bigted

MC Hammer has actually been doing all right for himself musically, he released an album "Look, Look, Look" online in '06 and it went gold in digital downloads, and he still tours frequently, he has that reality series, cash for gold and other business ventures, he first came out '86 and is still in the game, very few could say that, just because he ain't selling 10 million albums anymore doesn't mean that he quit, he's too legit to quit really, lol, he's true to the game... people need start giving him his due, Jigga would still be broke if rappers like Hammer didn't open the door for him, but he seems to talk like he invented rap with the way he runs his mouth so damn much...

nelly has seemed to mature more over the years, he ain't one of my favorite mcs but he damn sure could make hits

fabolous feat. puffy and jagged edge "trade it all", a lot people sleep on fabolous' hit making

Ten years have passed since Nelly signed a deal with Universal Motown, and it’s commonplace now to hear rappers like Drake, T-Pain, and many others blending singing with their spoken lyrics. They’re younger, perhaps even wiser than he was about how to capitalize on the sound over the past few years, but Nelly gives them respect. He says he understands that all things change, and that Hip-Hop is a youth-driven culture. He recently invited AllHipHop.com to his Apple Bottom offices in New York and he talked candidly about some of the discord between the generations. He also changes the conversation to how we can improve relations. Nelly to AllHipHop.com: One thing I think is that we as the beginning rap fans, and I’ll say those over 30, we were some of the first fans. What we have to understand is what made us fans. What made us fans was the rebellious music…was not listening to what older people told us we should be listening to. So now, why is it that when we became the older people, we forgot how hip-hop got started? We were rebelling. So when we go back and we try to tell people who are fans of certain people that we may not like, all that does is make them rebel, and it makes the s**t bigger. You see what I’m saying? As we get older, it gives us the right to contradict, and when we’re younger , we don’t have that right? No. What we’ve got to understand is that hip-hop was made for the youth, by the youth. And it’s going to always be controlled by the youth. So we’ve got to understand that, and we’ve got to understand that it’s going to make mistakes. We have to allow it to make those mistakes. But you also have to give those same young people the respect, so that hopefully one day they can wake up, and we work with them and not against them. A lot of people want to work against them, as opposed to working with them. If you can get people to come in and work with them…if you can get Nelly and KRS-One to talk…whoa, lo and behold, you got Nelly and KRS on a song. And that’s what it’s about.We gotta bridge that. I think we s**t on the young people for liking something so much that we look like haters to them. I don’t want to be a hater to my kid. I don’t know about y’all, but I don’t want to be a hater to my son. I want my son to think he’s got the coolest muthaf**kin’ dad on the planet. Because I wished that when I was young. I wanted my dad to be cool…like why couldn’t my dad have been more like Rev Run? You see Rev Run on TV and you’re like, damn, he’s cool. He likes hip-hop, he’s cool to everybody. My dad used to s**t on rap. My uncles and them were like ‘that’s not real music,’ and they were talking about Run DMC and LL Cool J and Tupacs and Biggies, you know what I’m saying? Which now , we try to get people to listen to like ‘take it back to the old school.’ It’s crazy. As told to AllHipHop.com's Seandra Sims

Nice!!! I'm gonna check that out, the art of the quotable has been lost in hip hop these days with all these garbage rappers spitting disposable lyrics, it's time for the legends to show 'em how it's done!

We need to refer this article to anyone who ever has something negative to say about Fresh Prince's emcee skills, Tim should post this on the JJFP.com homepage!!!

(AllHipHop News) Rap star/producer Wyclef was recently hospitalized with chest pains. According to sources, the rapper went to the hospital over the weekend. Jean, 37, became exhausted after the past three months, as he worked on his career and a bid for the president of Haiti. "I'm doing fine, just over worked. I Thank every one for their outreach and prayers," Wyclef Jean told AllHipHop.com in an exclusive statement. A representative for Wyclef Jean said that the rapper suffered from stress due to lack of sleep, from a hectic travel schedule. "Wyclef is currently suffering the effects of lack of sleep and stress, global travel, even the endless public eye, and has asked that his fans and supporters bear with him for the next several days as he regains his physical health and stamina," a rep said in a statement. Doctors ordered Wyclef to get more rest and released him from the hospital. When he is fully recovered, Wyclef Jean plans to return to Haiti to help the rebuilding process, after the nation was rocked by a 7.0 earthquake in January.

What happened here people?? Did we just give up?? We need to keep trying to convince Will to rap again, we can't give up now, hip hop needs Fresh Prince on top again!!! The 5 years of hip hop since the release of "Lost & Found" have been the worst years ever, we need some kind of life in the game again

People need to pay more attention to what real artists like Kool Moe Dee have to say about Will being a great emcee and less attention to what fake artists like TI think about Will who just say Will's an actor who used to be a rapper

I agree with AJ here, TI's just like the other rappers and singers who just give Will credit for his movies and not his music, part of that is Will's fault though 'cause the industry's all about what have you done lately and lately Will hasn't released any music, he cried out for respect in 2005 when he released "Lost and Found" but he's done nothing but movies since then... On the other hand though TI is only out for his own benefit, only giving credit artists that he knows are popular 'cause he knows that'll get more people to buy his records, he needs to stop try acting like a 2Pac wannabe and find himself for real, getting arrested every 5 minutes ain't keepin' it real, he's a fake gangsta to me, I was starting to gain respect for him when he put out "Paper Trail" but all that was thrown out the window when he keeps f'n up his life...

Jay-Z needs to stop acting like he's a god of rap and that he could say anything 'cause he's so rich, why don't he give back to his community like Hammer does, at least he went broke doing the right thing, Jigga is egotistical, I'm glad to see Hammer respond back, he should team up with LL Cool J and finish off Gay-Z... EDIT: I've been reading a lot of those posts there and what makes me mad is that a lot of these so called damn hip hop fans claim that rappers like Hammer, LL, FP, Ice Cube, etc are sellouts for doing advertisements/movies but yet their favorite rappers are Lil' Wayne, Jay-Z, Rick Ross, TI, Kanye West, etc. who try to do the same thing, fans are fickle, the whole damn rap game is on life support to me right now, a lot of artists are suckas and the fans are sheep.... http://www.allhiphop.com/stories/rumors/archive/2010/09/25/22407734.aspx

rakim how i get down

I posted this in the Caught In The Middle section but clearly this belongs here since it relates to the Fresh Prince's music! As I'm reading the book I notice how he actually writes more highly about Will than some of the emcees ranked ahead of him, even on some of the category he gives a lower score on there's a positive comment being made, FP's clearly one of Kool Moe Dee's favorites, I'd love to see another JJFP/Kool Moe Dee collab besides the "Wild Wild West", he likes JJFP better as a group than Run-Dmc and like a lot of us fans here he likes Will better as an emcee than an actor Comments On Will Smith: "THE UNSUNG HERO" "Here it is, a groove, slightly transformed Just a bit of a break from the norm Just a little bit some'n to break the monotany Of all that hardcore dance that has gotten to be A little bit out of control It's cool to dance But what about a groove that soothes And moves romance Gimme a soft subtle mix And if it ain't broke Then don't try to fix it And think of the summers of the past Adjust the bass and let the alpine blast Pop in my c.d. and let me run a rhyme And put your car on cruise And lay back 'cause this is summertime" Will Smith, AKA, THE FRESH PRINCE, is probably the most underrated emcee in Hip-Hop history! Outside of Hammer, one of the greatest entertainers in Hip-Hop history, Will Smith was one of the most verbally ridiculed emcees of the late '80s to the early '90s. He was called soft, corny, weak, unskilled, and most inaccurately unreal. Ironically, it's his sincerity that pushed his career over the top. (That plus a couple of hit movies!) It was always amazing to me how the Hip-Hop climate picked and chose who they would deem cool or uncool, real or unreal, slick or corny, etc. Will hit the scene in 1986 with the record "Girls of the World Ain't Nothing But Trouble." It was a happy-go-lucky, upbeat song about a teenage boy having problems dating. The approach was humorous and innocent. The record made an impact, and Will sold a lot of records. As the industry goes, he began to do some moderate touring because of the heat generated by the song. His live show was stellar for that time. He had a human beat box, Ready Rock C, who was famous for stimulating, doing the beat box under water; he had back-up dancers; and for the coup de grace, DJ Jazzy Jeff, one of, if not the greatest DJ of all time. Everything was great until they came to New York, and for whatever reason, the audience was non-responsive. In fact, they cheered Jeff and booed Will. The backlash of criticism began. What was most ironic to me at the time was Run-DMC was king, and Will and Jeff were better than them. That's when we figured out how subjective the audience was. Kid Rock was cool until Vanilla Ice came; Hammer was reviled and Puffy was revered for doing basically the same thing; and Jazzy and the Fresh Prince made more simplistic, less fantastical records than most rappers at the time, yet they were called unreal. A couple of years later, using the template by Will, Special Ed dropped "I Got It Made" and was loved for it. Once again, Ed's song was much more obviously unreal, but the audience loved it. However, Will persevered and by the mid-'90s, he had numerous Grammys, music award, a hit TV show, and a couple of hit movies under his belt. By the late '90s he'd become the absolute biggest Hip-Hop star in Hip-Hop history. At this point everybody got a late pass. Will was now not only understood, but he was respected and appreciated for his ability to stick to his authenticity and weather the critical storm. However, what's still overlooked is his skill level as an emcee. Contrary to popular belief, Will's success in music is not driven by his stardom, it's because of his skills. Of course, being a star helps him in the marketing and promotion of his music, but he sustained his career by being an excellent songwriter. Will Smith is the example I use when I'm talking about song structure. Every single record that Will makes is always thematically solid. Every rhyme is chohesively connected to the hook, and sometimes from rhyme to rhyme and verse to verse there is continuity that's like a continuum. One verse picks up where the other leaves off. Another one of Will's strengths, which was ironically looked at as a weakness, was his ability to create and become different characters. This, to me, enhanced his storytelling ability. He was able to paint pictures with his stories by using his vocal inflections as an array of characters. In this regard Will is second only to Slick Rick and Notorious B.I.G. I think this was viewed as a weakness because of the climate of Hip-Hop when Will first hit. He took chances on conveying a lighter, fun-loving energy at a time when Hip-Hop was just being introduced to NWA. This brings me to my final point. I call Will the "unsung hero" because in 1988, I don't think the average Hip-Hop fan understood the climate for Hip-Hop, especially with regard to rap music. The industry had been prophesying the downfall of rap music since its inception, due to what they deemed to be a fad with no mass appeal. In 1988, Run-Dmc were fading and we had no presence on the pop charts. While Hip-Hop artists were yelling, "Stay true to the game," and "Make records for the streets," no one understood how important it was to have a Hip-Hop pop record. The only record made a dent in this area was my "Wild Wild West," but it was viewed more as an R&B record, and although it helped bring the urban adult crowd into hip-hop, we still needed "middle white America." LL Cool J dropped "Going Back To Cali" but it seemed a little too avant grade. However in April, Will came through with "Parents Just Don't Understand" and struck the perfect chord. It grabbed the attention of the kids in suburbia, and began to outsell major pop records. This record, plus my "Wild Wild West", which I'll explain later, led to a chain of events that basically saved Hip-hop/rap music. First it got massive pop radio