While we have yet to hear the album, Bun B definitely has it in him to release an album worthy of five mics, but is it another situation like The Fix? Is this just a lifetime achievement award, or a consolation for the loss of his partner in UGK, Pimp C?
All Rights Reserved. Hip Hop News. Posted By Z More By Z Thank you for subscribing! Please be sure to open and click your first newsletter so we can confirm your subscription.
Sindy Intro — Piano droning creating a dark undertone. Sounds like something evil is happening. Who is this female voice? Are these samples from somewhere? Solid Ft. Datin, Xay Hill — Dru starts out […]. Rose collabed for the fifth Rapzilla Freshmen EP single and made an anthem against adverisity celebrating overcoming from the oppoisition that life has thrown at them by the power of God.
Click here to Stream or Buy this song on any music streaming platform Listen to the Rapzilla Freshmen below:. He talks about his relationships with fellow artists, controlling his ego, and what went into creating his album. The song also fits perfectly for some good ole fashioned acoustic treatment.
In this version, released on Facebook, Andy and Solomon must have done a bunch of live takes. The one we see here is the final one. Welcome to our weekly episode of Rapzilla.
We endeavor to grab the best stories from the previous week and give them to you every Tuesday. While Terraform: The People focused on building culture, Terraform: The Sky reminds us that we already have everything we need, from the resources we need to the hopes and dreams that keep us looking upwards to the breath that sustains us.
The truth is yelling at us everywhere we look, all the time […]. Chad Horton. Stillmatic December 18, Nas heard the whispers. More than a decade into his legendary career, Scarface showed the world was still his. The Brooklynite was headed to prison on a perjury charge as the LP arrived and blasted her former crew Junior M. They are the rap equivalent of the Black Panthers Free Lunch Program, a marriage of high minded political philosophy and grounded civic duty that produces real, tangible results.
The trio produced an album that flexed brain and bottom, freeing political diatribe from the throbbing production of the Mind Squad and grounding it in the everyday, making it danceable and cool. And The Source was quick to jump on it, declaring itself as a publication that highly valued Brand Nubian and The Native Tongues brand of scholarly, racially informed, politically aware lyricism that maintained its funk at all times.
The rapping, and most of the politics hold up, but the simplistic James Brown loops, with its monotone discursive verses and non existent hooks, kind of run together. Note Here — Ed. It is the direct codification of an understanding of what the Ivory Tower critic class wanted from its New York album rap in the 90s, made by its absolute best marketer and saviest son. But many of the elements that will elevate The Blueprint to classic status are present on Roc La Familia.
Blueprint is, quite simply, an intentional act of myth making. You or I could understand what it would take to make a classic rap album, or put together an on court season historians will debate for a century, but we lack the intelligence, grace, and skill to execute it. A tough one. The hardest decision on this list by a wide margin, but it must be said. Is the role of a critic to call balls and strikes? Is there such a thing in music?
I think so, to an extent. And again, we are getting deep in the muck for a frivolous listicle, because what does it mean to be successful? People were openly weeping in the streets when Biggie died. It was fucking shocking. I was 12 years old, and I sobbed. And the writer, very understandably, got carried away in the moment. Is any of this really fun to talk about, criticizing my favorite rapper of all time, or interesting for anyone to think about besides me?
Probably not. But I had to say it. The album was even recorded in New York. So theoretically, this marriage of East and West made Cube somewhat more accessible to the Mind Squad, and got him his 5 mics, a distinction Snoop and Dre never earned. It would take nearly a decade for any other artist outside of New York to land a perfect score. This review is very much 1 and 1A with The Blueprint. Writer Jerry L. It was his first release with Def Jam after becoming the president of their monumental, map shifting imprint, Def Jam South.
With nearly 20 years of work put into the game, Face called in every chit here. He united Nas and Jay-Z on his album at the height of their beef. It had all the earmarks of an Important Record. Something Barrow told me is in many ways, Scarface is the embodiment of this concept.
He traded on a career of greatness and was awarded with a legendary distinction. That being said, this was before the Atlanta revolution in the form of Jeezy and T. And yet. Face is impressive for delivering a Classic, Perfect album. The Source is admirable for giving a work of pure craft its due, particularly because it came from out of town. The two 5-mic Tribe albums are five and four on this list, and I wrestled with which order to rank them in.
The case for Low End Theory is strong. Low End Theory did all the things a sophomore album is supposed to do. It raises the stakes, shows maturation and polish, less irreverent without being overly serious, and most importantly, establishes the chemistry between Phife and Tip that made the group what it became, rather than one genius calling himself a group.
But Low End took a different type of courage. No group before Tribe, and no group after Tribe, prior to Stillmatic , would receive a second 5-mic rating. Tribe did it on their first two albums. Of course Dre and Snoop and Big and Pac and Outkast and any number of legends making classic albums during this period deserved the accolades Tribe received, but we can say that comfortably with hindsite.
Low End is a more complete album. What follows is 65 of the most important minutes in the history of rap. His New York, related in a way that was at once cosmic and common, changed the way we would think about and rap about the city.
The Source recognized this. I asked Jonathan Shecter if there was an implicit bias in how the staff at the time evaluated records. If their critical coupling with the Native Tongues collective who own 5 of the 15 5-mic reviews was a conscious declaration of principles, or a coincidence. Shecter said they made an effort to maintain objectivity and truly believed they had done so, evaluating each album on its specific merits that would lead to bloodshed in their offices, as the mic ratings were done by committee throughout the history of the magazine.
They knew from the beginning the mics were their calling card, and agreeing on an appropriate grade for certain controversial albums caused all out wars.
0コメント