bigted

Michael & Janet "Scream", arguably the greatest video ever made

James Brown "Funky Drummer"

they could be competitive in a more creative way by working on coming up with strong verses when doing collaborations and having the fans debate who did the best job on the songs

The Beastie Boys are up for the Rock & Roll hall of fame, a lot of people like them who don't even listen to much hip hop but they're hip hop credible at the same time, it's just like LL and JJFP....

krs is like many of the pioneers that shouldn't ever be dissed on songs 'cause lyrically they can't be touched, today's rappers like nelly and eminem should just do their thing and only give props to the legends that paved the way for them....

LL Cool J is the closest artist in hip hop that's a mirror image of Will, LL's a lil' bit more versatile like you mentioned, they're both the 2 biggest household names that people who don't listen to much hip hop recognise, people of all ages know who they are, and like I mentioned if you combined with what Jeff did with Will that makes it an even tougher debate....

Combining what both Will and Jeff has done would make the ranking higher, they're like the Jordan and Pippen of music, I could dig through my most played albums in my music collection and make a list of 50 hip-hop and r&b artists, mcs like Big Daddy Kane and Heavy D should be in the top 50 but they never had 50 Cent and Eminem type of popularity going for them which would hurt them from getting Billboard to recognise them, Beastie Boys do a lot of alternative stuff too so like Michael Jackson it's hard to put them in R&B/Hip-Hop category but that "License To Ill" album sales alone shows that they deserve to be there: 20 R&B Artists: R. Kelly Michael Jackson Boyz II Men TLC Keith Sweat Janet Jackson Destiny's Child Mariah Carey Prince Mary J. Blige Whitney Houston Joe Gerald Levert/Levert Aaliyah Toni Braxton Brian Mcknight Jodeci Alicia Keys Jill Scott Musiq Soulchild 20 Hip Hop Artists: LL Cool J JJFP Run-DMC Public Enemy 2Pac Outkast MC Hammer Biggie Queen Latifah Nas Tribe Called Quest DMX Snoop Dogg MC Lyte Salt-N-Pepa Ice Cube The Roots Beastie Boys Gangstarr Jay-Z(I'd never put him in my top 20 but for sales alone he belongs there) Top 10 Producers: Teddy Riley Dr. Dre Timbaland Pete Rock Marley Marl DJ Premiere Trackmasters Jermaine Dupri Puffy DJ Quik Honorable Mentions: Slick Rick, KRS, Heavy D, Big Daddy Kane, Eric B. and Rakim, Eminem, Babyface, Bobby Brown, Luther Vandross, Patti Labelle, Monica, Neptunes, and The Bomb Squad

As much as I love r&b, I think some of those singers should be left off the list with being replaced by the hip hop pioneers that I mentioned, replace TI with the real south king Scarface, and it's hard to believe that all those groups had more impact than Blackstreet and Guy who didn't make the list, the top 10 is too r&b driven, this is what the top 10 should look like in no particular order: R. Kelly LL Cool J Michael Jackson JJFP Boyz II Men Run-Dmc TLC Keith Sweat Public Enemy Janet Jackson(I originally put Destiny's Child in the top 10 but they didn't have a bigger impact than Janet did and Beyonce doesn't deserve to be mentioned seperately from them either, her first album was great but she fell off since then) After them would be Destiny's Child, 2Pac, Prince, Mariah Carey, and Outkast

i don't think that a battle was necessary for people to know that krs is a better mc than nelly but it seems over the years that nelly has looked like the more mature person 'cause as much as i like krs one's music his personality annoys me sometimes, nelly might not make any greatest mc list but i could respect that he could make a good song occasionally and that he does his own thing, you can't say that about a lot of today's radio rappers, and with all this talk about feuds from 10 years ago maybe the next time eminem's interviewed they'll ask him about what he said about will in the "real slim shady"

