I would like to see what Tony Royster is doing for Jay Z these days but havent been able to find the time.
I like some of it. I have 70 hip hop tracks in my itunes, but that is out of a total of 3000+ songs. My fav artists are Snoop, Dre, Beasties, and The Roots. Still love "Let Me Ride" by Dre, partially because it samples "Mothership Connection" by Parliament. I've also been digging "Think About It" by Snoop which samples a song called "I Need You" by Jerry Butler. Drum machines/loops/breaks are fine with me. If the groove is there, I just go with it.
Well i agree with everyone old-school hip hop grabs drummers more and nowadays the roots are easily my fave hip hop band if not one of my fave bands .... what i dont get is why do hip-hop artists of today have some of the best drummers in there live band but never record with them.
Because the appearance of a drummer, (or a full band, for that matter), on stage looks much better than just one rapper. People also get to feel the drums when they get hit. You don't get the same effects by putting some speakers up on stage.
As for why they don't record with these drummers; it's more expensive and more time consuming than making a beat and looping it. Also, few drummers are capable of, or are willing to play the same beat for a rapper for 2, 3, 4, or 5 minutes per song.
Hip Hop is garbage. Its popularity baffles me.