How is it overrated? It was never hyped, or highly rated, or critically acclaimed. NWA was low-life, street, gang-related music, not for the radio, never intended for the radio, and never got play on the radio. NWA was underground, or as Eazy-E put it, "The underground hip-hop thugsterz.."

To be over-rated you have to be hyped in the first place, I'm just not buying that NWA or Eazy E were ever hyped in the first place. Did they make a lot of noise? Fuck the fuck yeah. Did that noise necessarily translate into critical acclaim or mainstream success? Not entirely.

Interestingly enough, MC Ren was actually quite intelligent and political in his music, both his raps in NWA and his later solo releases. I think the cerebral aspects of NWA are subtle. Songs like "100 Miles and Running", "Dopeman", "Fuck the Police", "Approach To Danger", "Appetite for Destruction", "Boyz In Da Hood", were all very political, very critical of society and socio-economics of American life, very much reflective of the gritty, low-life, pessimistic approach of being poor and living in ghetto America in the Reaganomics era. Yes the music was crude, violent, and hopelessly misogynistic, but interestingly enough, that was sort of the point, so that their music was bordering on ghetto fabulous satire. It was a way to be able to find a way to laugh at otherwise totally not funny shit.

wow that's awesome that it's getting a reissue. insane album. I really love No Man's Land too. That one was sooo slept on at the time but it's great.

you have a point there (honestly i've been waiting for your response :)). i suppose they're the Sex Pistols of hip-hop.

i'm going to buy Lorde's album.

Sky Ferreira is very good too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jtTeMgWNhA

i'm digging the hell outta this "post-Lana Del Rey" era in pop music.

Same here. Some of my favorite tracks are on that album (ok, maybe only one or two) but it sounds very basic and dull compared to what came after. The last track is wonderful, even if it's just an interview. I listen to it more than any song on the album.

Late Reg. Is also kinda messy compared to the last three. It's overly long, or feels that way, with its skits and bullshit. Still, whenever I hear "Diamonds.." or any of its remixes, my jaw drops. That was the best single of that year. Period. Jesus Walks may have been his breakthrough, but Diamonds was the wake up call to the world that this motherfucker had real, enduring talent.

One of the best singles ever, if you ask me.

yeah Diamonds is amazing. Jay's verse on the remix is just wow, "yup, i got it from here Ye damn" - he killed Kanye.

GONE is in my top 5 Kanye songs.

http://www.factmag.com/2013/10/07/wa...ngle-wild-out/

so apparently Waka's newest album is going to be even more EDM tinged. Why am I excited for this?

Ross' verse on Hold On (from Pusha's album) is fucking dope! he went in!!

Nah I really like Eazy-E. His lyrics are so ridiculous they can't be taken seriously but he did some great stuff. Nobody Move is such a killa song for me.

Eminem is a good one. HOWEVER when he wants to he could do some awesome raps. His one on 'No Love' from the recovery album was just brilliant.

For me it's gotta be the obvious one-2pac. He did some great stuff sure, but as happens with some musicians who die young, their music gets hyped a lot more (and blown way outta proportion) than if he had lived.

can't argue with that.

Overrated hip hop? I don't think we should go there. Let's keep things nice and pleasant for a while.

I'll tell you who was UNDER-rated: Black Sheep and Black Moon.
Enta Da Stage and Wolf in Sheep's Clothing are two of my favorite hip hop records ever. Hell yeah.

Eminen is the epitome of corny ass dumb fuck music for assholes. Every time I remember a good verse, I realize it's shit when I spin it now. He was a fucking brooding corndog and his delivery... Jesus. How did we ever convince ourselves that it was on the same level as the greats? Was everyone on as much acid as I was back then? That might explain it. But I haven't listened to his big dumb corny ass without laughing since Eminem Show, when I was WAAAY too bored to laugh.

I was never convinced, I hated that shit since day one. It was so damned lame! There are so many great white MCs in the underground hip hop scene, EMINEM was just embarrassing..


Not an excuse, I was taking acid and eating copious amounts of mushrooms around that era ;)

new Tyler video, it's awesome as usual - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxlJLz9M8hQ

honestly Wolf is a good album.