airplay, which led to him getting his perfectly crafted cartoon-like video on MTV. Remember MTV didn't play rap videos, and Run-Dmc only got some play because of their rock element. Shortly after Will's successful video run, Yo! MTV Raps created, and rap videos now had a mainstream outlet. Finally, the Grammy committee announced that there would be a rap category to the awards ceremony. The year ended with Will having a double platinum album, and the following February he was the first rapper ever to receive a Grammy! Without these events, I very seriously doubt that Hip-Hop/rap music would have turned into the billion-dollar industry that we see today. What's really crazy is as significant as all of these events were to the survival of Hip-Hop, they were the very things Will was being criticized for. What's equally incredible is how he took it with style and grace. He never took any public shots at any of his critics. He humbly defended himself and continued to make hits. However, in 1998, he finally got some of this off his chest on his "Big Willie Style" album: "Take ya place, allow me to flex a taste As my accomplishments spraying my comp like mace A' face me the star of stature TV My face be seen in every country Grammy winner soon to be Oscar nominee Who he that dress Jiggy Straight from West Philly Thought I was wack 'Cause I wanted to act Now every brotha-n-his mother That rap be tryin' to do that The ill kid hundred million dollar bill kid The one you love to chill wit Come on keep it real kid Don't try to act like this summer at the Greek You won't be bumpin' Big Willie In ya jeep I know y'all still feel me Really don't act silly Thought I feel off just because I left Philly Took a break from the rap thing Went on hiatus, I picked up the art of acting To multiply papers I chilled on sick sofa's Chatting wit Oprah She asked me if it's true That me and Jeff broke up While y'all kids busy playin' Drug, pimp, and playa I was in my crib in Barbados Chillin' wit Jada Today the vertex is me the magnanimous Got ya sayin', damn I've always been a fan of his Y'all know how it is Oh wait, hold up y'all don't Look here Y'all don't say nuttin Then I won't" Ultimately, Will gets the last laugh. The bottom line is Will Smith is one of the more well-rounded emcees in the game, and he has a plethora of styles in his arsenal, complimented by an abundance of talent. His globally palatable, innocuous presentation of his brand of Hip-Hop, amidst the incresingly more dominant violent content in gangsta rap, showed the courage, resolve, and tenacity of an eventual Hip-Hop superstar. More important the combination of his skill and integrity makes him ONE OF The TRUE GREATS AMONG ALL EMCEES! Strength: Acting. No accident he got an Oscar nod because he created characters in music. Weakness: Acting. his strength is his weakness. Sometimes his energy doesn't connect with the listener because it doesn't feel sincere. It comes off like he's playing a role, as opposed to coming from his heart. Favorite Record: "Summertime" "Getting Jiggy Wit It" Favorite LP: "Big Willie Style" Statistical Breakdown Out Of 100 Points: Originality Score 80: Will came at a time when he was telling stories, his energy was lighthearted and fun. It was right on the heels of Slick Rick and Doug E. with "La Di Da Di" and a lot of people affiliated that kind of style with what was going on at the time (1986). Concepts Score 80: Will is one of the more conceptual emcees. He made a record of a nightmare on his street, "Twilight Zone". He will go there on the concept side. Versatility Score 90: Will is one of those emcees that can rhyme about anything. He definately takes chances that a lot emcees wouldn't in terms of the styles of rhymes and using his voice like an actor. Vocabulary Score 80: This is unique because Will has an incredible vocabulary and he doesn't choose to use it within the rap. He'll sprinkle it in there now and then, but he's not one of those guys that will hit you with a bunch of high-level vocabulary words back to back. Substance Score 80: Will kept it positive but he also kept it very light. He was always the alternative to what was going on in gangsta rap or hard-core rap. Flow Score 80: Will kept his flow in a cadence that was easy to follow, which makes him one of the best storytellers. That's part and parcel of that type of success. Flavor Score 80: He's an actor. He can absolutely become characters within the rhyme and he uses it in a very flavorful manner. Freestyle Ability 80: I've seen Will at plenty of functions come off the top of the head and because his vocabulary level is high, things that he uses you wouldn't expect him to use in his freestyle. His freestyle is kind of "nasty." Vocal Presence Score 80: He doesn't have a real deep dominating voice, but he has a voice that's recognizable, and he puts a lot of passion into it. Depending on whatever type of record he's trying to bring across, he usually understands how to use his voice. Live performance score 90: One of the best performers. If you caught him older than later. He still does his thing on the live side, and now he understands how to put a show together. He does it more like theatrical performance. That's been one of the consistent themes with him. His whole thing is about performance, and he doesn't let you down onstage either. It was really incredible when he had the beat box combined with Jazzy Jeff. Poetic Value Score 70: Will is one of the most underrated storytellers and he does approach it very poetically. Body Of Work Score 90: Will also does some of the best commercial albums as far as Hip-Hop is concerned. Because the albums are so commercia, a lot of Hip-Hop pundits don't give them their due credit. But Will has definaely made some of the most well-rounded commercial hip-hop records ever. Industry Impact Score 100: The all-time industry impact king. There is nobody in the history of hip-hop that has made an impact in the industry as much as Will. Forget about the movies, forget about the TV show, just on the music alone he's probably the most well-rewarded emcee ever- Grammys, music awards, and Soul Train. Social Impact 70: Will is very much associated with having a good time and positive in the positive role model sense, but not being too heavy in the message sense. Longevity Score 100: From 1986 till now, he has been at a high level in every single he's been involved with. Lyrics Score 70: Will is not the conventional lyricist, but he is a great songwriter. Battle Skills Score 70: He's not associated with battle or conflicting energy, and for the most part he has been taking a lot of criticism a lot of the time and not responding. Based on the way his mind works, if you forced his hand i'm sure he could bring it across. He just never did it. Total Score: 1,390 out 1,700 category points Average Score: 81.7

