bigted

What happened to the T'Wolves? I thought they were gonna compete for a title this year after playing so great last year.

Well everyone was hooked on "The Chronic" and "Doggystyle" those days, great albums but they killed a lot of careers, Public Enemy, Tribe Called Quest, and Slick Rick's popularity plummeted as a result and more wannabe gangsta rappers came out as a result who lacked the subject matter that Dr. Dre and Snoop talked about but they outshined a lot of hall of famers, gangsta rap killed the essence of hip-hop, even "Illmatic" didn't sell as much as it should've, it only sold 'bout as much as "Code Red" but had critical acclaim.

Actually Jay-Z don't nearly sell as much as them and I got no beef with him, I neither like or dislike him, but I think 50 and Em are kinda egotistical and overrated, and I'd say Nelly is more overrated, but he's not as egotistical as he was before.

That's just as dumb as sayin' Will's speciality is just party songs, LL's more versatile than love songs, listen to his albums, he's done conscious songs like "Power Of God", "Father", "Big Momma"(Unconditional Love),"Crossroads" and "Can't Think", btw check out these lyrics from "Can't Think": [LL Cool J] You ever get to the point where you so frustrated you ready to give up? You ready to end it all? Don't do it dog, word up I don't care if you black, white, latin, asian, whatever We all go through pain When you can't think.. use your soul baby Preliminary discussions is over with, the verdict is in I took the rap throne back I reigned like krills in eighty-seven, my name is on the map It feels like a razor down the middle of my back They slept on my lyrical ability to blow Gave another nigga credit for inventin my flow I'm a child of God, witness the risin son From the cradle to the grave, I remain number one This thing of ours, got competition takin red showers Grievin mothers callin 1-800-Flowers My repoitoire burn your ashes in the urn Is it God or money that really make the world turn? Grab your gun, seperate the ones from the real funds Inhale deep and hold it in your lungs The streets was requestin some original LL A soundtrack for niggaz that was raised in {hell} They lookin for a leader that can guide 'em through the maze Smoke filled rooms, breathin in purple haze Po' nigga's on the bricks his whole life He ain't got nuttin to live for, so f****n' livin right But if you stay in the rain like hurricane Gold melts down but it don't fear flames Toxic, lethal, psychologically evil Genocide was committed on the black people And the ghetto is a trap with glass walls Should I sell drugs, be a rap thug, or play ball? We end up in the grave anyway The average cat and LL Cool J It's a never ending cycle, life and death Until then may my mic stay blessed, to the death Chorus: LL Cool J I CAN'T THINK! Why do I feel I'm losin my mind? I CAN'T THINK! Could it be the ill beats and rhymes? I CAN'T THINK! Even though I'm a one of a kind I CAN'T THINK! I want the paper, that's just the bottom line I CAN'T THINK! Mo' murder every day around the way I CAN'T THINK! I'd rather get paid and parlay I CAN'T THINK! It's all about survival God {*scratched* - "You know the epilogue by James Todd" - Biggie Smalls} [LL Cool J] Put your life on the line, you runnin out of time The coroner's callin, she know she on a nigga mind Amongst the dogs, real cats is hard to find Even a nigga MOMS hate it when he start to shine Get the money and run, dodge the devil and his sons Spit powerful parables like a sermon has begun F*** the turntables up, leave the DJ awestruck Attitude is WHAT, keep the razor blade tucked Too much flossin'll get your reputation touched Too much rappin'll get your big mouth shut Protect your neck nigga, you'll get it in the gut You wearin a vest? What if you get your throat cut Sold your soul for a dollar, now you havin bad luck Used to keep a bad bitch in the crib baggin up Player here, player there, nigga turned you out but never told you beware Never told you that black love supposed to be shared and you never judge a woman by the texture of her hair Fancy cars and gold teeth, G-strings and things The almighty dollar replace the wedding ring The Ark of the Covenant was held by a king I ain't tradin my soul in for skins and chrome rims Chorus [LL Cool J] Think about it yo, think about it Think about it yo, think about it Think about it yo, think about it Think about it yo, think about it! The dawn, of a new millenium, came to pass The world revolves around sex or cash The black man's motto, "Kiss my ass!" Shorties in kindergarten are strapped, ready to blast All I ever seen was killers and dopefiends From FEDS Magazine to the heart of killer Queens Bronx and Brooklyn and everything up in between No matter what, you always got a Judas on your team Givin it to the world and I'm tellin it like it is Tossin lyrical daggers and sendin em in your wig Know where the body's buried, I ain't sayin where it is Raised inside the ghetto, but damnit I WANNA LIVE! The legendary master of lyrical combat But ain't no competition, ain't nobody to go at So I'ma take the time and spit a universal verse Hit the streets with a blessin and erase the curse Chorus I still would want Rakim as #1 choice but you can't say LL is one dimensional.

