, Necrovore, etc.
Impiety Stalwarts of the scene and an enduring band in the scene. Impiety have a similar approach to Abhorer, just raw black/death that later morphed into some over the top war metal (especially on Kaos Kommand 696). Not a huge favourite of mine, but I’ve always had large respect for them and what they’ve achieved. Definitely worth listening to at least once.
Nuctemeron The Asian progeny of Sarcofago. Absolutely recommended for fans of fast, face-melting black/thrash.
Beheaded Nasrani Signaporeans sure loved their death/black. BN’s output was much more mid-paced than the other bands mentioned here with a CF flair to it, but still delivering that raw sound characteristic of the scene.
Euronymous This is more straight up death metal, not dissimilar to 80s Death and Morbid Angel with some early Sepultura thrown for good measure.
Itnos More early South American influence here. For fans of Morbid Visions era Sepultura
Profancer Not the greatest vocals, but still some nifty death/thrash.
Mutation Mutation was one of the first extreme metal bands from the country. Their demo had an atrocious production, but beyond the loud static is some pretty solid OSDM. Vocals are too loud in the mix, although the sound is unreal.
Malaysia
Suffercation Suffercation were arguably the first Malay band to release a full length and it was quite a decent debut. Their influences are more American in nature, ranging from Morbid Angel to Obituary.
Brain Dead Brain Dead were one of the premiere acts of the early Malay scene and their debut was a thrashy kind of DM – almost sounding like a hybrid between Morbid Angel and early Sepultura. For me, one of the best acts from this neglected country.
Sil Khannaz Sil Khannaz were another pioneer in the scene whose sound was yet again an amalgamation of other scenes (American/South American/Swedish). The pace of the songs alternate between mid-paced tempos, to fast death/thrash with very melodic solos. Their debut sports quite good production considering the origin of this band.
Modar Compared to their countrymen, Modar played a much slower and DOOMIER brand of death metal – almost like a grimier and more twisted version of Autopsy with sections that could easily pass off as songs from the early works of My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost. GET IT. Unfortunately my mp3 copy is no longer working for some reason :(
Senseless Competent death/thrash with some quirky moments. Nothing groundbreaking, but still good to get a sense of the Malay scene and if you can’t get enough of a bunch of Asians writing FLDM worship.
Nebiras Nebiras were the first Norwegian BM inspired act from the country and close pals with Fenriz. This friendship was likely due to musical similarities, as Nebiras play the same stripped-down, almost punkish black metal that Darkthrone pioneered in their first records. I completely recommend the “Our Blood For His Glory” demo if you have a kick for lo-fi black metal.
Rator u/avelucifer was going to kill me if I didn’t mention this band. While most of the Malay scene looked towards the Florida or New York scene for inspiration, Rator is heavily indebted to the sounds of the early black/death scene – Sarcofago, Sepultura, Poison, Bathory, etc. If you’re into that kind of stuff, Rator is a good listen.
Vulga Vulga is pretty frustrating, as they had a lot of potential to write decent Hellenic inspired black metal ala Rotting Christ (they even recorded a cover of Forest of N’gai), but you end up with some pretty sloppy black metal and pukey vocals not suitable for this type of music. Some good riffs though.
Silent Death Groovy death metal not too dissimilar to Deicide. Decent, although not necessarily my favourite.
Thailand
Heretic Angels This is slightly past the cut off date, but I wanted to add them just to have a Thai band. Heretic Angels was the first Thai DM band and featured members from future Thai acts like Surrender of Divinity and Zygoatsis (recommended if you want Asian war metal). HA’s debut can be best described as a mix of every project Max Cavalera has been involved in. One moment it feels like you’re listening to something from Schizophrenia/BTR but it quickly spires into more groove laden territory before finishing with some out of place industrial influences straight out of the Nailbomb playbook. A frustrating mix considering the band can clearly write some decent riffs from time to time.

