MTV's 10 Candidates For The Next 'Greatest MCs Of All Time

[SoMiss2000]

Re: MTV's 10 Candidates For The Next 'Greatest MCs Of All Time

What does being white have to do with anything?

well, because when a guy becomes "mainstream", that usually means that he has reached the white suburban demographic. Once a guy has crossed over, the sky is the limit.

[SoMiss2000]

Re: MTV's 10 Candidates For The Next 'Greatest MCs Of All Time

People are making it seem like being a fan of mainstream music is the ultimate sin and will lead you to eternal damnation. I'm not a slave to mainstream music. I like a few underground artists, but I don't think mainstream is as bad as people say it is. 1-3 people who harp on the same crap in their music doesn't really mean that mainstream is in a bad stare right now.

I think when when a lot of guys go mainstream, their music changes. It's not as good as it used to be. I know a lot of cats that used to like 50 when he was an underground artist but now can't stand him. I know I liked Nelly on Country Grammar but can't hardly stand him anymore. It seems once they go mainstream, the focus is only to make music to be played in the club.

[jmood88]

Re: MTV's 10 Candidates For The Next 'Greatest MCs Of All Time

Yep, bunch of haters on OS just like everywhere else now it seems. Agreed with the person who says nobody likes a rapper if he can sell albums.

The Carter II is an extremely unique album, and should get way more props than it is getting on this thread. I would say hes definitely top 5 out right now.

For the people who say Kanye has no mic skills...what the f do you mean? He is mainstream right? So why would the public love him if he didn't have mic skills? He has his own, raw way of doing things and its hot. College Dropout was better than Late Reg I thought though.

[jmood88]

Re: MTV's 10 Candidates For The Next 'Greatest MCs Of All Time

exactly , race is irrelevent in this conversation. btw arent most backpackers white males from the burbs anyways ?

No, that's most of the mainstream fans, aka the people who like 50 cent.

the fact of the matter is the best emcees ever havent been underground. most underground emcees just arent versatile enough and thats a key aspect to being an great overrall emcee/ the total package .
most of these guys are just punchlines , preachy and talk about how things used to better instead of trying to make it better .
its almost like they are stuck in 94 but they dont want to realize that the times change *masta ace and cl - "seasons" is a great song about this.

And yet the guys who talk about women and guns all the time are versatile? Do you know what versatile means?

[jmood88]

Re: MTV's 10 Candidates For The Next 'Greatest MCs Of All Time

I think when when a lot of guys go mainstream, their music changes. It's not as good as it used to be. I know a lot of cats that used to like 50 when he was an underground artist but now can't stand him. I know I liked Nelly on Country Grammar but can't hardly stand him anymore. It seems once they go mainstream, the focus is only to make music to be played in the club.

Yup. 50 used to be good but now all he does is mumble and sing all the time. It has nothing to do with his sales. Hell, I wish the people I listen to got big so that people would know who I'm talking about when they ask who I'm listening to.

[ThaGenecyst]

Re: MTV's 10 Candidates For The Next 'Greatest MCs Of All Time

rofl @ cam'rons "undeniable classics"

[Rocky]

Re: MTV's 10 Candidates For The Next 'Greatest MCs Of All Time

Yep, bunch of haters on OS just like everywhere else now it seems. Agreed with the person who says nobody likes a rapper if he can sell albums.

The Carter II is an extremely unique album, and should get way more props than it is getting on this thread. I would say hes definitely top 5 out right now.

For the people who say Kanye has no mic skills...what the f do you mean? He is mainstream right? So why would the public love him if he didn't have mic skills? He has his own, raw way of doing things and its hot. College Dropout was better than Late Reg I thought though.

The list is laughable (especially the undeniable classics) but some of the people on this thread are way worse.

I disagree on Wayne. Tha Carter II got OLD fast. The first 8 tracks or so of tha Carter I is his best work. Lil Wayne can spit but he doesn't really say anything when he flows.