The truth is Will can't survive in this music industry eventually making one album every 3 years, he has to come out with quicker releases 'cause fans have short term memories of an artist, a lot of new artists come to grab their attention, but with that being said KRS-ONE released 4 albums this decade and their combined sales don't even equal LL's "The Definition" numbers, so it's been a dissapointment to see Eminem, 50 Cent, and Jay-Z sell so much and the legends not sell much at all, KRS should sell 10 million and won some Grammy's by now, the music industry is wack!

:werd: His name ain't 50 Cent, Ja Rule, or Nelly, so he's not doing the same thing over and over again.

It's dissapointing but ol' school hip-hop is dead in the mainstream world, how much did "The Magnificent" sell? I'm sure "L&F" passed that already too, LL Cool J's the highest selling ol' school mc over the past couple years with "The Defintion" which sold around 600,000 copies, which is about as much as Nas' "Street's Disciple" sold and he's not even that ol' school yet, it's a miracle for ol' school hip-hop artists to sell 100,000 these days, I don't even think De La Soul did that, so let's put this in perspective here, Will's doing great 'cause his time was supposed to pass him already as far as sales are concerned! I wish that artists could be judged on their talent more than how old they are, but I guess the teens don't wanna buy albums by somebody as old as their parents. Tim has a point there too, nobody's going platinum in 3 days anymore except Eminem and 50 Cent, the average sales for the #1 album lately has been less than 100,000, so even if Will hit #1 for a couple weeks, it still would take longer than a couple months to go platinum.

Hey it officially passed "Code Red", that album should've outsold "The Chronic" in '93! :poke: I think KRS-ONE's "Return Of Da Boom Bap" even sold more than "Code Red", which is the only time in history KRS outsold FP, it's a shame how his sales could go from 1,000,000 albums sold with "Criminal Minded" to 10,000 with "Keep Right", now that's what I call a drop! :speechless:

Hey I noticed that they're making a list at the okayplayer board for the top 25 hip-hop albums ever and 50 people voted post their lists so far and I noticed I was the only one to post a JJFP album! :confused3: I'm also offended that only 2 people put any of LL's albums on their top 25 lists, I saw more peeps giving 50 Cent and Eminem props! :mad8:

Happy Birthday! :peace: :birthday:

If I was working for MTV, I would came up with this list, these are the top 10 all-time albums to me: 1-Public Enemy "It Takes A Nation Of Millions..." 2-Eric B. and Rakim "Paid In Full" 3-KRS-ONE "Return Of Da Boom Bap" 4-Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince "He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper" 5-Run-Dmc "Raising Hell" 6-Slick Rick "The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick" 7-BDP "Criminal Minded" 8-Nas "Illmatic" 9-LL Cool J "Mama Said Knock You Out" 10-Queen Latifah "Black Reign" I like the idea of breaking down top 10 each decade better though, I think that'd give credit to more artists that made impact and less would get snubbed

Rakim was one of the 1st ever mcs to release a platinum album, he opened doors for Jay-Z and Jay-Z has prospered and is a smart buisiness man, but everybody's different, Rakim wants to be on the low, he doesn't wanna be an entrepeneur, he just wants to make albums, and I don't feel that it's right that no label signs him 'cause he's a pioneer and the pioneers should get more respect in this game than they get! btw, I don't judge's Will's or any rapper's talent off of how much money they make, 'cause a lot of the pioneers never got the type of money they deserved for originating this hip-hop, they should be presidents of labels, it should be like sports, all the hall-of-famers have front office positions waiting for them after retirement. Nelly owns part of the Bobcats but I don't think that does anything to help has rap skills, Jay-Z has more skills than him, but I just wanted to make a point there, don't judge a book by it's cover. Funkmaster Flex is making more money than Jazzy Jeff, but does that make him a better DJ? :confused3:

Public Enemy "Rightstarter"(Message To Black Man)