~~Ayo this is early but i'm bored and I have nothing better to do I wrote my first fanfic yesterday well It's barely a fanfic, it's more or less just one of these posts in a different mindstate it got some support, I might write another it took me like 20 minutes to write, but I had basically no word count which I found strange because after 20 minutes of writing one of these I normally have like 2.3k words Maybe it's because I don't have to think as much when I write these Comic Girls finished it's first season yesterday I say "first season" because I'm in blind hope of there being a second Probably one of my favorite anime that I've seen in a while I love the protag, Kaos, she's so helpless I can't help but feel so bad for her normally it's in good spirits but that final episode left me an emotional wreck Such a good show, I had to watch some Konosuba to get me back in a good mood I haven't really felt this sad about an anime ending ever I need a second season now heheh I guess I'm just getting lucky with finding these good shows I need to write something creative soon my brain is getting bored too often I went to bed at like 2am this morning I slept until 11, and when I woke up I don't think I've ever felt so exhausted I've got no plans for the day so that's why I'm writing this My summer plans consist of downloading all the Maki and Megumin artwork that I can find My megu folder is around 300 now, but I'm picky in the artworks that I download Nothing but birght blue skies these past couple days I hate it I just want it to rain and it never does pisses me off Oh I guess the reason why I don't write creative stuff is cause I've got no ideas like, I'm having a hard time writing this post right here, and these posts are literally just me throwing everything that I'm thinking about I love the Mob Psycho 100 opening There's a rock cover on spotify and it never fails to get me bouncing off the walls It's such a fun song, I've been listening to a lot of fun songs actually There's this artist called REOL, she makes EDM stuff But she also does vocals, and it all comes together for this wave of energy It's great I don't really feel a whole lot from high energy music anymore Probably because it's all I listen to Also probably because I'm not really comfortable with doing anything with that energy One time I was making coffee, which is a really exciting process and I was kinda just doing what I normally do on my own, getting into a good mood for the day and my parents walk down the stairs and I just freeze up and act "normal" It's really funny how much I subconsciously care about what people think of me See, on my own I kind of act like a little kid that's pretty high energy but when there are other people I kinda just, ignore everything although I'm not always excitable on my own sometimes I feel kind of... lonely, when there's no sound which is why I'm always listening to music I listen to around 1.1k minutes of music daily according to my spotify stats anyway so that doesn't count the songs I listen to on youtube or soundcloud hehe that's around 19 hours a day, which I think is kinda cool You'd think that that would mean that my music taste is really refined or something right? But for the most part I just listen to whatever artist or genre I'm feeling at the time so right now I'm listening to a lot of asian EDM stuff sometimes I'll listen to a lot of lo-fi othertimes it's only jazz or soul or whatever You get the point, but I basically just listen to whatever I love music too much for me to give it up I never share my music with anyone though, cause I'm not sure if they'd like it my taste is kinda unconventional, especially for my generation, which only listens to trashy trap and pop-edm music so, basically trashy industry music Oh, I geuss it's "bulli week" or whatever right now I find that funny, seen as literally nobody knew that it was the END of bulli week they were hyping it up to be like the start of bulli week Instead it's only day of bulli, which I'm fine with Actually, I'd be fine with Bulli just being here on the sub but it never gets posted and I saw some people (protectallthatisgood) saying that they're not gonna be on the sub because of bulli I think that's really dumb you can just ignore the dark posts, but I think that you should be able to poke fun at the faults in the doki I mostly get upset as a joke, but the Yuri bulli posts do allow me to take jabs at Yuri unhinged which is really nice Oh, there was this "would you rather" post, asking if we'd rather Sayonika or Natsuri be canon I said Sayonika because it would cause the community to be upset and riot I like how I got downvoted for expressing an opinion, which was a joke to start with I don't really care for the ships in general anyway, but I think that Sayonika is the funniest The only ship that I would actually support would be Saysuki just cause it would be the world adorable thing in the universe I need a new scale, I use universe too much I think I just need new expressions in general, mine are too bland I was reading through my discord DM's from 2016, and they hurt me I used "Oh I see" so fucking much it gave me a major headache my writing has come a long way from 2 years ago, which I think is a good thing I'm glad I read through those, so I could see that I've actually changed, even if it's only a little bit sometimes I worry that I'm staying exactly the same, but reading those dm's showed that I am changing with time which was really reassuring I just repeated myself fml Sometimes I do that, where my thoughts get stuck on loop sometimes I do that, where my thoughts get stuck on loop hah, jokes anyway, that happens way more then I'd like to admit when I used to fall asleep without a video in the background, I would often start to think things and I'd see images, y'know how you do when you start to drift off anyway, I'd always have those certain images on a loop, it was really annoying but it made my brain bored, which helped me sleep I wonder if that's something normal or not probably is I kinda want to visit japan, or south korea or really just places in asia in general I think