bigted

Jay-Z Feat. Blackstreet "The City Is Mine", this is when I was feeling Jay-Z, he don't flow like this no more

I haven't liked most of Jay-Z' stuff since the late '90s, if you compare him to most of today's radio rappers he looks great but when you start comparing him to the great ones like LL Cool J and Fresh Prince he comes off inconsistant

"Exit 13" might not have sold one million copies in it's first week like Lil' Wayne's album did but it's more quality music than Lil' Wayne's career put together, LL don't have to worry about competing with Lil' Wayne or even Jay-Z for that matter

Kool Moe Dee "Can U Feel It"

IS JAY-Z TALKING SLICK ABOUT LL COOL J? Jay-Z had this to say about his longevity in the game in his cover story in Rolling Stone Mag. He said, "One of the reasons I wanted to make Blueprint 3 was because of the challenge. We've seen people like LL Cool J have longevity, and we respect the heritage of what he's done, but it's not like, right now, he's competing on the same level as Lil Wayne. So for me to still be able to compete at that level at my age, that's rarefied air. It's never been done." He added, "I think the problem with people, as they start to mature, they say, 'Rap is a young man's game,' and they keep trying to make young songs. But you don't know the slang - it changes every day. You can visit the topic, but these young kids live it every day, and you're just visiting. So you're trying to be something you're not, and the audience doesn't buy into that. And people wonder why. 'I made a great Southern bounce song!' You're from New York, and you're 70! Why are you bouncing?" IS THIS A DISS? If it is, I think Jay may need a reminder...

Eric B. & Rakim "Paid In Full"

50 Cent "I Get Money"

Well there's gonna be a mixtape called 'Stop Offshore Drilling!' like that article said so that's a step in the right direction, Drake ain't the most talented and positive rapper but I give him credit

(AllHipHop News) Rapper Drake has teamed with organizations Green The Block and The Hip-Hop Caucus to help promote a cleaner green environment. Drake is slated to perform tomorrow (June 13th) during the “Stop The Off Shore Drilling” rally being held at the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. The partnership between Drake, Green The Block and The Hip-Hop Caucus started when the organizations joined Drake on his “Campus Consciousness Tour” and witnessed the rapper’s commitment to a green lifestyle first hand. Drake aims to educate fans about the importance of keeping the environment clean, especially in the wake of the BP oil disaster. “Every where you turn, pollution and poverty are hurting our communities,” Drake said. “We can change that. Going green is the solution. I’m green on my tour, I am greenin’ block and you can too. It’s easier than you think.” The collective will also protest BP and the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which started on April 20th and has been leaking over 1 million gallons of oil into the Gulf per-day. So far, the leak has ruined vast stretches of coastal areas and marsh lands in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The Hip-Hop Caucus and Green The Block will protest the oil spill and the oil industry as a whole, on a new upcoming mixtape titled Stop Offshore Drilling!, which will be released tomorrow. Drake’s highly anticipated album Thank Me Later is due in stores on June 15th.

Fashawn's "Ode To Illmatic" Mixtape goes hard!!! http://www.livemixtapes.com/mixtapes/11944/fashawn_ode_to_illmatic.html

Will Smith Feat. Brian Mcknight "Just The Two Of Us"(Remix)

That sounds awesome, I'm happy for ya Jim!!

JJFP "Boom! Shake The Room" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ_b0MBVLWA

Public Enemy "Gotta Give The Peeps What They Need"

