CrowleyHead

Well-known member
Even forget Wu-Forever, remember the lean years? Remember Immobilarity, every post-Tical Method Man album?

These new guys who are my age but didn't listen to rap until they were 15, and then, reading lists like this piss me off. Because then, they'll call these post-quality albums "underrated". There was a REASON that my copy of Immobilarity is chilling in the basement of my old home from when I was 8; because that's the only useful place I could think of it. It didn't even deserve to be recycled.

The minute you can 'textbook browse' for what rap you SHOULD be listening to, everything gets ruined. So many rappers who never made classics are still essential... Like, how many Biz Markie albums are on these lists!? Or what about Arrested Development! These lists filter out some of the best aspects of hip-hop, the NON classic, the temporary.

Like, fuck, I downloaded a bunch of retarded Papoose freestyles. Do I regret spending as much time on them? Yeah. Did I suddenly stop thinking "And if I'm bleeding in the ER, don't supply me sorrow./Just pour some Hennessy into my IV bottle!" is an incredible line? No!
 

PiLhead

Well-known member
yeah some of the most indelible rap songs are one-offs or two-offs

Naughty by Nature, "o.p.P." and "hip hop hooray"
house of pain "jump"
rob base and ez rock, "it takes two"
the little dude that did "i wish i was a little bit taller"
juvenile, back that ass up
t la rock, eve, etc etc

(mind you you could say the same of radio rock -- "you ain't seen nothing yet", "rock me like a hurricane", "no rain" etc)

how come DMX is unmentioned

also cannibal ox, cold vein

^^^^^^^

glad to see luka thinks gang starr and tribe called Q are dull

so sue me, ialso find Nas a bit boring
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
i dont listen to it that much but wu tang forever is underrated. its also a bit boring and sluggish and sort of bloated but i like that about it. triumph is still anti climatic though. waiting for the new wu single then hearing how plodding it was was a big dissappointment.

I never really ended up memorising a single verse from OB4Clinx

criminology? verbal intercourse? glaciers of ice?!?!

i never got into liquid swords though. something about gza solo just irritated me. he was like the 'look how smart i am' nerd rapper in wu-tang.
 
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echevarian

babylon sister
Any hip-hop canon that is 80% NYC rap from the early 80s-mid 90s leaves me a little cold. Seriously: where's the UGK, E-40?

Is this a generational divide thing?

Off the top of my head:

Outkast - Southerplayalisticadillacmusik (Just as good as ATLiens)
UGK - Riding Dirty
E-40 - In A Major Way
8ball & MJG - Coming Out Hard

How the hell does this shit get kicked out for Brand Nubian and Das EFX?

I'd even go to bat for TI's Trap Muzik.
 
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pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
Naughty by Nature, "o.p.P." and "hip hop hooray"

NBN have lots of good tunes and even more great beats

glad to see luka thinks gang starr and tribe called Q are dull

so sue me, ialso find Nas a bit boring

nas i can agree with you on but

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JsFwPDRJeAw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uhgEpT4f7p8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

dull?
 
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CrowleyHead

Well-known member
I'd defend Brand Nubian, but honestly the first time I heard Das EFX, I looked at my father like "THIS WAS THE PROBLEM WITH YOUR ERA. YOU CO-SIGNED GARBAGE LIKE THIS. I'LL TAKE EVERY LIL' JON RECORD OVER THAT SHIT.""COME ON SON, THIS WAS HARD.""MOTHERFUCKER, THESE CLOWNS ARE LIKE THE NEW BOYZ OF THEIR ERA. PLEASE."

(Yes, this is my son-father dynamic, no exaggeration.)

