yeah i'd totally cosign/agree-with that. nowadays i think that rap is so comparatively weak to the early-mid 90s that there's just a massmedia-push to anoint people with these lofty statuses like they're some big deal.... case in point the "uh oh the shit just went down" fervor when kendrick lamar dropped control and people were like "OH MAN, HE'S SAYING HE'S GONNA MURDER ALL OF THOSE [N-WORDS] --- SHOTS FIRED! WHO'S GONNA COME BACK AT HIM!!!!" and hey from what i've heard kendrick's solid... i still gotta get around to copping the LPs and seeing how he does.... but really since then it's just back to the usual world of medicore pop-hop and hey look it's slow enough to where they're still giving macklemore all of the props and awards and etc cuz while there's many amusing things i've noticed about the world of top-40/pop-hop one of the most amusing things is that whenever there's a decent white rapper who's got what it takes to get the massmedia push it's like holy shit they go out of their way to make him look like he's above/beyond all of the muck that is the cesspool of materialism masquerading as the modern form of a once burgeoning medium of artistic expression. you know.... whenever they've got an immensely marketable white guy with a made up name (eminem, macklemore, etc) push him to the stars cuz if there's one thing the white/suburban rap-record-buying masses love more than the escapism into someone else's ghetto-fabulous fantasy, it's supporting the white guy who does them justice! shomer shabbos.

anyways i hear that action had some sort of "house arrest" videos/mixtape/s that helped him blow up and get onto interscope, so imma check those out cuz 9 times out of 10 the most fascinating stuff that any given rapper does is the stuff that came right b4 they blew up and got big, cuz when you're hustling desperate to make it you're more willing to go all out than when you've got 6-7 figures in bank accounts and your fame precedes you and etc etc. we'll see if this search bears fruit and if it does i'll be sure to link some gems in this thread.

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I think the Kendrick love has a lot to do with the absolute garbage era he's replacing (Lil Wayne)

He's also pretty awesome

He takes a shot at Cheif Keif on 50Cent's song We Up

The white thing is true. Its like being a left handed power pitcher. Easiset road to the bugs

in honor of board synchronicity today, i've gotta go with one of my personal theme songs...

redman - i'll bee dat

red's one of the oft-forgotten lyrical beasts in many people's top-5/top-10s. best punchline rapper ever? i think that's an easy case but i can already picture some "more qualified" rap afiocionados telling me that it's time to hush regarding that.... but hey, once again that's where i go back to this song, which is one that i think should be taught to kids in elementary school re: embracing themselves for better or worse.

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Classic

And yeah, he's underrated. I think Method Man is too. People see them as the How High guys or Meth and Red.

Theyre both all time greats (Meth's flow and Red's punchlines) imo

Redman was always a favorite of mine, but his schtick just wore out after while, it's hard to do the punch line/jokey/high thing for like 9 albums

Whut??/Dare Iz/Muddy Waters/Docs Da Name are all essential, but you don't need to go any past that

Uh...Blackout?

agreed, i was just talking about solo albums

and Blackout 2 was a HUGE letdown

I dont know why you'd have great expectations for an album sequel 11 years later...

Although Cuban Linx 2 was good


Liquid sWords 2 is coming as well

DING DING DING winner winner chicken dinner. i'd personally toss on malpractice to that (source awards? / shit, ride a water buffalo there!) but then after malpractice (which i believe is 2001? to doc's da name 2000 being 99) yeah the "redman" thing is pretty done for much the reason you pointed out. but with whut the album?!!?! being not quite as essential as dare iz a darkside (seriously we're talking top-5 all-time rap LP there) but if you like what red's about, man, i love that part of WHUT?!!? where he ends the one song talking about how he went to the doctor and found out he got aids.... then the cut "rated r"pops up and he's talking his shit to the women and he goes "and the best part? I GOT AIIIIIIIDDDDDSSSSSSS BITCH!!!!!" and i damn near fell off the chair laughing at that.

but yeah that run from 94-01 = about as good as anyone's done.... save the all-time greats like acey and pharoahe, but then again acey and pharoahe are on a plateau above just about everyone else in the game in my opinion.

i think redman can be summed up on that one MTV show where cameron diaz and friends went around the world visiting exotic locales in a reality show vehicle.... and when they went to nepal they took red along and at one point he's all high in a boat and he just looks at the camera matter of factly and goes "I'M IN NEPAL!!!! I'M IN THE JUNGLE AND SHIT!!!!" and that childlike exuberance = his whole "game" epitomized in one brazen display of spatial recognition.

as for meth..... well i know he's got a soft spot in many's hearts cuz of vintage wu-tang (i.e. 36 chambers and the first round of solo LPs (tical for meth, right?) and then wu-forever and then pretty much save ghostface/gza you dont really need to bother with wu-tang after forever) but lyrically/rapping-wise he isn't even in red's zipcode. it's funny to hear the blackout LPs (i got the second one on vinyl for like $4, that says something) cuz whenever red's on the cut meth and his legendary lisp steps up to give you the best lyricism he's got cuz you know that he knows red is >>> him and thus he tries really hard when he's on the cut with red.

that reminds me of one rap song i made circa 2008 where i said "cuz i could beat you cracked smacked or whacked out on meth / cuz when i see red i come with my best" --- and some dude who nicked his then-DJ-name "smojphace" from a richard james (aphex twin) EP accused me of calling him out when it's like "dude, i was referencing smojphace as in aphex twin.... not you aka chris moss acid" ---- c'est la vie. the kid once got me to call him out on a punk-rap track i did on a loop from screeching weasel's "my brain hurts" where i tried to provide a (much-needed, for sure =) update to ben's legendary song from 1992-93, aka the golden age of screeching weasel.