I hated the Marshall Mathers Lp too. From day one. Yes, I had some fun with invincible and slim shady, but it was short lived. Seriously, there has never EVER been a rapper with such a sense of self importance. Such a god complex. He makes Kanye look downright humble, though that might have something to do with Kanye having some talent to back up his Christ poses. So does Lil Wayne (at his worst; at his best he was Michael Jordan. Em may have come close to MJ during his baseball years, but that's not saying much... Or anything .

Bitch.

the biggest secret is Kanye actually kills Em lyrically. "Gorgeous", "Hell of a Life", "Primetime" and "The Joy" prove this.

like kurdt said though, Em can rap so well when he wants: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO2wA0Te0wM

Roc Marciano's "Reloaded" is still underrated. dude is probably the closest thing we have to OB4CL-era Raekwon.

Yup. I can't believe someone agrees with me on this. Kanye's got immense skill as an emcee, and his wordplay is sometimes too subtle to be immediately appreciated. He's more versatile stylistically than most rappers (for example: he's capable of doing things other than rapping.)

He's one of the most cleverly self-mocking, but by no means self-deprecating lyricists we have, and he dips from more than just the average "hood", "drug," and "social politics" lexica.

With Em it's either mildly funny jerky boys meets ICP junior high humor for Nebraska meth heads, or it's overly inflated self-referential horseshit.

Now, Lil Wayne at his prime would slay Eminem and even give Ye a run for his money. Eminem is nothing, but I'm sure he'll sell like crazy, unless the "Down with bullshit name-brand rap" campaigns Kendrick and Earl seem to be launching actually gains footing in the culture.

https://twitter.com/jimmykimmel/stat...99049865814016
TOMORROW NIGHT, MY GUEST WILL BE @kanyewest (for real, yes and was it all a setup, no)

HAHAHAHAHAHA WHAT?

The second half of Electric Lady is definitely the better half of this record. At first, I had this as in the top-5 hip-hop releases of 2013. After a few more listens, while the production is superb, and the styles innovative for soul-rap, I think I have to downgrade it out of the top-5 but keep it in the top-10.

My revised top-10 for 2013

(1) Killah Priest "Psychic World of Walter Reed"
(2) Earl Sweatshirt "Doris"
(3) MC Tree "Sunday School II: When Church Lets Out"
(4) Ghostface Killah "Twelve Reasons To Die"
(5) Hieroglyphics "The Kitchen"
(6) Janelle Monae "The Electric Lady"
(7) MC Eiht "Keep It Hood"
(8) Talib Kweli "Prisoner of Consciousness" (again I don't necessarily dig this record, but it deserves to be on the list)
(9) Kanye West "Yeezus" (same thing, it makes the list even if I don't listen to it)
(10) Kool Keith "Magnetic Pimp Force Field" (this record is interesting, the way Dr Dooom was a satiric exploration of 1990s noir rap, this seems like Keith satirizing the Kanye/Wayne pimp rap records of 2013)
(10 part b) Inspectah Deck "Czarface" (this album is in a tie with Kool Keith, I might decide to move it up and break the tie)


(a) They were previously sort of "friends" before the incident which is actually why Kanye got so upset in the first place, he took it personally in the wrong way.

(b) Kanye is a self-absorbed egomaniac, how could he NOT do the show? How could he turn down the opportunity for such needlessly hyped publicity? Its not quite a Biggie-Pac or Dre and Suge reunion, but it will definitely be hyped to the max.

Will Kanye diss Jimmy on TV? Honestly, I hope he does, I diss Jimmy every time I see him, loudly and obnoxiously, simply because I think he fucking sucks ;)

Kool Keith has a new album??

1. Kanye West - Yeezus
2. Danny Brown - Old
3. Arca - &&&&&
4. Denzel Curry - N64
5. Ghostface Killah - 12 Reasons to Die
6. Run the Jewels
7. ASAP Ferg - Trap Lord
8. Kool AD - 19
9. Pusha T - My Name is My Name
10. Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire - Kismet

Is Schooolboy Q putting shit out this year?

12 Reasons
Yeezus
LongLiveA$AP
Walter Reed
My Name is my Name
Sunday School II
Doris
Old (Only because it's crazy- not sure how good it actually is yet)

That's all I can do at the moment. There was so much hype this year, but there were so few albums whose impact exceeded a month. Nobody get a place on my list just for relevance. Only badass albums that I live make the cut.

