I want him to go back to what he did before he got signed to a major label record deal. The clever wordplay... the raps he did where you just went "WOW, i cant believe he said that... i cant believe he rhymed this was that"...... Listen to Any Man..... not his best... but better than anything he did recently.
The guy is a lyrical genius... This point is obvious. I think now that G~Unit has taken off, Dre and Eminem are chillin out, producing and making tons of dough. I haven`t heard Eminems new stuff, and from what I`ve heard... I probably won`t. I have been listening to hip hop for around 20 years now, from the Run DMC days. I can honestly say that lyrically Biggie would have to be the best ever. Notorious could tell a story poetically, and it was in perfect synch with the beat. Incredible. I think that Eminem is not too far behind Biggie. But I have basically put away all of his old stuff. TUPAC is immortal, he is hip hop god. His lyrics are poetry of sadness to joy to love to anger. Amazing. Tupac / Notorious I`m not listening to too much 50 Cent, or Jay Z, or Nas, and really Rap-a-lot has put out some crappy albums recently. The best cd I`ve bought recently is Fabulous, and it aint all that either. Raps fallin off, we`ve lost two great artists, and I guess someone had to take over... Eminem. Lil John, Cash Money, Master P all suck IMO. Not into that bounce crap. Lil Flips *kings of freestyle* series is pretty good, and I`d recommend it to you H-towners. DJ Quik is always putting out decent tracks, and E-40 puts out good tracks. DMX first cd was great put his cd`s has sucked since. Overall, Hip hop is a beautiful art. It has brought forth a new culture not only in the U.S. but all across the world. There are kids in Tokyo (where I live and work) who sports dreadlocks, throw backs. Oh, I almost forgot to mention my boy TOO $HORT!
As most here know, I am not a fan of Eminem. However, I will say that he is a genius with lyrics and is also a marketing genius. And believe it or not, he is going to still be talked about 20 to 30 years from now and probably even longer.
Does Eminem "write" his music? I know that Dre has done quite a bit and I remember at the academy awards around four people got credit for the song from 8 Mile. I am just asking this out of curiosity from people who know. Is he just a lyricist? I don't really know Eminem. Don't care to. I have just heard what has gotten really popular and I think that he has a good rap rhythm but his voice is way too shrill for my liking and his music is not interesting to me. Since people are sharing, my main likes (but, in general, I have a soft spot for all mid to late 80's): De La Soul Public Enemy Tribe Called Quest Digable Planets The Roots MC Solaar
You can't compare Marshall Mathers to Jimi Hendrix. Mathers is an Rap "Artist". - One, such as an actor or singer, who works in the performing arts. Jimi Hendrix is a Musician - One who composes, conducts, or performs music, especially instrumental music.
Amen to that Old man. Big was a good MC, but he was nowhere near 2pac's level. Hip-Hop is here to stay and whether you want to call it music or not.
Well, it looks like it's time to settle this 'best' rapper business once and for all... I propose the G.R.O.A.T.T. Greatest Rapper of All Time Tourney.
Late to this thread, but responding to page one. Dylan never dissed The Byrds; I did. And I never did it in any other context than their sappy Dylan covers. But... To credit The Byrds with influencing Dylan is ludicrous. Sure, they had an impact, but so did a thousand other players that had a greater one. Dylan's a music freak. He's influenced by everyone. To suggest The Byrds' sentimental, cleaned up (in a bad way - like all their Dylan covers) version of Tambourine Man turned Dylan on to electric guitars is inane. He was a Chuck Berry freak (plus every other notable rock player) from way back. Dylan was into Elvis and Muddy Waters before he was into Woody Guthrie. Roger McGuinn didn't teach Dylan the wonders of the electric guitar. In fact, he played electric for years before he ever played acoustic. Like I said, I never insinuated Dylan disliked The Byrds at all, whatever my opinion of their sucky Dylan covers, but there is no evidence whatever - anecdotal or otherwise - that they influenced his sound. Dylan adopted Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower and he even copped a little of his Rolling Stone - he never did that for the sappy Byrds' "fixes" of his melodies. The Byrds might have been the American Beatles, but Dylan owned a radio. He could listen to the originals. And if he was influenced by any pop band when he went electric, it was the big bosses. Dylan and The Beatles influenced each other like mad. And The Byrds and several other bands ate the table scraps. They were a great, great band - don't get me wrong - but they weren't great enough to change Dylan's head. Woody was, Robert Johnson was, Kurt Weill was, Dave Van Ronk and twenty other great elders to Dylan were and several contemporaries were too (The Beatles among them, but barely The Byrds). Implying The Byrds influenced Dylan is about as right as saying Joan Baez did. They were along for the ride. He bossed the train. Plus, p.s., their covers of him sucked. Their original stuff was good (not as good as, say, The Band's, but still good) but they didn't move his mark at ALL. To say otherwise is ignorant.
p.s. to rimbaud. Great list, but a gaping hole where NWA's supposed to be. Straight Outta Compton is better than anything by any of those groups, though some PE comes close.
Batman, Thanks for the post. I was pretty sure that it was you that felt like that on the Byrds instead of Dylan himself. I got nothing against the Byrds, but when I read that statement of Bob's that they were the ones that influenced Dylan to go electric, I just knew that didn't sound right. But both Finn and you are bigger Dylan fans (or at least have been longer than I have), so I thought that maybe that was the case.
Agreed. I love that album, but I didn't include NWA because they are a one-album group for me. When I go to my personal taste and following careers (and I definitely have an East Coast bias as you can tell), the ones I listed are at the top. There are plenty more, but those are at the top. Oh yeah...nobody comes close to PE. They had meaning and Chuck D was hardcore. While I have you, though, I wanted to talk Dylan a little bit. You may recall that I have discussed with you my dislike for his songs - like the lyrics, like song structure but hated his voice. Well, and odd thing happened - I recently heard three songs of his that I really liked and thought his voice was outstanding. I am confused because they don't really come from one album or period so I was hoping you might be able to give insight into what might unify them. To me, his voice sounds less affected in them. They are: Masters of War Tombstone Blues You Ain't Goin' Nowhere Any ideas? I generally have disliked his vocals on a lot of the big ones (Times They are a Changin tyes) and really don't like his Blonde on Blonde album...so now I am confused.
Batman, The Byrds are the band that brought Dylan's music to the masses. Before their version of Tamborine Man, Dylan was only popular among the Folk music crowd. He gave them the yet unreleased song to record for their first album. They chopped the lyrics down and added electric guitars, pianos and drums and the song became a hit. Of course Dylan used to play electric guitar in his early days (high school and college). He even recorded some songs with an "electric" band as early as 1962, but the songs were never released. The folk crowd would have turned their backs on him as they did in late 1965. What I meant by influencing Dylan was, when he heard the power of his lyrics with electric instruments added he was impressed. Not long after The Byrds version came out, he played The Newport Folk festival and played Electric, went in the studio and recorded Highway 61 Revisited with Mike Bloomfield (electric guitarist) and then went on tour with The Hawks (later known as The Band). Also, listen to Tamborine Man on Live at Budokan. That is an "adoption" of the Byrds version.
