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You sir have just earned some serious respect as a legit listener of old school hiphop/rap. Biggie being the greatest rapper ever is a term that everyone (those who listen, and many who don't) use to make it sound as if they know what's going on... Biggie to me personally, is one of the most overrated rappers of all-time...
Don't get me wrong, his freestyles blew anyone else's out the water and what was amazing about him was that he never wrote stuff down... He just spit whatever came to his mind and it always flowed... That being said, his stuff wasn't that great... I really feel you on that AZ flow... To those who don't know, listen to AZ the Format... you get a little sample of what hes all about there... Now I know im a NYC native but if you ask whose the greatest of all-time it's no question for me and that's tupac... You take everything in consideration, flow, lifestyle, charisma, meaningful lyrics, diverse in selection of what they spoke about and it's not even a contest... Tupac blows biggie out the water... I then got Nas, AZ and Biggie afterwords but thats just personal preference...
Now to all the people hating on today's music... While I won't disagree with you completely cause there is alot of truth to it... I think that that phrase hip hop is dead and the 80s and 90s era of music was way better is also cliche. Many people say that just to agree with the masses but don't really understand what they're saying... There is plenty of good music and legitimate rap still out there but the sample size is simply much smaller...
I highly doubt that if you put Cassidy or what the hoods into now with Jae Millz in a freestyle battle that Big pun would run circles around them... They're freestyles are just as crazy as anyone else from back then and fact is it's much harder to do it after it's been done for two decades... Being original in this era is a far bigger accomplishment than it was back then and alot of people fail to take that into account... So while I agree that rap is nowhere near what it used to be overall you gotta give credit where credit is due when it comes to some of the dudes still doing it nowadays... and to the people who say Kanye or Lupe or Cudi are nothing compared to back then, it simply shows me how little they actually know about what they're saying...
It puts a smile on my face to know that people regard AZ as a top 5 artist. In my opinion, he was one of the most underrated artist in that era along with Kool G. Rap. I think that AZ had the best verse in Life's a Bi$#h with Nas on the Illmatic CD.
It puts a smile on my face to know that people regard AZ as a top 5 artist. In my opinion, he was one of the most underrated artist in that era along with Kool G. Rap. I think that AZ had the best verse in Life's a Bi$#h with Nas on the Illmatic CD.
Word, I'll definately throw AZ up there, "Rather Unique", "sick of the sicklecell anemia/ slaughter your circulatory like leukemia...." that was the sickest flow with one of Pete Rock's illest beats.
G Rap, not only was he one of the G.O.A.T.S. he is one of the rappers who influenced probably more rappers on the east coast than anyone else save Rakim. Punchlines and rapid multi-syllables, mafioso style all that. He influenced people from Nas & AZ to Big Pun. But you can't front on BIG, though he wasn't as heavy on subject matter as Tupac, he was versatile with his different styles.
That being said, New York rap fell off because street culture in NY lost its identity. Growing up, East Coast hip hop was a versatile scene with your hardcore (Wu-tang, G Rap, Mobb Deep, Boot Camp, MOP etc...) your positive rap (De La, Tribe, BDP, Blackstar etc...) and your in-betweens (Nas, Gangstarr, DITC, Organized Kunfusion etc..) And even more diversity within those sub-groups.
Now as the OP pointed out, everyone in NY wants to be gangsta even though the crime rate is way lower and the crack era is long gone. Furthermore not only does everyone aspire to be a gangster, but they must also imitate the South both sonically and visually. But its also a reflection of Hip-Hop as a whole because the South at one time had very good artists. Hip hop has become one big Minstrel Show, either you're a thug or Stepin Fetchit.
Word, I'll definately throw AZ up there, "Rather Unique", "sick of the sicklecell anemia/ slaughter your circulatory like leukemia...." that was the sickest flow with one of Pete Rock's illest beats.
G Rap, not only was he one of the G.O.A.T.S. he is one of the rappers who influenced probably more rappers on the east coast than anyone else save Rakim. Punchlines and rapid multi-syllables, mafioso style all that. He influenced people from Nas & AZ to Big Pun. But you can't front on BIG, though he wasn't as heavy on subject matter as Tupac, he was versatile with his different styles.
That being said, New York rap fell off because street culture in NY lost its identity. Growing up, East Coast hip hop was a versatile scene with your hardcore (Wu-tang, G Rap, Mobb Deep, Boot Camp, MOP etc...) your positive rap (De La, Tribe, BDP, Blackstar etc...) and your in-betweens (Nas, Gangstarr, DITC, Organized Kunfusion etc..) And even more diversity within those sub-groups.
