Are you serious?!

My bad.


When I say I don't listen to Rap, I mean it's not the kind of music I go looking for, but that doesn't mean that I don't listen to it period. If it sounds good, it'll find it's way to my hardrive. By the way, what do you think of the Roots and Jurassic 5?

 

"Break you Off" by the Roots is a great song, I love it

"Whats golden" by Jurrasic 5 is pretty good.

I like the style of letting the lyrics kind of take a back seat and putting the music back into hip-hop, its good.

I love the way Outkast raps, they somehow turn their words into an instrument that plays along with the beat, thats an awesome gift.

 

Guys: I'm known for rapping about what my boy's and I are doing on the fly.

Sometimes, I'm very clever; sometimes, it's fairly stupid. That being said...... Talking in rhyme is very easy to do.

I'm not saying that there aren't plenty of good rap songs, but it is not a hard form of music.

You find a sample of 10 seconds of music, find a DJ to mix it to a good beat, spend 30 minutes creating a 3 minute song, and there ya go!

I'm not saying that there is NO talent. It's simply a very easy and trendy thing to do.

(although there are obviously more talented people than other's in the industry)

 

I'm pissed that Talib and Nas haven't been mentioned yet. Also, I agree that Eminem is very talented and one of the best
(Shady Records was 80 seconds away from the towers-
Them cowards f*cked with the wrong buildings, they meant to hit ours-
Patinetly Waiting nice lyric) but his style is beginning to become monotonal. It's all got this kinda angry/depressed vibe to it that I can only get into at certain times.

 

Let's see:

1) Snoop
2) Rakim
3) Chuck D
4) Ice Cube
5) LL Cool J

Those are ones that I am familiar with and I feel those guys set the bar along with 2Pac and Biggie (who, of course, are both dead).

Maybe I should clarify what I said earlier....Eminem has talent, but I think there are others that are just as good or better; but they don't get the publicity that he gets.

Oh and I never listen to the radio.

But that is my personal opinion and from what I heard of him on MTV and the radio (back when I listened to it) and that was several years ago, so maybe he has gotten better.

 

I disagree. Rap is not NEARLY as easy as people think it is. It's not the same as playing a musical instrument, but it's no picnic. Anyone can make a rap song, but 99% of the time it'll really suck. Coming up with good lyrics that fit the beat and have a cohesive theme is much harder than it seems. THEN try to rap with the beat and not stumble over your words.

If you want more of a challenge though, just try to freestyle it. THAT is hard!

 

Nas is leaps and bounds above Jay-Z in my book, Illmatic was a masterpiece.

Snoop is one of the greats, certainly in the top 10 GOAT.

Ice Cube has always been the rapper everyone loved to hate, after NWA, the smartest thing he did was get into acting. I personally enjoy his movies more than his rap. His new album on Aftermath records is coming out soon.

Eminem's style had changed, Slim Shady LP, basically everything he said was about killing his wife, cussing out his mother, and trying to hide it all from his daughter.

Marshall Mathers LP came out with a huge variety of Eminem silliness, but also showed a more mellowed out Eminem, with a lot of darker songs with true feelings.

Eminem Show in my book is a masterpiece, It has 6 awesome tracks (Without Me, Cleaning out my closet, Superman, Sing for the Moment, Til I Collapse, My Dad's Gone Crazy) And all of these are different styles, showing Eminem's attitude towards Corporate America, His Mom, Women, His Fans, Himself, and His relationship with his Daughter.

 

I was a funky white boy, grew up in the 'burbs
I had really tight grammar, my nouns and verbs
They all agreed, I wore denim and tweed
One time when I was ten, I smoked some weed
I had the chillin' g-ride, my mom's Ford Tempo
I cruised with the ladies, the ultimate pimp - OHHHHH!!

Word...

where's my record deal?

 

If you have only heard what is on the radio and MTV then you haven't heard him. That would explain why you feel the way you do about him, because some his best tracks haven't been the popular ones.

 

Nas's Illmatic is better than any of Jay-Z's records, but l think I still might have to go with Jay-Z. I think its closer than leaps and bounds.

Ice Cube had a 4 year span that can be touched by no rapper in the history of the genere. Amerikkka's Most Wanted, Death Certificate, and Predator. That's hard to beat by anyone. Eminem has evolved in my opinion, I basically dismissed him as an option for the suburbs when he started, but he has true skills. I was very impressed watching 8 mile with the different songs and rappers that were playing in different scenes. I guess these were who influenced him when he first started.

 

I have no doubt that what you are saying is true as many artists will have their best songs as the ones that were strictly album tracks; however, don't expect me to rush out and buy Eminem albums to hear these tracks, especially when I have other things in mind like Coltrane.

I am going to say something and I'm afraid some people here will try to pigeonhole this as a racist statement, but I think a big reason why Eminem gets so much press and notoriety is that he is a white guy performing in a field that has predominantly black performers.

Yes, the guy has talent but I get the feeling that some people think he is like a God in this field when in reality, he is the only white rapper that has had more than a 2 year career in the field (sorry Vanilla Ice but you don't qualify). Add to the fact that he is very media savvy, and it is not hard to figure out why so many people think this guy is greater than sliced bread. Whatever floats your boat, I guess, but it is not for me.

 

Nas is one of the greats, but I put him in the second tier of greatness, not in the first. IMO he's not in the Biggie, Tupac, RunDMC class, but he's not far behind.

 

Yeah Manny you are right a lot of his success is based on the fact he is white and Em knows that too. He talks about it in his songs. He also got pigeon holed as a Vanilla Ice and ignored by black people because he is white. So its kind of come around on him. At the same time, he had to have major skills to become as popular as he is and respected in rap or else he would never be able to overcome the Vanilla Ice label. Being white held him back in rap but once people realized he wasn't a Vanilla Ice because of his skills then he got over the hump and being white became a huge advantage to him. He raps about that too. Thats what I like about him...he doesn't BS about stuff and he states things how they are and doesn't try to be something he isn't, like a gangsta. Also, he doesn't just rap about stuff that is "black". So that helps with his appeal to white people who aren't fans rap. It also doesn't hurt that tons of girls think he is hot

Also, it does piss me off when stations play him only because he is white. Like we have 101x up here in Austin and its only a hard rock/modern rock 94.5 type station in Houston and they have played Eminem's songs and I actually get mad. Its flat out racist in my eyes. But anyhow thats an example how being white has helped him out.

 

not a big Em fan . . he ok at best . . IMO mediocre
but i think 90% of rap now is mediocre

Snoop? in the top 10? NEVER
His best stuff was on the THE CHRONIC and that was
mainly the DOC writing

Tupac is legend
Em has alot of his aspects. .. I respect some fo the things Em shows
FLOW, DIVERSITY of Topics, Music, ad Lyrical content
Those are what I judge an MC on

Em is better than Snoop
[ok . . maybe i just hate snoop]

Rocket River

 

Dre isn't a good rapper or writer. He is one of the best producers of all time. I know Dre was telling Snoop to change his style on that record, but I don't think he was telling him what to say.

And I also don't think Snoop is that great. He is original and one of the most well known rappers, but I don't think his lyrics are great or his style either since it is always the same. I also don't think Snoop writes much either...most of his lyrics seem like they are just freestyle stuff. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Snoop is in the top ten just for the fact he told Suge Knight to stick it up his ass.

 

What color are the Beastie Boys?