that'd be something fun to do I completely forgot that libitina existed for the past like 3 months which I find completely hilarious, seen as she was a pretty cool secret in the files I wonder what the point of her is, what dan had planned for her it would be really annoying if Dan just, didn't say anything about it and just never did anything about her either and it was just a pointless easter egg in the files that'd be annoying wouldn't it? But I can't stay annoyed at dan cause he's the man And you can't do anything about the man I love the way japanese people say "baka" it's so satisfying for some reason I wish for Natsuki to call me a baka on the regular That's the dream right there, to be called an idiot forever by those who you love I could just become an idiot, but that's too much work It's a hard life, being an idiot you don't understand anything, although you are pretty ignorant to everything around you and ignorance is bliss as they say, so I guess it's a fair trade off I wonder how you actually classify intelligence I'd assume something like how they would handle certain situations and how they would solve certain problems their way of thinking would probably be it but what's a smart way of thinking and a dumb way of thinking? Who decides that? Idk, that's just something I think about sometimes as a joke my friends took an autism test, cause it's the end of the year and we have nothing better to do We soon found out that it was just asking questions related to if you're an introvert or not which was pretty annoying, as an introvert Being socially awkward =/ being autistic there are forms of autism that can make you socially awkward but just because I'm unconfortable with initiation conversation doesn't mean that I'm autistic THis post has gotten far too real Also I want to know the definition of a high effort post because some people seem to think that Fanfics, poems and OC are "high effort" but some people can bang out really good pieces of writing or draw really really well without trying at all wouldn't that make those posts "low effort?" Like, I can tell the difference between animating something and throwing a random doki face onto a comic and calling it a meme one of those takes more effort then the other but I don't think that we should generalize Fanfics, Poetrey and OC as all being "High effort" work also, just because it's "High Efffort" doesn't mean that it automatically deserves upvotes I... am repeating myself again sorry about that Luckily I caught myself before I went on a long ass tangent again hehe I like the SuS club discord, it's a fun place There's only like 10 of us that are always on, so it's like a nice circle of friends that are hanging out all the time Or maybe that's just how I see it, In my opinion, there is no pop drink better than diet coke It's a perfect mix of sweetness, flavour, and consistency I like how autocorrect picks up on the fact that I use ou instead of just o in some words it's not like it makes a huge difference on the word, plus it's how we spell some words in canada I've given RES second shot literally just so that I can give everyone tags it's nice though, because it tells me how many characters I've written I'm coming in close to 10k right now, the max is 40k These posts are kinda long aren't they? hehe They've been getting longer and longer, but I feel like I'm talking about less and less Like, I don't even remember what I was just writing about which I guess isn't exactly a good thing but It's also because I skip the thinking part when I write these, and instead I just instantly write it down which I think is why I can write these so quick I wish my school offered more classes that involved writing cause I love to do it, and they provide a lot of advice which is pretty important I just hate writing stories, I can't imagine anything but give me an essay or a review to do, and I'll write up 10k words easy I can't proof read my work though, because I always find things that I hate So I end up just deleting it all and restarting I know in grade 7 we were writing rants, and I wrote up a 6 page 7000 word one in a class, I was proof reading it and chose that I would be better off just restarting I then did it all over, repeat the process around 2 or 3 more times and then I had the final product which was actually slightly worse than my first one, funnily enough I know I constantly talk about word counts, but I hate people that think that quantity = quality no, that's not true at all One of my former friends is obsesssed with writing too much whenever we would have an essay to write, he would always go above the max word count by a lot in his eyes, because he wrote MORE that means that deserved a better grade and that his work is better which is the complete wrong mindset to have a good writer should be able to express themselves well, even if they barely use any words Just because you wrote much much more, which will help you express your writing, that doesn't mean that you did a good Someone who proficient in writing should be able to express themselves in 20 words better then most can in 500 This friend of mine is thinking of writing a book too, I should be supportive, but I hate the way he writes you guys don't know him, but he he's constantly using words that are lengthy in order to sound smarter he writes as though he is literally just spamming a thesaurous on every word and it's annoying because it makes him sound more pretentious, obnoxious and also makes it harder to understand what he's trying to say it's just annoying in general I said it before but I really hope it rains it hasn't rained in a good while, around a week again summer started yesterday It's felt like summer for a good month now though far too hot outside, I think we need to drop it 10 more C's for it to be perfect weather
Welp I think we've all had enough of that I had to go do somehting so my flow is messed up now and I feel like this was a good place to stop anyway Word count is 2313 I remember when 1.5k was long now I do stuff like that not a whole lot of people are gonna read this, but if you did, I thank thee Cya next time! o/