Anyway back on topic here I'd have to say that I'd have to throw in a couple wildcards here for the "Lost & Found" remix, I think Kel Spencer deserves a shot to do a remix with Will, he co-wrote a few tracks for Will in recent years and I think it'd be only fair for him to get some shine. And I know Tim's gonna like this idea, I think Pep Love should do the remix with Will, he's the most conscious mc on the underground hip-hop scene, I've been hooked to his "Ascension" album ever since Tim introduced it to me a few months ago, check out these lyrics from "Ascension": "(Pep Love) Here we here we go This place Let's go Yeah the passing on Experience amassing The last thing known Of the everlasting tongue My raps are forecasting The rapture that shall capture Vast things of fascination Exasperation of an entire nation Causes inflammation We master masons Paper chasin, brick layin And playin the game That we was placed in From the beginning To the end ya know Living is learning So how could you pretend to know What you don't Cause you won't Benefit from it I'm infinite And that's only an increment Of my elevation To a higher plane I contain information And spread it the same Apotheosis occurs When I drop these Doses of words Over musical notes With an impulsive urge On the verge of a breakthrough Symbols of sound vibrate the ground Like earthquakes do Energy surges Death to my enemies Service of justice Poetical purges of tyrants I rinse the world of the virus Like this Living my life with vibrance And radiance On the way to the next apex Is platinum plaques And packed stadiums Ascension Chorus (2x): I'm on another plane Runnin a game We all one and the same Come with me I'll show you what you won't believe And you can be what you want to be Ascension Bigger things, other places Dimensions, ascension Where do we go from here? Ahh yeah I'll take you there With this one, listen Attention, attention This is ascension And it would be Even if I didn't mention it War, peace, love and hate The very nature of it all In a fallen state It's unclear at best And if I told you it'd probably Go in one ear And out the next but don't fear We questin to answer questions Advance to the next progression Or learning another lesson Believe it or not I'm walking on air And ahh yeah It feels good Even if not understood It's all to the greater purpose I get subterranean And rise to the surface Evolving and revolving Around the sun We are men, women and children Buildin, never yieldin We livin in killin fields And are weapon wieldin Until the void is filled in Steppin over corpses Through this metamorphosis That life offers A twist of fortune is The very reason Every season Changes and the angels Sing to the strangers We trailblazin Hell raisin Amazing tales Of spirit, energy Physical integration Me and my niggaz are vigorous In the days when we headed To the place where time and space end Ascension Chorus (2x)"

It's a popularity contest, probably not a lot of us heard much of Mos Def, they don't know what they're missing, he's a dope mc! :poke:

When does the WNBA season start? :mad8:

Sure he did, he's human ain't he? remember he said "Twinkle Twinkle I'm Not A Star"!

'Boom! Shake The Room" is a great song, I don't get how Will could say that's the worst song he's ever done, I think "Men In Black" was his worst song, but even that was a #1 hit, so needless to say he doesn't make wack stuff.

That's a great interview, nuff props for posting that! :thumb:

I got another book from the library today called "Who's Gonna Take The Weight?: Manhood, Race, and Power In America" by Kevin Powell, so what's everybody been reading lately? I'd say reading helps me comes up with better themes for the songs I write.

Eric B. and Rakim "I Ain't No Joke", fan4ever got me in the mood to throw it on :kool:

Keith Sweat "Twisted"

You damn right, when you listen to ol' school hip-hop albums you see that they deserve more credit than they get 'cause they laid the foundation for today's hip-hop. btw, I got on De La Soul feat. Flava Flav "Come On Down", this song's funny as hell!

"The G.O.A.T." is a great album, it helped LL gained a lot of credablity back in hip-hop when people were callin' him soft, why would a rookie rapper like Cannibus wanna challenge a veteran like LL, he should've picked on other rookie rappers comin' out like Ja Rule instead, LL silenced critics sorta like Will's done here with "Lost and Found", they should do a remix to "I Wish I Made That", but one bad thing I could say about the "G.O.A.T." is that there's too many guest appearances, but those guest appearances worked 'cause I like DMX, Snoop Dogg, Method Man, Carl Thomas, Xzibit, and Redman, and it wasn't like they outshined LL, he dominated on that album, crazy energy, I swear I must've played that album everyday for about a year after I bought it the day it was released, although he came pretty strong on his other albums too, but this album solidfied him as the greatest of all time, "Radio", "Mama Said Knock You Out", and "Mr. Smith" are among his other classics, all of his others are above average, I don't see many catalogs topping his! :afro: :ali: This verse in "Where I Belong" is legendary to the way he addresses all the haters: "The other night I was up at Farmers, politican wit some bloods They told me "yo L, in the streets you aint gettin no Love And Ever since the X's and the Jiggas came out my niggas aint tryin to the hear that smooth s*** you talk about What's Up wit that cat Canibus, some played you out Why you didn't answer back correctly, f*** was that about?" as I sip on some henny, and try to explain some things about the life of a legend, and all the Drama it brings been gone a long time, had a lot of s*** on my mind I decided I don't want to reach my goal if it means losing my shine Streets is Hip-hop and I'm Hip-Hop, so the streets is Mine Ballin' as long as you been livin', that's a long time Hard to Stay hungry when your pockets are so fat You hit a hot one in every city on the map And niggas keep sleepin' and you keep coming back You know better than the gat, but niggas still wanna clap" I personally don't get why anyone would be stupid enough to diss LL, he's still sellin' as much as Nas and Jay-Z are on the charts, and he's been going platinum since they were 13 years old and they were watching and admiring him, Jay-Z even said in an interview that LL's his favorite rapper.

I don't wanne start nothing here...but AJ, why do you have to start talking about The Game?? :dunno: Before you know it, peeps will be on this thread making posts about how much they like The game! And stuff like that always ends in a fight or discussion! :werd: Like PE says, make love f*** war, let's respect each others tastes! Nuff said! :werd: :kekeke: