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WHO KILLED KENNY?
Here are
the two suspects left to right: Jim Snooka
(Never So Deep) & Nasty-Nes! |
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VATO'S IN L.O.V.E.!
It's
Rap Attack's next reality TV/Radio star
DJ 3rd Rail (WNUR-Chicago) & his #
1pinay (WOW!!!). |
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INSIDE THE CIRCLE
Read the
review below in NASTY NEWS |
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[[ August 18, 2008 ]] |
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What's
Upper? This Thursday night is the night Imma be focused
on MTV's finale' of
"America's Best Dance Crew." Who's gonna win this year?
Will it be "Super Crew" or "So Real Cru?"...
Gotta
thank
EMC
for lacing us on last weeks RAP ATTACK CONFERENCE
CALL. Both Stricklin & Masta Ace
dropped a lotta knowledge with our panel for nearly a
hour!...
Just
peeped out the DVD for "Inside The Circle" (see photo
above). Filmed in Austin, TX this movie is a must for
not only B-Boys & B-Girls but Hip-Hop lovers period.
It's almost like watching a reality show but it's based
on 2 best friends who end up battling each other on
rival dance teams Masterz Of Mayhem & Jive
Turkeys. Romeo Navarro who is the founder &
holds Austin's yearly "B-Boy City" events plays a
significant role in the film as they show him grinding
from the beginning stages to now. This is a magnificent
dvd & I really enjoyed watching this great work captured
on film. Here's a lil run down on the cast & film:
ROMEO
NAVARRO
:Romeo
is 31 years old, and the founder of
Texas’s
longest running b-boy event, B-Boy City. He has loved
music and art all his life, and learned James Brown’s
moves at age 10. Romeo has been throwing Hip-Hop events
in
Austin
since 1997; XIV B-Boy City was held in May 2007.
JOSH
AYERS
:Josh
(“Milky”) is 21 years old and currently lives in LA. He
started b-boyin’ on the west coast in 1998, and moved to
Texas the summer of 1999. He was in Texas “training and
struggling” for four years, where he joined Masterz
of Mayhem out of the Rio Grande Valley. Josh moved
to Florida in 2005 to work for High Voltage at
Universal Studios, and in other shows up and down
the East Coast.
He’s now
also a member of Florida-based crew M.I.N.D.180,
and has performed with them on the Ellen Degeneres
Show and Don Francisco Presenta. Recently,
Josh moved to LA to book commercial work, and has also
been booking a lot more underground battles, traveling
to
Europe and
Korea. He went on tour this summer with Fergie, in the
UK.
OMAR
DAVILA:Omar
is 21 years old and commutes between
Austin and the
Caribbean. He is a member of Jive Turkeys & Mighty Zulu
Kingz, and is sponsored by Tribal Gear. Omar works
for G-Force Entertainment, which provides shows
for Carnival Cruise Lines and other venues. He is a
“Fly-On” entertainer, and dances in an 80's show called
"Far From Over," working on three different ships...The
Fascination, The MS Valor, and The MS Sensation.
Capturing the raw power of a grassroots Hip-Hop movement
in the heart of
Texas,
INSIDE THE CIRCLE tells the story of two strikingly
talented b-boys, Josh and Omar, former best friends who
become rivals when they join competing dance crews.
Immersed in the b-boy culture of defiant creativity,
Omar rises to international renown while Josh tangles
with the
Texas
criminal justice system. Both of them struggle to keep
dance at the center of their lives, and the “B-Boy City”
competitive events thrown by visionary street dancer
Romeo Navarro serve as emotional milestones in their
journey to adulthood. Facing off in intense dance
battles that mirror the larger events in their lives,
Josh and Omar seekredemption, identity and respect
INSIDE
THE CIRCLE is the result of a four-year collaboration
between filmmaker Marcy Garriott and some of
Texas’most talented b-boys, musicians and other artists.
Marcy first took her camera to B-Boy City 8 (Austin,
Texas) in 2002, and was hooked after the first battle.
Every
b-boy and b-girl has a strong story to tell, and every
battle or cypher reveals something about the lives and
passions of those who are dancing. Although the film
ultimately focused on three of those stories as they
unfolded over the next few years, the hope is that they
represent something of the universal passion, dedication
and struggle of all b-boys and b-girls. For more info,
log onto:
www.InsideTheCircle.com
The guys
over at "True Fire Radio" are finally opening
their doors! They are looking for experienced, polished
DJs to fill slots on the hottest Internet Radio Station
on the web,
www.TrueFireRadio.net!! The selection
process will be very stringent. The selected few will be
offered several different opportunities to promote their
name, their skills, AND their bookings thru True Fire
Radio.
Unlike most Internet Radio Stations these days, they are
a legal station. Publishing Licenses with all major
publishing companies have been obtained. Recording
artists
ARE getting paid. Oh, and don't forget to check the
WonderTwinz every Saturday night on True Fire Radio,
from 7 to 8pm.
For more information, just go to:
http://www.truefireradio.net/slots/
If you are interested, send your submissions
to:
dj@truefireradio.net...
On
August 15, 2008, a multimillion dollar assault and
battery lawsuit was filed in the Federal District Court
for the Southern District of New York by DJ Vlad
(Vlad Lyubovny) against platinum recording artist
Rich Ross (“William Leonard Roberts II”)
stemming from an incident that took place on August 10,
2008 at the Ozone Awards in Houston, Texas. In
the complaint, it is alleged that Rick Ross orchestrated
a brutal attack upon DJ Vlad carried out by his
accomplices in retribution for media coverage of Rick
Ross’ prior life as a correctional officer.The injuries
alleged to have been sustained as a result of the
assault include, 7 stitches below the eye, 3 fractures
to the face, a corneal abrasion and possible permanent
nerve damage. The complaint seeks $ 2,000,000 in
compensatory damages and $2,000,000 in punitive damages.
The
official complaint document can be downloaded here:
http://www.zshare.net/download/17101461915fe6c1/...
Peep out
online: JIM SNOOKA BEHIND THE SCENES OF WHO KILLED
KENNY MIXTAPE
at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bLlThk6mq8...
You can
peep out exclusive footage taken at CMG in NYC
with NY's One Pham picking up the first set of
promo cd's of their new project "One Pham". The first
single "Keep Ya Eyes On My Kicks" is available at
ITunes. Visit
www.soundcheckny.com to preview the
project.
One
Pham live at CMG in NYC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxTEqemGbCM&feature=email...
Independent from day One...An Interview w/ Slug of
Atmosphere
By Davey D
Listen to Breakdown FM Interview by clicking
HERE:
http://odeo.com/episodes/23147935-An-Interview-w-Slug-from-Atmosphere
We sat down and spoke with Slug from the group
Atmosphere.He is the cornerstone of one of the
world's most celebrated rhyme collectives-the
Rhymesayers.
We kicked off the interview by talking about the name
Atmosphere.Many people see Slug and think his name is
Atmosphere and don't realize that he's part of a
group sporting that name.So for those who don't know,
lets be sure we understand-Slug is the emcee and his
partner Anthony (Ant)is the producer. He
explained it like this.He said think of Atmopshere like
Gang Starr which breaks down to Guru being
the emcee and DJ Premier being the producer.
Once we got that out the way we talked about the
direction he's taken on the new album 'When Life
Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold'.
Slug explained that its important to change things up
and push yourself as well as the audience. He admits
that this new album is a departure from what fans are
used to hearing. He said it was important for him and
Ant to do something strictly forself.It was important to
experiment
We went deeper with this conversation as we talked about
the art of sampling versus using live instruments and a
band. We talked about the limitations and high costs
sampling has when allowing one to open up and fully
express oneself.
We also spoke about what it takes for an artist to
deliver a social or political message to the Hip Hop
audience. Slug says he doesn't want top be preachy but
knows its important not to let important things go
unacknowledged.
We talked about the relationship the Rhymesayers
collective has with other well known rhyme groups like
Living Legends, Quannum, Hiero and
Def Jux.Slug says many of them know and like each
other and that they were able to build and really bond
on last year's Paid Dues Tour.Slug explained that
they learned a lot from Living Legends especially along
the lines of fan interaction and treating people right.
We talked about the racial politics within Hip Hop and
what its like to have large white fan bases. We talked
about whether or not it bothers the group to not be as
well known by Black folks in the hood. We got deep with
that discussion.
We talked about Presidential candidate Barack Obama
and his relationship to Hip Hop. Slug gave his
thoughts on whether or not Obama is a beneficiary of
groups like Atmosphere touring the country for the past
10-15 years and performing before large rural and white
audiences and ultimately politicizing them who are now
voting for Obama.