I think a guy to keep a lookout on is Lil Boosie. He's not as good a lyricist is Wayne but he is a much better MC IMO.

[Kruza]

Re: MTV's 10 Candidates For The Next 'Greatest MCs Of All Time

Man, after his first two albums I don't know what happened to him. On that first one, Erick Sermon put it down witht the production. He used a lot of samples but that ish was tight!

Damn, I miss those days!

After Whut? Thee Album!, Redman's second album is Dare Iz a Darkside and Muddy Waters is his third album. All three are classics in my opinion.

At any rate, Redman is one of my personal favorite emcees ever. I loved him ever since Erick and Parrish brought him in as a guest to flow on two tracks off their Business As Usual album, "Hardcore" and "Brothers On My Jock". It weird to note that his voice was deeper on the guest spots in comparison to how he sounds in his solo albums, but it didn't matter to me. He was dope either way. He's an original emcee who says stuff that has me baffled and constantly hitting the rewind button. He's also an underrated storyteller. And he has always been funny as hell, even in the skits. Dude has incredible imagination and has the knack of formulating hideous and funny imagery when a listener can sit back, focus and visualize what he raps about. And yeah, Red abused the hell out of those samples that he and Erick chopped from Parliament songs like "Atomic Dog". But that fit his image perfectly. After all, he named himself the Funkdelic Devil for a reason. The E-double came correct when it came to producing Red's early albums.

All of Red's albums after MW has been an overall disappointment, but I think it's the Def Jam label pressuring him to change his persona to more of a light-hearted comedian image as opposed to the gully, grimy, bizarre, deranged, filthy horror-like image he's made of himself since his debut with EPMD. But then I head the mixtape he brought out a couple years ago called Ill At Will, Volume 1 and that restored my faith in him because he sounded like his "real" self on that release. Now I'm waiting on that Red Gone Wild album that was supposed to drop last year, but has been pushed back to later this year.

Kruza

[Vince]

Re: MTV's 10 Candidates For The Next 'Greatest MCs Of All Time

I think when when a lot of guys go mainstream, their music changes. It's not as good as it used to be. I know a lot of cats that used to like 50 when he was an underground artist but now can't stand him. I know I liked Nelly on Country Grammar but can't hardly stand him anymore. It seems once they go mainstream, the focus is only to make music to be played in the club.

Country Grammar was NICE. But even that had a lot of club sounds.

[ehh]

Re: MTV's 10 Candidates For The Next 'Greatest MCs Of All Time

well, because when a guy becomes "mainstream", that usually means that he has reached the white suburban demographic.

Ding Ding Ding!!

[kuruption]

Re: MTV's 10 Candidates For The Next 'Greatest MCs Of All Time

No, that's most of the mainstream fans, aka the people who like 50 cent.






And yet the guys who talk about women and guns all the time are versatile? Do you know what versatile means?

the majority of backpackers are white . murs talks about how most of his fans are white. its pretty much common knowledge that the majority of backpackers are caucasion
.ive been to murs-livin legends and blackalicious concerts and its the truth.


it doesnt really matter if they talk about guns and women all the time , as long are creative about it and flip it differently it can still be dope.
just cuz there '' CONscious '' doesnt make them better than rappers who talk about guns and women . hell the majority of ''rakims'' ryhmes were bragging and he wasnt really that deep of a rapper . were his rhymes top of the line and complex? of course . hes still a gazillion times better than brother ali or mos def though .
backpackers are just as annoying as , Bep , 50 cent and nelly fans.