http://vibe.com/content/vibe-exclusive-dj-premier-breaks-down-gang-starr-page-1 Full Clip: DJ Premier Gives Backstory On Entire Gang Starr Catalog VIBE.COM By: kmurphy Posted 5-27-2010 1:16 pm As DJ Premier battles it out with fellow larger-than-life rap icon Dr. Dre in VIBE’s Greatest Hip-Hop Producer Of All-Time, the majestic beat visionary behind Gang Starr details the making of the entire studio album catalogue by the landmark duo—prominently fronted by venerable late lyricist Guru. Through groundbreaking musical statements, fist-fights, break-ups and unlikely commercial triumphs, the legacy of Gang Starr lives on. This is hip hop history.—Keith Murphy No More Mr. Nice Guy (1989) What comes to mind during that time was my amateur production skills [laughs]. I didn’t fully produce this album. Three of the songs The 45 King produced before even I joined the group. Then the ones I did produce, [including the single “Manifest”], I didn’t really have an understanding of how to make a record. So Guru and Slomo Sonnenfeld, who was the engineer at Such-A-Sound studios in Brooklyn, would help me put the SP-12 together. Guru and I would hit some snare sounds and Slomo would say, “Put the high hats like this.” And then I would throw in something and make it turn a certain way. Like Guru used to say, that was our early regiment because I wasn’t fully aware of the recording and production process. But those were some great times. Guru and I would catch the bus to the studio together. I remember the day I walked into the studio to cut the first record with Gang Starr I tried to fist fight the engineer. I flew from Dallas to New York with my turntable coffin and I’m like, “Yeah, so where can I set up?” And Slomo said, “Oh, you’re not setting that up today.” And I’m like, “Mother****er, this is how I make my beats!” They had to chill me out like, “Yo, this is not how we make records. You can lay it down on tape.” To this day, I only do my scratches on the last day of recording. Step In The Arena (1991) On the first album, I brought in a demo with just me repeating the drums over-and-over on one record and then I would start cutting up the records. I didn’t know the process of using a drum machine and trimming it straight to tape. But Step In The Arena is where I started to do the production all by myself. The music started sounding the way Guru and I really wanted it to sound. There was more sampling and more musical concepts. Once I learned the process vs. by way of doing demos on a four-track, I knew the concept of how to lay a beat and make songs. With arrangements, I always had that down, but Step In The Arena is really my first all-production…just straight beats. You could hear our confidence growing. Daily Operation (1992) By now I was establishing the Gang Starr sound. My confidence level was 100 percent to where I was like, bring on anybody. I’ll take them all on! Before this album, I was getting a few calls from other artists to work with me. KRS-One reached out, but I was like, “Nah, I’m not ready yet.” I thought Kris was too large of an icon for me to even think that I could pull off an album with him. I was too nervous. But when he reached out after Daily Operation I said, “Ok, I’ll do it.” I did so many songs with other artists after that album. We blew up big after Daily Operation. But we wanted to please the audience that already loved us as we were. That was always a conscious effort on both of our parts. And that’s the reason why Guru started doing the Jazzmatazz albums to protect Gang Starr from being pigeonholed as jazz rap. Guru used to hate being called that so much [laughs]. Hard To Earn (1994) By this time, people were saying that I only used jazz samples. And that was cool early on because I used a lot of the jazz records to be different. Everyone else was sampling James Brown and Parliament, including myself at times, so much so that we started running out of the ill funky beats. But people started to over-emphasize the jazz samples and not listen to how dope Gang Starr’s sound was and how we converted it to hard beats. So I said, “You know what? On Hard To Earn I’m going to completely strip it down and use space sounds, helicopters or whatever, just to show it doesn’t matter what I use. And it’s going to be hard.” That’s what I did purposely to prove a point on songs like “Tonz O’ Gonz” and “Mass Appeal.” Moment Of Truth (1998) As I said before, this was the most emotional album for both of us. I had actually left the group before Moment Of Truth came out. We were not getting along over stupid ****. I just pretty much said, “Yo, I’m out of here,” so we put the album on hold. But it never got out to the press that I had bounced. At that time Guru was going through his gun trial and he was facing a five-year bid, so we thought he was going away for a long time. That’s when I called Guru and said, “I want to do this.” After we made up, people were telling me that we weren’t going to be able to tour. They just wanted to get the album out there while he did his bid. I remember when they read all the [not-guilty] verdicts and everything…it was just crazy. I also remember the day we recorded the [title track] for Moment of Truth. Just looking at the emotions in Guru’s eyes doing the vocals to “Moment of Truth”…he was really nervous that he would be found guilty. “JFK 2 LAX” was a true story. And with “The Next Time,” I made that record the day my accountant passed away. She was someone who was a major part of my life. When she died, that ****ed me up. The sample almost makes you want to cry because that was the mood I was in. It’s still an emotional song for me to this day. And it’s one of my favorite recordings, period. Moment of Truth ended up becoming our biggest album. Guru would say, “All I want is a gold album.” We finally got it with this one. The Ownerz (2003) We had one of the dopest staffs at our label Virgin, but they all got fired when Mariah Carey’s Glitter failed. That made them get rid of a lot of people. Before that, Virgin would always let us do whatever we wanted. We always picked our own singles and the sequence of the album. We always did the gutter street song first, followed by the radio record, a follow-up single and then the tour. That was our routine every year. But when it came down to The Ownerz, we had to switch over to an all-new staff. And the crazy thing is our new urban music president was the same guy who produced Rob Thomas and Matchbox 20. Dude was two years younger than me! He didn’t put his foot down and let Gang Starr do what we usually did. We disagreed on the choice of singles and I started purposely being an asshole and not answering the phone. I would call up to the Virgin offices talking **** like, “Yo man, you better call me! [laughs].” Part of that was that I always held down Guru. His spirit knows that I’ve always been there to hold him down whatever we were dealing with. I didn’t mind being the spokesperson. We had to get out of that situation. But the legacy of Gang Starr was too big to destroy. We matter to the fans. We matter too much to hip hop.—As told to Keith Murphy http://www.vibe.com/content/dj-premier-opens-about-gurus-death-solar-gang-starr-reunion-more DJ Premier Opens Up About Guru's Death, Solar, Gang Starr Reunion & More VIBE.COM By: Vibe Posted 4-28-2010 9:26 am DJ Premier wants the truth to come out. After days of questions surrounding the death of his former Gang Starr partner Guru (who died after a long bout with cancer), the respected producer is setting the record straight. From his thoughts on Guru’s controversial associate Solar and rumors of his old friend’s sexuality to his strained relationship with the man born Keith Elam and the future of Gang Starr, a candid Premier didn't hold anything back. —Keith Murphy VIBE: Do you feel like your relationship with Guru has been misrepresented by Solar? DJ Premier: Well, I’ve always held down Guru… His spirit knows this. He used to get upset about so much stuff when we were dealing with the label all the time. We both would be upset. But I would take the calls because when he was upset he would flip [Laughs], where you might not be able to handle him when he’s wilding out. With me, although I had a temper, I was much calmer about it. But I always remember whenever I would tell him, “Yo Guru, don’t worry about it, they are going to take care of it,” he would be happy as ****. He would be like, “Yo, let’s go out for a drink.” He was the go-out king. That was his routine. He was definitely a celebratory guy. Anyone from our era knows that Guru was in every club and every bar and every spot. He could go all night, all day. And he would never be tired! When was the last time you spoke to Guru? It was March 30, 2004. April 1 was the last email I received from him and I just found it in my computer. We were pretty much going at it about him straightening his life up with the drinking and everything… just getting himself together. Because talent wise, drinking or sober, he was always on point in the lab. He could lay down his vocals with no problem and he always wrote his rhymes dope. When he wrote his rhymes on page they were so messy [Laughs]. I used to ask him, “How can you even recite the verses and flow?” He would be in the booth turning the paper upside down while he’s still rhyming and without having to punch in. Was there ever a time when you felt Gang Starr was going to break up during your successful run in the ‘90s? Yes. That was with the Moment of Truth album, which was the most emotional album for both of us. I had actually left the group before that album came out. I’ve never really told that story, but even Guru knew although he’s not here to defend that—but I had left the group. We were not getting along over stupid **** so I straight up said, “I’m out of here.” He was going through his gun trial and facing a five-year bid. I have to thank our tour manager who I went to college with and who is a major part of my life to this day. Even with his own problems with Guru, he was like, “Yo man, you need to go back to him. Y'all were meant to be a duo, man.” Then the trial was about to happen and I called Guru and said, “I want to do this.” We made up, everything was cool and I went to his trial everyday with his parents and our Gang Starr lawyer and our criminal lawyer. We were there every day. Guru was so scared that he could have gone to jail for five years, so that’s why that whole time was very emotional. I had just had a major death in my family. I was not really focused. I just remember our lawyer telling us, “If Guru goes to jail, you are going to have to promote the album by yourself.” That entire time was crazy. How ironic was it that the Moment of Truth ended up becoming your first gold album? Guru used to always say from every album, “All I want is a gold album…we deserve it; we are as hot as all these platinum artists.” So when we got that one he was the happiest guy in the world. He even designed the gold plaque. I remember we spent almost $10,000 on buying plaques for everybody that we knew deserved one [Laughs]. There was a DJ who taught me how to scratch—I brought him one; I brought my parents, my sisters, all my friends who was hanging with us from day one. That’s real talk. That’s why that album is so special. What kind of sense did you get of the future of Gang Starr from your conversations with Guru? It was pretty much stay focused on getting your life together. Everybody knows he had a history of drinking. That was no secret. But he had cut down some. He was getting it together, but he kept going back to it. His attitude could switch from being the funniest guy, joking around to just flipping out. But we were so used to him after all these years that we just dealt with it. What are your favorite memories of Guru beyond the music? Besides the music and the tours, I lived with him from ’88 to ’93. That’s a lot of years to live together. Everything would come through our house… wild parties every night. We lived that rock-and-roll lifestyle and weren’t even going platinum. We were making steady money because we did a lot of shows, but we lived that rock lifestyle to the fullest. You look at any rock group that had all the girls and the wildness, we did that. It was like college. There would be liquor bottles almost a mile long still in the house, some of them half empty. Guru was the type of dude who would get up, hold it up to the light to make sure there were no ashes in it and guzzle it the next day. [Group Home member] used to hide pizza in the dishwasher so no one would take his food. We used to be together in Brooklyn all the time. We would run around with guns and stuff, acting like we [were] fly. We were aiming the guns at each other like idiots [Laughs]. Now that’s crazy… Yeah. It was dumb **** like that, but you laugh at it now because those were the ****ing days. We had the party house, which was Brandford Marsalis’ house on Washington Ave. Cypress Hill was at our house before they even came out with “How I Could Just Kill A Man” video. They had just come to New York to meet up with Ice Cube. Easy Mo B would tell you, RZA would tell you… He was there before the Wu-Tang Clan. We met Biggie around that time before he had a record deal. Puff used to come to Brooklyn to come scoop him up to go to the studio and BIG was frustrated because he was stressing to get money. We would be on the corner smoking and drinking with BIG everyday. It would be me, Guru, Big Shug and Dap, who I remember had the biggest crush on Lil’ Kim and this is before she was even rhyming. We used to trade porno flicks with BIG’s man Mr. Cee on the way to the weed spot. Everybody would be in there blazing, drinking and girls, girls, girls would be there all the time. URBAN LEGEND: HIP-HOP'S 13 WILDEST CONSPIRACY THEORIES What do you make of the rumors that Guru was gay because of the close relationship he had with Solar? Like I just said, I don’t believe it. All these little rumors about Guru and some other ****… it can’t be. Because he had too many women. How hurtful was it that one person could destroy someone’s legacy the way Solar has? It hurts. But that’s based on the fact that none of the things being said are true. Just from the amount of work we have put in… We talking about almost 18 years. That’s a long time. If we didn’t make history, maybe I could deal with it a different way. But we made history together and he was alive to see it. Guru was able to get two gold albums; he was able to do the Jazzmatazz album. So everything that we gained makes you think, “You mean to tell me you are going to blow it all away and act like that’s not an important part of what made us who we are?” With a silly ass letter like that??? When you say ‘Ex-DJ’ where is my name at? Because there are two other DJ’s that was DJing with Guru besides me. There was Doo Wop and Shawn Ski, who was our backup DJ when I had to go back to college. He always held us down. Calling me the ex-DJ doesn’t mean anything to me. Why don’t you just say Christopher Martin? Do you think the letter was written by Solar? Well, I would love to see that letter. I would love to see the handwriting. Because I know Guru’s handwriting like the back of my hand with all the bills we had to pay together. I know it’s not him. Have you been in touch with Guru’s family? I talk to them all the time. His father, his sister Patricia; the only one I haven’t spoken to is his younger sister. But they all know me well. His brother Harry… They all know me. And they know this is all some bull****. They been a little separated from Guru once he decided to move off of Gang Starr. He got distant from everybody. It had been six years since I talked to him. I was trying to get the truth about whether he was in the hospital after he had the cardiac arrest. I called his parents. Guru’s mother and my mother were pen pals for a long time. I remember the day he had the cardiac arrest. I called the house and I heard Guru’s father’s voice like “Chris…Man, it’s good to hear your voice.” Now if he had some strange feeling about me he would have been like, “Son, I can’t talk to you right now.” But that wasn’t the case. It felt so good speaking to him. I was able to get the real deal of what was going on. They know me well enough to know that I’m not some stranger that needs information to be held back from me. Why do I have to make it up? I don’t have an agenda. Who is handling the Gang Starr estate? I have all kinds of Gang Starr ****, but you don’t see me putting nothing out. I’m not selling T-shirts and all that stuff. But I’ve seen Guru’s people sell stuff on their site. I didn’t violate any of that stuff. Even when we weren’t doing stuff I reached out and told Guru, “Yo, let’s still sell our Gang Starr stuff just like the way Kiss did all the years they weren’t together.” They were still putting out Kiss memorabilia and dolls. So let’s keep on selling Gang Starr merchandise. The logo and the fan base we have, we can eat off of that forever. He has a son now so I wanted his son to eat. We just never resolved to get any agreement on it. I left it alone pretty much. Were there plans for another Gang Starr album? That was the plan following the break he was taking. But I don’t dwell on stuff too long. I’m glad that I have made a name for myself where I still can survive. If I had to just depend on Gang Starr I would be jammed up right now. My father raised me to always find a way as a man. I’m going to be a provider no matter what. What do you hope for the future of the Gang Starr legacy? I want the name to stay alive… But the right way. I don’t have a hidden agenda. His son should get that money. Of course I’ll get my half and that’s not on no selfish ****. That’s just off of what we built together. Nothing can take away from what Gang Starr did. That’s what I was stressing to Guru before he passed. We have tons of footage and DVD material that could have been sold. This is way before he was sick. I plan to discuss what can be done with Guru’s family. I don’t care if it’s from a lawyer’s standpoint. The main thing is we never dissolved our Gang Starr contract. We are still signed to each other. We never disbanded the group. If Guru really wanted to super dead it he would have said, “Yo, I want out.” And I still would have tried to convince him to stay. We are still Gang Starr.