We concluded our interview by talking about mainstream
Hip Hop versus the underground.Slug says he's a big fan
of the Black Eyed Peas and admires the fact that
they seem to have fun. He says that's the essence of Hip
Hop and way too many acts forget that. He's not mad at
the mainstream and feels there should be more
interaction.We closed out with Slug acknowledging that
as a Minneapolis resident that he would love to hook up
and do a song with fellow Minneapolis resident Morris
Day...
Joey
Slick's
"Joint One" Hip-Hop show airing in Japan recently
celebrated their 2000th show. Peep out the link for the
Joint One Radio Japan 2000th
show link at:
www.jointone.com/JOR/2000.8-9-2008.mp3.
Finally available for your listening pleasure...
ILL BILL
– THE HOUR OF REPRISAL TO BE RELEASED 9/16/08 ON UNCLE
HOWIE RECORDS/FAT BEATS RECORDS
Guests Include: Raekwon The Chef, Immortal Technique,
La Coka Nostra, B-Real, Necro, Tech N9ne, Bad Brains, DJ
Muggs, Howard Jones of Killswitch Engage, Max Cavalera
of Sepultura/Soulfly, DJ Premier, Vinnie Paz and
more
VIDEO - Hear about it directly from the man himself -
ILL BILL update on "The Hour Of
Reprisal":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ij6kDon2p8
The highly anticipated second solo album from Brooklyn's
independent hip-hop kingpin ILL
BILL
is finally scheduled for release on the Uncle Howie/Fat Beats
label. The former Non Phixion standout and
current La Coka Nostra riot-starter has
surgically crafted THE very album the Hip-Hop world has
been missing and craving for far too long.
Whether holding it down alongside iconic MCs such as
Raekwon the Chef and B-Real or with their
spiritual disciples Immortal Technique, Vinnie
Paz and Necro or masterminding stellar
collaborations with the likes of the legendary Bad
Brains and heavy metal thrashers Killswitch
Engage, Bill confidently swaggers the line between
genres with fellow visionaries DJ Premier, DJ
Muggs, T-Ray, DJ Lethal and others
behind the boards. Also, for the first time, a bulk of
the production has been propelled by Bill himself.
Along with the exactly one hour long audio disc, comes a
DVD of ILL BILL annihilating punk rock mecca CBGB,
live and direct from the same stage once immortalized by
the likes of The Ramones, Blondie, The
NewYork Dolls and so many others. Additionally, the
artwork for The Hour of Reprisal has been created by
none other than Larry Carroll; the man behind
numerous controversial album covers for the mighty
Slayer, including their classic Reign In Blood.
Following up his recent 52 date support slot with
Tech N9ne and Paul Wall, ILL
BILL will head out on a lengthy North American headlining tour with Heltah
Skeltah's Sean Price in tow, beginning
September 11th and running until November 9th. The tour
will include a performance at this year's We The People
Festival in Los Angeles on September 27th, with artists
such as RZA, Rage Against The Machine's Tom
Morello, Suicidal Tendencies, Fishbone,
DJ Premier and many others...
Beyond Belief addresses the realities of
his mother being gay, his brother getting shot, and his
father committing suicide in his new song "U Don't Know
Me" (Make Noise!!). Check the link below to see
him perform 2 verses LIVE at Kwame's
studio at:
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=
vids.individual&videoid=4006211.
In addition,
Beyond
Belief's MySpace page was recently hacked into &
got deleted. We ask if can hit up his MySpace page &
request him to ADD you at:
www.MySpace.com/beyondbeliefmusic
While
you're on his page you can also DOWNLOAD for
FREE
2 remixes & Freestyles by Beyond Belief! "DON'T TOUCH" (produced by KWAME') will be shipping soon...
NAS TOUR
DATES:
Mon,
08/25/08 08:00 PM Warehouse Live Houston, TX
Tue, 08/26/08 07:00 PM House of Blues Dallas, TX
Thu, 08/28/08 07:00 PM House of Blues Cleveland, OH
Fri, 08/29/08 08:00 PM Chene Park Detroit, MI
Sun, 08/31/08 05:00 PM House of Blues Chicago, IL
Thu, 09/04/08 08:00 PM Eagles Club/The Rave Milwaukee,
WI
FPAC
(Festival
of Philippine Arts & Culture) is honoring me at this
year’s festival on Sunday September 7th, 3pm
at Point Fermin Park in San Pedro, CA. This year
FPAC will be paying tribute to filipino DJs that have
paved the way and made an impact for the filipino
community such as E-Man (Power 106-LA),
Rhettmatic (Beat Junkiez) & of course Nasty-Nes!
