- 4,862
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- Jun 1, 2008
A LOT of things have changed since the calander read Jan. 1st 2000... Some good, some bad... For those of you who are around my age you'llremember back when hip hop publications (most notably XXL & The Source) had their year end issue where they basically discussed EVERYthingfrom the year that was noteworthy... From albums, production, beefs, rumors, etc (I'm sure the majority of the rational thinkin NTers have read an issue or2 before... Or atleast I hope)
LOVED
(Albums)
AMAZING debut album from Kanye West, I remember seeing his bruised up picture in XXL Mag when I was a senior in high school, before that point theONLY track I heard him spit on was "Champions" while his verse was pretty coo, it was nothing mind blowing... The potential wasthere, but there was no telling if it would EVER materialize into great music. Fast foword to the end of 03, the whole world was goin50-Cent-Crazy, Jay Z had JUST retired. "Through The Wire" had been floating around for sometime, (I got it off of Napster, and itwas the older version where he was LITERALLY rapping with his jaw wired shut), "Slow Jamz" was doin VERY well onvideo shows (BET/MTV) then in early 04 as more material from the album was being played on Hot97 mix shows, the 2 specific joints that caught my ear were"Jesus Walks" & "All Falls Down" after hearing those joints EVERY night a 2 or 3 times, I was sold... Now all that wasleft to do was pick up the album on release date. Caught the train and went downtown (Brooklyn) to cop from Beat Street, took it to the crib and spun it...I'm goin keep it FUNKY I did NOT like the album on first listen.
I got on the jack, called my homeboy and was just ANGRY... Tellin him it was TRASH and he shouldn't waste his time normoney... Then after about 3 or 4 days of playing the album front-to-back I realized it was a classic... Then add in the fact that you couldn't walk into abuilding in Harlem without hearing someone playing a track off the album. The energy behind the project was AMAZING, to see a rapper getembraced by the street that wasn't kickin street ++@% was an accomplishment in itself, based on the climate of hip hop @ that specific time. I was working@ Duane Reade (57th & B'way) @ that time, the night-shift, RIGHT across the street from The GAP, so naturally "Spaceship"was the soundtrack to my life.
This is the "Mama Said Knock You Out" of THIS decade... Many people (myself included) left NaS for dead... Not that I ever jumpedon the Jay Z ship or anything, but I thought NaS was buried, not that Jay was a better rapper or anything it was just the fact that Jay and his movement hadSOO much energy, a lot of the cats that grew up on NaS were getting tired of hip hop as a whole, so the tide had completely turned. You hadcats from State Property thinkin it was OK to be on the radio and various mixtapes throwing shots @ NaS/Mobb Deep & the entireQueensbrudge.
If NaS has taught us ANYthing from 04 till now its been to NEVER count him out, came back in 99 with I Am... Only to fall flat withNaStradamus... The QBs Finest Compilation was really nothing to write home about, so this put NaS in one of the toughest situations in his career. He was nowgoing against the MOST popular "rapper" in the game this side of Eminem... NaS held NOTHING back, he took hip hopfans on a journey. When "Got Urself A Gun" dropped you could feel the tide turnin, cats was jumpin back on NaS side. Then "Ether" came andit just created a damn near 50/50 divide in the hip hop community, we would literally argue in the hallways & @ lunch all day about Jay/NaS ++@%. The videoto "Got Urself A Gun" also showed NaS cleaverness, he realized that Jay was more popular @ that particular time, so NaS just took us on a trip downmemory lane, portraying both Pac & Big on the nights of their deaths... It was genuis & ominous @ the same time
Say what you want about the man, Jay Z is one hard working mother $%*$$*... From 96-03 he dropped ATLEAST 1 solo album EVERY year, that initself is an accomplishment for a hip hop artist, and to this day may NEVER be matched (on such a large scale atleast). 2001 found Jay Z in aspot he had been vying for since he sold 5 million records in 98, he was trying to be the SOLE leader of hip hop in the Post 2Pac-BIG era. Inorder for him to acheive that in NYC, he had to take out NaS (who hadn't really been doin much to begin with for sometime). Their sneak disses date back toa few years prior to the actual showdown, but 01 marks the date where EVERYthing came to the public eye.
It started @ SummerJam 2001 in late June, Jay who had already had a riff with Prodigy due to a comment he had made about Jay's lyrics to "Money, Cash,*!%*" to The Source (or was it XXL), jabs were thrown on various tracks, but nothing noteworthy up until Jay took EVERYthing to a whole different level.Pictures of Prodigy in his grandmothers dance studio surfaced (I've heard that Ashanti was the one who gave them to Jay, but thats NEVERbeen officially confirmed), the rest is history... The entire hip hop community was witness to Jay exposing Prodigy for being a "fraud", but @ theend of the verse he said somethin that took it to the next level... "Ask NaS, he don't want it with Hov"...
Jay may have had a point @ that time. Sept 11th comes, and not even a tragedy @ the WTC & Pentagon could slow down the momentum of The Blueprint, thegreatness of this album comes from the fact that it plays out simular to a therapy session, Jay is just sitting back and reflecting on hisENTIRE life from his birth in the 1950s up until 2001, from hustling down south to cats hating on him (like myself
). Jay displayed a sensative side on "Song Cry" that was rare in alotof his records, but he still had his swagger on tracks like "Girls, Girls, Girls"
After being shot up and left for dead infront of his grandmothers house... And dropped from Columbia records soon after, it looked as if 50 Cent was just aspark in the pan and his career was OVER before it ever began. Never one to give up, he reamerged in 02 with Guess Who's Back, released onan indie, it was a collection of his memorble records from Power Of The Dollar (album on Columbia that never dropped) along with new freestyles and tracks. Hebasically took the underground by storm with 50 Cent Is The Future, his buzz was CRAZY a bidding war had begun with damn nearEVERY label trying to sign him, he ended up @ Shady/Aftermath... Dropped the mixtape No Mercy No Fear (birthed "Wanksta") and fromthere he took hip hop by storm.
GRODT may go down as the MOST anticipated debut album of ALL time... It leaked about a week or 2 before release date, endedup pushing it up to the Thursday before, damn near EVERYbody and their momma had this joint, whether it was the OFFICIAL or sometype ofbootleg. Broke Snoops record for a debut, and went on to sell 10+ Million worldwide. 2 Billboard #1 singles, another top 3, and a HIT with LilKim (heard it he orginally wanted Trina) "Magic Stick" which went to #2 also, he damn near owned the year of 03...
"Magazines wanna know where the @%** L.A. been... It almost died in the SAME car Suge got grazed in"...
Some of the truest words spoken by The Game (has a track record of telling lies and half truths), but the west coast was left for dead... Dr Dre ran to Atlantafrom Suge, Snoop Dogg being the buddy hustler that he is ran to Master P & No Limit in an attempt to save whatever he had left of a career after thatGARBAGE album The Doggfather. Enter Jayceon Taylor, though he had been signed to Aftermath for a good 2 years before its release (see:"In The Club" video), obviousley he was to fill in the writing role that Hitman & Knoc'Turnal had occupied before him, for one reason oranother that wasn't working out for him. So he gets paired with 50 Cent and togeather they made a great team, Aftermath was already in a dominant positionwith Eminem & 50 putting up N'sync like #s on Soundscan, but The Game was a different monster, bringing out a west coast artist in a east/southdominated climate in hip hop was a tough job, but who better to do it then Dr Dre??
After becoming a makeshift member of G Unit, The Game was popping up on mixtapes left and right, dissing Ns, and just overall talking an imense amount of ++@%.Towards the end of 04 "West Side Story" & "How We Do" were heating up, 50 and Game made a perfect 1-2 combo, the ladder of the 2singles rose to the Billboard Top 5, followed by "Hate It Or Love It" which shared the same success landing in the Top 5. The Documentary continuedwhere The Chronic/Doggystyle and other west coast classics left off, but this time it was being delivered by a west coast artist who displayed an east coastsense of lyricism and flow, the end result was a CLASSIC album jam packed with AMAZING production, and heartfelt lyrics.
Underground hip hop was on the upswing from about 95/96 up until maybe 03... This was one of the jewels tht time period. For those that LOVEDFuncrusher Plus (Company Flow) this was El P revisiting that, but this time with Harlem duo Vaste Aire & Vordul Mega. I won't front when I first boughtthis album I wasn't really feeling it, it was just WAAAY different then what I was used to listening to, it didn't even sound like the++@% Rawkus was making @ that time. El P's production is just... different, that mixed with Vaste Aire's AMAZING lyricism and BIG-likeeffortless flow made magic. Vordul Mega was VERY underappreciated, but he came with some dope ++@% throughout the album also.
HATED
Just an absolute ++@% sandwhich... There's nothing really more to be said about it. There are a FEW tracks that are worthgoin back and listening to, but if you can make a song as good as "Beach Chair" what are you doing making the rest of the tracks on here?? If it takeyou 2 years to make 12 tracks of THAT calibur and 3 singles, just wait it out... Don't put so much emphasis on just bringing an album outjust to do it, make sure it something that will be a GREAT body of work... Once you make your first classic album, you raise the bar forANYthing you touch from that point on.
(DISC 2)
Simular to Jay Z, NaS also came in the game with a classic and that forever lifted the standards that fans and critics held for his future projects. WithStreets Disciple I felt that Disc 1 was AMAZING, and that stands out as one of the best peices of work of this decade... But disc 2 just SUCKSBALLS (with the exception of "Gettin Married", "War" & Theifs Theme" a few other tracks were bearable, but they were nothing towrite home about)... That song he made to Rakim is GARBAGE... How do you pay homage to Rakim with a song THAT WACK??There's some truly awful music on there
The LAST KRS One album I spent my hard earned money on... I don't even have to go into detail, there's about 2 or 3 good songs, butEVERYthing else SUCKS BALLS... Its almost sad to hear KRS One attempt to do the double-time flow...
I lost a pretty good amount of respect for him after this joint.
This album is the hip hop equavalent to a salad or veggie burger... As a one time HUGE fan of Common, I went out and bought this ++@% the morning it dropped,it actually sounded coo on first listen, but the more I listened to more I HATED it and the direction Common took. Its not 100% garbage, but Idon't see myself EVER trying to listen to it all the way through again.
This album qualifies because of the calibur of MC that Jadakiss is... He always wants to be mentioned with the greats but then he turns around and drops analbum like this?? This ++@% pretty much SUCKS BALLS, I mean when the song with Mary J Blige is horrible you basically know the album is gonnabe pretty bad... While there are a FEW songs on here I like, the product overall was one of the BIGGEST disapointements thisdecade...
LOVED
(Trends)
Throwback jerseys... Authentic NBA & Football jerseys
OVERsized medallians (tho it was always somethin that was popular in hip hop, cats in the 2000s were just makin WAAY too muchmoney that they went out and got some crazy jewels)
Street DVDs/Cats shooting straight to the internet videos... (since MTV & BET don't play videos ANY way)
Battle Rap making a remergence via SMACK DVD/Fight Klub/Grind Time/Lions Den etc
HATED
FAKE Jordan/Air Force Ones
ODing on BAPE gear... (part of the reason cats was runnin around in that bang-bang BAPE ++@%)
ODing on tattoos ABOVE the neck...
Ed Hardy... Wallet chains rock-star look
Cazelz making a comeback...
LOVED
(Group Albums)
Debut album from the sometimes 3 members, other times 4 members... Super group lead by 50 Cent. Released in the fall of 2003, the album waswell recieved by critics and fans alike, went on to sell over 2 million units and produce HIT singles 'Stunt 101" & "WannaGet To Know You". But most importantly introduced the world to Lloyd Banks & Young Buck (due to incarceration Tony Yayo only appeared on)
The 4 man crew outta Harlem lead by (one time rap star) Cam'ron, the Diplomats burst on the scene with a slew of mixtapes andhelped secure a deal with Roc a Fella/Def Jam, where they released their debut album in early 2003... Introudciing the world to Juelz Santana who would go onto have a marginal career as a solo artist, releasing 2 albums on Def Jam.
After releasing a FEW singles that went nowhere, The Clipse dropped their commercial debut in 2002. The Virginiaduo scored a radio hit with "Grindin", and with the help of fellow Virginia natives The Neptunes, who produced the entire album went on to receive agold plaque and enormous respect amungst critics, and built a cult following.
Sophmore album from the Los Angeles trio... Don't know what else to say... The album was pretty DOPE.