Grammy-winning rapper Nelly has finally laid rest the speculation that his "#1" 2002 record was directed at hip-hop pioneer KRS-One. According to Nelly, the track was a shot aimed at all of his haters, not KRS. "Your music reflects a lot of how you feel on certain things. Having the type a success that I was having and all a that you still find that there's people that basically still try to sh*t on you anyway you try to look at it so... and it just got to a point where you were just like, Man, regardless or whatever the f*ck y'all saying, I'm still No. 1 right now and that's kinda like how we felt... I'm winning and n*ggas is pissin' and sh*ttin' on me and I'm feelin' like, 'C'mon, man, like my city, let us get our shine... Why can't we have ours, everybody else get theirs, why we can't have ours.' You know, so at that time I didn't give a f*ck whoever said something, I felt like I was pissed off about it but the whole thing with Kris [KRS-One], was nothing. Why would I pick him of all people to come out the blue at, at the time? ...I took a lot sh*t personal that I found out you shouldn't take personal 'cause that's just the nature of the world, not even the business." (XXL Mag) Further interpretation suggest Nelly went at KRS on his "Roc The Mic" freestyle with Freeway. Davey D reports KRS One has answered the volley that Nelly threw which his appearance on the Freeway remix of 'Roc The Mic'. In the track, Nelly implies that KRS is "an old emcee trying to make a come back" and that he's the "first old man to get a rapper's pension." In KRS' recording 'The Real Hip Hop Is Over Here', he says that unlike Nelly, he's not "universal" and adds that Nelly's rap style sounds like an "*NSYNC commercial." (Rap Dirt) Around 2002, Nelly's St. Lunatic partner Murphy Lee denied the beef. "Nelly is humble as hell, it would be something to just tick my man off," said St. Lunatics member Murphy Lee, who also rhymes on the "Roc the Mic" remix. "It was like KRS-One said something first. It was never Nelly come out and just [dis him]. The man is just tired. He had to defend himself. He's like, 'My career probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for KRS-One,' that's what Nelly is on. My man got tired of critics and made a song '#1.' He wasn't specifically talking about nobody, but if the shoe fits, wear it." (MTV) However, following the song's release, KRS released records going at Nelly. KRS-One's latest battle was in 2002, when he launched several diss tracks ("Ova Here," "The Real Hip-Hop," and "You Don't Really Want It") at Nelly over a perceived slight on the St. Louis rapper's "Number 1" song. (All Hip Hop)

Run-DMC, Public Enemy, Tribe Called Quest, The Roots, and Outkast are the five greatest groups in hip hop history but yet they ain't mentioned, and the order debatable but the more I think about it, it's a solid list 'cause it's about time artists like Keith Sweat, Aaliyah, and Joe get some mention, and I like that they listed LL Cool J above most rappers except for Jay-Z who has no business being in the top 10, there can't be a perfect list since the order's always debatable but the top CDs and tapes in my music collection come from 90% of these artists so all in all Billboard didn't do too bad, get rid of Lil' Wayne, 50, Kanye, and Nelly and insert JJFP, MC Hammer, Run-DMC, and Public Enemy and you got the ultimate list...

DMX "Who We Be", people sleep on his "The Great Depression" album but to me it was better than Nas' "Stillmatic" and Jay-Z "The Blueprint" were in that time period and listening to it now show how it's stood the test of time too, DMX needs to bring his next album to this level again, that's still my favorite album from him after all those years, I remember bumping that album every day when I was a junior in high school:

Whoah, that's sad to hear, I pray that she'll be able to survive this and continue to bless us with her lovely music

DOPE!!!

