Eek. I gotta agree with the general sentiment here, even though I don't feel this strongly about it (still love Doris).

But I Don't Like Shit just sounded monochromatic and grey from the start. I too prefer hip hop with more than just "rapping," because yeah, rapping gets old, especially when it's in monotone over really depressing, slow-motion beats.

For what it's worth, I still think Earl has talent. Tons of it. And I think he has yet to really hit his stride. But hell, he jas a revered mixtape, and two critically lauded LPs to his credit already. He may end up being a long game artist. And I wish him the best.

Tyler, I'm done with, I think.

Hey, Genesis by Domo G is on Spotify!


I'm listening to it right now. It's good! It's varied, and interesting, and has a ton of nice, positive vibes, as well as darker, angstier shit. I'm only halfway through, but so far I'm digging the hell out of it.

You know me so well.

Haha chill. Just cuz i love ya and im a Christian don't mean i won't pop you in the lip

No offense but I don't think y'all got "I Don't Like Shit".. it's a grower and at first I wasn't really feeling it like that too, so that's understandable. But when it finally clicked, it found its place in my top 5 albums of the year. It definitely deserved the acclaim it received (and Earl is nothing like Eminem.. sorry green, that was bullshit), he also stopped trying to emulate DOOM's monotonous flow after Doris. Give it more than one half assed listen then come back.

Most of the beats sound bleak, and Earl himself sounds sad sometimes, but that vibe gets cut by beautiful, soothing instrumental outros that bring a lot of hope.. that's the thing that makes IDLSIDGO brilliant for me. And if you really pay attention to the lyrics then you'll find out that the content isn't even that depressing for the most part.. Sev is right that the general vibe is very "grey" though, yes. But why is that a bad thing? Since when is it "wrong" to be sad, anyway?

Nothing but hard ass bars over hard ass beats.. that's pure hip hop. How can I hate.

"Screaming fuck 5-0 til' my line go flat"

"You circus niggas, you turning into tricks
I was making waves, you was surfin in 'em"

"Trend dodging, keep a bitch by me, back roll"

"Bitch, if yo' nigga had Supreme, we was the reason he copped it
And nowadays I'm on the hunt for mirrors to box with
And some pretty bitches that ain't trip if it's a hit and run"

"I got the gold cause I don't do the crying, bro
She Mario, I'm tryna keep the whining to a minimum"

"Rap shit got the best of me, I threw the rest off the balcony
Shout out Da$H and RetcHy
I know yo' bitch check for me, so much for chivalry
So long to every bitch tryna get intimate
I'm in my 20's now"

"Tell momma get a gun if I get too popular
I'm just being honest with it
Tell her stop whining, it ain't no mo problems
I'm the best out of all these niggas
Watch your tone when you speaking"

"Bitch nigga, we the train
If you see 'em wave, ain't no bitch in my DNA"

Etc etc. I could go on forever about the joy this album brings to me simply because Earl is such a dope rapper.

It's not a bad thing or a wrong thing, it's just not really where I'm at right now with hip-hop. I don't need things to be positive, but I like them to be colorful and multi-faceted. More than just hard bars over hard beats.

But I will look back into the album.. I've made the mistake of misreading albums before. It took me seeing Kendrick live for me to really get behind him and hear the unique excellence of his music. So I'll give it a revisit. I promise.

Did nobody see my post about Genesis or ... what?

I've been spoiled by Kanye West big time. Every album has a range of hues, and every time they generally coalesce into one overall "vibe" or color. Folks were comparing 808's, MBDTF, Yeezus to Picasso's blue, rose & cubist/crustal periods, respectively, when Pablo's title was leaked. His music is nothing if not colorful. As a result, I have come to expect hip hop to work as more than just beats and rhymes. In fact, beats and rhymes have become secondary to me, and as I venture deeper into electronic music, I find that I'm more interested in emotional experiences, and musical/sonic diversity.

So maybe I treated Earl's album unfairly. For the record, though, Louder, I did listen to it. Not just once, though not many times after the initial release. I will say that the Jazz-y, frenetic musical outros that have been part of his music for some time do kick ass, and that was one thing I appreciated about "Grief" from IDLS... and that song also had a mellow synth line in the background that was easy to miss when watching the video, which made me feel kind of gross.
But when I listened on record, that synth gave a cohesive beauty to the song.

