184 replies to this topic

[MtlJeff]

now back to rap!

Listening to Winter Warz now. Another great Wu track

Compton1977, great call on NY state of mind from NAS. Just put that in the ol' MP3 player. Haven't listened to it in a while. Haven't listened to illmatic in a while actually. I owned it was written but not illmatic as a kid

[wolffer25]

Ghostface Killah is ILL. "The Champ" off of "Fishscale" is one of my favorites. I will never get tired of hearing "Straight Outta Compton", in my opinion that song and album changed hip hop forever. If you've never heard "Pain" by 2Pac, it's one of the best rap songs EVER. It was on my "Above The Rim" cassette. I wore it out listening to that track, hahaha. Brookln Zoo has got to be one of my favorite ODB tracks. This might be one the coolest topics I've seen on GolfWrx, glad to know I'm not alone!!

[PedronNiall]

This is how we chill, from '93 until...

[MtlJeff]

wolffer25, on 28 October 2012 - 08:29 PM, said:

Ghostface Killah is ILL. "The Champ" off of "Fishscale" is one of my favorites. I will never get tired of hearing "Straight Outta Compton", in my opinion that song and album changed hip hop forever. If you've never heard "Pain" by 2Pac, it's one of the best rap songs EVER. It was on my "Above The Rim" cassette. I wore it out listening to that track, hahaha. Brookln Zoo has got to be one of my favorite ODB tracks. This might be one the coolest topics I've seen on GolfWrx, glad to know I'm not alone!!

i had above the rim on VHS and watched it probably 300 times! Who knew Leon could play ball like that. Pain was good, you know, for west coast rap and all ...haha

[Arizonalefty59]

I'm not a big fan of the old school stuff but I love 2 Chainz, Weezy, The newer Nas, and Ricky Ross.

[Boogaloo_Jones]

As much as I dont really like the "newer" stuff, aka Weezy, Tyga (pretty much any of the YMCMB crew), I do admit that there is a time to listen to that type of hip hop...mainly when you're at a club/lounge and you see some attractive ladies dancing to French Montana "Pop that", or some Juicy J "Bands a maker her dance".  Other than that, I cant stand it, same metaphors and the style of rap now is basically all one-liners.  There's a couple of artists out there that I will listen to all day like Kendrick Lamar, Slaughter House (all of them are BEASTS), T.I., Lupe, Jay-Z, etc but the hip hop right now really is some crap.  

Wiz Khalifa is probably one of the worst rappers out now lyrically, but he does make some catchy songs.  Worst rapper of all time single handedly goes to Silkk the Shocker.  Youtube any of his songs and prepare to stab your ear drums to death.

The golden era of hip hop and to me, urban music was early to late 90's.  When Biggie, Pac, LL, Jeru The Damaja, Wu-Tang, DMX, Junior Mafia, A Tribe Called Quest, Naughty By Nature, Rakim (80's and 90's stuff), Cypress HIll,  and a whole bunch more, ruled the music scene.  ***Edit...had to add Mobb Deep to the list.

P.S. I hope Nicki Minaj goes away and never comes back.  Send her off to Saturn or Jupiter.

Edited by ionakana511, 28 October 2012 - 11:49 PM.

[Boogaloo_Jones]

MtlJeff, on 28 October 2012 - 07:38 PM, said:

now back to rap!

Listening to Winter Warz now. Another great Wu track

Compton1977, great call on NY state of mind from NAS. Just put that in the ol' MP3 player. Haven't listened to it in a while. Haven't listened to illmatic in a while actually. I owned it was written but not illmatic as a kid

Winter Warz was BEAST...I loved that scene in "Dont be a menace to South central while drinking your juice in the hood", where Granny comes in a low-rider and drives with Winter Warz blasting lol.

[compton1977]

PedronNiall, on 28 October 2012 - 09:30 PM, said:

This is how we chill, from '93 until...

'til Infinity - Wow, that was one seriously slept on track, i have that in my classics folder and sounds as good today as it did in, er, '93.