How the hell could Billboard forget to list JJFP one of the top artists of the last 25 years, the first hip-hop act to win a Grammy with over 30 million albums sold, that should be worthy of top 10 at minimum, but not putting them in the top 50 is uncalled for, Outkast has the highest selling hip hop album of all time and they ain't mentioned either, MC Hammer's "Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em" went past diamond status and he ain't mentioned, as much as I don't like Biggie he should be in the top 50 'cause a lot of people like him as well, DMX's 1st 5 albums went #1 and there's no mention, Boyz II Men should be ranked in the top 10 since they're the highest selling R&B group ever, Brian Mcknight deserves some mention too, I mean if you're gonna give credit to the highest selling artists you need to give credit where credit's due, Billboard sucks so what should we expect, but at least they give credit to R. Kelly at #1 'cause he owned R&B in the last 25 years: The Top 50 R&B / Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years Quote: 50. Tevin Campbell 49. En Vogue 48. Joe 47. Brandy 46. Kanye west 45. Chris Brown 44. Maxwell 43. Patti Labelle 42. Destiny's Child 41. Ne-Yo 40. Musiq Soulchild 39. Nelly 38. Eminem 37. Snoop Dogg 36. Bobby Brown 35. Tony Toni Tone 34. Sade 33. Babyface 32. Gerlad Levert 31. Levert 30. Jodeci 29. Keyshia Cole 28. 50 Cent 27. Aaliyah 26. Stevie Wonder 25. TLC 24. Monica 23. New Edition 22. Anita Baker 21. Lil' Wayne 20. T.I 19. 2Pac 18. Toni Braxton 17. Boyz II men 16. LL Cool J 15. Beyonce 14. Ludacris 13. Michael Jackson 12. Keith Sweat 11. Prince 10. Alicia Keys 9. Freddie Jackson 8. Jay-Z 7. Luther Vandross 6. Usher 5. Janet Jackson 4. Mariah carey 3. Whitney Houston 2. Mary J Blige 1. R. Kelly Source: Billboard.com - The Juice

It's another lovely day to be alive!:

well jay-z seems to have a better a&r and an ear for beats than nas does, i gotta give him credit for that but that don't change the fact of this whole post that he's not the greatest battle rapper and nas is a more respected rapper than jay-z is, jay-z is more respected as a businessman, it's sorta like how 50 cent makes the forbes list of the richest rappers but the rappers he battled like fat joe and game are more respected than he is, money's not everything...

Of all the talk about who got the hardest diss track, I gotta bring up the hardest diss track ever made, LL's "Jack The Ripper" that ripped Kool Moe Dee:

50 has shown improvement with his recent music, I agree with that, but I think his ego sorta alienated a lot of people from paying attention to him, it might be too little too late for him musically, he's better off doing business ventures 'cause he's a hustler more than a rapper....

In recent years Nas has had similar problems that LL Cool J has had with production, they both kept it up lyrically but they both need to work with their original producers like Marley Marl again....

Like AJ stated DMX has had past issues but in recent times he's worked to improve himself as a man from those mistakes and clearly his music is much more consistant than Kanye's, I'd put him up there with the legends of hip hop 'cause he brought the underground street edge of hip hop to the mainstream with his first 5 (woulda been 6 straight if "Year Of The Dog...Again" wasn't outsold by a few copies) albums debuting at #1 on the charts, they're all dope hip hop albums, in fact I'd say his worst album "Grand Champ" had enough hot songs on it to say that it's better than Kanye's best album "Late Registration", DMX is like Dennis Rodman, a troubled individual but a proven winner, in fact his one verse he did recently on "Stop The Party" with Busta Rhymes(who also has had many troubles but is a conistant mc) is better than anything I heard from Kanye recently...

"The Black Album" is probably the best Jay-Z album in the last 10 years, I like it better than any "Blueprint" or the other albums, it's on the level of "Reasonable Doubt" and "Hard Knock Life" which is when he was on top of his game.... Nas is on the level of all the greats like LL, Fresh Prince, KRS, Rakim, etc. when it comes to consistancy, every album is dope....Like I said earlier I play Game's "The Red Room" mixtape more than any album that came out this year, industry politics seem to be holding his album back it seems, to me he's probably the best mc that came out in the last 5 years.... I still haven't gotten to that Big Boi album yet but I liked what I heard from the internet...

Believe it or not, as much as I'm not a fan of Jay-Z' post 2000 music on the most part I like the "Blueprint 2" album, that's actually one of his better albums in the last decade to me, "The Watcher 2" is one of the best collabs ever

Dr. Dre feat. Mary J. Blige and Rel "The Message", there needs to be songs like this on Detox: http://fwww.youtube.com/watch?v=ox08JlPo9w0

Jay-Z is the one who basically drops one hot album every 10 years it seems, his best albums came out in the '90s and even Nas' so called worst album "Nastradamus" is an underrated dope album, Jay-Z' only more popular 'cause he hires popular producers but I find a lot of his lyrics repetitive and boring compared to Nas and the other legends of the game, even his so called popular lyrics are from Biggie, "How many Biggie lyrics gonna come out yo fat lip?"