bigted

5 years ago if you said that Jamie Foxx would be a household name in Hollywood, some people would laugh at you just like I say LL could be a household name in Hollywood, then he could come back and drop the highest selling album of his rap career, I think his career has a lot of life left, LL's very talented, I think Will needs more balance in his career in order to get as much respect in rap that he has in acting at the moment, if he could keep putting out albums on the same level as "Lost and Found" it's possible that could very much happen, it's all up to him though and really I shouldn't worry much about Eminem 'cause his creativity's burned out, he won't be a factor 10 years from now....

Haha, you really believe that do you? Well im sorry to bust your bubble.. but thats not how the music business works... But that's what happened when LL finished Canibus, Canibus was about to become one of the most famous rappers in the game, they were saying that he'd be bigger than DMX and look how well DMX has done, that tell's you how strong power LL has, Bis was having a lot of hype when he made "2nd Round Knockout" but once LL responded Canibus' hype died off, Eminem in late 1999/early2000 wasn't as popular as he is now, he was one of the rising rappers of the game and Will could've finished him off since he was very popular as a rapper still in 2000, but once "Marshall Mathers LP" came out and sold 10 million it was too late for Will to respond, now if Will responded right away before the "Marshall..." album came out then that could've slowed Em's hype down and raised "Willenium"'s sales at the same time but in reality Em got too big and Will ran off to do films, and to answer back to Max people do criticise LL when he's doing love songs, that's why Kool Moe Dee dissed him, that's why Ice-T dissed him, that's why Canibus dissed him, and that's probably why more hardcore rappers'll diss him gradually again, hip-hop is about being hardcore and how men are superior, LL takes a big risk for making passionate songs about women but he always answers back directly when people diss him, Will didn't respond to Eminem until 5 years later and there's others that've dissed him over the years that he never responded to, or at least people think that way, maybe if he released "Don't Say Nothin" as a single instead of "Miami" he'd have more credability as an mc right now, that'd be like if LL never released "4,3,2,1" or "Mama Said Knock You Out", maybe less would respect LL now too, I could see people testing LL's credability again if he keeps doing songs with Lloyd Banks but no matter who disses either Will or LL they're gonna remain my favorite mcs...

Yeah LL hasn't really criticised gangsta rap as much as Will has and that actually helped him stay in the game a long time, he just makes great music and stays in his own lane and not criticise what the next man is doing, and the thing is though that people find Will hypocritical, I mean Will criticises rappers for bragging about how much money they have but what did he do when he responded to Eminem? "Big Will with another 20 mill walks right past E", basically that's Will bragging that he has more money than Eminem, is it not? That's what you come with 5 years after Eminem dissed him? Just think if he answered back in 2000, he could've ended Eminem, there'd be no D-12, no 50 Cent, or no G-Unit, it'd changed the game forever.... FP could've came much stroner than that, if he wanted to respond to Em 5 years later, people looked at that whole "Mr. Nice Guy" thing as a gimmick to save his dying rap career after "Born To Reign" flopped, I think he should just make music and do less criticising of what other rappers do 'cause he does the same thing sometimes, and his most famous album "Big Willie Style" was constant bragging about how much money and fame he has, if he is gonna criticise gangsta rappers he should just call them out by name and end their careers, that's the only way he should... He's my favorite mc and I respect that he's standing up for real hip-hop but Iwish he could stick to making great music that a lot could appreciate, everybody has different opinions about hip-hop but they'd all like Fresh Prince music if he didn't criticise anybody, some who like gangsta rap might like some Will's music but they won't say it 'cause they don't wanna look soft 'cause Will being critical towards gangsta rap, "plenty of y'all love a brotha, just scared to say it"...