Debut album from the most politically charged hip hop group since Public Enemy. Jam packed with thought provoking lyrics &beliefs along with STRONG production propells the album to CLASSIC-Like proprtions.
The album that made me fall in LOVE with DJ Khalil's production... One of the BESTunderground albums of this decade... The average "hip hop head" you run into prolly hasn't even heard it tho
DJ Hi Tek is one of the BEST producers of the decade, and early on Talib Kweli appeared to be one of the betterMCs... I don't really care too much for his music now, but this album was AMAZING
HATED
One of those albums that had a HUGE hit single (Lean Back #1), but had NOTHING on that level onthe rest of the album... Its not completley wack tho, but it was an extremely UNDERwhelming effort, even on Fat Joe standards.
Just wasn't a GOOD album... (Not that I was expecting it to be or anything)
This album just SUCKS BALLS... There's really nothing left to say about it, anyone that heard it knows.
LOVED
(Blogsites)
WorldStarHipHop
ByronCrawford
ThisIs50
HipHopDX
HATED
MediaTakeOut (even tho I frequent the site just for the @%** of it)
PerezHilton (I don't even think I've been to the site but that dude is just... well you get the picture)
HipHopGame (they were leading the pack @ one point, now I go there maybe 2 or 3 times a year)
LOVED
(Producers)
Production credits in 4 or 5 different genre's of music, SEVERAL hit records... Introduced the world to Kelis, The Clipse &Philly's Most Wanted... Also released a few group albums under the name N*E*R*D
Much like the Neptunes, produced SEVERAL hit singles in different genres... Even found time to drop a "solo" album that produceda few Top 10 singles and went on to sell 1.5 million copies... Brought out an artist or 2, most notably Keri Hilson
I'm just putting him on here so this thread doesn't "lose credibility"...
Naw but Kanye played a MAJOR role in hip hop production throughout the decade, of course he became MORE popular once hedropped his solo album in 04, but up until then he produced classic record for Jay Z on Dynasty, Blueprint, & Black Album... Made his debut more or less onBeanie Sigel's record The Truth.
He more or less rebirthed the grimey "east coast" sound even tho he's an LA native... Gained alot of his props from producing records for MobbDeep in the late 90s, also did some work on Prodigy's solo effort H.N.I.C. in 2000... Not limited to the more known acts, he also did great work with WestCoast trio Dialted Peoples amunst other acts... NaS, Jadakiss also used his services with GREAT results
Made a name for himself in the mid/late 90s as the DJ for Mos Def & Talib Kweli (collectivly known as Black Star), formed a duo with Talib Kweli andreleased the classic LP Train Of Thought in 2000. By the middle of the decade he was working side by side with Dr Dre, and contributed his production to albumssuck as Beg For Mercy, The Massacre, The Documentary...
HATED
Not that he was a bad producer this decade for anything, its just he didn't work hard enuff IMO... He has some great work on 50's first 2 albums (eventhough it been alleged that he had little to nothing to do with the beats he is credited with producing). My issue with Dr Dre is NO Detox??No Stat Quo album?? No Hitman?? No Knoc'turnal?? No Rakim?? No Raekwon?? The list goes on, then the albums where he did handle the bulk of production (orwas suppose to) were UNDERwhelming... Xzibit's Restless LP is nothing to write home about, neither is Busta Rhymes Big Bang Theory...Don't get me wrong he had SOME gems, but they were far in between in comparisons to the other ELITE producers.
There's no denying the GREAT work he contributed to Jay Z's many albums this decade, along with other great peices of work withinthe Roc A Fella family, but after the break up, outside of a FEW hit singles with TI, his performce for the ladder part of the decade has beenUNDERwhelming also... He and Kanye started their labels around the same time, but to this dat Fort Knox has YET to put out analbum from ANY artist (isnt Saigon the ONLY one on that label ANY way??) I mean come on, you've gotONE artist, and he can't even get a release date... No beats on Freeway's sophmore album??
I don't like the MAJORITY of his beats... And THAT'S how he secured this spot... (But unlike the others he did bringa few acts out, and they did pretty well)
The way he ended the 90s, EVERYone had him on their list of cats to look out for in the new millinium... But he didn't really doTOO much in this decade... His sound is VERY limited, and once DMX got back on the drugs and Ruff Ryders all but disapearedSwizz and his production was hard to come by. Then comes Cassidy, an artist who looked poised to become a mainstay in hip hop, but 3 FLOPSlater... His career is on life support. Meanwhile Swizz is dating MY WOMAN
... But anyway, his production this decade was nothing to write home about,EVERY album to drop on Full Surface has FLOPPED...
Not that he's a high profile producer ANYway... But ALL his beats more or less sound the SAME... If I see "ProducedBy Eminem" in the liner notes its a 90% chance the song SUCKS BALLS...
LOVED
(Solo Debut)
After shining on the first 4 Mobb Deep albums, frontman Prodigy brought out his solo album in 2000, though Havoc contributed on a FEWtracks, the majority of the production was handled by producers he had not worked with before. The album still had the grimey sound we have grown acustomed to,it also allowed Prodigy to get more personal with the subject matter.
In the summer of 2000 St Louis native Nelly took the hip hop world by storm, tearing up the Billboard charts with 3 of the 4 singles from his debut CountryGrammer. Hook driven, singy song flow kept the clubs and radio going crazy, as the album went on to sell OVER 8 million copies to date.
As one of the LAST members of the OG Bad Boy roster Black Rob released is long awaited debut album in early 2000, he scored a hit with theanthem "Whoa", which propelled the album to gold status. After the albums release he went through some legal issues, and dealt with a serious case ofdiabetes.
Queenbridge represenative and ONE time Firm member Cormega had been through his fare share of trails and tribulations, after having his solodebut album The Testament shelved by Def Jam in 98, he went underground for sometime, he resurfaced on the independent lable Landspeed who @ the time had beenresponsible for some SOLID underground releases, and in 2001 The Realness was added to that list.
The sometimes OVER looked member of The Lox was the 2nd of the 3 to release a solo album with 2002, A Gangster & A Gentleman. The albumreceived STRONG reviews as Styles mixed his HARDCORE gangsta image with his conscience state of mind to create anAMAZING blend of songs, propelled by the lead single "Good Times" and the Pharoe Monch assisted single "The Life".
Freeway first hit the scene with an appearence on the Jay Z album Dynasty in 2000, after making some noise as a part of the Roc A Fella group StateProperty, Free released his solo album to critical acclaim. The only problem he had was he shared a release date with 50 Cent who would go on to sellOVER 12 million units worldwide, almost drowning out the majority of Freeway's buzz in the process. The album introduced Free'ssignature emotional flow, and with Just Blaze & Kanye West handling the bulk of the production the end results were a soulful soundtrack to thestreets.
After creating a HUGE street buzz with mixtape appearences dating back to 2002s 50 Cent In The Future, Lloyd Banks was the first to release an album on 50Cent's newly formed G Unit Records, and like his boss before him the album was a hit on the Billboards & on the street. He was able to score 3HIT singles from the album also.
The 2nd of the G Unit debuts was by Cashville's own, Young Buck, while he did not share the SAME Billboard success as the 50 and Banks, hestill scored a hit with "Shawty Wanna Ride", the album went on to sell over a million units and received ciritcal acclaim from magazines and thestreets alike.
After bursting on the national scene as a part of the Bad Boy quartet Boyz In Da Hood, Young Jeezy heated the streets with the mixtape Trap Or Die with DJDrama before releasing his critally acclaimed debut Thug Motivation 101. His buzz was so bit to the point where schools around the country went as far asbanning the Snow Man tee shirts. Like TI a few years before, Jeezy became a forefather in the new age of Coke rap, embraced by the streets and critcs, thealbum went on to sell more that 2 million copies.
Lupe Fiasco burst on the scene after dwelling in the underground for a FEW years releasing a series of mixtapes. His debut was pushed back forsometime and eventually leaked, forcing the label to rework the album. The retail version, while is a strong debut, it is widley believed that the advance copywas a much better prouduct. Unlike the others, Lupe was not so lucky when the Soundscan #s were released for his first week sales (Best Buy did not properlyreport his #s)
Bursting on the national scene in 08, Kid Cudi released his critical accliamed debut in 09. Unlike the typical hip hop album, Cudi used a mix of eltro-hip-hopand alternative hip hop to shape his sound, the end result is one of the BETTER debuts this decade, it was also named the Hip Hop album of the year byEntertainment Weekly.
HATED
THIS album is SOO wack I couldn't even find a good picture of the copy (ie NO one even cares enuff to bootleg this$%%*!%*#), as one of the VERY few people who actually went out and bought this album I was VERY dissapointed
Riding the wave of both Nelly & the St Lunatic's multi platinum efforts, Murphy Lee was next in line to bring more shine to the St Louis rap scene.Unlike his mentor he was unable to score a major HIT single, and the album fizzled away almost as fast as it came.
By the time Bronx rep and former Terror Squad member Cuban Link dropped his debut A LOT had changed, not only in his life but in the landscapeof hip hop. His mentor Big Pun had been dead for almost 5 years, his 2000 debut was scrapped by the label, and he and Fat Joe had been @ odds for sometime. Bythe time it DID drop, the buzz was gone, it garned LITTLE attention barley cracking the Billcoard Top 200 in the week of itsrelease.
The success and critical acclaim of 2 Capone N Noreaga albums could not save this effort from being panned by critics. The album had been advertised since 1998when Nore dropped his solo, but the album did not see the light of day until 2006, when it dropped nobody cared.
The HIGHLY anticapted solo debut from Lox member Jadakiss FINALLY arrived, and when it did it was met with mixed reviews, hewas able to score a radio hit with "Knock Yourself Out" but the overall product did not meet the expectations most had built for the MC, the albumwent on to go Gold, but all in all is seen as a failure in comparison the #s put up by fellow Ruff Ryders DMX & Eve.
The Black Star MC and one half of Reflectional Eternal member released his HIGHLY anticipated debut album in 2002, and even though he scored ahit with "Get By" he failed to meet the quality of BlackStar & Train Of Thought albums. The album doesn't completely SUCK byANY means, it just left much to be desired, and the majority of the new ideas he tried did not work out to well.
Another flunkie from the St Lunatics family... No this album went absolutely NOWHERE... No hit singles, no buzz, no nothing... TRASH
For those that thought Loon would be able to carry the once powerful Bad Boy imprint, think again. His debut album SUCKS BALLS, the mixture ofthis failure and being signed to one of the most evil men in the industry lead Loon towards Islam, hopefully he NEVER picks up the mic again.
LOVED
(Sophmore Albums)
In the summer of 2000 Eminem took the music world by storm with his follow up to the multi-platinum debut Slim Shady LP with over a million units sold in oneweek. Considered his BEST work by many (along with Eminem Show) he displayed an even sicker side to his subject matter than on his previouseffort, but he also was able to score chart topping singles like "Stan" about a derranged fan, that managed to work its way into regular hip hoplingo.
With the retirment of Mase, tha failure of BOTH Double Up and the Harlem World group, Cam'ron reapeard with the much more grimey sophmorealbum SDE. Flexing his lyrical prowess over gritty production, he also found time to make singles like "What Means The World To You" which didVERY well on the urban charts and considered by many one of his BEST singles.
After almost 4 years since he had dropped his last solo album, Clansman Ghostface Killah returned with the cult classic Supreme Clientele, regarded byMANY as one of the BEST Wu Tang Clan solo albums, he was put in the position to carry the lacking work of theENTIRE Clan, a task he has handled quite well for the past 9 years.
With the retirement of the ONE time leader of The Roc, the dynasty now laid in Kanye's hands, a task that he wore with pride. After thebreak up of the once powerful Roc A Fella records, Kanye became the makeshift face of the Roc with his first single "Diamonds" before later beingjoined by Jay Z on the remix. Considred by many to be his BEST work musically, Ye' and Jon Brion got togeather to create a hip hop albumlike no other.
After being dropped from Arista after the failure of his 2001 debut I'm Serious TI took a 2 year hiatus from the mainstream, focusing on gaining aunderground buzz via mixtapes, and forming his own label Grand Hustle Records, and in the summer of 2003 released his sophmore effort to critical acclaim. Thealbum went on to go platinum and scored urban hits "24s" & "Rubberband Man".