What an honor...
Frank151
will be setting up booths at these Rock The Bells
dates, displaying hats, giving out free books, stickers
and have sign up applications for the FDL draft,
recruiting new reps.
Sat 8/23
- Denver, CO - Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
Sat 9/6
- George, WA - The Gorge Amphitheatre
They are
opening booths for any artist/label giveaways, i.e.
cd's, cd singles, stickers, postcards, posters, ect. If
you have any folks interested, hit up:
mzapata@frank151.com
Wit
aka
Michael Zapata
Frank
Distro League
650
Broadway, 5th FL, NYC, NY 10012
c/o:
Frank151 Media Group I Malbon Brothers Farms
wk:
917-421-9197
cell:
832-277-6158
DJ
GIRL 6 joins The Mood Swing 360 Roster on
Ur Blast. Log on NOW to:
www.moodswing360.com! Congrats & that's
my GIRL!!!...
"Rock
The Beat Online" CD Compilation Volume 4 dropping
this month features: Anonymous Twist f/ Planet
Asia, Zay Ca$h, Arash, One Pham,
Cino, Major League, Anime', Tha
Brain, J Maul, Knowa Lazarus f/
Kenjohns, Jendor, Ras Ceylon and
S.O.U.L. Purpose. This compilation is pure fiya.
Stay tuned as Rap Attack heats up the Summer of
2008!...
Bum
Squad DJ'z Takeover Houston for the 3rd
Annual Bum Squad DJ'z Family Reunion September 18-21
This
year marks the 3rd Annual Bum Squad DJ'z
Family Reunion taking place in Houston, TX,
September 18th - 21st. The Hyatt Regency
in downtown Houston will be all abuzz, as the
largest chapter of the Bum Squad DJ'z will be the host
family for this year's reunion. The illustrious industry
affair brings out some of the hottest names in
entertainment; introducing exclusive new music to one of
the most exclusive DJ collective's in the game. Last
year the invitation only event brought out the likes of
Common, Nicole Sherzinger (PCD)
Three 6 Mafia, Glasses Malone, Ky-Mani
Marley and more.
Bum
Squad DJ's have broken dozen's of new artists and are
receiving the support of such labels including:
Universal-Motown, Universal-Republic,
Billionaire Catt Ent, Jive, Sony, J
Records, Bad Boy, SRC, and Atlantic.
The label's will host special events including private
music suites, artist showcases, a celebrity softball
game, block party and a last man standing DJ battle. The
reunion has already received early support from artist
including: The Game, Common, Missy,
Rick Ross, Paul Wall, Michael "500" Watts,
Scarface, Bun B, and Rob G just to
name a few.
"Over
the past few years, the collective has been focused on
expanding the brand to include more corporate appeal,"
explains Bum Squad founder Latin Prince, "Our
corporate participation shows that companies understand
the importance of the DJ in getting to the consumer
utilizing our resources in innovative ways. We have DJ's
with shoe deal's, head phones, turntable's all types of
exciting co-branding situations, so although we
specialize in breaking artists, we also help companies
take their message to the masses in style with our mass
audiences." explains Latin Prince. This year sponsor's
like: Rane, Vestax, Skull Candy,
Bombai Liquor, and Red Bull have already come
on board to show their support.
The Bum
Squad DJ's are made up of DJ's, as well as industry
professionals and artists including: DJ Skee, DJ
Clark Kent, DJ Eque, Paul Wall, Lupe Fiasco, Trey Songz,
and many more. For more info check out the complete
roster at
www.bumsquaddjz.com...
WE'VE
GOT SOME OF THE WORLD'S BEST DJ's! THE RAP ATTACK
DJ'S!
GET TO KNOW OUR DJ's BY LOGGING ONTO:
www.MySpace.com/RapAttackLives
AND PEEP OUR UPDATED PHOTO PAGE...