Because I love you louder (more apparently than you love me, since I still don't know how you feel about Bas, and you refuse to write about TLOP with me ;) ) I'm actually jamming IDLS...IDGO right now. Writing about "Grief" made me want to hear that shit again, so it's on the CD player right now.

I forgot about AM // Radio, which is a dope song, with more instrumental variation than I gave the record credit for. That bass refrain is very '80s, very old school, reminiscent of "Juicy" and Dilla at the same time.

So I'm giving this shit a solid chance, straight through right now as I'm typing. And it's working for me well enough. I can feel the absence of Tyler's obnoxious influence, which I approve of, even though I think Cherry Bomb was an intersting and adventurous album that occasionally even approached greatness.

But seriously, it's fucking really disappointing to me that all of us were so hyped up about OF back in the day. I'm embarrassed that I ever proclaimed them the new Wu Tang, because yikes. I see them as an exercise in adolescent silliness now, and everyone involved has moved on to better things, even Tyler. But that's just how I feel today. When nostalgia hits I'll be shouting "kill people/burn shit/fuck school" in my Subaru while driving to work. Lol!

You're a real one, Sev. Thanks for giving IDLS another chance. I guess I've been avoiding the Bas album (unconsciously) because I haven't really been in the mood for hip hop lately.. I apologize. I'll get on it soon though, promise.

Yes! AM // Radio is great. That beat + those verses (Earl did better but Wiki definitely held his own). Inside has an amazing beat too. The last song with Vince is vicious and one hell of a way to finish the album. They both went in!

I've finally heard Genesis and it's legit. Doms is actually the 2nd best rapper to come out of Odd Future, he can spit and has more swagger than Tyler. Do y'all remember this line:

"Sad day in Hell for those who doubted, hope your head explode/ Cry about it, but don't deny that Doms got the realest flows"

(Off 20 Wave Caps which was a standout on Doris)

..Now that's what I call that a renegade! Dude outshined Earl on his own shit. Off the top of my head, he also did well on Oldie, as well as Robes (off Piñata). He's underrated for sure.

"Dapper" with Anderson .Paak is my song! I've been listening to that nonstop. And now I'm warming up to the rest of the album. I hope he's finally gonna get the recognition he deserves.

So I found this list yesterday. Just wanted to bring it up.

Anyone want to try to guess what my top 5 "wtf/how dare you?" gripes are regarding this fucking thing?

Put Biggie over Tupac? Go home TimeOut you're drunk

My top ten

1. Tupac (biggest scale and popularity of ANY other rapper,had the greatest diversity of styles and sounds, brought a political vibe to mainstream, influenced the fashion of an entire decade)
2. Tribe Called Quest (really if Pac hadn't been the Nirvana of rap Tribe deserves #1 in their influence on the sound, evolution, and sophistication of hip hop)
3. Run DMC (these guys are the original Tribe and put rap on the map)
4. NWA (these guys made it acceptable to talk about THE MUTHAPHUKKIN REAL on the radio, they are the punx of rap and Eazy E had lunch at the WhiteHouse with Bush I wearing what else but jeans and a LA Kings ball cap #KeepItHood)
5. Outkast (like Tribe Kast were the logical torch bearers after Tribe passed it in 98 and Kast picked it up and blazed new trails)
6. Black Star (ushered in a conscience revival to hip hop at the point where it was losing its original soul as "the people's music" returning to the focus on social consciousness that was part of the foundation of hip hop)
7. Dead Prez (these ninjaz are the RATM of rap, i still can't believe their music was on the radio!)
8. Kanye ( i don't dig Ye music but his influence over the past decade of rap is indisputable)
9. Master P (we forget just how big No Limit was in late 90s but frankly a lot of the radio rap today has that Dirty South feel)
10. Snoop Dogg (no explanation needed, Snoop is a pop culture icon, he is the Elvis of Rap)

This is a list I could live with ... Except, master P? ... Also, it's not the top two that i have an issue with. I'd place Biggie above Pac myself, but I see your point and calling pac the Nirvana of hip hop is something I've never thought about, but it kinda works.

Putting DMX on the list at all, much less ahead of De La Soul? Lil Wayne at #8? Rakim without Eric b? NO KANYE?! It's just an absurd list.

In what universe is does biggie even belong on top 10 or 20 list let alone near the top???

What did he bring to the table that was so influential or innovative. His fat ass didn't do shit. I

My rationale for Master P is not because i like him, cuz more or less i don't, but because his influence on contemporary rap is uundeniable. No Limit was HUGE and again i hear a lot of Dirty South influence in the rap on the radio today.