Now as the OP pointed out, everyone in NY wants to be gangsta even though the crime rate is way lower and the crack era is long gone. Furthermore not only does everyone aspire to be a gangster, but they must also imitate the South both sonically and visually. But its also a reflection of Hip-Hop as a whole because the South at one time had very good artists. Hip hop has become one big Minstrel Show, either you're a thug or Stepin Fetchit.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
At least I have an Ipod hookup to my car system. I only play rap music between 1988- 1997 ( The golden years of rap).
At least I have an Ipod hookup to my car system. I only play rap music between 1988- 1997 ( The golden years of rap).
Big Money ruined hip-hop. Ironically, the 2 largest money makers put an end to the golden era. Master P and Puff Daddy(P-Diddy, etc, etc) help transistion in the pop, club rap era. Also, profits exploded in the late 90s. It's a lot more complicated but i'm too tired to type that much.
At least I have an Ipod hookup to my car system. I only play rap music between 1988- 1997 ( The golden years of rap).
Same thing here, and I'm only 28, lol. Cats always laugh at me cause everything I bump is from 88-98. I'm still hip to alot of newer rappers, especially Joell Ortiz, Jay Electronica, Saigon etc...But for inspiration, thats what I bump that boom-bap golden era. The music just had a fuller and richer sound sonically as well, I think because of the soulful samples and what not.
No doubt man. The cats you referenced have styles that are a true throwback to the Golden Era (you mentioned Joell Ortiz, Jay Electronica and Saigon). Jay Electronica is from New Orleans, but his style is straight up east coast IMO. Saigon's subject matter is super REAL and RELEVANT for the modern day urban ghetto life (and he straight up disses the idiocy of gangs in "The Color Purple"). The fact that he appeared on "Entourage" didn't do enough for him. The marketing machine failed Saigon and I'm pretty sure he failed to put up solid numbers on his highly rated album release from February of this year. He just doesn't have the backing that the big guns have (ie. your Lil Waynes, your Jay-Z's, your Kanyes, and even the next tier like Lupe Fiasco, etc.). Joell Ortiz is like the reincarnation of Big Pun in some ways. A Puerto Rican from NYC that can rhyme for days and tear up any freestyle. No one can touch the actual Pun and his legacy tho, R.I.P.
Quote:
Originally Posted by twist07
Same thing here, and I'm only 28, lol. Cats always laugh at me cause everything I bump is from 88-98. I'm still hip to alot of newer rappers, especially Joell Ortiz, Jay Electronica, Saigon etc...But for inspiration, thats what I bump that boom-bap golden era. The music just had a fuller and richer sound sonically as well, I think because of the soulful samples and what not.
No doubt man. The cats you referenced have styles that are a true throwback to the Golden Era (you mentioned Joell Ortiz, Jay Electronica and Saigon). Jay Electronica is from New Orleans, but his style is straight up east coast IMO. Saigon's subject matter is super REAL and RELEVANT for the modern day urban ghetto life (and he straight up disses the idiocy of gangs in "The Color Purple"). The fact that he appeared on "Entourage" didn't do enough for him. The marketing machine failed Saigon and I'm pretty sure he failed to put up solid numbers on his highly rated album release from February of this year. He just doesn't have the backing that the big guns have (ie. your Lil Waynes, your Jay-Z's, your Kanyes, and even the next tier like Lupe Fiasco, etc.). Joell Ortiz is like the reincarnation of Big Pun in some ways. A Puerto Rican from NYC that can rhyme for days and tear up any freestyle. No one can touch the actual Pun and his legacy tho, R.I.P.
Big Money ruined hip-hop. Ironically, the 2 largest money makers put an end to the golden era. Master P and Puff Daddy(P-Diddy, etc, etc) help transistion in the pop, club rap era. Also, profits exploded in the late 90s. It's a lot more complicated but i'm too tired to type that much.
Dont forget Baby & slim of Cash Money. They're still going strong to this day.
Big Money ruined hip-hop. Ironically, the 2 largest money makers put an end to the golden era. Master P and Puff Daddy(P-Diddy, etc, etc) help transistion in the pop, club rap era. Also, profits exploded in the late 90s. It's a lot more complicated but i'm too tired to type that much.
On the real! I agree with you. Look at the rap videos of today. Same main theme. Women, alcohol and money. Yo, a rap video just came to my mind from the Fearless Four, Problems of the World Today. It was a video that you either ran home to see on Video Music Box or waited up late Friday night to see it on Hot Tracks. No bling, no tricked out cars/trucks, no get high, just dudes having fun. That's what hip hop was back in the days, having fun. And I'm sorry y'all, but Ready to Die was classic.
Last edited by akatrk; 08-24-2011 at 07:42 PM..
Reason: Grammar
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Word