[kuruption]

Re: MTV's 10 Candidates For The Next 'Greatest MCs Of All Time

I think when when a lot of guys go mainstream, their music changes. It's not as good as it used to be. I know a lot of cats that used to like 50 when he was an underground artist but now can't stand him. I know I liked Nelly on Country Grammar but can't hardly stand him anymore. It seems once they go mainstream, the focus is only to make music to be played in the club.

thats true in some case but not in all . since ''country grammar'' nelly has been mainstream and has really never changed .

take for instance ''jay-z'' , imo he walked the perfect line. he made the club songs and most of his singles for the girls but the rest of his albums were really raw and ill.

jay-z defines the versatile rapper imo , he can make a track about anything and not make it sound forced. club jams ,songs about girls , deep songs , storys ,hood anthems , battle raps ... even some of the best rappers of all-time couldnt do that. thats why i consider him the goat.

[Streets]

Re: MTV's 10 Candidates For The Next 'Greatest MCs Of All Time

the majority of backpackers are white . murs talks about how most of his fans are white. its pretty much common knowledge that the majority of backpackers are caucasion.

Co-sign. And ALOT of people who are feelin the mainstream/club music, are black people. Which is why I asked the question "why was race even brought into this thread". I hate when people say, "oh, it's just suburban white kids who like 50". It's racist first of all, and its so far from the truth it's rediculous.

And to the original question you asked, "what do suburban white kids know about what a real lyricist is" or something like that... I gotta flip it on you and ask, what about being white or from the burbs makes it so you can't know? I summed this all up in my thread awhile back when I said that backpacking is more about wanting to be cool and be in a counter-culture society than it is about the music. And while it's a really neat organization, I think you really need to re-check your roster sheet, because you might be suprised at how many "uneducated white suburban" rap fans listen to MC Foodstamp just like you.

[ehh]

Re: MTV's 10 Candidates For The Next 'Greatest MCs Of All Time

the majority of backpackers are white . murs talks about how most of his fans are white. its pretty much common knowledge that the majority of backpackers are caucasion.


it doesnt really matter if they talk about guns and women all the time , as long are creative about it and flip it differently it can still be dope.
just cuz there '' CONscious '' doesnt make them better than rappers who talk about guns and women . hell the majority of ''rakims'' ryhmes were bragging and he wasnt really that deep of a rapper . were his rhymes top of the line and complex? of course . hes still a gazillion times better than brother ali or mos def though .
backpackers are just as annoying as , Bep , 50 cent and nelly fans.

Most backpackers are definatley white or older people who were around before the mainstream turned to **** a decade ago. I certainly don't buy the "conscious" rapper facade anymore. Hell, Murs is not conscious, but he's probably my favorite rapper right now.

As for me, I became a "backpacker" once the mainstream all became the same thing. I've quoted this several times, but Phonte said it best in an interview last year.

Not verbatim, but...

The problem with mainstream hip-hop is there is no variety anymore. Everything sounds exactly the same. That doesn't mean it's bad because everything has its place, but we need variety. The mainstream would be just as bad if everyone bit ATCQ and that's all we heard 24/7.

And as I added to that in the past, I don't want to hear a Nelly club hit on my commute home from work on a Tuesday afternoon, and at the same time I don't want to hear a Black Moon joint on Saturday night at the bar/club, there's a time and a place for everything.

A dozen years ago you could watch BET and see a 2Pac joint, a ATCQ joint, a Salt-N-Peppa joint, a Wu-Tang joint and a Special K (you know you remember that track) all in the same hour. Now you watch Direct Effect or 106 and Park and all ten tracks are the same thing. Zero variety. How hilarious is the "Blacklisted from 106 & Park" list? Certain rappers that are "too intelligent" for their target demographic audience. If that doesn't tell you how much the landscape of hip-hop has changed in the last dozen years I don't know what will.

But what bothers me is that non-club/mainstream rappers never get their due. I'm not one of those idiots who only likes underground rappers because "it's cool and no one else knows about them." If they make good music, they make good music.

[SoMiss2000]

Re: MTV's 10 Candidates For The Next 'Greatest MCs Of All Time

thats true in some case but not in all . since ''country grammar'' nelly has been mainstream and has really never changed .

True but the music wasn't really mainstream. It did have a bit of hood in it. It had that, "new, i'm reppin the Midwest and this is how we do it flavor" to it.