I don't think the question was about popularity, it's about longevity, if popularity was an issue then that means G-Unit and D-12 are bigger legends than Public Enemy since they've outsold them, sure LL never had an album sell 10 million like Will but be real he gets way more credit for his rap career than Will does and the point is that some of y'all even bring up Will's acting when talking about longevity since that's the only thing for Will that seems to have longevity as far as people recognising for what he's done years ago, for Will being a household name it's just for his acting, only a handful of people respect his rapping, it's like some rappers diss him and he don't answer back, that has a lil' bit to do with it, but with LL: his albums, his battle skills, his swagger has been something that he's been getting recogniton for years,Will's had more longevity than most rappers but he just doesn't get that type of credit for it and the point is that he has to keep making albums at a consistant pace since people are starting to respect him now, his acting career has overshadowed his rap career and that's not a good thing, when people say Will Smith they say actor, they don't think about Will Smith the rapper, that has to change... LL has had a lot of respect in the game for years and I wouldn't be surprised if he does less music himself, he wanted to get serious about film for years and I think he'll get to it unless somebody comes along dissing him, I could say thank God for Canibus 'cause he helped keep LL's rap career going for at least another decade... I think "Lost and Found" got higher reviews than what "Todd Smith" has been getting and it shows that Will might have more left than LL does but more than likely if Will does all of these movies in a row, odds are his next album will be another flop like 'Born To Reign' and basically like I said earlier LL's still respected as a legend, the reception with "Lost and Found" was: "Wow I didn't know Will had that much rap skills, this is a such a great album but he ain't no Rakim" while with "Todd Smith" it's like: "I'm not really feeling this album but LL's still one of the legends of hip-hop, gotta give it up for his longevity"... Now the hip-hop artists with the most longevity in the rap game might not be either LL or Will, it'll probably be Public Enemy and KRS-ONE that'll still be rapping 10 years from now, they ain't getting caught up in acting at all, they keep on putting out albums at consistant basis and they don't sell much but they're still respected in hip-hop circles, they're in their 40s already and they still put out albums on almost an annual basis...

You never know, jeff is always bugging him to come to the studio for a couple of weeks to bust out a fresh JJFP album. FP could finally wake up one of these days and take a break from the film biz and do what he says he loves. Well there's only a month left until Will's off to do at least 6 consecutive films so that JJFP album might not happen until 2015, and it'll be truely a miracle if anybody buys it, maybe just a few of us and that's it: "Fresh Prince was hot but the movies killed him", Will Smith the actor has lots of life left while FP the rapper is on life support....

Tribe Called Quest is supposed to be doing a reunion tour, sorry for going offtopic...

Well the way it's looking right now LL's probably gonna be releasing a platinum album at 50 years old while Will releases his 50th film and only us will remember him as a rapper....

I think if Will keeps on doing more movies than albums he'll never get the recognition as a rapper that he claimed that he wanted, LL really only put out 2 more albums than Will, he didn't really do that much more than Will but it seems that he's always doing something hip-hop oriented all the time, LL's not really that worried about where he's ranked anymore, before the time when he was battling Canibus he was considering being more serious as an actor but he put that to the side to protect his rep as an mc to battle Bis("n***s are saying LL fell, wellet me do this album, tell Spielberg I said chill"), now that's something I wished Will did when he was dissed by Eminem, he could've end Em and his teenybopper fanbase right there, he had the power to do it since he was still a multiplatinum rapper, now it makes me sick that Eminem's greatest hits album outsold "Lost and Found" where it could've been to the point where he wouldn't even release a greatest hits album if Will got in the studio with Jazzy in 2000 and dropped some ether on that punk, Eminem would've been a nobody like Canibus, and if LL never responded to Canibus I bet that Canibus would of blown up and LL would be in the same position as Will, he probably would just do films and his legacy as a rapper would be tainted, people think that Eminem ended Will's rap career with "Real Slim Shady" and sure you could say it wasn't really a diss but I could bet my life that LL would respond right away if Eminem said: "LL don't have to curse to sell records, Well I do so f** him" especially since he responded to MC Hammer's one line in "Let's Get It Started" that was less offensive(When it comes to straight up rockin', I'm second to none, From Doug E. Fresh, to LL, to DJ Run), LL doesn't let rappers diss him any way and get away with it, the most legendary mcs always defend themselves in a battle, if Eminem said "f*** Rakim" Rakim would respond, if Eminem said "F*** KRS" KRS would respond, Will lost some credability as a rapper by not responding, and LL'd make sure that he'd release "Tell Me Why" if he was in Will's position, he releases the best songs on his albums for the most part, LL simply puts more effort into his career and it's a no brainer to why he don't have to have sleepless nights worrying about his position in the rap game, Will basically is ending his own rap career by choosing to do more films rather than solidifying his mc status... Now I think it's at the point where it might be too late for Will as a rapper, Will spent his prime years where he could've solidified himself as an mc when he was on top with "Big Willie Style" and "Willenium" to do more films where instead he did "Ali" which got him critical acclaim as an actor, and now Will's so big as an actor that his rap career don't hold much weight compared to it, whereI think it's at that point where LL could do no wrong as a rapper since nobody disses him anymore, he could throw up on record and still be ranked as a legendary mc,who knows how long he'll keep going as a rapper, basically doing movies would be something where he'd be more competitive since the odds are stacked against him being a household actor but I think he could be if he puts the energy into it as he's done as a rapper, he did a nice job with Queen Latifah in "Last Holiday", now Queen Latifah's even in a worse situation than Will, she hasn't released a rap album in 8 years and it doesn't look it's gonna happen anytime soon...