After leaving the Shady/Aftermath/G Unit family in 2005, Game released his sophmore effort via Geffen, and even though he was not able to miror the commercialsuccess of his debut he was able to prove that even without the help of 50 Cent & Dr Dre he was still capable of making a SOLID album withsteller production from big names like Just Blaze, Nottz, and Scott Storch
After the commercial failure of the cult classic, Food & Liquor, Lupe Fiasco returned in the 4th quarter of 2007 with The Cool, only this time he did scorea HIT single with "Superstar", he covered everything from alterbative rap to traditional boom bap material on his ode to hip hop, "Hip Hop SavedMy Life", the album also featured guest appearences from the likes of Snoop Dogg, a move that shocked many.
Without missing a beat from his debut, The Realness, Cormega returned a year later with the critcally acclaimed follow up The True Meaning, while he didn'tfocus as much energy to dissing NaS on this effort he did take the time to air out the ENTIRE sitation on the track "Love In LoveOut" for once final time before putting the issue to rest, they have sense settled their beef.
If you asked me in 05 I would've hated on this joint without a doubt, but after his LAST #@!% sanwhich and the 5 year break inbetween, Ireally built a STRONG appreciation for this album for the simple fact that there are really no truly AWFUL joints on here,while there's a few that'll make you scratch your head, the GOOD by far outweigh the bad on Jada's sophmore effort.
HATED
By the time the Wyclef released his sophmore album alot had changed, the Fugees were all but done, he and Pras were no longer speaking, and his one timeReffugee label had lost its main artist, Canibus. He was able to score an R&B hit with Mary J Blige in "911" but the album was more or lessoverlooked due to the idiotic first single featuring The Rock of WWF (bka WWE today). He had a few decent records, but the album was pale in comparison to 97sThe Carvinal, and the effort of The Fugee's first lady Lauryn Hill with 98s Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill.
The follow up to his disapointing debut album Can I Bus, would be his LAST album released via Universal records. Without Wyclef to blame for his lack ofsuccess and creativity, Canibus took to rapping about animals you'd see on the Discovery Channel. Now this album SUCKS BALLS, its like hetried so hard to mold the sound to fit what was going on with commercial raps production it just moved in the toal opposite direction of his lyricism.
The ONE time Wu Tang affiliate returned in 2000 with his sophmore efforst View From Masada, his sound had changed drastically opting to usemore commercially acceptable production, though not sacrificing his lyricism, the album had production from the likes of Just Blaze and its debut singlefeatured Ras Kass, but not even that could lift this album up, it went damn near unnoticed... And with good reason.
50 Cent returned with the Massacre in early 2005 to mixed reviews, while the album has MANY GOOD/GREAT songs, it hold no overall theme, and isjust bloated with unnecassary tracks like the joint with Jamie Foxx, along with another extremely average record featuring Olivia. Unlike the others, it hadGREAT commercial success, but didn't compare to his debut album. Had the album been shaved down to 12 or 13 tracks it could've easilybeen on the other side of this list, but in its entirety you can't really label this a truly good ALBUM.
With G Unit's popularity rapidly declining in the 2 years since his debut, Lloyd Banks attempted to revamp the G Unit brand with his sophmore effort, andall signs point to a failure. Unable to score a major hit, the album struggled in its opening week on the Billboard charts and quickly faded away. The albumdid have some fairly decent material, but it lacked depth and soul, both of which secure an albums lasting power.
Released just weeks after his untimely death, Puns sophmore effort was not nearly as successful as his debut, it was criticized for its lack creativity, theproduction for the most part was dismal, and the lyrcism we had grown to love from Pun was far inbetween on the album.
NOT that ANYone expected this to be good or ANYthing anyway...
After an almost 5 year gap between the relase of his debut, Mos Def returned with The New Danger, singing much more than he was rapping. Much like other albumson this list that don't completely SUCK BALLS it was more of Mos's lack of lyrical effort that held this album from being as great hisdebut, maybe he was bored with rap, who knows...
Who REALLY went out and wasted their hard earned money on this $@%$ sandwhich?? This joint went NOWHERE...
Not that this album completely SUCKS BALLS cause it doesn't, there were actually some REALLY good songs on here, and itproduced 3 HIT singles. It just wasn't THAT album we expected from Fab, his buzz from the mixtapes wasHUGE, and the timing was pretty bad too. 50 & Free had just dropped more street albums, along with the Diplomats a few months afterward,meanwhile Fab was in FULL Ma$e mode with this joint.
LOVED
(Rap Veterans)
After the %+%$ sandwhich that was Kingdome Come, the self proclaimed "Best Rapper Alive" came back with a vintage sounding album, inspired by theDenzel Washington film American Gangster (where he played Harlem hustler, Frank Lucas). Unlike past efforts Jay Z didn't score ANYBillboard hits, but was able to recapture the glory of his other classic albums with AG.
NaS followed up his comeback album, Stillmatic with 2002's God's Son. In the wake of the death of his mother, NaS was in his most vulnerable state asan MC, while still embroiled in a beef with Jay Z he took time out to address the status and roots of the beef, meanwhile creating what has been hisHIGHEST charting single to date, children anthem, "I Can".
After SEVERAL months of delays, Cam's 4th album Purple Haze FINALLY saw the light of day in LATE2004. By that time the Roc A Fella family was no more, Cam had already moved his company to Koch, and after PHs release he was planning on ending hisrelationship with Def Jam also, even in the midst of all that turmoil he was able to release arguably his BEST album to date.
After the debacle that was Electric Circus (See Below), Common signed with Kanye's G.O.O.D. Music label, produced what is known to SOME asa classic. With Ye & Jay Dee handling ALL the production, it was Common's BEST work since 2000s Like Water ForChocolate & 94s Resurrection. For the first time in his career, he earned a Gold plaque, and revived his career after years of buggin out with Eyrkah Badu.
Houston rep, and Geto Boys alum Scarface made his Def Jam debut with The Fix, after serving as the president for Def Jam South, the man responsible for signingLudacris blessed the hip hop community with yet another steller solo album with 2002s The Fix. With guest appearences from the likes of Jay Z, NaS, BeanieSigel & Kelly Price.
With his 3rd solo album Eminem dug deep into his life, and what he brought out was possibly his BEST material. During the time he was dealingwith a gun charge where he alegeddly attacked a man who had takin his wife out with an unloaded gun, he was also under fire my gay and women rights groups forhis violent, and vulgar lyrics, all of which he relfelcted upon in song, the album was another HIT for him with the crits and fans.
After spending a FEW years on Dr Dre's Aftermath imprint, Raekwon and the good Doc decided to part ways, he then formed his own label IceWater Inc via E1 and released the sequel to his 1995 CLASSIC debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx to much critical acclaim. Joined by Ghostface forhalf the album, he also had production from longtime Clan producer The Rza, Alchemist and 2 tracks by Dr Dre.
On the brink of his supposed retirement, Jay Z left hip hop fans with ONE last GREAT LP to grow on. Much like Blueprint 2years before, the Black Album serves as another therapy session, as Jay Z leaves no stones unturned in revealing his path from the streets into the boardrooms. With the curtains now closing on his career, he blessed NYC with ONE last concert at non other than Madison Square Garden, the ticketssold out in record breaking time, and the concert was put into film format with 2004 Fade To Black, which also documented the making of the album.
Controversey sourrounded Queens legen NaS as he attemped to titled his 8th solo album N****r. At first Def Jam supported the idea, but after it becoming anational news story they later backed out, opting for the album to go Untitled. Unfazed by the big wigs changing their mind on the idea, NaS told the storywith the albums cover, displaying his scarred back with the letter N, simular to the affects of multiple strikes of a slave whip. The politically charged albumchalleged popular ideas on EVERYthing from history, religion to modern day politics. He also took time to diss the WORST Newsstation known to man, Fox News.
After restablishing himself with the hip hop community with 2001 Disposable Arts, Masta Ace returned 3 years later for MORE props. STELLER production and hissignature smooth flow lifted the album to GREAT heights, regarded by many as his BEST album (outside of SlaughterHouse), he came with another concept album.(prequel to Disposable Arts)
Mos Def had TONS of potential as an MC, maybe the industry wasn't what he thought it would be, maybe the Hollywood checks wereTHAT good, either way it had been almost 10 years since he dropped his last TRUE hip hop album. With Ecstatic he toned downthe alternative sound that dominated his prior 2 efforts and got back to what he does best, STRAIGHT SPITTIN.
By 2005 Lil Wayne was something like a vet, despite his young age had been a recognizable figuire in hip hop for OVER 5 years, furing the timehe now was the STAR of Cash Money. The departure of all the orginal Hot Boys did nothing to deter the OTHER self procliamed"Best Rapper Alive", he claimed his spot amungst hip hop's elite with Tha Carter, along along with slew of mixtapes before andAFTER its release.
Staten Island rep, Wu tang Member Ghostface returned on the scene in 2006 after a 2 year break between his last solo album, with his 2nd release on thelegendary Def Jam imprint. Unlike The Pretty Toney Album before, there were no mixed reviews, the album was FULLY embraced by critics andfans, with some even labeling it a classic. he also scored his HIGHEST charting single on the Bilboard charts with "Back like That",which featured fellow Def Jam artist NeYo.
With the HEAVY bootlegging of what was suppose to be NaS 3rd album, a double disc titled "I Am... The Bigraphy" was scrapped and repackaged as 2seperate albums (I Am... & NaStradamus). Being that the bootlegging was a FEW years before the internet really blew up, the majority of hip hop fans had noreal acess to the material. NaS and Columbia decided to give those fans a treat with Lost Tapes, previously unreleased tracks from his albums, considered byMANY a classic peice of work, it was released in between his 2 comeback albums, Stillmatic & God's Son
Didn't know where to catergorize this joint, but NOW T.I. is deffinetly a veteran so I guess it fits here. GREAT album,my personal favorite by him, he became one of my favorite rappers with this joint. And IMO he's the King Of The South & The GOAT.
HATED
The LONG delayed album from Busta Rhymes FINALLY saw the light of day in 08. He was NO longer a part of theAftermath family, and had NO hit single in the months leading to its release, the album fizzled quickly and faded away into the memories ofhip hop fans.
After dating Erykah Badu for SOMEtime Common completely changed his style, opting for a more experimental sound on Electric Circus, the endresult was dismal at best. He was however able to score another hit single with "Come Close", which featured Mary J Blige, but other than that therewas nothing noteworthy about this effort.
Even though he scored a MAJOR hit with 2006 "Control Myself" the Queens legend was unable to make a HIT out of thealbum. He later blamed lack of promotion for its poor sales, where he may have had a point, making a BETTER album would've probabalyhelped him more than the BEST promotion money could buy.
Wyclef attempted to recreate his 1997 classic The Carnival with 2007 sequel album... I went out and bought the album (don't know where the physical copy isnow). The album DID produce the HIT single "Sweetest Girl" which featured Lil Wayne & Akon, but he was unable to mirror his pastsuccess, the album is his lowest selling to date.
ANOTHER LL album that didn;t quite live up to the standards.
After the critically acclaimed Eminem Show he took a hiatus to promote acts such as Obie Trice, D 12 & 50 Cent before returning in 2004 with Encore, thealbum didn't contain the great lyricism he displayed on his first 3 albums, he wasn't as focused as we've seen him before, and the end resultshowed that. Even a songs as good as "Mockingbird" & "Like Toy Soldiers" couldn't save the album.
ANOTHER GARBAGE album from the Chicago legend... If I listened to this more I'd prolly be dead, so there's not really much I can tellyou about this album other than STAY VERY FAR AWAY FROM THIS GARBAGE.
LOVED
(Comebacks)
Cam'ron was SUPPOSED to follow Ma$e with his success, but his career got off on the wrong foot. By the time 2002 rolled around he was nowin his 3rd record deal, this time he joined forces with LONGtime friend Dame Dash and the Roc A Fella Records imprint, after creating a buzzwith Diplomats Vol 1&2 he was able to secure a deal with Def Jam for Diplomat Records and his artist Juelz Santana. With its release, Cam scored 2MAJOR hits with "Hey Ma" & "Oh Boy" and shot him to SUPER-star status within the hip hop community.To this day Come Home With Me stands as his BEST selling album with over 1.2 million copies sold.
After fading into obscurity for quite sometime, Brooklyn MC Masta Ace reemreged on the hip hop scene with the concept album, Disposable Arts. He receivedcritical acclaim, and regained some of the glory he once had, after beaing embarassed by fellow Brooklynite Boogie Man @ a Lyricist Lounge battle a yearbefore, he fired back with "Aknowledge", also taking shots @ Phildelphia underground duo, The High & Mighty.
The QueensBridge legend and former Juice Crew member had all but disapeared after his falling out with Noreaga, but in 2001 he returned with hisFIRST post Juice Crew solo album Against All Odds, chronicling his trails and tribulations throughout the years, EVERYthingfrom serving time to baby momma drama is covered. He also recruited a then unknown Just Blaze and Sha Money XL (fka Sha Self) to handle some production on thealbum.
Nearly a decade after his debut album, Tribe Called Quest frontman Q Tip released his sophmore album in 2008, to MUCH critical acclaim, andfan fare. With his signature nasal flow, he was able to capture the attention of hip hop purists and MAYBE even a few NEWschool hip hop fans. (Kamal The Abstract, his supposed sophmore album had been shelved for YEARS, finally appearing a FEW moths ago online)
After YEARS of bubbling in the underground Twista FINALLY broke through in the MAINstream. For years therehad been rumors of him signing with Roc A Fella or even Bad Boy, he did neither, but still kept a working relationship with BOTH camps.Propelled by the singles "Slow Jamz" (which also appeared on Kanye West's debut College Dropout) & "Overnight Celebrity" Twistafinally had a platinum album of his own.
When LL released G.O.A.T. alot had changed, he went from being a TOP priority on Def Jam to NO longer being one of the top 5selling rappers on the label, he returned to his hardcore roots once again and the end result was pretty good album. His first album since the infamous Canibusbattle, he was once again put into a position where he had to prove the general public wrong, and that he did, first heating the streets with "IllBomb" (which appeared on Funk Flex & Big Cap's The Tunnel in late 99), he walked the fine line of radio friendly lady records, and hardcore hiphop.
After disapearing from the scene for 5 years Pharoahe Monch returned with his 2007 effort Desire. Battling through label drama after his former home RawkusRecords switched distributers, FOLDED, then reamerged on the scene, by that time most of its OG line up had already found new labelhome's, Pharoahe Monch was no exception. Though the album didn't make an impact on the Billboard charts, it was praised by fans and critics alike, andfor an MC of his calbur, it was just music to his ears.
By 2003 the female MCs were becoming something like an endangered species, Lil Kim didn't want to become a part of that trend. She recruited the HOTTESTproducers in the indursty, along with the 03 Rookie Of The Year, 50 Cent for her single "Magic Stick" and even though the song peaked @ #2 on theBillboard Charts, disagreements with the 2 camps made it impossible for them to shoot a video for the single. She was still able to score another hit with theMr Cheeks featured, Timbaland produced single "The Jumpoff"
Released after the Roc A Fella family all but dismantled, Beans 3rd album proved to be his MOST well rounded release. Facing a jail sentence,he would be behind bars when the album was released, relying only on singles he had previously shot videos for to catch on with the general public, along witha push from his temporary home, Dame Dash Music Group via Def Jam
HATED
STILL my babe Foxy... But this +$%% was TRASH. I know Fox came out and said she wasn;t behind its release, that may be true,but she can't deny the fact that at ONE point she recorded this garbage.
The Onyx member turned actor released his solo debut in 2000, via Koch the album not only flopped on the charts, it more or less SUCKEDBALLS outside of maybe one or 2 songs.
After following up their classic debut with The Reunion they received mixed reviews, but for the most part was scene as a fairly good album. By the time 2009rolled around BOTH were washed up and atleast a decade past their primes, so when Channel 10 came out NOBODY paidANY attention. They did get a dope track from Preemo, if that counts for ANYthing.
THIS was supposed to be Ja Rule's comeback album, he had a single with Lil Wayne that did pretty decent in the streets, but it was unableto generate enuff intrest for the label to actually risks its neck (and money) trying to promote such a hit or miss project. They decided to place the album onice for a year or 2 until EVERYone forgot about it, it eventually leaked and STILL made 0 noise.
The long delayed follow up to his Platinum album came out about 2 or 3 years too late for Flip. TI had played him, and Houston had moved on quite well withouthis presence for some time, so when he FINALLY did release the album it was met with little fan fare.
Not that ANY one was really waiting for a Memph Bleek comeback, he came back ANYway... FLOPPED extremelyhard, and that was more or less the end.
Cam's LONG awaited release FINALLY saw the light of day in 2009, trying to keep intact whatever he STILLhad left of a career @ this point he released Crime Pays, with lackluster production, and uninspired rhymes. The album fell FLAT selling theleast amount of ANY of his previous releases.
LOVED
(Singles that reached the Billboard Top 10)
50 Cent - "In Da Club" (#1)
Nelly Feat Kelly Rowland - "Dillema" (#1)
P Diddy Feat Loon, Mario Winas & Ginuwine - "I Need A Girl Part 2" (#4)
Ludacris Feat Mary J Blige - "Runaway Love" (#2)
Eminem - "Cleaning Out My Closet" (#4)
The Game Feat 50 Cent - "Hate It Or Love It" (#2)
Jay Z Feat Alicia Keys - "Empire State Of Mind" (#1)
Ja Rule Feat. Lil Mo & Vita - "Put It On Me" (#8
Snoop Dogg Feat Pharrell Williams & Charlie Wilson - "Beautiful" (#6)
Kanye West Feat Syleena Johnson - "All Falls Down" (#7)
Twista Feat Kanye West & Jamie Foxx - "Slow Jamz" (#1)
Lil Flip Feat Lea - "Sunshine" (#2)
LL Cool J - "Luv U Better" (#4)
Jay Z Feat Pharrell Williams - "Excuse Me Miss" (#8
Chingy Feat Jason Weaver - "One Call Away" (#2)
Fat Joe Feat Ashanti - "Whuts Luv" (#2)
Twista - "Overnight Celebrity" (#6)
T.I. - "What You Know" (#3)
Lupe Fisasco - "Superstar" (#10)
Jim Jones - "We Fly High" (#5)
Diddy Feat Keyshia Cole - "Last Night" (#10)
Rich Boy Feat Polow The Don - "Throw Some Ds On It" (#6)
T-Pain Feat Yung Joc - "Buy U A Drank" (#1)
Bone Thugs N Harmony Feat Akon - "I Tried" (#6)
Fabolous Feat NeYo - "Make Me Better" (#8
Plies Feat T-Pain - "Shawty" (#9)
Kanye West Feat T-Pain - "Good Life" (#7)
Dem Franchize Boys - "Lean Wit It Rock Wit It" (#7)
Yung Joc - "Its Goin Down" (#3)
Young Dro - "Shoulder Lean" (#10)
Chingy Feat. Tyrese - "Pullin Me Back" (#9)
TI Feat Swizz Beatz - "Bring Em Out" (#9)
Bow Wow Feat Omarion - "Let Me Hold U" (#4)
50 Cent Feat Mobb Deep - "Outta Control" Remix (#6)
Young Jeezy Feat Akon - "Soul Survivor" (#4)
Cassidy Feat R Kelly - "Hotel" (#4)
Jay Z - "Dirt Off Ya Shoulder" (#5)
Juvinile Feat Soulja Slim - "Slow Motion" (#1)
Lloyd Banks Feat 50 Cent - "On Fire" (#8
Terror Squad - "Lean Back" (#1)
Fabolous - "Breathe" (#10)
HATED
Eminem - "Just Lose It" (#6)
Lil Wayne - "Lollipop" (#1)
Chingy - "Right Thurr" (#2)
Ludacris Feat Pharrell Williams - "Money Maker" (#1)
Flo Rida Feat T Pain - "Low" (#1)
Flo Rida - "Right Round" (#1)
Jay Z - "Show Me What You Got" (#8
Kanye West Feat Jamie Foxx - "Gold Digger" (#1)
50 Cent Feat Olivia - "Candy Shop" (#1)
Nelly Feat Murphy Lee & P Diddy - "Shake Ya Tailfeather" (#1)
Ying Yang Twinz Feat Lil Jon - "Salt Shaker" (#9)
Akon Feat Eminem - "Smack That" (#2)
Ja Rule Feat Ashanti - "Mezmerize" (#2)
Kanye West - "Stronger" (#1)
LL Cool J Feat Jennifer Lopez - "Control Myself" (#4)
Chingy Feat Ludacris & Snoop Dogg - "Holidae Inn" (#3)
Fat Joe Feat Nelly - "Get It Poppin" (#9)
T.I. - "Whatever You Like" (#1)
Eminem - "The Real Slim Shady" (#4)
Jay Z Feat Beyonce - "03 Bonnie & Clyde" (#4)
Kardinal Offishall Feat Akon - "Dangerous" (#5)
Ray J Feat Yung Berg - "Sexy Can I" (#3)
MIMS - "This Is Why I'm How" (#1)
Huey - "Pop Lock & Drop It" (#6)
Shop Boyz - "Party Like A Rockstar" (#2)
Lil Mama - "Lip Gloss" (#10)
Hurricane Chris - "Ay Bay Bay" (#7)
Soulja Boy Tell 'em - "Crank That" (#1)
50 Cent Feat Justin Timberlake & Timbaland - "Ayo Technology" (#5)
Baby Bash Feat T-Pain - "Cyclone" (#7)
D4L - "Laffy Taffy" (#1)
Nelly Feat Paul Wall, Jermaine Dupri, Ali & Gipp - "Grillz" (#1)
Juelz Santana - "The Whistle Song" (#6)
Eminem Feat Nate Dogg - "Shake That" (#6)
Bubba Sparkz Feat Ying Yang Twinz - "Ms New Booty" (#7)
Field Mob Feat Ciara - "So What" (#10)
Jibbs - "Chain Hang Low" (#7)
Diddy Feat Nicole Scherzinger - "Come To Me" (#9)
Bow Wow Feat Chris Brown - "Shorty Like Mine" (#9)
Will Smith - "Switch" (#7)
Bow Wow Feat Ciara - "Like U" (#3)
David Banner - "Play" (#7)
Eminem - "When I'm Gone" (#8
J-Kwon - "Tipsy" (#2)
Ludacris - "Splash Waterfalls" (#6)
D12 - "My Band" (#6)
Petey Pablo - "Freek A Leek" (#7)
Nelly Feat Jaheim - "My Place" (#4)
LOVED
(Flops)
Truly GREAT album... Should've done better #s...
Not too bad of an album... #s should've been alot better on this joint.
Great album that underperformed on the charts... Def Jam has been @#*@!@% up for a while now...
The Houston native Slim Thug was expected to do BIG #s when he released his debut album via Pharrell Williams imprint Star Trak, but that was not the case withhis 2005 debut album. receiving mixed reviews from critcs, he failed to match the success of fellow Houston rookies & Swisha House alums, Paul Wall,Chamillionare and Mike Jones.
HATED
Even tho it debuted @ #1, it underpeformed in comparison to his past efforts... & overall it SUCKED BALLS (with the exception of a fewjoints)
Just wasn't a good idea to release a solo album by Tony Yayo... Even though it sold 250K+ (which is good NOW), it failed to go platinum, anddid not produce a hit single... The album was pretty WACK
After an almost 5 year hiatus from the music world, Mase returned with a squeeky clean image to match his playful raps, but in the years since hisMULTI platinum debut, hip hop fans preferred the more gritty style of music, which his dedication to Jesus Christ did not allow him to make atthat particular time, the album went on to go gold, but was QUICKLY forgotten by fans and haters alike.
Never heard it, but I'm pretty sure it SUCKED... He was feelin himself waaay to much, he needed this flop to deflate his oversized ego...
Skimmed through this joint... Heard all I needed to hear, it SUCKED...
100% PURE GARBAGE... Just somethin to break up buds on...
While Fat Joe was able to score a hit with the single "I Won't Tell" the album failed to put up decent #s. The ONE thing he did do right was geta track from DJ Premier with "That White" which was just
hopefully Jay Z & NaS can follow his lead.
LOVED
(Rapper Names)
Freaky Zeeky
Max Bigaveli
The Game
Joey Jihad
Nipsey Hussle
Young Dro
Tony Yayo
HATED
Slim Thug (like foreal??)