Here are some rules to block submissions posted in foreign languages (foreign meaning "disallowed on your subreddit"). I posted an earlier version a few years ago, but these use Unicode ranges and are much better rules.
Notes:

• Be really careful copying these. Leave out any languages you want to allow for submissions.
  
• Note that most of the rules are filter or remove. The least accurate (and least necessary) rules are report rules.
  
• These are all type: submission.
  
• Some characters used in loanwords like "résumé" have been removed, but subreddits with a lot of faces beyond the Lenny face, the shrug face, and the look of disapproval might want to remove some additional characters.
  
• By being selective about which rules are used and possibly making some modifications, these should be usable for non-English subreddits as well.
  
• Rules only filter or report on ü, ó, ç because those letters are too commonly used in English, especially place names (unless a second rule is used). Examples: Zürich, Kraków, Malmö, Française, Nürnberg, Düsseldorf, Köln, Córdoba.
  
• The word lists are generally the 100 most common words that are not common in English, don't match the primary regex, and are 3+ letters long.
  

Non-English rules

# Cyrillic type: submission title+body (regex, includes): ["[\U00000400-\U000004FF]+"] action: remove action_reason: "Non-English spam (Cyrillic) [{{match}}]" 

# French - no é, words don't match the regex; removed: 'est', 'que' type: submission title+body (regex, includes, case-sensitive): ['[ÀàÂâÆæÄäÇçÉÈÊêËëÎîÏïÔôŒœÖöÙùÛûÜüŸÿ]'] body+title (regex): ['ainsi', 'alors', 'année', 'années', 'ans', 'aujourd\x27hui', 'aussi', 'autre', 'autres', 'aux', 'avait', 'avant', 'avec', 'beaucoup', 'bef', 'bénéfice', 'c\x27est', 'cas', 'cela', 'ces', 'cette', 'chez', 'comme', 'compte', 'contre', 'croissance', 'd\x27autres', 'd\x27un', 'd\x27une', 'dans', 'depuis', 'des', 'deux', 'donc', 'effet', 'entre', 'entreprises', 'exemple', '(?  
# German - words don't match the regex type: submission title+body (regex, includes): ['[ÄÖÜäöüß]'] body+title: ['aber', 'alles', 'als', 'auch', 'auf', 'bei', 'bist', 'bitte', 'damit', 'danke', 'dann', 'dass', 'dein', 'deine', 'dem', 'denn', 'der', 'des', 'diese', 'dieser', 'dir', 'doch', 'ein', 'eine', 'einem', 'einen', 'einer', 'einfach', 'etwas', 'euch', 'frau', 'ganz', 'gehen', 'geht', 'gesagt', 'gibt', 'gott', 'hab', 'haben', 'hast', 'hatte', 'heute', 'hier', 'ihm', 'ihn', 'ihnen', 'ihr', 'immer', 'jetzt', 'kann', 'kannst', 'kein', 'keine', 'komm', 'kommen', 'kommt', 'leben', 'leute', 'los', 'machen', 'mehr', 'meine', 'meinen', 'mich', 'mit', 'nein', 'nicht', 'nichts', 'nie', 'noch', 'nur', 'oder', 'sagen', 'schon', 'sehen', 'sehr', 'sein', 'sich', 'sicher', 'soll', 'und', 'uns', 'viel', 'von', 'vor', 'warum', 'wenn', 'werde', 'werden', 'wie', 'wieder', 'willst', 'wirklich', 'wissen', 'wollen', 'wollte', 'wurde', 'zeit', 'zum', 'zur'] ~title (regex, includes): ['[\[\(][^\]\)]{0,16}\b(at|austria|aut|be|bel|belgium|ch|che|de|deu|ger|germany|li|lie|liechtenstein|lu|lux|luxembourg|switzerland)\b[^\]\)]{0,16}[\]\)]'] action: filter action_reason: "Non-English spam (German) [{{match-title+body}}], [{{match-body+title}}]" 
  