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Meth's flow is better than Redman

He never ever has to strain to fit anything. It all just fits and sounds like he's just talking to you but rhyming


......in my opinion

oh yeah i'm not doubting that..... see when i talk about ranking/comparing rappers, i'm basically going almost exclusively off of actual lyrical content as opposed to the flow, otherwise if it were the other way around you could start making a case that guru or charli 2na is the greatest rapper of all-time.... and for the latter, hey, who doesn't love "anchorman" (that 2nd verse = FIRE) but yeah, i will wholly admit to being stunted in terms of what people say as opposed to primarily focusing on how they're saying it.

no doubt meth has the flow going on in such a way that he's an easier listen to ride the beat and thus the whole "catchiness" and etc. the way red goes at it is more inherently lyrically intensive and thus less of a proper nod-along "flow" as it is "some guy snapping and saying some shit"

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Love Guru and Chali


I love lyrics but the flow is just as important for me.

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-- source

well duh, you know who my favorite rapper of all time is, right? indeed, it's busta cadence! =D

hey rpb while we're conversating here have i ever linked you to this cut? aka j-live: braggin writes ---- great song, great beat, and str8up oldschool (early 90s) flow. when i saw him live with akrobatik and robust back in the day he did this song up on stage while he was doing the DJ cuts live too.... that was a neat gimmick to see.

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Chali on an awesome Madlib beat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E19kJL9mMzw



Percee P kinda sucks, not sure what his deal is

No, never got that one. Will listen after work for sure.

I love the early 90's rap

We take it back, like Spinal Tap


Ill listen to that right after the other track

didn't chali say that on a jurassic 5 cut? i wanna say it's concrete schoolyard.... yeah it is, and i say that b4 i even listened to the cut cuz that early/first J5 shit was in my wheelhouse circa 98-00, even tho i've always been partial to chali's work on the flagrantly cut-chemist-and-a-half "jurass finish first" ("...cuz the trash on the charts leaves you gaspin for art!" --- PREACH!)

also charli 2na is great with ozomatli.... the songs "cut chemist suite" and "super bowl sundae" stand out as fantastic.

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Pinata has finally leaked.....


http://getleaks.org/hip-hop/243-freddie ... -2014.html

Ill check that out tonight

Meanwhile....


Birds and the Beez-Schoolboy Q and Kendrick Lamar

that was pretty cool. old i take it ?

weird beat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setbacks

Listened to it last night. Very good.

i'm still fairly confused about their whole collective...just as far as what they've released, when, the basic timeline and all that trying to learn
like i thought Oxymoron was Schoolboy Q's first album but apparently it's not, but then there's mixtapes
then they're doing the group thing backward apparently, releasing all the solo stuff first then they're going to a collabo ?

Yeah, Im in the same boat as you. Kinda going backwards.

Black Hippy is an American hip hop group from South Central, Los Angeles, California, formed in 2009. The group is composed of West Coast rappers Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q.[2][3] Black Hippy was constructed after all of its members were signed to Carson-based independent record label Top Dawg Entertainment. Through Top Dawg, in 2012, the group signed a distribution deal with Interscope Records, owned by Universal Music Group.[1]
Although they have yet to release a full-length project as a group, the members are frequent collaborators, regularly appearing and contributing to each other's respective solo projects, oftentimes not even crediting one another as a featured artist. Lamar had stated that the group will never face demise due to the solidification of each member's career before they release their debut studio album as a whole. Lamar was the first to release his major label debut, with his album good kid, m.A.A.d city. The album was highly acclaimed and was certified Platinum by the RIAA. Schoolboy Q followed shortly after with his release of Oxymoron, released on February 25, 2014.


That's part of whats great about discovering these guys though. There is so much older stuff to listen to with mixtapes and everything. What a time to be alive.


There pulling a reverse Wu Tang. That's a great idea actually, if you can pull it off.

So far they are 2 for 2

I have no doubts that Ab Soul will keep it going. Jay Rock is the weakest link but he's still good.

Just to clarify

Oxy Moron is his first major label album.

GKMC and OxyMoron are the only studio albums. Everything else was indy

right, and i know this will come with an automatic hipster accusation but its just the way my mind works- when something is just available digitally (and not on vinyl & CD as well) i tend to not think of it as a "major" release

and mixtapes are altogether weird....since some of them (like the Domo Genesis/Alchemist one) actually get proper releases

Yeah, its a little confusing and convoluted, but the music is there to be consumed.

who's this Mac Miller guy again?
the last song on Pinata is a posse cut and he has the last verse, it's so bad. the only saving grace is that it's the last verse; if it were in the middle it would have ruined the whole song

song with Scarface is insane

Ab-Soul's verse on Lakers is a little disappointing , but the song is really cool, kind of a To Live & Die in LA vibe