Flo Rida
Nashawn The Millinuim Thug
Glasses Malone
Mac Boney
Plies (derrived from the house hold tool known as plyers)
LOVED
(Collaberations)
Jay Z/Beanie Sigel/Scarface - "Can't Be Life", "Some How Some Way", "Guess Who's Back"
Jay Z/Eminem - "Renegade"
50 Cent/The Game - "How We Do", "Hate It Or Love It"
The Game/NaS - "Why You Hate The Game", "Hustlers", "Letter To The King"
Justin Timberlake/TI - "My Love", "Dead & Gone"
Snoop Dogg/Pharrell - "Beautiful", "Drop It Like Its Hot", "Lets Get Blown", "Special"
NaS/Kanye - "We Major", "Still Dreaming"
HATED
NaS/Jay Z - "Black Republicans", "Success"
50 Cent/Justin Timberlake - "Ayo Technology"
TI/Ludacris - The song they had on Paper Trail was UNDERwhelming
Mobb Deep/Lil Jon - "Real Gangstas"
Bravehearts/Lil Jon - "Quick To Back Down"
LOVED
(Beefs/Battles)
Jay Z vs NaS
50 Cent vs Ja Rule
Beanie Sigel vs Jadakiss
The Game vs G Unit
Lil Flip vs TI
HATED
Shady/Aftermath/G Unit vs The Source
Chamillionare vs Mike Jones
Joe Budden vs Ransom
Lil Wayne vs Pharrell & The Clipse
Ma$e vs Loon & Fabolous
Ras Kass vs The Game
LOVED
(Rumors)
Jay Z & Lil Wayne goin at it on wax after a few jabs were thrown...
NaS & DJ Premier doin an album togeather...
BlackStar reunion album...
Trick Daddy & BG signing to G Unit South
Videotape of Rick Ross graduation...
The Game getting slapped by Suge...
Irv Gotti getting Shyne out of prison in 04...
Jay Z & NaS goin @ 50 & Beans on the "Empire State Of Mind" Remix...
Fat Joe getting lumped up by Papoose...
Bow Wow buying Young Berg's chain from the Detroit GOONS...
HATED
Gucci Mane dying...
Lil Wayne leaving Cash Money for Def Jam...
Lloyd Banks leaving G Unit...
NaS signing to Murder Inc...
TI snitchin' to get time reduced...
BIG being behind the Las Vegas murder of 2Pac...
LOVED
(Moments/Events this decade)
NaS & Jay Z squashing beef...
50 Cent joining forces with Eminem & Dre
Shyne Po being released from prison...
Lil Wayne winning big @ the Grammy's
Hip Hop taking a political stance to support Brack Obama
My FAV Rapper Of ALL Time having a bio pic made...
2Pac Resurrection Movie & book... Finally let him tell his story in his OWN words...
Suge Knight gettin knocked the #+@+ out...
VH1 Hip Hop Honors...
HATED
The untimely death of Big Pun...
Aaliyah dying in a plane crash JUST as her career was going to the NEXT level...
The Roc A Fella break up...
Dip Set breaking up...
Lil Cease testifying AGAINST Lil Kim in her FEDeral case for purjury...
MY babe, Foxy Brown goin to jail...
Jay Z becoming president of Def Jam... The Shakir Stewart being the successor and commiting suicide...
TI gettin caught buyin machine guns...
The death of the hip hop publications... (if not literally, creatively...)
Remy Ma being a +$*!#%* idiot and shooting one of her BEST friends... I'm not even mad she went to jail for that cause it wasSTUPID on her part...
Stack Bundles getting murdered
...
Pimp C passing away...
Ol Dirty Bastard passing away...
LOVED
(Albums)
AMAZING debut album from Kanye West, I remember seeing his bruised up picture in XXL Mag when I was a senior in high school, before that point theONLY track I heard him spit on was "Champions" while his verse was pretty coo, it was nothing mind blowing... The potential wasthere, but there was no telling if it would EVER materialize into great music. Fast foword to the end of 03, the whole world was goin50-Cent-Crazy, Jay Z had JUST retired. "Through The Wire" had been floating around for sometime, (I got it off of Napster, and itwas the older version where he was LITERALLY rapping with his jaw wired shut), "Slow Jamz" was doin VERY well onvideo shows (BET/MTV) then in early 04 as more material from the album was being played on Hot97 mix shows, the 2 specific joints that caught my ear were"Jesus Walks" & "All Falls Down" after hearing those joints EVERY night a 2 or 3 times, I was sold... Now all that wasleft to do was pick up the album on release date. Caught the train and went downtown (Brooklyn) to cop from Beat Street, took it to the crib and spun it...I'm goin keep it FUNKY I did NOT like the album on first listen.
I got on the jack, called my homeboy and was just ANGRY... Tellin him it was TRASH and he shouldn't waste his time normoney... Then after about 3 or 4 days of playing the album front-to-back I realized it was a classic... Then add in the fact that you couldn't walk into abuilding in Harlem without hearing someone playing a track off the album. The energy behind the project was AMAZING, to see a rapper getembraced by the street that wasn't kickin street ++@% was an accomplishment in itself, based on the climate of hip hop @ that specific time. I was working@ Duane Reade (57th & B'way) @ that time, the night-shift, RIGHT across the street from The GAP, so naturally "Spaceship"was the soundtrack to my life.
This is the "Mama Said Knock You Out" of THIS decade... Many people (myself included) left NaS for dead... Not that I ever jumpedon the Jay Z ship or anything, but I thought NaS was buried, not that Jay was a better rapper or anything it was just the fact that Jay and his movement hadSOO much energy, a lot of the cats that grew up on NaS were getting tired of hip hop as a whole, so the tide had completely turned. You hadcats from State Property thinkin it was OK to be on the radio and various mixtapes throwing shots @ NaS/Mobb Deep & the entireQueensbrudge.
If NaS has taught us ANYthing from 04 till now its been to NEVER count him out, came back in 99 with I Am... Only to fall flat withNaStradamus... The QBs Finest Compilation was really nothing to write home about, so this put NaS in one of the toughest situations in his career. He was nowgoing against the MOST popular "rapper" in the game this side of Eminem... NaS held NOTHING back, he took hip hopfans on a journey. When "Got Urself A Gun" dropped you could feel the tide turnin, cats was jumpin back on NaS side. Then "Ether" came andit just created a damn near 50/50 divide in the hip hop community, we would literally argue in the hallways & @ lunch all day about Jay/NaS ++@%. The videoto "Got Urself A Gun" also showed NaS cleaverness, he realized that Jay was more popular @ that particular time, so NaS just took us on a trip downmemory lane, portraying both Pac & Big on the nights of their deaths... It was genuis & ominous @ the same time
Say what you want about the man, Jay Z is one hard working mother $%*$$*... From 96-03 he dropped ATLEAST 1 solo album EVERY year, that initself is an accomplishment for a hip hop artist, and to this day may NEVER be matched (on such a large scale atleast). 2001 found Jay Z in aspot he had been vying for since he sold 5 million records in 98, he was trying to be the SOLE leader of hip hop in the Post 2Pac-BIG era. Inorder for him to acheive that in NYC, he had to take out NaS (who hadn't really been doin much to begin with for sometime). Their sneak disses date back toa few years prior to the actual showdown, but 01 marks the date where EVERYthing came to the public eye.
It started @ SummerJam 2001 in late June, Jay who had already had a riff with Prodigy due to a comment he had made about Jay's lyrics to "Money, Cash,*!%*" to The Source (or was it XXL), jabs were thrown on various tracks, but nothing noteworthy up until Jay took EVERYthing to a whole different level.Pictures of Prodigy in his grandmothers dance studio surfaced (I've heard that Ashanti was the one who gave them to Jay, but thats NEVERbeen officially confirmed), the rest is history... The entire hip hop community was witness to Jay exposing Prodigy for being a "fraud", but @ theend of the verse he said somethin that took it to the next level... "Ask NaS, he don't want it with Hov"...
Jay may have had a point @ that time. Sept 11th comes, and not even a tragedy @ the WTC & Pentagon could slow down the momentum of The Blueprint, thegreatness of this album comes from the fact that it plays out simular to a therapy session, Jay is just sitting back and reflecting on hisENTIRE life from his birth in the 1950s up until 2001, from hustling down south to cats hating on him (like myself
After being shot up and left for dead infront of his grandmothers house... And dropped from Columbia records soon after, it looked as if 50 Cent was just aspark in the pan and his career was OVER before it ever began. Never one to give up, he reamerged in 02 with Guess Who's Back, released onan indie, it was a collection of his memorble records from Power Of The Dollar (album on Columbia that never dropped) along with new freestyles and tracks. Hebasically took the underground by storm with 50 Cent Is The Future, his buzz was CRAZY a bidding war had begun with damn nearEVERY label trying to sign him, he ended up @ Shady/Aftermath... Dropped the mixtape No Mercy No Fear (birthed "Wanksta") and fromthere he took hip hop by storm.
GRODT may go down as the MOST anticipated debut album of ALL time... It leaked about a week or 2 before release date, endedup pushing it up to the Thursday before, damn near EVERYbody and their momma had this joint, whether it was the OFFICIAL or sometype ofbootleg. Broke Snoops record for a debut, and went on to sell 10+ Million worldwide. 2 Billboard #1 singles, another top 3, and a HIT with LilKim (heard it he orginally wanted Trina) "Magic Stick" which went to #2 also, he damn near owned the year of 03...
"Magazines wanna know where the @%** L.A. been... It almost died in the SAME car Suge got grazed in"...
Some of the truest words spoken by The Game (has a track record of telling lies and half truths), but the west coast was left for dead... Dr Dre ran to Atlantafrom Suge, Snoop Dogg being the buddy hustler that he is ran to Master P & No Limit in an attempt to save whatever he had left of a career after thatGARBAGE album The Doggfather. Enter Jayceon Taylor, though he had been signed to Aftermath for a good 2 years before its release (see:"In The Club" video), obviousley he was to fill in the writing role that Hitman & Knoc'Turnal had occupied before him, for one reason oranother that wasn't working out for him. So he gets paired with 50 Cent and togeather they made a great team, Aftermath was already in a dominant positionwith Eminem & 50 putting up N'sync like #s on Soundscan, but The Game was a different monster, bringing out a west coast artist in a east/southdominated climate in hip hop was a tough job, but who better to do it then Dr Dre??
After becoming a makeshift member of G Unit, The Game was popping up on mixtapes left and right, dissing Ns, and just overall talking an imense amount of ++@%.Towards the end of 04 "West Side Story" & "How We Do" were heating up, 50 and Game made a perfect 1-2 combo, the ladder of the 2singles rose to the Billboard Top 5, followed by "Hate It Or Love It" which shared the same success landing in the Top 5. The Documentary continuedwhere The Chronic/Doggystyle and other west coast classics left off, but this time it was being delivered by a west coast artist who displayed an east coastsense of lyricism and flow, the end result was a CLASSIC album jam packed with AMAZING production, and heartfelt lyrics.
Underground hip hop was on the upswing from about 95/96 up until maybe 03... This was one of the jewels tht time period. For those that LOVEDFuncrusher Plus (Company Flow) this was El P revisiting that, but this time with Harlem duo Vaste Aire & Vordul Mega. I won't front when I first boughtthis album I wasn't really feeling it, it was just WAAAY different then what I was used to listening to, it didn't even sound like the++@% Rawkus was making @ that time. El P's production is just... different, that mixed with Vaste Aire's AMAZING lyricism and BIG-likeeffortless flow made magic. Vordul Mega was VERY underappreciated, but he came with some dope ++@% throughout the album also.
HATED
Just an absolute ++@% sandwhich... There's nothing really more to be said about it. There are a FEW tracks that are worthgoin back and listening to, but if you can make a song as good as "Beach Chair" what are you doing making the rest of the tracks on here?? If it takeyou 2 years to make 12 tracks of THAT calibur and 3 singles, just wait it out... Don't put so much emphasis on just bringing an album outjust to do it, make sure it something that will be a GREAT body of work... Once you make your first classic album, you raise the bar forANYthing you touch from that point on.
(DISC 2)
Simular to Jay Z, NaS also came in the game with a classic and that forever lifted the standards that fans and critics held for his future projects. WithStreets Disciple I felt that Disc 1 was AMAZING, and that stands out as one of the best peices of work of this decade... But disc 2 just SUCKSBALLS (with the exception of "Gettin Married", "War" & Theifs Theme" a few other tracks were bearable, but they were nothing towrite home about)... That song he made to Rakim is GARBAGE... How do you pay homage to Rakim with a song THAT WACK??There's some truly awful music on there
The LAST KRS One album I spent my hard earned money on... I don't even have to go into detail, there's about 2 or 3 good songs, butEVERYthing else SUCKS BALLS... Its almost sad to hear KRS One attempt to do the double-time flow...
This album is the hip hop equavalent to a salad or veggie burger... As a one time HUGE fan of Common, I went out and bought this ++@% the morning it dropped,it actually sounded coo on first listen, but the more I listened to more I HATED it and the direction Common took. Its not 100% garbage, but Idon't see myself EVER trying to listen to it all the way through again.