I found this interview on Allhiphop.com today: Over the Memorial Day weekend, while performing in front of tens of thousands at the sold-out UCLA JazzReggae Fest, Nas told the audience that his collaboration album with Damian Marley, Distant Relatives, was “a passion project” that the labels didn't know what to do with. The label limbo set the album from a June 30, 2009, release date to one almost a year later, and it's not like the album has been exceeding expectations at retail. The project has had moderate sales so far, approaching 100,000 unit in the second week in stores. The live show is a different story. Wherever the Distant Relatives go, the duo sell out the venue. Further, as Nas points out in the interview with AllHipHop, the album's delay actually helped it to coincide with an event that is making Africa the hub of economic activity this month: one of the world's biggest sporting events, the World Cup, is taking place in South Africa. In interviews, Nas has said that recording the album was a cathartic process that helped him deal with a turmoil in personal life. In Damian Marley, God's Son finds a partner with whom he can relate and touch on topics from politics to friends to religion. With critics and fans embracing the album, Nas and Damian sat down with AllHipHop in L.A. to speak out on label politics, their tour and even have a lighthearted moment about their foreign language skills. AllHipHop.com: It's been almost a year since the album was supposed to drop. Can you speak about the label politics involved with the release? Nas: Label politics are what they always been. It wasn't anything that we thought about. We were just thinking about doing the record. It was those companies to figure out. Label politics are going to be label politics no matter what you do. It was cool though. Everybody just said, this is what you want to do, go ahead and do it. It wasn't a bunch of label people running around, telling us, we can't wait to do this and press these buttons. Nah, it wasn't none of that … it would have been nice. We just do what we do. AllHipHop.com: I know a lot of that album was recorded here in LA. Was it with your band Damian, or with Nas' band, Mulatto? Damian Marley: One of them, one of the musicians from Nas' group, was there, guitarist Luke, but for the most part, it was my musicians. AllHipHop.com: How was working with a live band different than working with beats, Nas? Nas: I mean, when you going to work with Damian you expect it to be different than what you do. So you can tell that by his music. AllHipHop.com: Want to talk about the tour plans. How are the plans to hit Africa shaping up? Nas: I mean you know the record is what we want everybody to embrace, especially Africa. We just happy to hear the news. We just sit back and enjoy what's happening. There's different news every day about where we going. AllHipHop.com: Growing up in New York, how did Jamaican culture influence you and the rebel inside you? Nas: To finish up, I was just thinking about what you asked with the last question, it's incredible with the timing that took place with this record. This record being about Africa being released the same year as the World Cup all throughout Africa. We at the right place at the right time with the right sound to take it to Africa. Back to your question … AllHipHop.com: Actually, I want to piggyback off that real quick. Africa as a continent and the World Cup will be a hub of economic activity this year, did it go your through your mind to make an album and be spokesmen for a movement that's going on? Nas: I think we were making the music and that's all we concentrated on. Again, the timing just worked out. That just goes to show this was a project that we were supposed to be working on at this time, not at another time. Everything's that happening over there, economically, all the business opportunities and everything like that, I'd love to be a part of that. But, I'm sure it's not as easy as it sounds, but you know time will tell. That would great opportunities to put some people like ourselves, who care so much about the continent, to go over there and do some business. That's when you're talking like 'whew,' real revolution, real turnaround. AllHipHop.com: Can you speak about some of your experiences out there? I know you Nas have been to Cameroon, Kenya, South Africa, and Damian, I know having been to Africa, you're embraced and accepted there even bigger than Hip-Hop. Can you speak about your experiences there, something memorable? Damian: In 2005, we played in Ethiopia, a celebration of my father's birthday they had a big concert there. That's actually the single biggest concert I've ever performed at. It was a special experience for me as a Rasta. In 2006, I went to Ghana, it was the same kind of event. Ghana actually reminded me of Jamaica when I was a boy. It was a great experiences, they showed love. AllHipHop.com: You guys going to the World Cup? Nas: (Tentatively) Yeah, I'll be there. AllHipHop.com: Nas, what's your top five, dead or alive? Nas: I don't have a top five, I have too many people that I love to fill the top five. It's just, you know, there's so many different generations in Hip-Hop that did so much. One is from this era, the other one is from that era, this one is from this era. I like all of them. AllHipHop.com: I was at that National Geographic panel with you in December. Can you speak about what was going through your minds? Do you plan to have more events like that in the future? Nas: Yeah, definitely. I think that's the type of people that we like to talk to, people who started from the early days of reggae, early days of Hip-Hop, shed a light on stuff that we didn't know about and were babies or probably not even born, when it was happening. National Geographic, working with that, National Geographic is educational. And what people got out of that was an education, stuff you don't learn in school about music that's really relevant right now, so all of that tied in. I think even in the packaging of the album, there's an education there about kings and universities that existed in Timbuktu, and books that existed thousands of years ago in Africa. There's history lessons in there. AllHipHop.com: You mention language, you say “habari gani” and Damian answers with “nzuri sana” on “As We Enter.” How good is your Swahili? Nas: It's terrible (laughs). It doesn't exist. We just sparking, planting seeds, just to do that. It's just what you get out of that. I was walking down the street and someone started talking to me in Swahili, and I thought he was trying to play me, I thought he was trying to be funny. And then I was like, 'oh, I said it in a song, habari gani.' It's like, wow, this started something. But you never know, check me in a year, I might have four languages tight, I'm a fast learner (laughs). AllHipHop.com: What do you think of Jay-Z's business moves? Nas: Could you imagine in the 80s when people tried to stop Hip-Hop music, could you imagine all the heat that came from Black leaders even, to try to stop us from voicing our opinions? And look at us now, see where we've come, see where people like Jay have come? I think there's a lot of elders that aren't feeling too good about themselves right now. You should never turn your back on youth, 'cause when you do, we wind up taking over anyway.

