UGK-Ridin' Dirty 1996 Greatest rap album ever to come out of the South. Definitely the best they ever put out. "Talkin' bout Houston..I mean 2-ston."
Watch as the room rocks Mentally moonwalk Mixed media slang Banging in your boom box verbal violence Lyrical stylist In a time when rock hip hop rhymes are childish You can’t tempt me with rhymes that are empty Rapping to a beat doesn’t make you an emcee With your lack of skill and facility You’re killing me And a DJ in the group just for credibility I heard that some of you are getting help with your rhymes You’re not an emcee if someone else writes your lines And rapping over rock doesn’t make you a pioneer Cause rock and hip hop have collaborated for years But now they’re getting randomly mixed and matched up All after a fast buck and all the tracks suck So how does it stack up? None of it’s real You want to be an emcee you’ve got to study the skill So you pick up a pen and write yourself a new identity But mentally you don’t have the hip hop energy With a tendency to make up stories Sounding like the only hip hop you’ve heard is top 40 And your record company is completely missing it All the kids are dissing it for not being legitimate So in a battle you can't hack it React with whack **** And get smacked with verbal back flips Get your ass kicked by fabulous battle catalysts It's taken decades for emcees to establish this You’re new to hip hop and welcome if your serious But not on the mic Leave that to the experienced
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Nas - Ilmatic. Perhaps the most lyrically mind-blowing album was the debut of a 19 year old street poet from Queens. He said rap is dead and I'm inclined to take his word for it. Bubblegum soulja boy walk it out horse**** gansta pimps with pink gucci sweaters = rap is dead. Pac was the ****. Recognize.
They are both completely different artists that touch on different topics...I am a huge fan of Kanye and of Pac. Pac's mom has done more damage than good and has in some ways ruined his "legacy" with the garbage posthumous albums she has released. I am sorry but Pac would never have worked with some of these artists she has tagged along to his pre-recorded material.
Agreed on Me Against The World... The songs were poignant and had a message - Dear Mama, Temptations, Can U Get Away, So Many Tears All Eyez on Me was typical gangsta rap - money, cars, hoes, liquor, drugs - which i've personally long been sick of.
I'd have to go with Me Against The World, most of Nas' stuff and AZ. AZ is the biggest sleeper in the game. Every one of his songs has a greater message, similar to what you hear from Nas. I would also agree with the argument that Afeni Shakur has somewhat harmed Pac's legacy with the 'greatest hits' compilations. I'm always disgusted when I see Pac's name next to the fakest, fraudulent steriod-pumping studio gangsters who call themselves G-Unit. Tupac would have NEVER worked with any member of that Top 40 radio posse. But HipHop is not dead....yet. We still have the vets making good music(Scarface's "Made") andthe likes of Wu-Tang and Nas' upcoming cd "Ni**er". If Soulja Boy, Hurricane Chris and BowWow keep climbing the charts, we're going to have a bigger problem. Codman
i agree with illmatic and food and liquor, but blueprint wasnt even J's best album. It's easily Reasonable Doubt. And to the thread creater, All Eyez on Me is not hip hop. It's rap. And yes, there are better albums than that Illmatic, Reasonable Doubt, Bone thugs n harmony eternal E1999, and ready to die are just a few
Jedi Mind Tricks is an under the radar group that has a cd called "Violent By Design" that is pretty sick. Also Z-Rho is really under rated and if you listen to any of his stuff that is not played on the radio he has content up there with some of the greats. The Marshal Mather's LP is a classic too. I think the first Makaveli is just as good as All Eyes on Me.
I can't believe some of you people are mentioning Kanye's and Lupe Fiasco's name in the same sentence as 2pac.. I am a huge Kanye fan, and I've had the stronger album playing in the car for the past month or so, but I think 2pac is on a whole other level.. Pac talked about life, he talked about stuff that actually mattered, he presented philosophical interpretations about life.. he talked about racism, problems that the youth face, drug addiction (as a bad thing of course), prostitution .. you actually heard lyrics, you heard some inspiring stuff, some angry stuff, some negative dark stuff, it was everything.. Kanye has some great beats, alright lyrics, but you can't compare "welcome to the good life, it feels like L.A, it feels like NY, summer time Chi..." to something like this: With all this extra stressin The question I wonder is after death, after my last breath When will I finaly get to rest? Through this supression they punish the people that's askin questions And those that possess, steal from the ones without possesions The message I stress: to make it stop study your lessons Don't settle for less - even the genius asks-es questions Be grateful for blessings Don't ever change, keep your essence The power is in the people and politics we address Always do your best, don't let the pressure make you panic And when you get stranded And things don't go the way you planned it Dreamin of riches, in a position of makin a difference Politicians and hypocrites, they don't wanna listen If I'm insane, it's the fame made a brother change It wasn't nuttin like the game It's just me against the world by the way, I think All Eyez on me and Me Against the World are the tied for the top album ever.. but I really think that Pac's greatest songs didn't come from his albums, but rather the movie soundtracks he did.. my favorite songs of all time are: 1. Staring at the world through my rear view 2. Pain