see this is the thing, some parents have it in their head that because an artist talks about guns, sex and drugs that their kids will do it. this is why the whole PA sticker came out, because some Washington wives were concerned about it. however, studies show that most kids arent influenced by that stuff and if they are its because they come from a broken home and or have some mental instability. i know confronting your dad right now might not be the best thing, but try to show him that you listen to Will Smith and Run-DMC and try and show him how those are good lyrics and try to show him that you are mature enough to not act on other lyrics that dont fit your values and that he's raised you well enough for that not to affect you. just be glad u got some good music out of it like Run DMC cuz thats a great album and ATCQ is always dope too. TED: responding to Ted's quote about PE, you might be surprised at the controversy surrounding PE in the late 80's. altho they were no NWA, Ice Cube, 2 Live Crew, or Ice-T, they still had some controversy on their albums for "voilence, anti-Semitic thems (racism basically) and militantly black separatist" and that's a direct quote from the book i have about music censorship. Chuck D's response was long as usual, but he said that he is trying to make the next generation responsible and get out the mess they're in to lead a better life. Professor Griff's albums were also banned from many record stores and considered "obscene" for the same reasons mentioned above, although there was hardly any profanity. also, "Hazy Shade of a Criminal" was banned from MTV for a riot scene back in the day. in addition in 1996, a Jewish advocacy group called for boycotts on PE's single "Swindlers List" saying once again that it is anti-semitic (racist) because it alludes to Jews in controlling the banking industry and the words "six" and "millions" referring to the Holocaust. Chuck D responded saying no harm was intended, that "six" referred to the six major record companies and "millions" referred to the million man march. I know a lot about the controversey that Public Enemy faced since that's one of my favorite hip-hop groups, they don't hold back their feelings on social issues, some people could be offended by that if they have different views and that's the reason why they ain't as popular 'cause what they talk about might not be popular opinion, butI think people should respect them for putting thought into music even if they don't agree with everything that they say 'cause a lot of rappers don't put thoughts into the music they make, I find it hypocritical that people put down rap for not making music that could educate our youth when they ignore artists like Public Enemy and KRS-ONE, their music is edutainment as KRS would say, music that educates, and I think the reason why the older generation has been resistant to hip-hop is that the media don't give shine to positive artists and they only promote thug images with rappers, black radio plays 50 Cent all day and don't play Will Smith,I mean they give Three Six Mafia an Oscar and they shove intelligent groups like Public Enemy to the side, a lot of what Chuck talked about in "Swindler's Lust" is true, labels treat real artists badly and they promote negativity...

Yeah that's true that Will gets more recognition as an actor than LL does but LL gets more recognition as a rapper than Will does, whenever there's all time rapper lists he's always ranked higher than Will, I think LL could put down the mic for a couple years and focus on his films to get higher face value on his films if he wanted to, in fact he signed a 9 film deal so he might be trying to get more serious as an actor, I don't think he has much to prove as a rapper anymore, while Will should stop doing films for a few years and drop some albums with Jazzy to get his hip-hop rating up and with "Lost and Found" you could hear that Will intends that he has something to prove as a rapper, I think they're both great entertainers that'll be around as long as they want to be, if they put work into something they achieve it...

Even when foul language gets muted on edited CDs you still know what it is, it's like listening to the radio, you could still figure out the swears even when it's muted, editing is pointless, all of us knew that Will said f*** even though it was edited on "Tell Me Why", lol, in that case it was a loud beep but most of the times when something's edited now it's muted, edited CDs are cool though so that you could blast them anywhere without anyone getting offended about excessive cursing, they're good for parties...