There was a lot better rappers out when Eminem was at his peak 10-12 years ago, maybe if he was at his peak now I'd feel differently 'cause most rappers suck these days,I agree consistency is why I'd say he isn't that high as well...

Eminem's the most overrated rapper in the history of the game to me 'cause he sold the highest among any other rapper ever while there's always been other rappers that were better than him, even when he was good when he first came out I never considered him one of the best, the amount of skills he has is average compared to the legends of the game, he's not the worst but he's nowhere near the best so he's the most overrated 'cause there's at least 25 rappers that deserve to have higher career sales than he's had....

I never got that book yet either but yeah I heard that he ranked Will #23 in his top 50, I think that was a couple years before "Lost and Found" came out so I think that the Fresh Prince's ranking would be a lil' higher if it was made now, I find it funny though that Kool Moe Dee put himself in the top 5 ahead of LL Cool J even though he hasn't put out an album since '94 and LL keeps putting out fire, it just seems like bitterness that his career hasn't been the same since that battle... I read on Wikipedia recently though that he is working on some kind of a comeback album... With not too much good music out these days I've been getting more into Kool Moe Dee's music catalog so getting the book is pretty high on my wishlist, he's a legendary mc that don't get enough credit, one of the most intelligent in hip hop history, a lot of his lyrics are positive and profanity free just like Will's... I found an interview from the Tavis Smiley show that's related to this book: http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200403/20040319_dee.html Thanks for bringing up this book in this thread, I could get this book this summer along with that "How To Rap" book I mentioned a couple weeks ago:

Even like I said many times with Will's "Lost & Found", there shoulda been more Jazzy than Freshman and it'd sounded a lil' bit better, LL should do more work with Marley and Rubin on the next album, Rakim should work with Eric B. again, that's why I'm excited about the new KRS album with Premo 'cause besides the "Hip Hop Lives" he did in recent years with Marley the production on his last few albums dragged down some of his lyrics, that's sorta been the problem for why some of the veterans ain't as popular as they used to be they need the production to stand out like their earlier classics...

All of the above, and Eminem???

If "Exit 13" is LL's worst album then he does have to be the G.O.A.T. 'cause there hasn't been that many mcs to make albums on that level, especially in recent times, artists forgot the art of how to make complete albums since they only do mixtapes, that "Return Of The GOAT" mixtape that LL did is superior as well so that shows you he could be even more versatile and beat todays rappers at their game.... "Exit 13"'s my favorite album since 2008 by anybody, it's rarely left the CD player since that time just like after "G.O.A.T." came out, it should've gone platinum and got a grammy award but there's been less people saying that he went soft since he released it so it did the purpose he intended to do you could say, he knows that he has enough hits already so like he said he's not trying to please the pop audience he's just trying to keep his respect so I think this next album could have the potential to be even better, he usually releases music every 2 years and that's the reason why it's so great, it's not that long of a wait but it's long enough where he could come out with quality... On another note lately I've been discovering more of his unreleased material over on Youtube, if he puts some of those tracks out on CD in between the wait of this new album that'd earn back more respect as well 'cause a lot of his underground stuff is that raw hip hop that the true heads always respected him for, I'm still dying to find some of those tracks he said he worked with Rick Rubin during the "10" era...

Well the way that I see it, I think LL's "Exit 13" album is an underappreciated album like "14 Shots To The Dome" and I think that he's due to comeback strong like he did when he came out with "Mr. Smith", you can never count him out, I found this article just now on SOHH.com check it, I'm ready for it: Rap veteran LL Cool J recently announced his intention to drop a follow-up to his "final" 2008 release, Exit 13. The rap pioneer said he's not going to rush the untitled record. "I will take my time, and if it takes two more years, it will take two more years," he said in an interview. "But it will be relevant for who I am at this point in my life as a human being. And those who want to hear it will be able to live with it and love it and those who can't appreciate it because it doesn't sound 'pop' enough, can absolutely ignore it. And I'm comfortable with that." (Hip Hop N More) Last July, LL hinted at possibly making a return to the rap game. "Two things, first of all, making albums is a way of expressing my creativity," LL explained. "So I can express my creativity through business. I can express my creativity through my clothing line. I can express my creativity through the different ventures I have. I still wanna do live music and I still do live concerts so people will see me on tour. I'm just not running around looking for a record deal like 'Please listen to my demo.' [laughs] Like right now, that's not what I want to do right now." ("The View") His last album, Exit 13, dropped in 2008 and marked his final release under Def Jam. The album title refers to the fact that this is LL's 13th album on Def Jam and the last on his contract. It's been a rocky relationship, with LL questioning some of Jay-Z's managerial decisions and claiming the label didn't properly promote some of his albums, but he says things are better now. "We're back on the same page, it feels great," says the MC, who has said he's glad that Jay-Z is no longer running the label. "It's my last record on the contract." (Rolling Stone) LL previously spoke with SOHH about the project's overall feel and how much of an impact 50 Cent had on the release. "50 is not executive producing the whole album be we did a whole album together and I used like four or five songs," he explained. "I didn't want to be '51 Cent.' I want to make sure that I was giving them L. God knows that the last thing I needed to do is wait 'til my 13th album and play son-son and all that." (SOHH) No further details have been revealed as of now.

I heard this album was leaked today and it's receiving a lot of positive feedback, I'm gonna give it a listen soon and see if it's worth the hype

Well they're both legends in my book, it's like Bill Russell and Michael Jordan in basketball