# Turkish type: submission title+body (regex, includes, case-sensitive): ['[ÇĞİÖŞÜçğıöşü]'] body+title: ['almak', 'ancak', 'anlamak', 'artık', 'aynı', 'bakmak', 'bazı', 'baş', 'başka', 'başlamak', 'bilgi', 'bilmek', 'bir', 'bulmak', 'bulunmak', 'bunlar', 'böyle', 'bütün', 'büyük', 'daha', 'demek', 'değil', 'diye', 'diğer', 'doğru', 'durmak', 'durum', 'dünya', 'düşünmek', 'etmek', 'fazla', 'gelmek', 'gerekmek', 'getirmek', 'geçmek', 'gibi', 'girmek', 'gitmek', 'göre', 'görmek', 'göstermek', 'göz', 'gün', 'hayat', 'hiç', 'iki', 'ile', 'insan', 'ise', 'istemek', 'iyi', 'için', 'içinde', 'kadar', 'kadın', 'kalmak', 'karşı', 'kendi', 'kişi', 'konu', 'konuşmak', 'kullanmak', 'küçük', 'kız', 'nasıl', 'neden', 'olmak', 'onlar', 'onun', 'orta', 'sadece', 'ses', 'siz', 'sonra', 'sormak', 'söylemek', 'tüm', 'var', 'vermek', 'veya', 'yapmak', 'yapılmak', 'yaşamak', 'yemek', 'yol', 'yüz', 'yıl', 'çalışmak', 'çekmek', 'çocuk', 'çok', 'çünkü', 'çıkmak', 'önce', 'önemli', 'ülke', 'üzerinde', 'şekil', 'şey', 'şimdi'] action: remove action_reason: "Non-English spam (Turkish) [{{match-title+body}}], [{{match-body+title}}]" 
  
# Spanish and Portuguese - no é or 'que', words don't match the regex type: submission title+body (regex, includes, case-sensitive): ['[ÇÁÉÍÓÚÂÊÔÃÕÀçáíñóúâêôãõà]'] body+title (regex): ['(?#BOTH)(algo|casa|como|esta|estamos|estar|este|lugar|nada|nos|nunca|parece|por|porque|sobre|todo|todos|vamos|ver|vez|vida)', '(?#ES)(ahora|alguien|bueno|cosa|cosas|creo|cuando|decir|desde|después|dije|dijo|dios|donde|ellos|entonces|eres|esa|ese|eso|espera|estaba|estas|esto|estoy|fue|fuera|gente|gracias|hablar|hace|hacer|hecho|hijo|hola|hombre|los|mejor|mierda|mis|mismo|momento|mucho|mundo|muy|nadie|noche|nosotros|otra|otro|pasa|pero|podemos|puede|puedes|puedo|quiere|quieres|quiero|quién|qué|sabes|seguro|siempre|siento|también|tenemos|tengo|tiempo|tiene|tienes|tipo|trabajo|tus|uno|usted|verdad|voy)', '(?#PT)(acha|acho|ainda|alguém|anos|apenas|aqui|assim|até|bem|certo|coisa|coisas|depois|deus|deve|dia|disse|dizer|dois|ela|ele|eles|essa|esse|estava|estou|falar|faz|fazendo|fazer|ficar|foi|homem|isso|isto|lhe|mais|melhor|mesmo|meu|minha|muito|nem|noite|obrigado|onde|pai|pelo|pessoas|pode|posso|pouco|pra|preciso|qual|quando|quem|quer|quero|sei|sem|sempre|senhor|seu|seus|sua|talvez|também|tem|temos|tenho|ter|tinha|tudo|uma|verdade|vou)'] action: remove action_reason: "Non-English spam (Spanish and Portuguese) [{{match-title+body}}], [{{match-body+title}}]" 
  
# Arabic type: submission title+body (regex, includes): ["[\U00000620-\U0000064A]+"] action: remove action_reason: "Non-English spam (Arabic) [{{match}}]" 
  
# Korean type: submission title+body (regex, includes): ["[\U0000AC00-\U0000D7AF]"] action: remove action_reason: "Non-English spam (Korean) [{{match}}]" 
  
# Latin Extended-A: U+0100 - U+01FF (minus İı) type: submission title+body (regex, includes, case-sensitive): ["[\U00000100-\U0000012F\U00000132-\U000001FF]"] action: report action_reason: "Non-English spam (Latin, Czech, Dutch, Polish, and Turkish) [{{match}}]" 
  