This album qualifies because of the calibur of MC that Jadakiss is... He always wants to be mentioned with the greats but then he turns around and drops analbum like this?? This ++@% pretty much SUCKS BALLS, I mean when the song with Mary J Blige is horrible you basically know the album is gonnabe pretty bad... While there are a FEW songs on here I like, the product overall was one of the BIGGEST disapointements thisdecade...
LOVED
(Trends)
Throwback jerseys... Authentic NBA & Football jerseys
OVERsized medallians (tho it was always somethin that was popular in hip hop, cats in the 2000s were just makin WAAY too muchmoney that they went out and got some crazy jewels)
Street DVDs/Cats shooting straight to the internet videos... (since MTV & BET don't play videos ANY way)
Battle Rap making a remergence via SMACK DVD/Fight Klub/Grind Time/Lions Den etc
HATED
FAKE Jordan/Air Force Ones
ODing on BAPE gear... (part of the reason cats was runnin around in that bang-bang BAPE ++@%)
ODing on tattoos ABOVE the neck...
Ed Hardy... Wallet chains rock-star look
Cazelz making a comeback...
LOVED
(Group Albums)
Debut album from the sometimes 3 members, other times 4 members... Super group lead by 50 Cent. Released in the fall of 2003, the album waswell recieved by critics and fans alike, went on to sell over 2 million units and produce HIT singles 'Stunt 101" & "WannaGet To Know You". But most importantly introduced the world to Lloyd Banks & Young Buck (due to incarceration Tony Yayo only appeared on)
The 4 man crew outta Harlem lead by (one time rap star) Cam'ron, the Diplomats burst on the scene with a slew of mixtapes andhelped secure a deal with Roc a Fella/Def Jam, where they released their debut album in early 2003... Introudciing the world to Juelz Santana who would go onto have a marginal career as a solo artist, releasing 2 albums on Def Jam.
After releasing a FEW singles that went nowhere, The Clipse dropped their commercial debut in 2002. The Virginiaduo scored a radio hit with "Grindin", and with the help of fellow Virginia natives The Neptunes, who produced the entire album went on to receive agold plaque and enormous respect amungst critics, and built a cult following.
Sophmore album from the Los Angeles trio... Don't know what else to say... The album was pretty DOPE.
Debut album from the most politically charged hip hop group since Public Enemy. Jam packed with thought provoking lyrics &beliefs along with STRONG production propells the album to CLASSIC-Like proprtions.
The album that made me fall in LOVE with DJ Khalil's production... One of the BESTunderground albums of this decade... The average "hip hop head" you run into prolly hasn't even heard it tho
DJ Hi Tek is one of the BEST producers of the decade, and early on Talib Kweli appeared to be one of the betterMCs... I don't really care too much for his music now, but this album was AMAZING
HATED
One of those albums that had a HUGE hit single (Lean Back #1), but had NOTHING on that level onthe rest of the album... Its not completley wack tho, but it was an extremely UNDERwhelming effort, even on Fat Joe standards.
Just wasn't a GOOD album... (Not that I was expecting it to be or anything)
This album just SUCKS BALLS... There's really nothing left to say about it, anyone that heard it knows.
LOVED
(Blogsites)
WorldStarHipHop
ByronCrawford
ThisIs50
HipHopDX
HATED
MediaTakeOut (even tho I frequent the site just for the @%** of it)
PerezHilton (I don't even think I've been to the site but that dude is just... well you get the picture)
HipHopGame (they were leading the pack @ one point, now I go there maybe 2 or 3 times a year)
LOVED
(Producers)
Production credits in 4 or 5 different genre's of music, SEVERAL hit records... Introduced the world to Kelis, The Clipse &Philly's Most Wanted... Also released a few group albums under the name N*E*R*D
Much like the Neptunes, produced SEVERAL hit singles in different genres... Even found time to drop a "solo" album that produceda few Top 10 singles and went on to sell 1.5 million copies... Brought out an artist or 2, most notably Keri Hilson
I'm just putting him on here so this thread doesn't "lose credibility"...
Naw but Kanye played a MAJOR role in hip hop production throughout the decade, of course he became MORE popular once hedropped his solo album in 04, but up until then he produced classic record for Jay Z on Dynasty, Blueprint, & Black Album... Made his debut more or less onBeanie Sigel's record The Truth.
He more or less rebirthed the grimey "east coast" sound even tho he's an LA native... Gained alot of his props from producing records for MobbDeep in the late 90s, also did some work on Prodigy's solo effort H.N.I.C. in 2000... Not limited to the more known acts, he also did great work with WestCoast trio Dialted Peoples amunst other acts... NaS, Jadakiss also used his services with GREAT results
Made a name for himself in the mid/late 90s as the DJ for Mos Def & Talib Kweli (collectivly known as Black Star), formed a duo with Talib Kweli andreleased the classic LP Train Of Thought in 2000. By the middle of the decade he was working side by side with Dr Dre, and contributed his production to albumssuck as Beg For Mercy, The Massacre, The Documentary...
HATED
Not that he was a bad producer this decade for anything, its just he didn't work hard enuff IMO... He has some great work on 50's first 2 albums (eventhough it been alleged that he had little to nothing to do with the beats he is credited with producing). My issue with Dr Dre is NO Detox??No Stat Quo album?? No Hitman?? No Knoc'turnal?? No Rakim?? No Raekwon?? The list goes on, then the albums where he did handle the bulk of production (orwas suppose to) were UNDERwhelming... Xzibit's Restless LP is nothing to write home about, neither is Busta Rhymes Big Bang Theory...Don't get me wrong he had SOME gems, but they were far in between in comparisons to the other ELITE producers.
There's no denying the GREAT work he contributed to Jay Z's many albums this decade, along with other great peices of work withinthe Roc A Fella family, but after the break up, outside of a FEW hit singles with TI, his performce for the ladder part of the decade has beenUNDERwhelming also... He and Kanye started their labels around the same time, but to this dat Fort Knox has YET to put out analbum from ANY artist (isnt Saigon the ONLY one on that label ANY way??) I mean come on, you've gotONE artist, and he can't even get a release date... No beats on Freeway's sophmore album??
I don't like the MAJORITY of his beats... And THAT'S how he secured this spot... (But unlike the others he did bringa few acts out, and they did pretty well)
The way he ended the 90s, EVERYone had him on their list of cats to look out for in the new millinium... But he didn't really doTOO much in this decade... His sound is VERY limited, and once DMX got back on the drugs and Ruff Ryders all but disapearedSwizz and his production was hard to come by. Then comes Cassidy, an artist who looked poised to become a mainstay in hip hop, but 3 FLOPSlater... His career is on life support. Meanwhile Swizz is dating MY WOMAN
Not that he's a high profile producer ANYway... But ALL his beats more or less sound the SAME... If I see "ProducedBy Eminem" in the liner notes its a 90% chance the song SUCKS BALLS...
LOVED
(Solo Debut)
After shining on the first 4 Mobb Deep albums, frontman Prodigy brought out his solo album in 2000, though Havoc contributed on a FEWtracks, the majority of the production was handled by producers he had not worked with before. The album still had the grimey sound we have grown acustomed to,it also allowed Prodigy to get more personal with the subject matter.
In the summer of 2000 St Louis native Nelly took the hip hop world by storm, tearing up the Billboard charts with 3 of the 4 singles from his debut CountryGrammer. Hook driven, singy song flow kept the clubs and radio going crazy, as the album went on to sell OVER 8 million copies to date.
As one of the LAST members of the OG Bad Boy roster Black Rob released is long awaited debut album in early 2000, he scored a hit with theanthem "Whoa", which propelled the album to gold status. After the albums release he went through some legal issues, and dealt with a serious case ofdiabetes.
Queenbridge represenative and ONE time Firm member Cormega had been through his fare share of trails and tribulations, after having his solodebut album The Testament shelved by Def Jam in 98, he went underground for sometime, he resurfaced on the independent lable Landspeed who @ the time had beenresponsible for some SOLID underground releases, and in 2001 The Realness was added to that list.
The sometimes OVER looked member of The Lox was the 2nd of the 3 to release a solo album with 2002, A Gangster & A Gentleman. The albumreceived STRONG reviews as Styles mixed his HARDCORE gangsta image with his conscience state of mind to create anAMAZING blend of songs, propelled by the lead single "Good Times" and the Pharoe Monch assisted single "The Life".
Freeway first hit the scene with an appearence on the Jay Z album Dynasty in 2000, after making some noise as a part of the Roc A Fella group StateProperty, Free released his solo album to critical acclaim. The only problem he had was he shared a release date with 50 Cent who would go on to sellOVER 12 million units worldwide, almost drowning out the majority of Freeway's buzz in the process. The album introduced Free'ssignature emotional flow, and with Just Blaze & Kanye West handling the bulk of the production the end results were a soulful soundtrack to thestreets.
After creating a HUGE street buzz with mixtape appearences dating back to 2002s 50 Cent In The Future, Lloyd Banks was the first to release an album on 50Cent's newly formed G Unit Records, and like his boss before him the album was a hit on the Billboards & on the street. He was able to score 3HIT singles from the album also.
The 2nd of the G Unit debuts was by Cashville's own, Young Buck, while he did not share the SAME Billboard success as the 50 and Banks, hestill scored a hit with "Shawty Wanna Ride", the album went on to sell over a million units and received ciritcal acclaim from magazines and thestreets alike.
After bursting on the national scene as a part of the Bad Boy quartet Boyz In Da Hood, Young Jeezy heated the streets with the mixtape Trap Or Die with DJDrama before releasing his critally acclaimed debut Thug Motivation 101. His buzz was so bit to the point where schools around the country went as far asbanning the Snow Man tee shirts. Like TI a few years before, Jeezy became a forefather in the new age of Coke rap, embraced by the streets and critcs, thealbum went on to sell more that 2 million copies.
Lupe Fiasco burst on the scene after dwelling in the underground for a FEW years releasing a series of mixtapes. His debut was pushed back forsometime and eventually leaked, forcing the label to rework the album. The retail version, while is a strong debut, it is widley believed that the advance copywas a much better prouduct. Unlike the others, Lupe was not so lucky when the Soundscan #s were released for his first week sales (Best Buy did not properlyreport his #s)
Bursting on the national scene in 08, Kid Cudi released his critical accliamed debut in 09. Unlike the typical hip hop album, Cudi used a mix of eltro-hip-hopand alternative hip hop to shape his sound, the end result is one of the BETTER debuts this decade, it was also named the Hip Hop album of the year byEntertainment Weekly.
HATED
THIS album is SOO wack I couldn't even find a good picture of the copy (ie NO one even cares enuff to bootleg this$%%*!%*#), as one of the VERY few people who actually went out and bought this album I was VERY dissapointed
Riding the wave of both Nelly & the St Lunatic's multi platinum efforts, Murphy Lee was next in line to bring more shine to the St Louis rap scene.Unlike his mentor he was unable to score a major HIT single, and the album fizzled away almost as fast as it came.
By the time Bronx rep and former Terror Squad member Cuban Link dropped his debut A LOT had changed, not only in his life but in the landscapeof hip hop. His mentor Big Pun had been dead for almost 5 years, his 2000 debut was scrapped by the label, and he and Fat Joe had been @ odds for sometime. Bythe time it DID drop, the buzz was gone, it garned LITTLE attention barley cracking the Billcoard Top 200 in the week of itsrelease.
The success and critical acclaim of 2 Capone N Noreaga albums could not save this effort from being panned by critics. The album had been advertised since 1998when Nore dropped his solo, but the album did not see the light of day until 2006, when it dropped nobody cared.
The HIGHLY anticapted solo debut from Lox member Jadakiss FINALLY arrived, and when it did it was met with mixed reviews, hewas able to score a radio hit with "Knock Yourself Out" but the overall product did not meet the expectations most had built for the MC, the albumwent on to go Gold, but all in all is seen as a failure in comparison the #s put up by fellow Ruff Ryders DMX & Eve.
The Black Star MC and one half of Reflectional Eternal member released his HIGHLY anticipated debut album in 2002, and even though he scored ahit with "Get By" he failed to meet the quality of BlackStar & Train Of Thought albums. The album doesn't completely SUCK byANY means, it just left much to be desired, and the majority of the new ideas he tried did not work out to well.