Log on
NOW to:
http://youtube.com/nastynes818 & click on
"FAVORITES" & Flashback with me with music I grew up to
& played on the Seattle radio airwaves when it was brand
new! It's a visual musical journey BACK, wayyyy back,
BACK into time with: The Spinners, Run
DMC, The Jackson 5, The Treacherous 3, Eric B. & Rakim,
Millie "YeS" Vanillie, Stylistics, Blondie, BDP, U.T.F.O.,
Shalimar, Rick James, Musical Youth, Debarge, New Kids
On The Block, New Edition, Del The Funky Homosapien,
Jimi Hendryx, JJ Fad, Flavor Flav, Nu Shooz, Queen
Latifah, Soul Sonic Force, Lisa Lisa & The Cult Jam, The
Cover Girls, The Jacksons, Paul Hardcastle, Nice &
Smooth, The Dazz Band, K-9 Posse, Hall & Oates, Midnight
Star, Rocky, Bruce Lee, Jim Kelly, Angela Mao Ying aka
Lady Kung-Fu, Muhammad Ali
to name a few
AND
Flashback 20 plus years with yours truly by going down
Hip-Hop history lane with me & Sir Mix-A-Lot
(Posse On Broadway, Beepers videos & more), Nastymix
Records (Kid Sensation, High Performance
videos & more), My 1978 Buick Regal Lowrider
days!!! and video footage from my cameos in "House Party
4," "Kung Pow! Enter The Fist" and more! Log on
NOW &
ENJOY at:
http://youtube.com/nastynes818...
Rap
Attack takes a "WHAT'S UPPER" look this week with:
Vernassa
Fields
(Live365.com-SPYN
CYCAL): "I really need you on this. I am creating a
syndicated Hip-Hop show for mainstream radio, and I need
everything you got from clean edit music, to albums, to
access to artists.... Please take a listen to the Undah
Ground Soundz demo below:
https://www.yousendit.com/download/Q01IaUNPdzhvQUx2Wmc9PQ
Thank
you.
Web
Site:
www.spyncycal.com
Myspace:
www.myspace.com/spyncycalmovement...
Brian
Gaffey
aka DJ
BRI-G (The
RPM Group/The Power Summit-NY):
"For those of you who follow baseball heavily, you’ll be
familiar with the term “Sabermetrics”. For those
of you not so in tune, Sabermetrics is the analysis of
baseball players through objective evidence and
statistics, placing more weight on certain stats over
others. In sabermetrics, several stats that had been
looked to for years as benchmarks of a player's success
are dismissed. For instance, a pitcher's won/loss record
or the number of RBIs for a batter are not important
because both have more to do with the function of the
team as a whole rather than the individual player. So
sabermetrics focuses on things like WHIP or slugging
percentage which are more about the individual players
ability and not stats that are aided by or hurt by the
overall team's performance.
Putting this theory to use has brought the Red Sox
two world championships and made the Oakland A’s
perennial contenders even with their limited budget.
So I’ve decided to put this theory to work in Hip-Hop to
determine the greatest rappers of all time. The
statistics I will be using are a bit more objective than
the hard numbers you get with baseball, however I
believe that this will theoretically prove the point.
I’m sure you can probably just come to the same
conclusions on your own, but I felt like killing a few
hours putting this together.
Critical Acclaim vs. Record Sales
We all know that the general public is stupid and falls
for marketing over substance (see Soldier Boy).
Therefore, the greatest determination of the greatness
of an artist/album is not through how well it did
commercially, but how it was either critically acclaimed
or panned. For instance, when Jay Z’s Reasonable
Doubt was released, it was widely regarded among critics
as a Hip Hop classic, yet it was basically a commercial
failure. The same can be said recently for
Ghostface’s Big Doe Rehab or anything recently from
The Roots. Meanwhile, 50 Cent has been a
marketing monster who's last two subpar solo albums that
have both seen incredible sales figures even in an ever
decreasing CD market.
Solo
Hits vs. Hits w/ Guest Appearances
While it may be a huge fad right now as well as an easy
way to make a hit, an artist who uses a famous guest
appearance to make/break their single doesn’t say much
for the individual artist. Nas said it best when
he stated “my first album had no famous guest
appearances, the outcome, I’m crowned the best
lyricist.”
Of course, all the greats have done it at some point.
Biggie had “The What” with Meth, Kane
came up with the Juice Crew, Jay Z had “Ain’t No
Nigga” with Foxy & “Brooklyn’s Finest”
with Biggie, but the difference is that none of these
records made them who they were. They were simply
additions to what was already an incredible solo
catalogue.