I would actually argue Juve's early albums are minor classics in their own right.
 

luka

Well-known member
i love brand nubian. i also love hard to earn and, to a lesser extent, moment of truth.
 

luka

Well-known member
pattycakes i have owned every atcq album except love movement, even the remix album, i know whole verses by heart you cant convince me with youtubes. i hate them. end of story. qtips big contribution to hiphop is his role in making the infamous.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
ATCQ are def overrated - way too tasteful. There's odd songs I love, but it does seem to be a conspiracy that they're mentioned as all-time greatest.

GS and Nas though, both amazing. That song above is a bit PE-lite though, no? I like it all the same.

DITC most underrated, overall.
 

luka

Well-known member
I would actually argue Juve's early albums are minor classics in their own right.

ive hot 400 degrees and a greatest hits cd. what else cant i live without?
 

pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
can't get my head around the tribe haterz. their beats are classic and the flows are quality. i'd been taking a break from hh recently due to a big house n tech kick, but then saw the beats, rhymes and life doc they just put out and have been listening to low end theory daily ever since. i recommend the doc for anyone who's lost interest in em (even though it is a bit of a bummer)

low end has so much going for it; uplifting, funky, funny, positive and like just makes you feel good n stuff. what's not to like?
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
never got the tribe haters either. even if you dont like mellower rap, their drums were always hard. and even then, low end theory is like the album even tribe haters should like. scenario anyone? gang starr fell off after hard to earn though. moment of truth was pretty crap, the ownerz was better, but guru was basically running on empty after 94, and premier starting to become seriously repetitive, or just not as good (barring the occasional thing like nas' 2nd childhood). gang starr are just like sacred cows in hip hop though so no one can say this.

Outkast - Southerplayalisticadillacmusik (Just as good as ATLiens)

its their best album

UGK - Riding Dirty
ditto
E-40 - In A Major Way
8ball & MJG - Coming Out Hard

not sure these guys are really album artists, same for TI. the 00s is generally rap at its most singles-based.
 
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luka

Well-known member
i prefere midnight marauders. its the only one i keep on the ipod and even then ive deleted individual tracks that offend me when they come up on shuffle. everyon loves scenario tho
 

luka

Well-known member
think moment of truth represents the declin of guru but has some of premiers best work. just my opinion. the title track, jfk to lax and some others
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
never got the tribe haters either. even if you dont like mellower rap, their drums were always hard. and even then, low end theory is like the album even tribe haters should like. scenario anyone?
Quest - particularly with Low End Theory - are in that class of acts whose music is so omnipresent you kind of forget to have an opinion about it...
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
de la soul fell off after the 3rd album btw. stakes is high had a few good ones but mostly really limp beats, and everything after that has been diminishing returns (few good songs like trying people here and there though). never been the same since prince paul got sacked. and love movement is underrated while im at it.
 

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
"Scenario" is overrated as fuck. Yes, posse cuts are always fun when they're completely innocent, but if I hear someone tell me ONE MORE TIME HOW MONUMENTAL BUSTA'S VERSE IS, they're getting it.

That said, LONS is underrated whereas Busta's Solo Career is drastically overrated. People like to say he's one of the best now, and they forget those awkward singles where he's screeching about 5% law and not making any sense over really awful sub-Buckwild production.

I'm also really vexed with him because he's from Long Island, but continues to lie and say he's from Brooklyn. HOW ARE YOU FROM BROOKLYN AND THE BOMB SQUAD PUT OUT YOUR 1ST APPEARANCES ON VINYL!? HUH!?

He even has the nerve to say he went to high-school in Brooklyn with Biggie and Jay. I HAVE TAHEIM'S OLD HIGH-SCHOOL. I CAN GET HIS YEARBOOK PHOTO, IT'S NOTHING. Plus Jay actually went to high-school in Queens, so... backfire.

The rap canon needs rewriting, but it also needs severe fact checking. Especially from bitchy queens like Busta Rhymes.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
scenario could never be overrated. neither the lp version or the remix.

lons were a singles/individual tracks group. neither of their albums is that amazing. funkmaster flex's nothing but flavour with charlee brown is sort of underrated.
 
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