Another flunkie from the St Lunatics family... No this album went absolutely NOWHERE... No hit singles, no buzz, no nothing... TRASH
For those that thought Loon would be able to carry the once powerful Bad Boy imprint, think again. His debut album SUCKS BALLS, the mixture ofthis failure and being signed to one of the most evil men in the industry lead Loon towards Islam, hopefully he NEVER picks up the mic again.
LOVED
(Sophmore Albums)
In the summer of 2000 Eminem took the music world by storm with his follow up to the multi-platinum debut Slim Shady LP with over a million units sold in oneweek. Considered his BEST work by many (along with Eminem Show) he displayed an even sicker side to his subject matter than on his previouseffort, but he also was able to score chart topping singles like "Stan" about a derranged fan, that managed to work its way into regular hip hoplingo.
With the retirment of Mase, tha failure of BOTH Double Up and the Harlem World group, Cam'ron reapeard with the much more grimey sophmorealbum SDE. Flexing his lyrical prowess over gritty production, he also found time to make singles like "What Means The World To You" which didVERY well on the urban charts and considered by many one of his BEST singles.
After almost 4 years since he had dropped his last solo album, Clansman Ghostface Killah returned with the cult classic Supreme Clientele, regarded byMANY as one of the BEST Wu Tang Clan solo albums, he was put in the position to carry the lacking work of theENTIRE Clan, a task he has handled quite well for the past 9 years.
With the retirement of the ONE time leader of The Roc, the dynasty now laid in Kanye's hands, a task that he wore with pride. After thebreak up of the once powerful Roc A Fella records, Kanye became the makeshift face of the Roc with his first single "Diamonds" before later beingjoined by Jay Z on the remix. Considred by many to be his BEST work musically, Ye' and Jon Brion got togeather to create a hip hop albumlike no other.
After being dropped from Arista after the failure of his 2001 debut I'm Serious TI took a 2 year hiatus from the mainstream, focusing on gaining aunderground buzz via mixtapes, and forming his own label Grand Hustle Records, and in the summer of 2003 released his sophmore effort to critical acclaim. Thealbum went on to go platinum and scored urban hits "24s" & "Rubberband Man".
After leaving the Shady/Aftermath/G Unit family in 2005, Game released his sophmore effort via Geffen, and even though he was not able to miror the commercialsuccess of his debut he was able to prove that even without the help of 50 Cent & Dr Dre he was still capable of making a SOLID album withsteller production from big names like Just Blaze, Nottz, and Scott Storch
After the commercial failure of the cult classic, Food & Liquor, Lupe Fiasco returned in the 4th quarter of 2007 with The Cool, only this time he did scorea HIT single with "Superstar", he covered everything from alterbative rap to traditional boom bap material on his ode to hip hop, "Hip Hop SavedMy Life", the album also featured guest appearences from the likes of Snoop Dogg, a move that shocked many.
Without missing a beat from his debut, The Realness, Cormega returned a year later with the critcally acclaimed follow up The True Meaning, while he didn'tfocus as much energy to dissing NaS on this effort he did take the time to air out the ENTIRE sitation on the track "Love In LoveOut" for once final time before putting the issue to rest, they have sense settled their beef.
If you asked me in 05 I would've hated on this joint without a doubt, but after his LAST #@!% sanwhich and the 5 year break inbetween, Ireally built a STRONG appreciation for this album for the simple fact that there are really no truly AWFUL joints on here,while there's a few that'll make you scratch your head, the GOOD by far outweigh the bad on Jada's sophmore effort.
HATED
By the time the Wyclef released his sophmore album alot had changed, the Fugees were all but done, he and Pras were no longer speaking, and his one timeReffugee label had lost its main artist, Canibus. He was able to score an R&B hit with Mary J Blige in "911" but the album was more or lessoverlooked due to the idiotic first single featuring The Rock of WWF (bka WWE today). He had a few decent records, but the album was pale in comparison to 97sThe Carvinal, and the effort of The Fugee's first lady Lauryn Hill with 98s Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill.
The follow up to his disapointing debut album Can I Bus, would be his LAST album released via Universal records. Without Wyclef to blame for his lack ofsuccess and creativity, Canibus took to rapping about animals you'd see on the Discovery Channel. Now this album SUCKS BALLS, its like hetried so hard to mold the sound to fit what was going on with commercial raps production it just moved in the toal opposite direction of his lyricism.
The ONE time Wu Tang affiliate returned in 2000 with his sophmore efforst View From Masada, his sound had changed drastically opting to usemore commercially acceptable production, though not sacrificing his lyricism, the album had production from the likes of Just Blaze and its debut singlefeatured Ras Kass, but not even that could lift this album up, it went damn near unnoticed... And with good reason.
50 Cent returned with the Massacre in early 2005 to mixed reviews, while the album has MANY GOOD/GREAT songs, it hold no overall theme, and isjust bloated with unnecassary tracks like the joint with Jamie Foxx, along with another extremely average record featuring Olivia. Unlike the others, it hadGREAT commercial success, but didn't compare to his debut album. Had the album been shaved down to 12 or 13 tracks it could've easilybeen on the other side of this list, but in its entirety you can't really label this a truly good ALBUM.
With G Unit's popularity rapidly declining in the 2 years since his debut, Lloyd Banks attempted to revamp the G Unit brand with his sophmore effort, andall signs point to a failure. Unable to score a major hit, the album struggled in its opening week on the Billboard charts and quickly faded away. The albumdid have some fairly decent material, but it lacked depth and soul, both of which secure an albums lasting power.
Released just weeks after his untimely death, Puns sophmore effort was not nearly as successful as his debut, it was criticized for its lack creativity, theproduction for the most part was dismal, and the lyrcism we had grown to love from Pun was far inbetween on the album.
NOT that ANYone expected this to be good or ANYthing anyway...
After an almost 5 year gap between the relase of his debut, Mos Def returned with The New Danger, singing much more than he was rapping. Much like other albumson this list that don't completely SUCK BALLS it was more of Mos's lack of lyrical effort that held this album from being as great hisdebut, maybe he was bored with rap, who knows...
Who REALLY went out and wasted their hard earned money on this $@%$ sandwhich?? This joint went NOWHERE...
Not that this album completely SUCKS BALLS cause it doesn't, there were actually some REALLY good songs on here, and itproduced 3 HIT singles. It just wasn't THAT album we expected from Fab, his buzz from the mixtapes wasHUGE, and the timing was pretty bad too. 50 & Free had just dropped more street albums, along with the Diplomats a few months afterward,meanwhile Fab was in FULL Ma$e mode with this joint.
LOVED
(Rap Veterans)
After the %+%$ sandwhich that was Kingdome Come, the self proclaimed "Best Rapper Alive" came back with a vintage sounding album, inspired by theDenzel Washington film American Gangster (where he played Harlem hustler, Frank Lucas). Unlike past efforts Jay Z didn't score ANYBillboard hits, but was able to recapture the glory of his other classic albums with AG.
NaS followed up his comeback album, Stillmatic with 2002's God's Son. In the wake of the death of his mother, NaS was in his most vulnerable state asan MC, while still embroiled in a beef with Jay Z he took time out to address the status and roots of the beef, meanwhile creating what has been hisHIGHEST charting single to date, children anthem, "I Can".
After SEVERAL months of delays, Cam's 4th album Purple Haze FINALLY saw the light of day in LATE2004. By that time the Roc A Fella family was no more, Cam had already moved his company to Koch, and after PHs release he was planning on ending hisrelationship with Def Jam also, even in the midst of all that turmoil he was able to release arguably his BEST album to date.
After the debacle that was Electric Circus (See Below), Common signed with Kanye's G.O.O.D. Music label, produced what is known to SOME asa classic. With Ye & Jay Dee handling ALL the production, it was Common's BEST work since 2000s Like Water ForChocolate & 94s Resurrection. For the first time in his career, he earned a Gold plaque, and revived his career after years of buggin out with Eyrkah Badu.
Houston rep, and Geto Boys alum Scarface made his Def Jam debut with The Fix, after serving as the president for Def Jam South, the man responsible for signingLudacris blessed the hip hop community with yet another steller solo album with 2002s The Fix. With guest appearences from the likes of Jay Z, NaS, BeanieSigel & Kelly Price.
With his 3rd solo album Eminem dug deep into his life, and what he brought out was possibly his BEST material. During the time he was dealingwith a gun charge where he alegeddly attacked a man who had takin his wife out with an unloaded gun, he was also under fire my gay and women rights groups forhis violent, and vulgar lyrics, all of which he relfelcted upon in song, the album was another HIT for him with the crits and fans.
After spending a FEW years on Dr Dre's Aftermath imprint, Raekwon and the good Doc decided to part ways, he then formed his own label IceWater Inc via E1 and released the sequel to his 1995 CLASSIC debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx to much critical acclaim. Joined by Ghostface forhalf the album, he also had production from longtime Clan producer The Rza, Alchemist and 2 tracks by Dr Dre.
On the brink of his supposed retirement, Jay Z left hip hop fans with ONE last GREAT LP to grow on. Much like Blueprint 2years before, the Black Album serves as another therapy session, as Jay Z leaves no stones unturned in revealing his path from the streets into the boardrooms. With the curtains now closing on his career, he blessed NYC with ONE last concert at non other than Madison Square Garden, the ticketssold out in record breaking time, and the concert was put into film format with 2004 Fade To Black, which also documented the making of the album.
Controversey sourrounded Queens legen NaS as he attemped to titled his 8th solo album N****r. At first Def Jam supported the idea, but after it becoming anational news story they later backed out, opting for the album to go Untitled. Unfazed by the big wigs changing their mind on the idea, NaS told the storywith the albums cover, displaying his scarred back with the letter N, simular to the affects of multiple strikes of a slave whip. The politically charged albumchalleged popular ideas on EVERYthing from history, religion to modern day politics. He also took time to diss the WORST Newsstation known to man, Fox News.
After restablishing himself with the hip hop community with 2001 Disposable Arts, Masta Ace returned 3 years later for MORE props. STELLER production and hissignature smooth flow lifted the album to GREAT heights, regarded by many as his BEST album (outside of SlaughterHouse), he came with another concept album.(prequel to Disposable Arts)
Mos Def had TONS of potential as an MC, maybe the industry wasn't what he thought it would be, maybe the Hollywood checks wereTHAT good, either way it had been almost 10 years since he dropped his last TRUE hip hop album. With Ecstatic he toned downthe alternative sound that dominated his prior 2 efforts and got back to what he does best, STRAIGHT SPITTIN.
By 2005 Lil Wayne was something like a vet, despite his young age had been a recognizable figuire in hip hop for OVER 5 years, furing the timehe now was the STAR of Cash Money. The departure of all the orginal Hot Boys did nothing to deter the OTHER self procliamed"Best Rapper Alive", he claimed his spot amungst hip hop's elite with Tha Carter, along along with slew of mixtapes before andAFTER its release.
Staten Island rep, Wu tang Member Ghostface returned on the scene in 2006 after a 2 year break between his last solo album, with his 2nd release on thelegendary Def Jam imprint. Unlike The Pretty Toney Album before, there were no mixed reviews, the album was FULLY embraced by critics andfans, with some even labeling it a classic. he also scored his HIGHEST charting single on the Bilboard charts with "Back like That",which featured fellow Def Jam artist NeYo.
With the HEAVY bootlegging of what was suppose to be NaS 3rd album, a double disc titled "I Am... The Bigraphy" was scrapped and repackaged as 2seperate albums (I Am... & NaStradamus). Being that the bootlegging was a FEW years before the internet really blew up, the majority of hip hop fans had noreal acess to the material. NaS and Columbia decided to give those fans a treat with Lost Tapes, previously unreleased tracks from his albums, considered byMANY a classic peice of work, it was released in between his 2 comeback albums, Stillmatic & God's Son
Didn't know where to catergorize this joint, but NOW T.I. is deffinetly a veteran so I guess it fits here. GREAT album,my personal favorite by him, he became one of my favorite rappers with this joint. And IMO he's the King Of The South & The GOAT.
HATED
The LONG delayed album from Busta Rhymes FINALLY saw the light of day in 08. He was NO longer a part of theAftermath family, and had NO hit single in the months leading to its release, the album fizzled quickly and faded away into the memories ofhip hop fans.
After dating Erykah Badu for SOMEtime Common completely changed his style, opting for a more experimental sound on Electric Circus, the endresult was dismal at best. He was however able to score another hit single with "Come Close", which featured Mary J Blige, but other than that therewas nothing noteworthy about this effort.