Yung Berg has never made a record where he stood
out, it was either a guest appearance or a great r&b
hook that made his records hits. Anybody could’ve spit
those verses and with the right promotion you’d have had
a hit. I’m pretty sure I could’ve spit between NeYo’s
hook on Plies' “Bust It Baby” and it would’ve
been a hit.
There’s definitely artists today like Kanye,
Lupe, Ghostface, and even Rick Ross who make
records solo and don’t need help from another artist or
a catchy R&B hook. They
ARE the
records not just verses in between great sing-songy
hooks or even worse, the rapper with the verse before
the rapper you actually care about.
Hits with No Name Producers vs. Hits with Mega
Producers
This isn’t a completely new phenomenon, between DJ
Quik, Dr. Dre, Erick Sermon, and
Primo, artists in the late 80’s and 90’s had the
help of “super producers” when they needed a hit. But,
the best of the best are the guys who didn’t need them.
Check the production roster of 2pac’s classics “Strictly
for My Niggaz” and “Me Against the World”, if you
recognize more than three names I’d be shocked. Or check
any of the first four BDP albums and you’ll find
3 different names in the production credits; Scott La
Rock, KRS-One, & D-Nice. Four albums,
three producers.
Mega producers have really hurt the star power of
artists today. With Swizz, Timbaland, The
Neptunes, or Kanye becoming more of the stars on
records than the actual artists, it’s virtually
impossible for an artist to break out and develop their
own sound and/or identity anymore. Instead, they’re
handed hits on a silver platter. No longer do you just
say, “did you hear that new Lil Wayne record?”,
it’s “did you hear that Lil Wayne record that Kanye
did?”. I never remember saying “Damn, Ski Beats really
did his thing on Dead Presidents, but I like that
Clark Kent one with Jay and Biggie better.”
Historical Perspective
When
determining a person’s greatness in anything, you have
to adjust for the era in which they were prominent and
try to place them across multiple times and places. For
example, Babe Ruth is considered by many as the
greatest hitter of all time, but he never played against
minority players. His era has a deficiency that may have
inflated his numbers, where as if he had played in the
late 60’s where pitching was at its best and minority
players were beginning to dominate his numbers might
have been much lower.
In Hip
Hop history, you’ve had four distinct eras that say a
lot about the artists who rose during those times. You
had the late 70’s/early 80’s when hip hop was just
starting out and lyrics were more about having fun,
bragging, and crowd participation in a live setting than
the poetic storytelling and bite your head off rhymes of
the late 80’s/early to mid 90’s. Rakim and G Rap paved
the way for lyricism in hip hop in the late 80’s, which
gave rise to the lyrical golden age from ’93 to ’96. In
the Puff Daddy dominated late 90’s/early 00’s,
lyrical ability was sent to the underground as
mainstream rappers dumbed themselves down to appeal to
the masses. Here in the mid/late 2000’s, it’s nearly
impossible to hear great lyrical ability in the
mainstream hip hop world. Rappers who do display some
semblance of lyrical prowess are over-glorified today,
but if you adjusted for their era, you’d find out that
someone like Lil Wayne placed in ’94 would’ve just be
another dope mc among several like Keith Murray
or Redman.
Length
of Prominence
When
sports writers vote for the Hall of Fame, they have to
take a lot of things into consideration, none being more
important than a players time spent at the top of their
game. Was the person great, but only for a short period
of time? Were they consistently good for a long time?
Did they play for an abnormally long time and compile
big stats but never truly great at any singular time?
Big
Pun dropped one definitively classic album, one
mediocre album and several classic guest appearances
before his untimely death. The problem, is that he only
had about a 2 year period where he was considered
“great”. Had Pun lived, it’s no leap of faith to believe
that he would be standing in among the legends in Hip
Hop history, but all we have to look back on is 2
incredible years. Between 1999 and 2002, Eminem
was considered by many as the best rapper alive. Then,
he dropped a terribly mediocre Encore in ‘04 and simply
vanished. Even Biggie, with all his accolades only
dropped 2 albums (granted they were both legendary) and
maybe a dozen memorable guest appearances. Guru has had
a career that’s spanned three decades, but nobody can
ever point to one single moment where he was ever
considered even a Top 5 MC. Snoop has shown
flashes of greatness and dropped a flawless debut album,
but since then has he ever really lived up to the bar
that “Doggystyle” set? Or has he just coasted over the
last 15 years by hitting a few big homeruns, but also
striking out a bit too much.
The key
is greatness or near greatness for an extended period of
time. Rakim, Mos Def, Common,
Talib Kweli, Jay Z, while all having definite ups
and downs can all be looked at as having consistently
good to great careers over more than 10 years.
Classic
Album : Good Album : Bad Album Ratio
For
obvious reasons, I like to refer to this as the Nas
Category. In all of Hip-Hop history, there are only be a
few dozen “classic” albums…maybe less. And for every
“classic” there’s a hundred terrible albums. For every
BDP – “Criminal Minded”, there’s a hundred Snoop “No
Limit Top Dogg” type albums. Whether it’s because
rappers have decided to rape their recording budgets or
they simply don’t know how to create more than 2 solid
records, the odds of the rap album you just illegally
downloaded being of near-flawless quality are not very
high.
For one
artist to have one classic album is next to impossible,
let alone multiple classic albums. There are a few
however, some who have accomplished this feat. Jay Z’s
“Reasonable Doubt” and “The Blueprint”, Biggie’s “Ready
to Die” and “Life After Death”, Eric B & Rakim’s “Paid
in Full” and “Follow the Leader”, Eminem’s “The Slim
Shady LP”, and “The Marshall Mathers LP” are
among them. However, the term “classic” is often thrown
around a bit too loosely. I personally feel that
2pac’s only classic is “All Eyez on Me”, Nas’s only
classic is “Illmatic”, Big Pun’s was “Capital
Punishment”, Snoop’s was “Doggystyle”. I also don’t
think you can ever say that Redman, Ludacris, T.I.,
LL, or Method Man have ever made what
would be thought of as a truly “classic” album.
Bad
albums hang like an albatross over many of hip hop’s
elite. Nas has “Nastradamus”, LL has “14 Shots to the
Dome”, Jay Z has the “Blueprint 2”, Pun has “Yeah Baby”,
Eminem’s “Encore”, and Snoop has at least three
borderline terrible albums. You can call it a matter of
the odds catching up with you. If you drop enough
albums, eventually you’re going to fail. But you also
have to take into consideration that there are those
like Ghostface, Common, and The Roots who have never put
out something that you would call unlistenable. Like I
said earlier, to be considered “great” a rapper must
have a consistent and sustained level of excellence that
puts them beyond just being a regular artist that puts
out an album or two with a few hits and disappears.
Success
of Guest Appearances
This is
a small category that goes a long way, because more than
any other criteria it gives you a specific, but short
moment to display their greatness. A rapper’s guest
appearance is his chance to shine for one verse on
somebody else’s record. It’s the best gauge of a rappers
lyrical ability, but it’s also a trap because guest
appearances build expectations that are often hard to
meet.
There’s
a laundry list of rappers who’s guest appearances far
outweigh anything they’ve ever done on a solo level.
Canibus’ verses on “Beasts from the East”,
“Desperados”, and “4, 3, 2, 1” are considered some of
the best singular verses of all time. The problem is,
he’s never made an album worth listening to in its
entirety. Capadonna could never top the verse
from Winter Warz, and even Lil Wayne who’s verse on “We
Takin’ Over” is vastly superior to anything he’s spit on
a solo level is a victim of this.
The Top
10
So, who
makes the Top 10 and what is the order? Well, I guess
that’s a question for another time"...
DJ Sage
(CFRO-Vancouver
BC, Canada): "On our latest show, we were joined
by two quality hip hop artists that you need to be
familiar with. "First of all…" we had Shawn Jackson
from LA joined us to discuss his latest release as
well as an upcoming US tour with People Under The
Stairs and new project with Giant Panda:
www.myspace.com/shawnjackson
We were later joined by Kam Moye aka
Supastition, I have been a long time fan. As Kam
Moye, he talked about how important honesty and that
personal vibe is on the "Self-Centered" EP. This EP is
available for free download right now. And fans, YES!
There is a full-length Kam Moye in the works "Splitting
Image". As Supastition, Kam Moye is focusing on next
week's CD release of his "Leave of Absence" EP, which
includes bonus tracks from the original digital only
release.
www.myspace.com/kammoye
www.supastition.com...
Jason-D
(RadioBoise.Org):
"So it's been 5 1/2 weeks since my son was born.