Anyone into the new Internet album? I haven't heard it yet, but I want to check it out.

here's the full interview: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k450sIHzNGegdY4Kk9w

LIVE Breaking News:
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/lo...227178541.html

Local LAPD completely overreacts to misunderstanding at a sold-out and way over-crowded Tyler and The Creator show at the Airliner club. It just broke on the TV, and I was laughing hysterically. LAPD have a bad habit of sending their riot police whenever there is even remotely a crowd building anywhere. I'm willing to wager it will make the national news tomorrow that "a riot broke out at a rap concert in Los Angeles last night"

It wasn't a riot. It wasn't much of anything but too many people trying to get into a show at a dive bar that perhaps should have been scheduled at a bigger venue?

Game hanging out with a Kardashian and threatening Paparazzi - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zklh_-Ll4Og

"you thought Kanye was a problem?". lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXmgw1iTR0M

^ Preemo confirms producing a full album Nas album. wow.

Game was fighting charges for clocking a photographer, he don't play around. Really, what does the papparazi even want with Game? He ain't famous. He ain't even a B-celebrity.



Now that makes a lot of sense, and explains why he totally sucks.

OLD is getting better with every listen.

crazy album, yes. i love the first half, i'm not sure how i feel about the second half with the "turnt up" tracks that he did for his live shows though.

so it's official, Game has signed to YMCMB. thoughts?

That he has thrown in the towel at trying to be some kind of quasi-underground yet pseudo-mainstream success and is going all in on a sort of "sell-out" mode, and further, that YMCMB is also getting desperate thinking that Game and revive their label with such a mediocre roster. Its not 2007 anymore, rap has moved on. Game should just clique up with MC Eiht and WC and make a sick a$$ underground westcoast phenomenon

revisiting R.E.D. can't listen to it the whole way through, but the standout tracks are great.

I still like Game. I don't give a fuck. Jesus Piece wasn't bad. It just wasn't what I expected. He hasn't gone lil Wayne or anything.

Bumpin JP right now actually.

^ i recommend you to go check out Jay Rock's "Follow Me Home". dope west coast album.

Any of you guys into Black Milk at all? His new album, No Poison, No Paradise, has leaked... Actually I think it might be officially out at this point. Anyway, it's totally enjoyable. Totally out of left field, but I can already tell it's going to be a fast favorite. It's refreshingly mellow in comparison to all the experimental "serious music" rap of the last few years. (Nothing against the Kendricks and Kanyes ... Even the A$AP's to some extent- they've rejuvenated hip oh for me.





By the way, since we're all on Danny Brown's dick, THIS is a badass fucking record. Oh my GOD it's good:

yeah i like Black Milk. gonna give it a listen soon, i've already heard that "Sunday's Best/Monday's Worst" single and it's so good.

Well, as you know, I normally don't give a fuck about any music that affiliates itself with one of two coastal regions (I mean, seriously... Dumbest turf war ever, that. When I think back on it, I just imagine Dre, Snoop, and Pac cupping their mouths to holler insults at Nas, Biggie, Jay-Z, and Wu-Tang (who were too busy fighting amongst themselves to give much of a shit) from three and a half thousand miles away. It's an objectively hilarious image)

HOWEVER, I like the LA hip hop scene now. I like the epic scope of Kendrick Lamar's coming-of-age Compton thug in good kid, and I like the throwback styles of emcees like K.L. and Schoolboy Q. And lord knows I love me some motherfuckin NWA. Shit on everything they did later in life (save the Chronic), NWA was the beginning and the end of truly magnificent West Coast gangsta rap. Maybe even better than Public Enemy... :o

So ok. I'll give this a shot. Will you listen to the new Black Milk? I didn't mean to make it sound simple... It's not. Extremely intelligent and thoughtful actually, but it's not trap and it's not drill, and it's not pussy ass derivative J. Cole shit... It's a good old fashioned under ground hip hop album, and it reminds me of why I listened to the indie shit exclusively for so long.

yeah of course i will.

Black Hippy (Kendrick, Schoolboy, Ab-Soul & Jay Rock) in general are just awesome. i'm not even ashamed to call myself a stan. :)