You choose the subject, I'll share my thoughts: Hiphop edition

[boozehound]

is hiphop dead?

[loot]

answered that one before. you see hiphop everywhere, artists are touring the world. of course its not dead. maybe emo hoppers want it to be.

[playtetris]

Originally Posted by Goon Time

WHO would you rather "push it" into? Salt or Pepa?

Gravediggaz vs. Sunz of Man vs. Killa Army. juxtapose, son.



how come nobody ever talks about large professor (xtra p) on this board?

gravediggaz kills that list.

large pro is classic. he's personally in my top 10 (maybe just outside). i think his overall reputation and level of respect in the hip hop community has been stymied by shelved albums and sporadic beat production. dudes have short musical attention spans; most people probably haven't even heard main source. in fact, i'm sure a lot of people don't even realise he produced the tracks he did on 'illmatic'. he also ghostproduced a lot of joints for eric b and rakim back in the day so he never got the full degree of credit he deserved.

@ andgar923 - i just can't rate madlib that high. at best, he's just scraping in my top ten. his work on the boards, while dope as sh*t, never really reached the heights of a pete or a premo. technically he is good - he can play a few instruments and he mixes sampling and live instrumentation well - but i don't think he's made enough iconic tracks. i also think pete's work with samples technically trumps madlib's. on those early pete joints he's layering/filtering A LOT of samples, keeping all of them in tune and on time. to me he is the best of all time at doing that. dudes like amon tobin, prefuse 73, shadow and rjd2 (borderline hip hop producers) do it great too, but pete is the best straight hip hop producer to master it.

plus pete just has more dope beats in terms of total and ratio. madlib has produced quite a bit of dodgy sh*t. i haven't really enjoyed the beat konductor series that much (the india one is dubious) and his dilla tribute albums are mediocre, not to mention his yesterday's new quintet crap.

@ loot - what's your favourite organized noise produced album?

low end theory or midnight marauders?

best sidekick rappers of all time (meaning the lesser of two in a group)?

which nyc borough has the best overall catalogue?

[loot]

Originally Posted by playtetris

@ loot - what's your favourite organized noise produced album?

1. ATLiens
2. Soul Food
3. A SWAT Ritual Healing

Three truely great albums. SWAT is very underrated.

low end theory or midnight marauders?

marauders...better tracks imo. and I prefer listening to that album over the other now.

best sidekick rappers of all time (meaning the lesser of two in a group)?

Phife, but Vinnie (Naughty) is my fave. Naughty is underrated btw. Phife b/c of the catalogue.

which nyc borough has the best overall catalogue?

Ouch. Queens or BK. Hard choice, I'm going with BK. Jay, Big, AZ, BCC, MOP, OC, Kweli, Mos Def, just more of my personal favorites.

[loot]

I'll try to be a little bit more specific later on today. Bit busy @ work.

[ROCSteady]

Originally Posted by v-unit

Eh. I can't stand biggie's/mos def's voices. I love Redman's but the others are average.

WOW. R u serious??? Part of Biggie's critical acclaim stems from his voice and flow, not even actual lyricism. His rhymes were fairly quaint, it was his voice and delivery that makes him one of the greatest IMO.

Mos Def has a great voice tailor-made for what he wants to convery/accomplish.

[The Magic Man]

Few things just from skimming...

-You would seriously hit Pepa over Salt?!!!

-What was your first Daddy Kane tape? I'm older than you and when his first tape dropped I was like 9. Just curious.

-How have you never seen The Show?

-GraveDiggaz over Sunz and Killarmy? Well, I'd put them ahead of SOM but Killarmy was grimey and lyrical. GD was all about the grimeyness.

-BK over Queens? Hmmm, I may go with you on this but let's take a look at it. Nas, Mobb Deep, Marley Mal, MC Shan, Capone and Noreaga, Cormega, The Juice Crew, Roxanne Shante, Khadafi, LL Cool J, 50 Cent, Fredro Starr, Ja Rule...well, I guess he f*cks my point all up.

[loot]

Originally Posted by The Magic Man

Few things just from skimming...

-You would seriously hit Pepa over Salt?!!!

of course i wouldnt. i thought it was pretty obvious. :)

-What was your first Daddy Kane tape? I'm older than you and when his first tape dropped I was like 9. Just curious.

Long Live the Kane but only 3 years after the album was released or something.

-How have you never seen The Show?

never aired here and wasnt available in videostores

-GraveDiggaz over Sunz and Killarmy? Well, I'd put them ahead of SOM but Killarmy was grimey and lyrical. GD was all about the grimeyness.

of course. gravediggaz were phenomenal. the other groups just build on wu's succes. the production was crazy and the themes were special. killamry is nice but all their songs are alike and their production can be pretty messy at times. both albums sound alike.

-BK over Queens? Hmmm, I may go with you on this but let's take a look at it. Nas, Mobb Deep, Marley Mal, MC Shan, Capone and Noreaga, Cormega, The Juice Crew, Roxanne Shante, Khadafi, LL Cool J, 50 Cent, Fredro Starr, Ja Rule...well, I guess he f*cks my point all up.

of course QB had its share of great rappers, but most of my favorites come from bk.

[The Magic Man]

Watch The Show. The Wu part alone was classic. Okay, check this...

You can resurrect one of these MCs (None of that BIG or Pac sh*t) for your new record label. Who, why and what kind of success would they need to do to be successful today? Are you interested in the selling units or just being able to hear a rapper you miss?

Big L
Eazy E
ODB
Proof
Freaky Tah (kinda more of a hypeman but almost on that ODB level)

[loot]

Originally Posted by The Magic Man

Watch The Show. The Wu part alone was classic. Okay, check this...

You can resurrect one of these MCs (None of that BIG or Pac sh*t) for your new record label. Who, why and what kind of success would they need to do to be successful today? Are you interested in the selling units or just being able to hear a rapper you miss?

Big L
Eazy E
ODB
Proof
Freaky Tah (kinda more of a hypeman but almost on that ODB level)

Big L. The others were just really mediocre, old or just plain crazy. Eazy would be old, he's be 40+ now. Can't sell that. ODB is not reliable. Proof wasn't all that interesting. Tah was a hype man. You cant sell him. Plus Big L was the nicest on the mic of all of these. Jay wanted to get him on Roc and with good reason.

[The Magic Man]

Originally Posted by loot

Big L. The others were just really mediocre, old or just plain crazy. Eazy would be old, he's be 40+ now. Can't sell that. ODB is not reliable. Proof wasn't all that interesting. Tah was a hype man. You cant sell him. Plus Big L was the nicest on the mic of all of these. Jay wanted to get him on Roc and with good reason.

Lol, I knew I shouldn't have included L. He was the obvious choice. I actually ment in thier prime. Not what thier ages would be now. I was waiting for him to sign with the Roc and then, bam. It was over. Very sad. dude was nice.

[Lamar Doom]

best hip hop soundtrack?
(doesn't have to be 100% hip hop, but it should be evident that the soundtrack is hip hop)

[playtetris]

Originally Posted by The Magic Man

-BK over Queens? Hmmm, I may go with you on this but let's take a look at it. Nas, Mobb Deep, Marley Mal, MC Shan, Capone and Noreaga, Cormega, The Juice Crew, Roxanne Shante, Khadafi, LL Cool J, 50 Cent, Fredro Starr, Ja Rule...well, I guess he f*cks my point all up.

a tribe called quest, pharoahe monch/prince po, kool g rap, onyx, run dmc, akinyele, large professor, etc etc