I was hoping to be getting more sleep by now. Turns out
he's a huge fan of the Olympics. I mean he's such a huge
fan, he's not trying to watch that replay shit. He's all
about the live feed from China. That's about 2am if
you're not knowing. Mom and baby are doing good though.
Thanks to everyone who gave me the new baby shout
out"...
Nate
Abney
(WKDU-Philly): "Wow. The Summer Olympics are
pretty interesting. Michael Phelps is a beast.
The basketball team is crushing people like the old
days. My favorite event track and field should be just
as if not more entertaining than the other events. RIP
to Issac Hayes and Bernie Mac. Two legends
in one week. I hope people start to appreciate the ones
that are still here while we have them because you just
never know. The Phillies are stinking it up out
west, but we still have the rest of NL east
stinking it up too. Deshawn Jackson will overtake
either Kevin Curtis or Reggie Brown before
mid season at wide reciever and MCnabb will
finally have a threat at wide reciever and maybe the
Birds can win the Super Bowl now. Till next week
Keep it real (lol!!!)"...
Edgie
Kokoski (WUNH-NH):
""Jockin' Jay-Z"? Who cares. I didn't even
sit through the whole youtube video so I can't
really get excited about the mp3 that hit my inbox
today. Below average Kanye production aside, I
really don't need another self-indulgent narcissistic
track from Jay. It's hard for me to get excited about
"The Blueprint 3" when everything since the original
"Blueprint" has been a disappointment. "American
Gangster" was in my CD player once, and once only. For
real.
Was Bernie Mac's real last name "Mac"? I always
thought it was a stage name but none of the reports on
his death have said anything to support that. And if it
isn't, did Bernie have any relation to Kriss Kross
legendary MC "Daddy Mac"?
I'm sorry, but I just can't get into the Olympics. I
don't even really know how far 400 meters is, and I've
never seen anybody in my neighborhood playing water
polo. I mean even Badminton is an event for Christ
sakes. So I'm proposing the following new Olympic
events:
1. 12 Pack Dash - Get from your couch to the convenience
store on a Saturday in 2 minutes or less to score a 12
pack before they put that chain around the cooler doors.
2. 2 Girl Relay - Sneakily double date two different
girls on either side of a restaurant without either
discovering the other one. Bring plenty of zany excuses.
3. Homeless Guy Boxing - I think that this one speaks
for itself.
4. Airport Triathalon - Find a parking space at the
airport, strip for security, and then run to your
changed gate as the airlines jerk you around. Then
charge you five bucks to lay your head on a pillow the
size of a comic book.
5. Shallow End Diving - Drink two Olde English 800s and
then bomb head first into the 3 foot end of the pool.
Unparalyzed guy gets the gold"...
Adam
Lowenstein
(WMHB-ME):
"I have officially left NYC. Peace to everyone I was
able to build with in the city while I was here! As
always, let me know if you need anything from me or from
WMHB! Peace"...
BREAKING
NEWS BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS
EarthQuake
(Live365.com):
"I wanted to let everyone know that On Aug 31st
“The Off Da Richter Scale Rapshow” will end. I just
posted the last “Off Da Richter Scale Rapshow” which is
show #180. You can check it out at
www.live365.com/stations/quake551. The show
will end on Aug 31st.
I
want to thank everyone for there support either checking
out the show or sending me in music over the last 9
years.
Holla at
me if you want to chat at:
quake551@comcast.net...
Here is
our address for 2008 to send material for review, etc
(vinyl & cd's)! Same address, just a new Ste. number:
RapAttackLives.com
4750 Kester Avenue, Ste. 11
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
Attn: Nasty-Nes
nastynes1@aol.com
Attn
MySpace heads! If you haven't joined our exclusive
RAP ATTACK page on MySpace, log on
NOW & join at:
http://www.myspace.com/rapattacklives
SHOUT
OUT TIZIME:
Happy
Birthday this week to L.A. Nevins celebrating on
Monday, August 18th & to my brotha from anotha mother,
Damian "Mr Groove" Rodriguez (KGNU-CO),
celebrating this Friday, August 22nd... Sandy Mokler
from Seattle Prep High School 1976 & 1977 (R.I.P.
it's really sad to hear news about a fellow classmate
passing away)...
PEACE, LOVE & HIP-HOP UNITY (God Bless & Isa Mahal),
Nasty-Nes
http://www.myspace.com/nastynes
http://www.myspace.com/rapattacklives
(Pinoy
Pride4Life
/ John 3:16) |