Yeah it's basically "Parents Just Don't Understand", basically the older generation didn't grow up with hip-hop so they don't really understand it, and when they were growing up they were probably listening to something that their parents might of thought of as rubbish, lol, I'm surprised that your dad would get upset over Public Enemy lyrics 'cause I know a lot of older people actually like those lyrics 'cause they're intelligent, my parents don't really mind what I listen to especially since I'm not really into thug rap anyway, they actually ask to borrow some my CDs 'cause they like the beats, lol,but when I was younger they had me get edited CDs

Now most of the article talked about other hip-hop albums and mixtapes but it briefly mentioned about Jazzy doing work on an album remixing jazz classics: http://www.mtv.com/bands/m/mixtape_monday/051506/ ....Re-Bop: The Savoy Remixes (released May 9), an album with DJs and producers like DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Large Professor remixing jazz classics like "Lover Man" by Dizzy Gillespie and "Five Spot After Dark" by Curtis Fuller.

Well the season's over now for the Devils, dissapointing loss tonight :ohdear:

I'm gonna move this to Numero Uno....

I actually saw a special on MTV about Nick Lachey making this album and after seeing that I might wanna check this album out myself...

I personally don't understand why Jay-Z' being brought up in the first place, he doesn't own Def Jam, being president of the label is not the biggest position of the label, there's other executives ahead of him that have more power on the label than he does but they're not in the spotlight like Jay-Z so they don't get publicity, and the major thing that I care about is that Def Jam is a hip-hop label first and foremost, Will wants more recognition as a hip-hop artist so being on a record label that knows how to promote hip-hop is important, 2 of the best commercial albums this year in LL's "Todd Smith" and Ghostface's "Fishscale" has been released on this label, it's the only major record label that cares about quality hip-hop, not gimmicks... Columbia and Jive are more pop oriented labels and it's obvious that Interscope only promotes gangsta rap, but all types of mcs have gotten promotion on Def Jam, what other major label is better hip-hop oriented than Def Jam? It's basically the Motown of hip-hop...The best producers and mcs have been there way before Jay-Z came along as an artist, most of the greatest albums in hip-hop history has been released on that label, it has a great legacy of hip-hop, Will deserves to be on there is what I'm saying, it makes a lot of sense for his legacy...

Yeah I agree with AJ that hip-hop's lacking quality artists whether it's mainstream or underground, there's probably as many less quality underground rappers as their is mainstream rappers, even worse sometimes, there's actually rappers out there that 50 Cent could beat in a battle they're so bad, there's a reason why some never blow up, they're not good, it don't really matter, and in between there's some quality mainstream rappers but overall the game's in a drought right now, there's only a handful of quality artists in between, it's really the opposite of the golden era where mostly everybody famous or not as famous all had a lot of skills and it was hard to find those who didn't have any, "real hip-hop" is about quality and there's just not much of it, there's less quality hip-hop on the most part and I think that's why a lot of people around AJ's age don't buy much current albums 'cause if you compare those who're considered the best now to what was there 15 years ago, they'd be considered average, people jump on one good album and call it classic but it's really just average, you just have to accept that there might not be another De La Soul, it's just like there won't be another Michael Jordan, you gotta accept it for what is, you might be looking for something great but there's really just a few good things in between...

Yeah it says that all of these compilations that they release have exclusive material so there's definately hope that we might get something, I think one of Busta Rhymes' albums had 20 tracks on the CD, Dr. Dre's "Chronic 2001" had 21 tracks, there are rare occurances like that, hopefully this one of them, the more, the better...

Well there's still at least another month until Will starts filming right? There's still time for him to get with Jazzy and do this, in between they could sort out the paperwork to where it's gonna be released and it could come out by the end of the year....

Jazzy's staying busy...