If you don't think Big was influential, you've never heard NYC hip hop.

This is the universe where Big belongs at the top of the list. Pac had a meatier discography, but Big was epitome of street rap. One of the most skilled emcees ever to pick up a mic.

Ha that is nonsense. But you think the same about Kanye so i can't hold it against you.

Ok, so you don't like Biggie. You don't like Kanye either, but you still admit that his influence on hip-hop has been undeniable. Even if you don't like Notorious BIG, I think it's pretty silly to act as though he isn't one of the most influential rappers of all time.

To not like him, that's fine. I don't like Dr. Dre, but is he influential? Hell yeah.

You have to give Big props. He's name dropped by every generation of rappers, alongside Pac.

Anyway, I think ATCQ should be an #1, not because they're my favorites (they're up there, but I prefer Ye and a few others) the rest of the top five should probably be 2pac, Big, OutKast and Wu. The top ten should be flushed out by Ye, HOV, De La, Nas and so on.

My personal top 10 would begin with Kanye of course, but we're talking about all time here, and I think Tribe takes the cake. I'm forgetting some folks, but whatever.

Fuck Biggie, fuck Pussy Daddy, fuck all that shit ass CRAP. I fucking hated it then and I hated it now. fucking lame ass rhymes about a fat ass how he used to sell crack and now he lives all large and shit eating 10,000 calories a day to maintain his fat fucking fat assss......

now that that is off my chest....

Went with the wife to see Rae Sremmurd at UH's Frontier Fiesta Saturday.

Had a lot of fun, the sound system was bass heavy and sounded clear, and Rae Sremmurd were equally as LIT as the audience was, who mostly had been partying since 10 hours earlier, but goddamn it if the PA did not cut out 5 fucking times!!!! fucking amateur student program board. I was a member of it when I was in school and setting up those giant PA systems is tricky, but to have it cut out completely 5 times in the middle of songs while the act is so hype that when it cuts off it gets deflated???? sucked.

Otherwise great show and the Rae Sremmurd fellas really come out to entertain. not just a seemingly endless sequence of dudes spitting one verse and then crowding around onstage....

Yeah they're good. I'm really eager to see what their next lp has in store for us, because their debut was quite a stunner.

Re: PA systems - see, this is why when I fancied myself a musician, my bands never, NEVER, relied on in house sound techs to do set up. We (myself and the two guys with whom I played the most) took a year of audio recording classes just so we could handle that shit ourselves.
It made us better musicians, and saved us money as well.

Re - Notorious BIG: ok, fine, you don't like either. But why the hell does his weight have to come up? Both you and SFAD call him a fat ass, as though it's somehow not extremely clear to everyone that he was a big man. He named himself the Notorious BIG for fuck's sake! He was also had a lazy eye. Should we be talking about that? Does that have something to do with his skills as an emcee? What about his general, overall ugliness, which he was also quite aware of... What about that shit?

Was 2pac good because he looked like a caramel angel? Fuck no. Cover him on warts and pimples and give him a spare tire and he'd still be an incredible rapper.

It's fine if you don't like BIG, but it's pretty juvenile to act as though his weight has anything to do with anything. Wiz K and Young Thuh are super skinny. Does that ever factor in to our discussions about them? You're both way too smart to say such stupid things, Rob and SFAD.

If you want to argue that Notorious BIG was not an influential rapper, why don't you talk about why that's the case, in the context of his music and the music that followed? There are a lot of fat musicians, thin musicians, ugly and pretty musicians, but since we're, y'know, not high school kids, I tend to think we're capable of discussing music in a way that doesn't devolve into childish insults.

Also, y'all are two of the only "rap fans" I've ever encountered who don't think BIG's influence is a thing so obvious it doesn't even need to be discussed. Even before he died, he was goddamn huge. I'd actually have to say from memory that he had a more immediate impact on rap than 2pac did. You can hear him in every important rapper of the last decade and the decade before that. Kendrick (despite being more of a 2pac man himself), Joey Bada$$, YG, Action Bronson, Schoolboy Q...

Fuck it. You guys feel however you want. Pop culture history disagrees with you, and I'm personally disappointed by your weak and petty arguments. Big pun was fat. Ghostface is fat. Eazy E was fat. Dre used to be fat, after he was a "she-thang," and before he became a super weird looking freshly skinny dude. If you're gonna make the conversation about weight, you don't deserve to take part. You're better than that.

I put Kanye on the list so you know its not personal or just my tastes. I honestly and genuinely do NOT see Biggie as being influential. Yes, sure, at a "local" level but to make an ALL TIME list got to be all time influential. I don't HEAR Biggie in other rap like i hear the other top 10 i posted..

Kanye West's "Famous" from the Life of Pablo is now available on Spotify.

Yet another what the fuck move... but it's a good sign, I guess. Jammin track too.

Ok, well. Fair enough. You are part of a minority so small that it's literally statistically insignificant, so it doesn't matter.

Meh.. i don't mind being in the minority somebody got to hold it down for the Truth yo #BiggieIsOverrated

I think Pac was a better rapper than Biggie. Though I think Ready To Die is a better album than any one Pac album. I listen to Pac way more tho.

I think Nas was better than Biggie. Or maybe I should say Illmatic was better than Ready To Die. There's a strong urge to compare those two albums, released the same year, debuts, baby pics on the cover. It's like they were 2 sides of the same coin. Illmatic was deep and Ready was def aimed at the radio.

I'm just rambling here. Top 10 lists are generally useless, but they can be fun to kick off conversation.

HIS NAME IS BIGGIE SMALLS

That kind of sets himself up for it no?

I mean Big Pun, Fat Joe, Heavy D, the list goes on and on and on.....

never mind. That period in mainstream hip hop just killed me. I fucking hate when a song is nearly exactly sampled note for note for a full track, and Puff Daddy fucking made that shit be the standard for a decade. Fuck that motherfucker....

I never said BIG was not influential and a big touchstone in hip hop, just that I hate and hated every single thing that was released by him.

The Eagles are a huge touchstone in rock music and I fucking despise them assholes tooooo

That was puff not biggie. Be fair now.
Biggie's records had puff all over them, but you're talking about Puff Daddy and the Family. All those singles that just stole from Duran Duran, the Police, David Bowie, Grabdmaster Flash, etc. yeah, those were shit.

But hey, "mo money mo problems" holds up. That was a Biggie track. It only used the sample for the hook and it was damn infectious. Rolling Stone recently voted it the #2 song of the '90s (which even I can't wrap my head around), second only to "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

Anyway, I know Puff is terrible in every way, but I still love the production on "Juicy." That song was... (sigh) my jam... back in the day. I have so many blurry memories of my friends throwing that shit on just for me, while I was riding around with them, getting into trouble. No matter how fucked up I was, that song perked me right up, and I'd rap along to it like a goddamn fool.

We're all entitled to our own opinions. To not like him is legit, to say he's not influential is just silly.

Oh man, for me it's definitely Ready to Die > Illmatic > whatever pac album. Probably seven day theory. But Big owned '94.

Sev stop being a pussy over here slurping the Biggie nuts and dissing us like our opinions aren't shit or worth shit because they disagree with yours but yet you ain't posted a Top Ten list yet. Easy to criticize, harder to do something about it.

And if you legitimately think that Ready to Die is better than 7 day theory i suppose you're list doesn't matter anyway ;)

Huh? You're way too sensitive man.

As I said repeatedly, it's fine if you don't like Biggie, but saying he's not influential is a different story. I also said we all have our own opinions, blah blah. What are you getting your back up about?

I don't know what my top ten would be personally, but I laid out what I feel the objective top-ten most influential artists are pretty well. Remember, 1. ATCQ, with pac, biggie, Wu and OutKast filling out the rest of the top 5? Followed by Kanye, Nas, HOV, De La... also PE and NWA for sure.

There. Not sure what order I'd put it in exactly, but I feel like that covers it pretty well. So stop complaining. We're just shooting the shit here.

Thanks for putting a winky face in there. It helps a lot with you, actually.

Yes, I prefer Ready to Die to many records. It's just a tier below MBDTF and Wu-Tang Forever and Midnight Marauders for me. Seven Day Theory is fucking awesome, my favorite Pac record, but I'm just more of a BIG dude than a Pac dude. I've gone on about 7 Day Theory before... You know I love it. But it's not quite in the Severian pantheon.

This is called stalling.. where is yo list partna?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uGMbC82NOdo

Ah! Ok, all time most influential hip hop artists according to me right now:

1. Tribe
2. 2pac
3. Kanye
4. Notorious BIG
5. OutKast
6. Wu-Tang Clan
7. NWA
8. Jay-Z
9. De La Soul
10. Public Enemy

You made me make a snap decision. This is based on influence alone.