[compton1977]

MtlJeff, on 28 October 2012 - 07:38 PM, said:

Compton1977, great call on NY state of mind from NAS. Just put that in the ol' MP3 player. Haven't listened to it in a while. Haven't listened to illmatic in a while actually. I owned it was written but not illmatic as a kid

I bought Illmatic when i was holiday in Florida when it first came out, i admit i was more of a Snoop/Dre kid but was an avid reader of the Source as well so felt it was only right to add Illmatic to the collection after the 5 mic rating. It was only after 6 months of sitting on the shelf did i listen to the album straight through, ie, not just It Ain't Hard to Tell and The World is Yours. Listen to all 38 minutes of that album and try and pinpoint a track which is anything less than a solid 9.5. Listen to the background on NY State just after he has said his opening spoken lines and you can hear him take a deep breath as if he knew this was the start of something great and then those opening 16 bars, man,  Nas just killed it. Also, i can't remember any debut album which ends with the lead single other than Illmatic, was that stupidity or bravery or sheer arrogance?

It Was Written? Again, amazing album, he started off with an incredible track there too, who was sampling Sting wholesale in those days and making it sound like that! My only issue with that album was that was when he decided to try and go more mainstream with the Street Dreams album, i suppose you can't blame him for trying to make a living. One of the best verses on that album was the Foxy Brown one on The Firm, one day i'll need to get my calculator out and see if she makes any sense.

[bjackson]

I'm big into rap. A$AP Rocky. Ryan Leslie. Wiz. Meek Mill. Kid Ink. Yeezy. 2 Chainz. Tyga. Big Sean. I could go on...

I hate it when people talk about how music has changed as if all of today's is garbage and the only good stuff was from the 90's. Well I was born in the 90's. I didn't listen to music then. It's the evolution and changes, be them good or bad, that has taken the scene to what it is today. There is plenty of garbage out there, don't get me wrong, but I love downloading a new mixtape or single and playing it on repeat for a week, knowing that something else will drop in the mean time that is going to catch my ear. It's a very fast paced game, which is something I really enjoy. I'm constantly on the search for the latest and greatest. Nothing quite like the feeling of finding a hot track, telling my friends, and seeing it on the top of the charts/iTunes/radio a few weeks later. Not unlike how I feel about golf equipment.

[compton1977]

BJackson - this is what makes music of any form so great, different things peak different interests, i honestly can't think of a rapper who has come out in the last 5 years who is anything close to even the journeymen of the rap game in the 90's, but  i suppose that period were my formative years when i finished school, started working etc so those beats & lyrics are positive reminders of growing up. Each to there own and no one opinion is correct.

Ok, apart from Meek Mill...what the heck is that all about?! he makes Rick Ross sounds like Rakim.

[MtlJeff]

bjackson, on 29 October 2012 - 01:19 AM, said:

I'm big into rap. A$AP Rocky. Ryan Leslie. Wiz. Meek Mill. Kid Ink. Yeezy. 2 Chainz. Tyga. Big Sean. I could go on...

I hate it when people talk about how music has changed as if all of today's is garbage and the only good stuff was from the 90's. Well I was born in the 90's. I didn't listen to music then. It's the evolution and changes, be them good or bad, that has taken the scene to what it is today. There is plenty of garbage out there, don't get me wrong, but I love downloading a new mixtape or single and playing it on repeat for a week, knowing that something else will drop in the mean time that is going to catch my ear. It's a very fast paced game, which is something I really enjoy. I'm constantly on the search for the latest and greatest. Nothing quite like the feeling of finding a hot track, telling my friends, and seeing it on the top of the charts/iTunes/radio a few weeks later. Not unlike how I feel about golf equipment.

Everything changes. You're right it's tough to define "better" or "worse" because those are relative and always in the eye of the beholder. I guess what some of us feel is similar to a 50yr old who grew up playing a balata ball, blades and a tiny driver. They might look at golf today and think "it's just not the same, not as much skill, not as much real craft in the shotmaking etc". I always argue in those threads that things change and we have to deal with it, but it doesn't mean that you can't enjoy the way things used to be more, as long as you are cognizant that they do indeed change

Rap in 1990-2000 age was still pretty niche. Still looked down on as being for thugs or criminals. My dad didn't like me listening to rap when i was 15. It was a bad influence. Radio stations weren't playing "bring da ruckus" or even the more mainstream "triumph" when wu-tang released them. Maybe specialty stations but not pop stations. Same for Nas, Biggie some mainstream play but that's because he had some R&B ish stuff like "Sky is the limit" or what have you.

So in those days it wasn't about getting rich. It wasn't about whether 16 year old girls would buy your album. There is a girl who works for me who knows the lyrics to Jay Z songs and she doesn't even like rap. That NEVER would have happened in 1995. Rap has become more mainstream. One thing i hated about Eminem was the fact that he really was a true rapper, but he intentionally released 2-3 tracks on every album purely designed to sell records (my name is, without me, just lose it etc...). Those tracks were designed to sell records to teenage white kids. They play Jay Z and Kanye on pop stations now and don't think the rappers don't know this. They write records with that in mind.

In 1990-2000 they hit the mic hard, they said whatever the hell they wanted, and they cared more about how the true fans liked their albums as oppose to album sales or billboards charts, or if they could date beyonce

No one would release an album like "enter the 36 chambers" now. It wouldn't be a commercial success because 16 year old girls wouldn't buy it. Rap became mainstream and now the dollars are too much to pass up. Now rappers (quoting ether alert) sell their soul for riches

[mnplayer]

Good kid, maad city and The Heist are both really good albums.

[eddie_max]

Back in 2000 I was lucky enough to be at the first 2 shows of Wu-Tang's Underground Tour.  All members, minus ODB, did each show.  The first night was at Crowbar in Penn State (where I was a student) and the very next night they were at Club Laga in Pittburgh (where I live).  What made these two venues special was the intimate size of each show.  At the time, these dudes are known worldwide and they're here playing a MAX 650 person venue!

I've been to countless shows of all music genres, including other amazing hip-hop shows such as GangStarr, Common, The Roots, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and the Wu show at Club Laga (Redman was there too) is still to this day the best show I've ever been to.

Edited by eddie_max, 29 October 2012 - 05:53 PM.

[wolffer25]

I saw Wu-Tang Clan live with Rage Against the Machine in the late 90's. One of the best live shows I've ever seen. Wu-Tang was and is, one of a kind. You won't see two more unique artists on stage than those two. They played a NWA cover of "F*** the Police", I thought those kids were gonna burn the place to the ground!! It was insane!! New rap struggles BECAUSE of Wu, Nas, Biggie, Pac, and the others before them. Wu was so clever and unique, it is impossible to replicate them. As far as BIG and Pac? You can't can't fake their brand of anger and they/we paid for it, shame. NWA was raw, same kind of anger, they took what Run DMC was doing and expanded on it. They were hungry, you won't see that again from a mainstream artist. I might get slammed for saying this but, 3rd Bass was extremely underrated. The "Cactus Album" was epic in my youth. It will go down as one of my top 10, Pete Nice and MC Serch were so smooth, "Gas Face" was brilliant.

[OpusX20]

Love me some old school rap...

Beastie Boys
Run DMC
NWA
Public Enemy

[PedronNiall]

compton1977, on 29 October 2012 - 12:20 AM, said:

MtlJeff, on 28 October 2012 - 07:38 PM, said:

Compton1977, great call on NY state of mind from NAS. Just put that in the ol' MP3 player. Haven't listened to it in a while. Haven't listened to illmatic in a while actually. I owned it was written but not illmatic as a kid

I bought Illmatic when i was holiday in Florida when it first came out, i admit i was more of a Snoop/Dre kid but was an avid reader of the Source as well so felt it was only right to add Illmatic to the collection after the 5 mic rating. It was only after 6 months of sitting on the shelf did i listen to the album straight through, ie, not just It Ain't Hard to Tell and The World is Yours. Listen to all 38 minutes of that album and try and pinpoint a track which is anything less than a solid 9.5. Listen to the background on NY State just after he has said his opening spoken lines and you can hear him take a deep breath as if he knew this was the start of something great and then those opening 16 bars, man,  Nas just killed it. Also, i can't remember any debut album which ends with the lead single other than Illmatic, was that stupidity or bravery or sheer arrogance?

It Was Written? Again, amazing album, he started off with an incredible track there too, who was sampling Sting wholesale in those days and making it sound like that! My only issue with that album was that was when he decided to try and go more mainstream with the Street Dreams album, i suppose you can't blame him for trying to make a living. One of the best verses on that album was the Foxy Brown one on The Firm, one day i'll need to get my calculator out and see if she makes any sense.

"The Firm" is still a ridiculous track. Right up there with "Phone Tap."

[MtlJeff]

Phone tap. Great beat!

Best rap beat is a seperate (and fun) discussion. It must include:

-Mighty Healthy
-Phone Tap
-Shook Ones part 2
-4th chamber
-It was a good day (ice cube)
-Sunshower (Rza)
-Samurai Showdown (rza)
-NY State of mind
-Still D.R.E

OK, add to that....

[wolffer25]

Mind Playing Tricks on Me- Geto Boys
100 Miles 'n Runnin- NWA
Eazy-Er Said Than Dunn- Eazy E

There are to many great beats to list, I'll add those in addition to MtlJeffs list.

[wolffer25]

Str8 Ballin'- Thug Life (2Pac)

[PedronNiall]

Great beats? 2Pac - Ambitions Az A Ridah; K-Os - Superstar, Pt. Zero; Jay-Z - Dead Presidents II, Outkast - Aquemini, Elevators, Rosa Parks

Since this is a general thread and not just older music I'll add:
Lloyd Banks - Beamer, Benz, or Bently; French Montana - Shot Caller (yes, I know it's an old sample); Talib Kweli - Guerrilla Monsoon Rap

[hammy1983]

I like the old NWA, westside connection, Capone and Nore, Old nas, beasties, but I also like some new stuff from Nas, and I've always liked eminem.  Royce da 5'9 isnt bad either.

The Canadian... Classified is sick.  Is new track "anything goes" is on youtube and features saukrates and Skratch bastid.

[lilmike24]

How about Hopsin.

Not too much is better or speaks more truth than Ill Mind of Hopsin 5.

[One_Putt_Blunder]

I threw the Wu Chronicles in the cd player for the ride to work because of this thread.

[PedronNiall]

lilmike24, on 30 October 2012 - 10:13 PM, said:

How about Hopsin.

Not too much is better or speaks more truth than Ill Mind of Hopsin 5.

Call 'em out
 

[llamont]

In no particular order: Mos Def (Black on Both Sides); Talib Kweli and DJ HiTec (Reflection Eternal); Mos Def and Talib Kweli (Black Star); Nas (Illmatic and Stillmatic); Kanye West (College Dropout, Late Registration, and even 808s and Heartbreak); Notorious BIG (Ready to Die and Life After Death); Tupac (I appreciated his passion more than anything); Lil Kim (before the plastic surgery and Nicki Minaj beef); Jay-Z (Reasonable Doubt is still bananas 16+ years later, the Blueprint, etc.); anything with Ghostface and the Reakwon the Chef (nobody comes close to matching Ghost's lyrical prose); Eminem (because he's that good); Kendrick Lamar (because it's nice to hear a young guy who can actually put a logical verse together without studio enhancement) and there are plenty of old school artists that I won't list.

All that said, I know I'm getting older because I really can't stand any of the newer stuff out (although Kanye's Good Music roster and Joe Budden's slaughterhouse camp are both stacked with real emcees).

Edited by llamont, 31 October 2012 - 12:15 AM.

[fore_life]

Even though I mostly listen to punk and death metal, my early roots are in hip hop.

Love me some Gangstarr, og mobb deep, teh first common album, Black Moon, SMif-N-Wessun's Dah Shinin is one of the best hip hop albums ever

I'm gonna start posting vids of old tracks I loved back in the day,

Allow me to drop some science like a clumsy chemist.












the best era, Im gonna have to dig out my Tim's, son!

[fore_life]

[fore_life]

[llamont]

My golf playlist consists of: frank ocean; daft punk; j dilla; nas ft. amy winehouse; etc.