I'm surprised that Kool Moe Dee said that his favorite album from Will is "Big Willie Style", most people usually say "He's The DJ..." or "Rock The House"

got this book "There's A God On The Mic" a few days ago in the mail from amazon.com with a few other things I ordered including another copy of "Born To Reign" that I wanted, I'm not gonna type the whole book, lol, but here's some of the best parts of it including the chapter on Will plus his introduction and the Chuck D foreward, it's a great read for anyone who claims to be a hip hop fan, he drops knowledge here although the order is debatable and some of these so called critics have slammed it for his order I think most of these emcees are definately top 50 and according to preference any one of them could be the GOAT, and from reading the introduction it's more understandable why he feels the way he does, he's speaking truth and I wanna quote what he says at the end of the book: "Ultimately there is no such thing as the greatest emcee of all time. There is no best ever. Even the title, "number one", is as ephemeral as the seasons in a year. From era to era, the job detail of an emcee changes according to the demands of the industry. However there are level of greatness in most emcees and there are ways to quantify those levels. Even in that the outcome is always subjective and inconclusive." Kool Moe Dee's True 50 Greatest Emcees (Sports Equivalent): 1-Melle Mel(Jackie Robinson/Bill Russell) 2-Rakim(Hank Aaron/Michael Jordan) 3-KRS-ONE(Kareem Abdul-Jabar) 4-Big Daddy Kane(Dominique Wilkins) 5-Kool Moe Dee(Dr. J) 6-Grandmaster Caz(Wilt Chamberlin) 7-LL Cool J(Evander Holyfield/Magic Johnson) 8-Chuck D(Muhammad Ali/Charles Barkley) 9-Notorious BIG(Mike Tyson/ Patrick Ewing) 10-Lauryn Hill(Lisa Leslie) 11-Nas(Kobe Bryant) 12-Queen Latifah(Sheryl Swoops) 13-Tupac Shakur(Allen Iverson/Ken Griffey Jr.) 14-Kool G Rap(Bernard King/Dave Winfield) 15-Jay-Z(Shaq/Donovan Mcnabb) 16-Treach Of Naughty By Nature(Chris Webber) 17-Method Man(Tracy Mcgrady/Derek Jeter) 18-Ice Cube(Karl Malone/Mo Vaughn) 19-MC Lyte(Teresa Witherspoon) 20-Redman(Scottie Pippen/Jerome Bettis) 21-Ras Kass(Jason Kidd) 22-GZA(Kevin Garnett) 23-Will Smith AKA Fresh Prince(Rickey Henderson) 24-Busta Rhymes(Latrell Sprewell) 25-Heavy D(Isiah Thomas) 26-Xzibit(Steve Francis) 27-Common(Eddie Jones) 28-Pharoahe Monch(Vince Carter) 29-Black Thought(Jerry Stackhouse) 30-Scarface(Robert Horry) 31-Kurtis Blow(Walt Frasier) 32-Run Of Run-Dmc(Larry Bird) 33-Snoop Dogg(Lamar Odom) 34-Guru(Ray Allen) 35-Ice-T(Dennis Rodman) 36-Doug E. Fresh(Reggie Miller) 37-Keith Murray(Jalen Rose) 38-Mystical(Antonio Davis) 39-Kurupt (Rasheed Wallace) 40-Slick Rick(Earl Monroe) 41-Big Pun (Larry Johnson) 42-Lil' Kim (Chamique Holdsclaw) 43-MC Shan (Ralph Sampson) 44-Craig Mack (Penny Hardaway) 45-Jeru The Damaja (Charles Oakley) 46-Fat Joe (Anthony Mason) 47-Spoonie Gee (George Gervin) 48-Foxy Brown (Nicky Mccray) 49-Mack 10 (Malik Rose) 50-Just-Ice (Moses Malone) Notable Omissions: Eminem, DMX, Canibus, Mos Def, & Eve for less longevity than most on list, he gives hip hop veterans like MC Hammer, CL Smooth, and Wyclef Jean props sometimes in the book too, also mentions Ja Rule and Nelly the better songwriters of today, acknowledges Pos, Q-Tip, Brother J, and Wu-Tang emcees as being top notch emcees but he couldn't seperate them from their groups like he could with Guru, Chuck D, Run, Treach, Grandmaster Caz, and Black Thought Introduction: ASK A HIP HOP FAN, "Who's The Best EMCEE?", and immediately they begin naming the hottest rappers of the day. Some start naming their favorite records, and maybe quoting a few or more simplistic one-liners or popular hooks that they can sing-a-long with. But if asked the difference between a rapper and an emcee suddenly there's a look of confusion. Or if you ask the difference between a rapper, an emcee and a hip hop artist they won't know what to say. The difference between a lyricist and a flower? A rhymer and a poet? Or any combination of the above and forget it. Rarely what you hear is expertise. I hear a lot of a passion and a lot of emotion but no expertise. Of course music is an emotional vehicle, and it is about emotion and passion and feeling, but it will take a trained ear to be able to hear the emcee. Like in the NBA, the fans get to vote on the All-Star game which is about the favorites, but that's not necessarily who is the best in the league. When it comes to the MVPs and the All-Time greats that's beyond the fans voting. That's where it takes expertise to break down the nuances of the game. One might ask, "What about the journalists?" For the journalists or scibes of the Hip Hop industry there are major problems, three in particular. One is the payoffs and the labels contribution. A lot of fans don't really understand how much money it takes to run a magazine. They may not understand how much money labels, publicists and publicity departments contribute to the writers and what they're paying for. They're literally being paid for their opinions. Usually, as we say in the industry, they're the best opinions money can buy. When you see a favorable opinion it's usually based on who's being marketed or promoted at the time, rarely are these journalists honest. Once in a while the KRS-One's, the Rakim's, the Kool G Rap's, and similar emcees will come alongs that are so lyrical and so great in their prowess that you get some form of honesty, but it's usually not case. Usually it is definately about how much money is being spent to make sure that the artist receives a favorable opinion. Thesecond problem I have is the voting by committee, after all the money is spent creating the images and personae and in many cases record sales theses same writers vote on who's the best of thesecreations. It is amazing to me to see when people spend money to promote an artist as if he's one thing even though his image and his lyrical skill level may not have anything other than you spent money to promote him. People will start to buy into these very highly promoted personas and start to treat the artist as if the personae are an actual real fact. There are a few emcees that mandate the respect based on their skills, but more times than not based on the money spent and image created people are voting on the personnas. A lot of journalists don't have the heart to against the grain of the popular artist at the time. I call this the Godzilla syndrome. You create a fake monster, and then respond as if the monster is real. Welcome to the