Oprah doesn't have to like hip-hop either if she don't want to, that's her choice, but she should learn a lil' bit about it before she goes criticising, it's just like when Bill O'Reilly criticised the hip-hop community for making violent and sexual music just because he had problems with Ludacris advertising Pepsi, Ludacris doesn't represent the whole hip-hop community, there's Common, Mos Def, Talib, Little Brother, KRS-ONE, Rakim, etc. who don't make violent and sexual music but Bill O'Reilly wouldn't know 'cause they're not on TV that much or at all in some cases, you can't go by BET or MTV just to find hip-hop, that's like if President Bush makes a stupid statement and other countries might look on and think that all Americans think like that but that's not true either, one person doesn't reflect everybody, everybody's different, hip-hop is diverse as music gets, every artist is individual, btw Kanye West was on Oprah performing "Hey Mama" when his album came out.... Wasn't the crime rate high 20 years ago when Run-Dmc was the highest selling rap artists or 15 years ago when MC Hammer was on top wasn't there drugs and violence then too? It doesn't matter how clean the music is there is always gonna be violence, you can't blame 50 Cent for the crime rate just 'cause he puts it in his music, even if Hammer came back the crime rate would be the same as it is now, I think kids are just more entertained by violence than anything else, a lot of them find rappers who don't rap about violence corny and that's why Will and Common are not as popular to them as 50 Cent and Eminem is to them,Now those who don't fit into that commercial audience respect Will and Common more than 50 and Eminem 'cause those who have love for the rap/hiphop game want more substance, there just seems to be not enough rap/hiphopheads to make a change right now though, that needs to change, it has to be cool to rap about something else than violence in order for their to be a change of the playlists on radio... It's just like how violent video games are the most popular, it won't really make them bad people though if parents tell them it's only entertainment, those who go to violence go because nobody raises them so they don't know anything, it's better for kids to sit around and play video games or listen to music at night then it is for them to run the streets where there might drug dealers hanging in the allies, they'd get into more trouble that way....

Hip-hop has changed, it's not quite as group oriented as it once was, there's a lot more solo artists than there is groups, sure it ain't the golden era nomore but there is a few dope hip-hop groups in between, you just gotta search like Turntable said, I think you'd like Little Brother...

First of all the thing is that I agree with a lot that Oprah says too but she named Jay-Z as one of her favorite rappers when she puts down Ludacris for his violent music and that comes off as hypocritical 'cause Jay-Z says b*** and raps about violence just as much as Ludacris does, they do have songs with messages though, if you listen to their albums it's not like all they do is rap about guns and sluts, they tell stories too, it ain't no different than Dr. Dre, he puts messages in his raps even though he makes songs about guns and sluts in between, it's just like a movie that has violence but it also has a story, it's not just violence, there's a plot to it, that makes what she said lose some credability, she could of said Common or Talib Kweli though if she really wanted music with substance, she probably don't even listen to hip-hop either, just naming some of the more popular rappers so she won't face no drama from the hip-hop media, she probably just named whatever platinum artist came to mind, come on now Oprah, now Ludacris should've been a bigger man and handled this behind closed doors, crying to the media about the way Oprah treated him on the show does not show maturity, the funny thing is that Luda's trying to hold on to street cred as being a tought guy but the majority of his audience is kids from the suburbs, lol, if he can't face criticism then he's not really mature either, instead of complaining about what Oprah said maybe he should make music with more substance, it wouldn't hurt to cut one song off of his album about his sexapades and add a song about how we should improve the community, and 50 Cent had nothing to do with this, Oprah didn't bring up his name at all, he should've kept his mouth shut, I don't think he was defending Ludacris, he just said something for attention again, he needs somebody to beef with for his next album, he has a serious attitude problem, that's why he's losing his fanbase with the G-Unit projects flopping on the charts and nobody seeing his movie... If you really love hip-hop you know that not every rapper is violent, there's a lot of positive rappers that don't get played on the radio, somebody with Oprah's power could help them get exposure, put a positive rapper on her show that's getting no exposure right now, hip-hop could be more powerful with more positive influences out there on television and the radio but you can't say that they're bringing the youth down, it's entertainment, kids might see violent movies too, parents have to raise their kids, I mean if we had more responsible mothers like 3cookies then there'd be less problems with our youth, something's wrong if an entertainer has to raise your child....

Well Will and Jeff could sort out the paperwork for how the album could get released after they record the music, the most important thing right now is getting the album done, and btw I'd really like to see Will and Jeff squash their beef with Ready Rock C but if that don't happen that's ok, maybe they could get Doug E. Fresh on the beatbox instead...