# Malay/Indonesian: 135 common words type: submission title+body (regex): ['\b(?=[abcdhijklmnoprstuwy])((adalah|akan|aku|anak|anda|apa|apakah|atau|awak|ayah|ayo|bagaimana|bagus|bahwa|baik|baiklah|banyak|baru|beberapa|begitu|benar|berada|besar|bisa|boleh|buat|bukan|cepat|dalam|dapat|dari|datang|dengan|dengar|dia|diri|disini|dua|hanya|hari|harus|hei|hidup|ingin|jadi|jalan|jangan|jika|juga|kalau|kalian|kami|kamu|karena|kasih|katakan|kau|keluar|kembali|kenapa|kepada|ketika|kita|lagi|lakukan|lalu|lebih|lihat|maaf|malam|mana|mari|masih|masuk|mati|mau|melakukan|melihat|membuat|memiliki|mengapa|mengatakan|menjadi|mereka|mungkin|nak|oke|orang|pada|pergi|perlu|pernah|pikir|punya|rumah|saat|saja|salah|sama|sampai|sana|sangat|satu|saya|sebuah|sedang|sekali|sekarang|selamat|semua|semuanya|sendiri|seorang|seperti|sesuatu|siapa|sini|sudah|tahu|tahun|tak|tapi|telah|tempat|tentang|terima|terjadi|tidak|tolong|tuan|tuhan|tunggu|untuk|waktu|yang)\b[^#&/=].{0,100}\b){2}'] action: remove action_reason: "Non-English spam (Malay/Indonesian) [{{match}}]" 
  
# CJK Unified Ideographs: U+4E00 - U+9FFF # Hiragana: U+3041 - U+3096 # Katakana: U+30A1 - U+30FA (minus ツ) type: submission title+body (regex, includes): ["[\U00004E00-\U00009FFF]", "[\U00003041-\U00003096]+", "[\U000030A1-\U000030C3\U000030C5-\U000030FA]+"] action: filter action_reason: "Non-English spam (Chinese and Japanese) [{{match}}]" 
  
# Devanagari: U+0900 - U+097F type: submission title+body (regex, includes): ["[\U00000900-\U0000097F]+"] action: remove action_reason: "Non-English spam (Devanagari) [{{match}}]" 
  
# Bengali: U+0980 – U+09FF (just U+0980 to U+09FB) type: submission title+body (regex, includes): ["[\U00000980-\U000009FB]+"] action: remove action_reason: "Non-English spam (Bengali) [{{match}}]" 
  
# Punjabi (Gurmukhi): U+0A00 – U+0A7F (just U+0A01 to U+0A74) type: submission title+body (regex, includes): ["[\U00000A01-\U00000A74]+"] action: remove action_reason: "Non-English spam (Punjabi) [{{match}}]" 
  
# Thai: U+0E01 - U+0E3A, U+0E3F - U+0E5B type: submission title+body (regex, includes): ["[\U00000E01-\U00000E3A\U00000E3F-\U00000E5B]+"] action: remove action_reason: "Non-English spam (Thai) [{{match}}]" 
  
# Hebrew letters: U+05D0 - U+05EA type: submission title+body (regex, includes): ["[\U000005D0-\U000005EA]+"] action: filter action_reason: "Non-English spam (Hebrew) [{{match}}]" 
  
# Vietnamese: excludes common French and Spanish letters type: submission title+body (regex, includes): ['[ìòýăĐđĩũơưạảấầẩẫậắằặẻẽếềểễệỉịọỏốồổỗộớờởợụủứừửữựỳỷỹ]'] action: filter action_reason: "Non-English spam (Vietnamese) [{{match}}]" 
  
# Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian languages type: submission title+body (regex, includes): ['[äåæöø]'] # exempt some common German and Swedish/Danish/Norwegian words ~title+body (regex): ['BAföG', 'Göteborg', 'Köln', 'Lyxfällan', 'Malmö', 'doppelgängers?', 'steuererklärung', 'universität\w*'] action: report action_reason: "Non-English spam (Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian) [{{match}}]" 
  
Other Unicode garbage - these are more aggressive
  
# Other Unicode characters; removed: ☐☑☹☺♡♥ body+title (regex, includes): ["(?#Cherokee)[\U000013A0-\U000013FF]+", "(?#Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics)[\U00001400-\U0000167F]+", "(?#Box Drawing)[\U00002500-\U0000257F]+", "(?#Miscellaneous Symbols Block)[\U00002600-\U0000260F\U00002612-\U00002638\U0000263B-\U00002660\U00002662-\U00002664\U00002666-\U000026FF]+", "(?#Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms)[\U0000FF00-\U0000FFEF]+", "(?#Enclosed Alphanumeric Supplement)[\U0001F100-\U0001F1FF]+"] action: filter action_reason: "Other Unicode characters [{{match}}]" 
  
# Other stuff (exempts byte order mark, even when repeated) body+title (regex, includes): ['(?!\xef\xbb\xbf|\xbb\xbf\xef\xbb\xbf|\xbf\xef\xbb\xbf)[^\t\n !-~\–\—…]{4,}'] action: filter action_reason: "Strange character sequence [{{match}}]"