music industry. The final problem I have has to do with credentials and credibility. What reference point does the journalist use when forming these opinions? How far back did they go? Usually, if you do the numbers and the math you'd see that the average journalist writing on Hip Hop is somewhere between twenty, twenty five, maybe thirty. Which means if you go back ten years ago that person is somewhere between 10-15. So if you were 10 in 1993 that means you missed 14 years of recorded Hip Hop and another nine years of unrecorded Hip Hop. So your opinion has to be formed on a combination of other writings and other opinions you've seen over the years, or the short window of information that you may have on Hip Hop based on how old you were when you were able to experience it and comprehend what was going on. This is a very big problem in the industry because this is how you see a situation where an icon in Hip Hop like Afrika Bambaataa or DJ Hollywood goes unrecognised for his contribution because the person who is 10 years old in 1993 is born in 1983, he doesn't really know. Finally, like rap fans, there are few experts, and of the few experts that are even fewer that go beyond hit records and hot artists. So then one would ask, "Why me?" What makes me so different? What seperates me from the pack? What seperates me from the pact of opinionated fans, artists and scribes- allow me to count the ways. First off I have extended experience. I've been rhyming at a high level since 1977, and at an elite level since 1979. I'm one of the few artists who was able to make the transition from the street era before there was records, to when they finally made records, to when it became a full out business. I have hits as a group, I have hits as a soloist, and a writer. I've been making hits since 1980 to 1992. I've been undefeated in all Hip Hop battles. I'm the first rapper to win an NAACP Image Award, and also a multi-Grammy nominated and Grammy winner. Number two, there's no payola, no one can buy my opinion. My integrity will not be compromised by popularity. I have nothing vested in this other than passion for clarity, and to give acknowledgement and recognition to those who usually don't get it. Finally, no one to my knowledge has comprised a more extensive list with the intricacies of breaking down so many aspects of emceeing. Because of my experience or intimate understanding of the aspects of emceeing that are usually overlooked when determining whose the best emcee in the game, I can break down emcees from the past to present with a clear understanding of the different jobrequirements of each era of emcees. I absolutely know the difference of what a storytelling emcee is going for as opposed to what a braggadocios emcee is going for. I can thoroughly explain why Missy Misdemeanor Elliot is not a great emcee as lyrical as Cannibus can be relatively unknown because hasn't had a hit record, yet he's still one of the best rhymers in the game today. I understand this is a business and emcees, rappers, and artists all have to make hits to survive, but as with most big business it is always solely about the money, and whenever that's the case then usually the art is compromised. So big respect and much love to all of the successful rappers and Hip Hop artists, but this book is about the emcee. Let's get crackin'. Chuck D's Foreword: IN THE RECORDED HISTORY OF BLACK MUSIC, and we're talking about 80 some-odd years since jazzcat Freddie keppard refused to be recorded because he thought that those listening would steal his licks, myth, and folklore often loom above and beyond actual fact. Sounds and styles, fights and games have been reignited within the hallowed halls, walls, and floors of the unofficial meeting centers of the hood, i.e., the street corners, poolrooms, and barber shops. The music debates have run a distant second or third to the sports debates there, but in the last twenty years rap music and Hip-Hop have given the sports debates a good run for their money. Out of the element that often combined the skill of the fast talking pimp with the power of the preacher and the wit of the comedian diggin' deep into the dozens, the rappers initially commanded the attention of distracted black male public. Nothing against the ladies, but they almost always preffered to be sung to, and if a so-called emcee got her attention, it was because he played the popular singer's song as a DJ, or most likely carefully rhymed across it so as to not turn the girls off. Still, this perceived bragging and boasting out of the box, in essence, was the black male cry that positioned itself parallel to the testosterone fueled sonics them heavy metal white cats were doing in rock music. By rap music's first recorded era from 1979-1984, a flood of rhymers set off across music snatching up every sonic bed available on record to put their over. From this period, innovators either shaped their ideas off the party thing that was closely connected to the DJ aspect of the music, or set upon new paths that redefined on a steady basis what this art form could potentially do. Kool Mo Dee is an example of the latter. Besides being a Hall of Fame rapper(whilst there's no hall of fame, yet...help), he introduced to the genre the first rap scientist. A scientist in the same way that n sports Ted Williams broke down the science of hitting, or Jordan the art of basketball, Kool Mo Dee dissected this art form when most were questioning what it was or how long it would be around. As debuted on Harlem record legend Bobby Robinson's 12-inch Enjoy Records label as a b-side to fellow Harlemite Spoony Gee's "Love Rap" A-side, his group, The Treacherous Three, cut a psycho, double-speed, rap classic called "A New Rap Language." This record served as testament to the analysis of cohorts Special K and LA Sunshine, raising the verbal bar, and simply doing what no one else would've thought of. Contrary to folklore, a lot of emcees were wack back then too, even more so than today because many didn't have a blueprint to build their thing off of. As the T3 ripped through their unparalled period, 1980-83, moving eventually to Sugarhill Records, their skill legacy rivaled them as Rolling Stonish to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's Beatlesque Hip-Hop dominance. Back then the streets had no name, and nobody was measuring the cred after the radio stopped playing the uptown sounds as much as the next new thing that was coming out of Whodini's Brooklyn and Run-DMC's Queens. Mo Dee was keeping track of this. And while this new sound came in, it was also the unofficial word that four years rapping records and twenty-two years of age would signify being set out to a rap pasture, so to speak. Mo challenged this by wrapping up his college degree at the State University of Old Westbury in Long Island, New York- another first that Mo and I shared in 1984, the year that rappers graduated from college. I first met Kool Mo Dee in the beginning of what was an unprecedented first, a Hip Hop comeback. It was an act added on to a southern run of the 1987 Def Jam tour with Whodini, Doug E. Fresh, Eric B. and Rakim, and LL Cool J, the headliner. We had chatted briefly in Columbus, Georgia, where I befriended his DJ, a cool cat by the name of Easy Lee. Later we kicked it and ate lunch in the back of a hot limo while doing some radio promotion for Mid-South Coliseum gig in Memphis. Mo Dee had just released his first album on Jive Records and was four years past his roasting of fellow New Yorker Busy Bee in a battle that was recorded and sold as one of the areas most famous Hip-Hop tapes ever. By this time rap was starting to be watched by major record labels as album-viable, and artists were building on diversity as opposed to the battle thing that required directing skills. Plus, the real fact is that no rapper wanted to rub Kool Mo Dee's legend the wrong way, no one. This didn't stop KMD from doing a scientific analysis of the rhyme terrain he was re-entering. Behind those super rap-hero shades was a calculating mind stirring pot he was gonna dip into. Mo Dee's album inner sleeve consisted of a rapper's report card, list skill breakdowns, and calculating a final grade from A to F. This was two to three years before The Source. He was saying that you might be signed by a big record company, you may have millions of adoring fans, cats might dig you in the streets, but now we gonna break it down plain and simple....JUST HOW GOOD CAN YOU RAP? I was just glad that PE made the list. I was very happy to get a B- and work hard from there. I was just honored he took the time to listen. Fast forward to post-millenium 2004, past the classic Kool Mo Dee-LL Cool J battles, a third comeback in records and film, Kool Mo takes the obvious next step after what his report-card intiated in the mid-eighties: he's full-blown-out as an author, which should serve his vast mind as a playing field for many works to come. (Hello? Television and DVDs?) The research is twenty-five years thicknow. Hip-Hop and rap music being so worldwide has the bottom line of it said and signed by many cats who never rhymed the game. In sports, former players become coaches and managers, sportscasters and writers. In Hip-Hop the comparison of Hip-Hop contributors and say-soers to the art is akin to the rings of the planet Saturn. You think the rings are part of it, but the closer you get, you find out that they're not really a part of it all, just debris floating around it. I can't bite this analogy because this too comes from Mo Dee's analytical mind. Its about time the masters write some of the script about this thing called rap. We talk many a night on the phone about the sate of the rap game, and how the unknowing can perceive these calls as Wilt Chamberlainish-hating on the new game. Oh so gar from the truth, indeed. This is an introduction to recognize the beauty of the genre, from the past twenty five years, so...ladies and gentlemen-the True 50 Greatest MCs ever-coming from one of the best that ever rhymed it. Elements Of An MC: Originality: How original is the MC? Did the MC create anything or bring anything new to the game that wasn't there before? Concepts: Rewards MCs for their ability to paint pictures and concepts that are multi-dimensional, and who conceptualize on an album, or during their career. Versatility: Rewards artists that have a range of work that varies and who experiment with their rhymes. Vocabulary: An artist must be able to utilize vocabulary, and that doesn't mean that you have to constantly inundate the audience with big words, but as Big Daddy Kane once said, "It's alright to send someone to the dictionary every now and then." Substance: Rewards MCs whose albums have some kind of social relevance or meaning. Flow: Flow has a lot to do with syncopation, how an artist's cadence flows in and out of multiple records, beats, or tempos. Those artists who are most versatile with their flow, or that have a flow that absolutely sucks people in get higher scores. Flavor: This is about an artist's ability to break out, have fun, and have some kind of signature energy to their rhyme style. Freestyle: This rates an MCs ability to be able to come off the top of their head with thymes, spontaneously, on any given subject. Vocal Presence: This category looks at how recognizable an artists voice is the moment someone hears it on a record. Live Performance: Lots of MCs make great records, lots of MCs travel around and do rhymes, but when it comes down to doing a performance live, lots of MCs fall short. Poetic Value: A lot of MCs rhyme, but don't add poetic value where the metaphor itself is a story within the metaphor is actually profound. Body Of Work: Based on the sum total of the artists work and the level of excellence in that work. Industry Impact: Industry impact has to do with Grammys, music awards, radio airplay, and all the things that the 'streets' frowned on at one point, but was very, very necessary for the hip-hop game to become the integral part of the music business that it is now. Social Impact: Recognizes and rewards artists who try to better the community, better the environment, and better the country. Longevity: Recognizes thoses who can last long in the chaos and confusion known as the music business. Lyrics: Lyrics, otherwise known as an MCs paradise, are the reason all MCs started rhyming, it's the essence of the MC. Battle skills: Battle skills are about the combination of wit and attack. Attack and set yourself up as the pinnacle, and create threats. It has to do with not only lyrical skills, but also the ability to be witty, funny, and to insult. Comments On Will Smith(As I'm reading the book I notice how he actually writes more highly about Will than some of the emcees ranked ahead of him, even on some of the category he gives a lower score on there's a positive comment being made, FP's clearly one of Kool Moe Dee's favorites, I'd love to see another JJFP/Kool Moe Dee collab besides the "Wild Wild West", he likes JJFP better as a group than Run-Dmc and like a lot of us fans here he likes Will better as an emcee than an actor): "THE UNSUNG HERO" "Here it is, a groove, slightly transformed Just a bit of a break from the norm Just a little bit some'n to break the monotany Of all that hardcore dance that has gotten to be A little bit out of control It's cool to dance But what about a groove that soothes And moves romance Gimme a soft subtle mix And if it ain't broke Then don't try to fix it And think of the summers of the past Adjust the bass and let the alpine blast Pop in my c.d. and let me run a rhyme And put your car on cruise And lay back 'cause this is summertime" Will Smith, AKA, THE FRESH PRINCE, is probably the most underrated emcee in Hip-Hop history! Outside of Hammer, one of the greatest entertainers in Hip-Hop history, Will Smith was one of the most verbally ridiculed emcees of the late '80s to the early '90s. He was called soft, corny, weak, unskilled, and most inaccurately unreal. Ironically, it's his sincerity that pushed his career over the top. (That plus a couple of hit movies!) It was always amazing to me how the Hip-Hop climate picked and chose who they would deem cool or uncool, real or unreal, slick or corny, etc. Will hit the scene in 1986 with the record "Girls of the World Ain't Nothing But Trouble." It was a happy-go-lucky, upbeat song about a teenage boy having problems dating. The approach was humorous and innocent. The record made an impact, and Will sold a lot of records. As the industry goes, he began to do some moderate touring because of the heat generated by the song. His live show was stellar for that time. He had a human beat box, Ready Rock C, who was famous for stimulating, doing the beat box under water; he had back-up dancers; and for the coup de grace, DJ Jazzy Jeff, one of, if not the greatest DJ of all time. Everything was great until they came to New York, and for whatever reason, the audience was non-responsive. In fact, they cheered Jeff and booed Will. The backlash of criticism began. What was most ironic to me at the time was Run-DMC was king, and Will and Jeff were better than them. That's when we figured out how subjective the audience was. Kid Rock was cool until Vanilla Ice came; Hammer was reviled and Puffy was revered for doing basically the same thing; and Jazzy and the Fresh Prince made more simplistic, less fantastical records than most rappers at the time, yet they were called unreal. A couple of years later, using the template by Will, Special Ed dropped "I Got It Made" and was loved for it. Once again, Ed's song was much more obviously unreal, but the audience loved it. However, Will persevered and by the mid-'90s, he had numerous Grammys, music award, a hit TV show, and a couple of hit movies under his belt. By the late '90s he'd become the absolute biggest Hip-Hop star in Hip-Hop history. At this point everybody got a late pass. Will was now not only understood, but he was respected and appreciated for his ability to stick to his authenticity and weather the critical storm. However, what's still overlooked is his skill level as an emcee. Contrary to popular belief, Will's success in music is not driven by his stardom, it's because of his skills. Of course, being a star helps him in the marketing and promotion of his music, but he sustained his career by being an excellent songwriter. Will Smith is the example I use when I'm talking about song structure. Every single record that Will makes is always thematically solid. Every rhyme is chohesively connected to the hook, and sometimes from rhyme to rhyme and verse to verse there is continuity that's like a continuum. One verse picks up where the other leaves off. Another one of Will's strengths, which was ironically looked at as a weakness, was his ability to create and become different characters. This, to me, enhanced his storytelling ability. He was able to paint pictures with his stories by using his vocal inflections as an array of characters. In this regard Will is second only to Slick Rick and Notorious B.I.G. I think this was viewed as a weakness because of the climate of Hip-Hop when Will first hit. He took chances on conveying a lighter, fun-loving energy at a time when Hip-Hop was just being introduced to NWA. This brings me to my final point. I call Will the "unsung hero" because in 1988, I don't think the average Hip-Hop fan understood the climate for Hip-Hop, especially with regard to rap music. The industry had been prophesying the downfall of rap music since its inception, due to what they deemed to be a fad with no mass appeal. In 1988, Run-Dmc were fading and we had no presence on the pop charts. While Hip-Hop artists were yelling, "Stay true to the game," and "Make records for the streets," no one understood how important it was to have a Hip-Hop pop record. The only record made a dent in this area was my "Wild Wild West," but it was viewed more as an R&B record, and although it helped bring the urban adult crowd into hip-hop, we still needed "middle white America." LL Cool J dropped "Going Back To Cali" but it seemed a little too avant grade. However in April, Will came through with "Parents Just Don't Understand" and struck the perfect chord. It grabbed the attention of the kids in suburbia, and began to outsell major pop records. This record, plus my "Wild Wild West", which I'll explain later, led to a chain of events that basically saved Hip-hop/rap music. First it got massive pop radio airplay, which led to him getting his perfectly crafted cartoon-like video on MTV. Remember MTV didn't play rap videos, and Run-Dmc only got some play because of their rock element. Shortly after Will's successful video run, Yo! MTV Raps created, and rap videos now had a mainstream outlet. Finally, the Grammy committee announced that there would be a rap category to the awards ceremony. The year ended with Will having a double platinum album, and the following February he was the first rapper ever to receive a Grammy! Without these events, I very seriously doubt that Hip-Hop/rap music would have turned into the billion-dollar industry that we see today. What's really crazy is as significant as all of these events were to the survival of Hip-Hop, they were the very things Will was being criticized for. What's equally incredible is how he took it with style and grace. He never took any public shots at any of his critics. He humbly defended himself and continued to make hits. However, in 1998, he finally got some of this off his chest on his "Big Willie Style" album: "Take ya place, allow me to flex a taste As my accomplishments spraying my comp like mace A' face me the star of stature TV My face be seen in every country Grammy winner soon to be Oscar nominee Who he that dress Jiggy Straight from West Philly Thought I was wack 'Cause I wanted to act Now every brotha-n-his mother That rap be tryin' to do that The ill kid hundred million dollar bill kid The one you love to chill wit Come on keep it real kid Don't try to act like this summer at the Greek You won't be bumpin' Big Willie In ya jeep I know y'all still feel me Really don't act silly Thought I feel off just because I left Philly Took a break from the rap thing Went on hiatus, I picked up the art of acting To multiply papers I chilled on sick sofa's Chatting wit Oprah She asked me if it's true That me and Jeff broke up While y'all kids busy playin' Drug, pimp, and playa I was in my crib in Barbados Chillin' wit Jada Today the vertex is me the magnanimous Got ya sayin', damn I've always been a fan of his Y'all know how it is Oh wait, hold up y'all don't Look here Y'all don't say nuttin Then I won't" Ultimately, Will gets the last laugh. The bottom line is Will Smith is one of the more well-rounded emcees in the game, and he has a plethora of styles in his arsenal, complimented by an abundance of talent. His globally palatable, innocuous presentation of his brand of Hip-Hop, amidst the incresingly more dominant violent content in gangsta rap, showed the courage, resolve, and tenacity of an eventual Hip-Hop superstar. More important the combination of his skill and integrity makes him ONE OF The TRUE GREATS AMONG ALL EMCEES! Strength: Acting. No accident he got an Oscar nod because he created characters in music. Weakness: Acting. his strength is his weakness. Sometimes his energy doesn't connect with the listener because it doesn't feel sincere. It comes off like he's playing a role, as opposed to coming from his heart. Favorite Record: "Summertime" "Getting Jiggy Wit It" Favorite LP: "Big Willie Style" Statistical Breakdown Out Of 100 Points: Originality Score 80: Will came at a time when he was telling stories, his energy was lighthearted and fun. It was right on the heels of Slick Rick and Doug E. with "La Di Da Di" and a lot of people affiliated that kind of style with what was going on at the time (1986). Concepts Score 80: Will is one of the more conceptual emcees. He made a record of a nightmare on his street, "Twilight Zone". He will go there on the concept side. Versatility Score 90: Will is one of those emcees that can rhyme about anything. He definately takes chances that a lot emcees wouldn't in terms of the styles of rhymes and using his voice like an actor. Vocabulary Score 80: This is unique because Will has an incredible vocabulary and he doesn't choose to use it within the rap. He'll sprinkle it in there now and then, but he's not one of those guys that will hit you with a bunch of high-level vocabulary words back to back. Substance Score 80: Will kept it positive but he also kept it very light. He was always the alternative to what was going on in gangsta rap or hard-core rap. Flow Score 80: Will kept his flow in a cadence that was easy to follow, which makes him one of the best storytellers. That's part and parcel of that type of success. Flavor Score 80: He's an actor. He can absolutely become characters within the rhyme and he uses it in a very flavorful manner. Freestyle Ability 80: I've seen Will at plenty of functions come off the top of the head and because his vocabulary level is high, things that he uses you wouldn't expect him to use in his freestyle. His freestyle is kind of "nasty." Vocal Presence Score 80: He doesn't have a real deep dominating voice, but he has a voice that's recognizable, and he puts a lot of passion into it. Depending on whatever type of record he's trying to bring across, he usually understands how to use his voice. Live performance score 90: One of the best performers. If you caught him older than later. He still does his thing on the live side, and now he understands how to put a show together. He does it more like theatrical performance. That's been one of the consistent themes with him. His whole thing is about performance, and he doesn't let you down onstage either. It was really incredible when he had the beat box combined with Jazzy Jeff. Poetic Value Score 70: Will is one of the most underrated storytellers and he does approach it very poetically. Body Of Work Score 90: Will also does some of the best commercial albums as far as Hip-Hop is concerned. Because the albums are so commercia, a lot of Hip-Hop pundits don't give them their due credit. But Will has definaely made some of the most well-rounded commercial hip-hop records ever. Industry Impact Score 100: The all-time industry impact king. There is nobody in the history of hip-hop that has made an impact in the industry as much as Will. Forget about the movies, forget about the TV show, just on the music alone he's probably the most well-rewarded emcee ever- Grammys, music awards, and Soul Train. Social Impact 70: Will is very much associated with having a good time and positive in the positive role model sense, but not being too heavy in the message sense. Longevity Score 100: From 1986 till now, he has been at a high level in every single he's been involved with. Lyrics Score 70: Will is not the conventional lyricist, but he is a great songwriter. Battle Skills Score 70: He's not associated with battle or conflicting energy, and for the most part he has been taking a lot of criticism a lot of the time and not responding. Based on the way his mind works, if you forced his hand i'm sure he could bring it across. He just never did it. Total Score: 1,390 out 1,700 category points Average Score: 81.7

Naughty By Nature "Naughty By Nature Featuring Garden State Greats: The Mixtape", this just came out this week, thank god there's still some real hip hop out there, my favorite songs on here are "Respect", "Gotta Lotta"(the video for this single's on Youtube), "Kill Tha Beat", & "Heavy In My Chevy" http://www.livemixtapes.com/mixtapes/12407/naughty_by_nature_featuring_garden_state_greats.html

Fresh Prince & Elephant Man "Switch" (Reggae Remix)

Gangstarr "Moment Of Truth"

2Pac "If I Die Tonight" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAMgSUgtAAw Hard to believe he's been passed away 14 years already

Papoose "You Live & Learn"

LL Cool J Feat. The Dream "Baby"

R. Kelly "Slow Dance"

Rest In Peace

Afrika Bambataa "Planet Rock"

2Pac "F*** The World"