Even though he scored a MAJOR hit with 2006 "Control Myself" the Queens legend was unable to make a HIT out of thealbum. He later blamed lack of promotion for its poor sales, where he may have had a point, making a BETTER album would've probabalyhelped him more than the BEST promotion money could buy.
Wyclef attempted to recreate his 1997 classic The Carnival with 2007 sequel album... I went out and bought the album (don't know where the physical copy isnow). The album DID produce the HIT single "Sweetest Girl" which featured Lil Wayne & Akon, but he was unable to mirror his pastsuccess, the album is his lowest selling to date.
ANOTHER LL album that didn;t quite live up to the standards.
After the critically acclaimed Eminem Show he took a hiatus to promote acts such as Obie Trice, D 12 & 50 Cent before returning in 2004 with Encore, thealbum didn't contain the great lyricism he displayed on his first 3 albums, he wasn't as focused as we've seen him before, and the end resultshowed that. Even a songs as good as "Mockingbird" & "Like Toy Soldiers" couldn't save the album.
ANOTHER GARBAGE album from the Chicago legend... If I listened to this more I'd prolly be dead, so there's not really much I can tellyou about this album other than STAY VERY FAR AWAY FROM THIS GARBAGE.
LOVED
(Comebacks)
Cam'ron was SUPPOSED to follow Ma$e with his success, but his career got off on the wrong foot. By the time 2002 rolled around he was nowin his 3rd record deal, this time he joined forces with LONGtime friend Dame Dash and the Roc A Fella Records imprint, after creating a buzzwith Diplomats Vol 1&2 he was able to secure a deal with Def Jam for Diplomat Records and his artist Juelz Santana. With its release, Cam scored 2MAJOR hits with "Hey Ma" & "Oh Boy" and shot him to SUPER-star status within the hip hop community.To this day Come Home With Me stands as his BEST selling album with over 1.2 million copies sold.
After fading into obscurity for quite sometime, Brooklyn MC Masta Ace reemreged on the hip hop scene with the concept album, Disposable Arts. He receivedcritical acclaim, and regained some of the glory he once had, after beaing embarassed by fellow Brooklynite Boogie Man @ a Lyricist Lounge battle a yearbefore, he fired back with "Aknowledge", also taking shots @ Phildelphia underground duo, The High & Mighty.
The QueensBridge legend and former Juice Crew member had all but disapeared after his falling out with Noreaga, but in 2001 he returned with hisFIRST post Juice Crew solo album Against All Odds, chronicling his trails and tribulations throughout the years, EVERYthingfrom serving time to baby momma drama is covered. He also recruited a then unknown Just Blaze and Sha Money XL (fka Sha Self) to handle some production on thealbum.
Nearly a decade after his debut album, Tribe Called Quest frontman Q Tip released his sophmore album in 2008, to MUCH critical acclaim, andfan fare. With his signature nasal flow, he was able to capture the attention of hip hop purists and MAYBE even a few NEWschool hip hop fans. (Kamal The Abstract, his supposed sophmore album had been shelved for YEARS, finally appearing a FEW moths ago online)
After YEARS of bubbling in the underground Twista FINALLY broke through in the MAINstream. For years therehad been rumors of him signing with Roc A Fella or even Bad Boy, he did neither, but still kept a working relationship with BOTH camps.Propelled by the singles "Slow Jamz" (which also appeared on Kanye West's debut College Dropout) & "Overnight Celebrity" Twistafinally had a platinum album of his own.
When LL released G.O.A.T. alot had changed, he went from being a TOP priority on Def Jam to NO longer being one of the top 5selling rappers on the label, he returned to his hardcore roots once again and the end result was pretty good album. His first album since the infamous Canibusbattle, he was once again put into a position where he had to prove the general public wrong, and that he did, first heating the streets with "IllBomb" (which appeared on Funk Flex & Big Cap's The Tunnel in late 99), he walked the fine line of radio friendly lady records, and hardcore hiphop.
After disapearing from the scene for 5 years Pharoahe Monch returned with his 2007 effort Desire. Battling through label drama after his former home RawkusRecords switched distributers, FOLDED, then reamerged on the scene, by that time most of its OG line up had already found new labelhome's, Pharoahe Monch was no exception. Though the album didn't make an impact on the Billboard charts, it was praised by fans and critics alike, andfor an MC of his calbur, it was just music to his ears.
By 2003 the female MCs were becoming something like an endangered species, Lil Kim didn't want to become a part of that trend. She recruited the HOTTESTproducers in the indursty, along with the 03 Rookie Of The Year, 50 Cent for her single "Magic Stick" and even though the song peaked @ #2 on theBillboard Charts, disagreements with the 2 camps made it impossible for them to shoot a video for the single. She was still able to score another hit with theMr Cheeks featured, Timbaland produced single "The Jumpoff"
Released after the Roc A Fella family all but dismantled, Beans 3rd album proved to be his MOST well rounded release. Facing a jail sentence,he would be behind bars when the album was released, relying only on singles he had previously shot videos for to catch on with the general public, along witha push from his temporary home, Dame Dash Music Group via Def Jam
HATED
STILL my babe Foxy... But this +$%% was TRASH. I know Fox came out and said she wasn;t behind its release, that may be true,but she can't deny the fact that at ONE point she recorded this garbage.
The Onyx member turned actor released his solo debut in 2000, via Koch the album not only flopped on the charts, it more or less SUCKEDBALLS outside of maybe one or 2 songs.
After following up their classic debut with The Reunion they received mixed reviews, but for the most part was scene as a fairly good album. By the time 2009rolled around BOTH were washed up and atleast a decade past their primes, so when Channel 10 came out NOBODY paidANY attention. They did get a dope track from Preemo, if that counts for ANYthing.
THIS was supposed to be Ja Rule's comeback album, he had a single with Lil Wayne that did pretty decent in the streets, but it was unableto generate enuff intrest for the label to actually risks its neck (and money) trying to promote such a hit or miss project. They decided to place the album onice for a year or 2 until EVERYone forgot about it, it eventually leaked and STILL made 0 noise.
The long delayed follow up to his Platinum album came out about 2 or 3 years too late for Flip. TI had played him, and Houston had moved on quite well withouthis presence for some time, so when he FINALLY did release the album it was met with little fan fare.
Not that ANY one was really waiting for a Memph Bleek comeback, he came back ANYway... FLOPPED extremelyhard, and that was more or less the end.
Cam's LONG awaited release FINALLY saw the light of day in 2009, trying to keep intact whatever he STILLhad left of a career @ this point he released Crime Pays, with lackluster production, and uninspired rhymes. The album fell FLAT selling theleast amount of ANY of his previous releases.
LOVED
(Singles that reached the Billboard Top 10)
50 Cent - "In Da Club" (#1)
Nelly Feat Kelly Rowland - "Dillema" (#1)
P Diddy Feat Loon, Mario Winas & Ginuwine - "I Need A Girl Part 2" (#4)
Ludacris Feat Mary J Blige - "Runaway Love" (#2)
Eminem - "Cleaning Out My Closet" (#4)
The Game Feat 50 Cent - "Hate It Or Love It" (#2)
Jay Z Feat Alicia Keys - "Empire State Of Mind" (#1)
Ja Rule Feat. Lil Mo & Vita - "Put It On Me" (#8
Snoop Dogg Feat Pharrell Williams & Charlie Wilson - "Beautiful" (#6)
Kanye West Feat Syleena Johnson - "All Falls Down" (#7)
Twista Feat Kanye West & Jamie Foxx - "Slow Jamz" (#1)
Lil Flip Feat Lea - "Sunshine" (#2)
LL Cool J - "Luv U Better" (#4)
Jay Z Feat Pharrell Williams - "Excuse Me Miss" (#8
Chingy Feat Jason Weaver - "One Call Away" (#2)
Fat Joe Feat Ashanti - "Whuts Luv" (#2)
Twista - "Overnight Celebrity" (#6)
T.I. - "What You Know" (#3)
Lupe Fisasco - "Superstar" (#10)
Jim Jones - "We Fly High" (#5)
Diddy Feat Keyshia Cole - "Last Night" (#10)
Rich Boy Feat Polow The Don - "Throw Some Ds On It" (#6)
T-Pain Feat Yung Joc - "Buy U A Drank" (#1)
Bone Thugs N Harmony Feat Akon - "I Tried" (#6)
Fabolous Feat NeYo - "Make Me Better" (#8
Plies Feat T-Pain - "Shawty" (#9)
Kanye West Feat T-Pain - "Good Life" (#7)
Dem Franchize Boys - "Lean Wit It Rock Wit It" (#7)
Yung Joc - "Its Goin Down" (#3)
Young Dro - "Shoulder Lean" (#10)
Chingy Feat. Tyrese - "Pullin Me Back" (#9)
TI Feat Swizz Beatz - "Bring Em Out" (#9)
Bow Wow Feat Omarion - "Let Me Hold U" (#4)
50 Cent Feat Mobb Deep - "Outta Control" Remix (#6)
Young Jeezy Feat Akon - "Soul Survivor" (#4)
Cassidy Feat R Kelly - "Hotel" (#4)
Jay Z - "Dirt Off Ya Shoulder" (#5)
Juvinile Feat Soulja Slim - "Slow Motion" (#1)
Lloyd Banks Feat 50 Cent - "On Fire" (#8
Terror Squad - "Lean Back" (#1)
Fabolous - "Breathe" (#10)
HATED
Eminem - "Just Lose It" (#6)
Lil Wayne - "Lollipop" (#1)
Chingy - "Right Thurr" (#2)
Ludacris Feat Pharrell Williams - "Money Maker" (#1)
Flo Rida Feat T Pain - "Low" (#1)
Flo Rida - "Right Round" (#1)
Jay Z - "Show Me What You Got" (#8
Kanye West Feat Jamie Foxx - "Gold Digger" (#1)
50 Cent Feat Olivia - "Candy Shop" (#1)
Nelly Feat Murphy Lee & P Diddy - "Shake Ya Tailfeather" (#1)
Ying Yang Twinz Feat Lil Jon - "Salt Shaker" (#9)
Akon Feat Eminem - "Smack That" (#2)
Ja Rule Feat Ashanti - "Mezmerize" (#2)
Kanye West - "Stronger" (#1)
LL Cool J Feat Jennifer Lopez - "Control Myself" (#4)
Chingy Feat Ludacris & Snoop Dogg - "Holidae Inn" (#3)
Fat Joe Feat Nelly - "Get It Poppin" (#9)
T.I. - "Whatever You Like" (#1)
Eminem - "The Real Slim Shady" (#4)
Jay Z Feat Beyonce - "03 Bonnie & Clyde" (#4)
Kardinal Offishall Feat Akon - "Dangerous" (#5)
Ray J Feat Yung Berg - "Sexy Can I" (#3)
MIMS - "This Is Why I'm How" (#1)
Huey - "Pop Lock & Drop It" (#6)
Shop Boyz - "Party Like A Rockstar" (#2)
Lil Mama - "Lip Gloss" (#10)
Hurricane Chris - "Ay Bay Bay" (#7)
Soulja Boy Tell 'em - "Crank That" (#1)
50 Cent Feat Justin Timberlake & Timbaland - "Ayo Technology" (#5)
Baby Bash Feat T-Pain - "Cyclone" (#7)
D4L - "Laffy Taffy" (#1)
Nelly Feat Paul Wall, Jermaine Dupri, Ali & Gipp - "Grillz" (#1)
Juelz Santana - "The Whistle Song" (#6)
Eminem Feat Nate Dogg - "Shake That" (#6)
Bubba Sparkz Feat Ying Yang Twinz - "Ms New Booty" (#7)
Field Mob Feat Ciara - "So What" (#10)
Jibbs - "Chain Hang Low" (#7)
Diddy Feat Nicole Scherzinger - "Come To Me" (#9)
Bow Wow Feat Chris Brown - "Shorty Like Mine" (#9)
Will Smith - "Switch" (#7)
Bow Wow Feat Ciara - "Like U" (#3)
David Banner - "Play" (#7)
Eminem - "When I'm Gone" (#8
J-Kwon - "Tipsy" (#2)
Ludacris - "Splash Waterfalls" (#6)
D12 - "My Band" (#6)
Petey Pablo - "Freek A Leek" (#7)
Nelly Feat Jaheim - "My Place" (#4)
LOVED
(Flops)
Truly GREAT album... Should've done better #s...
Not too bad of an album... #s should've been alot better on this joint.
Great album that underperformed on the charts... Def Jam has been @#*@!@% up for a while now...
The Houston native Slim Thug was expected to do BIG #s when he released his debut album via Pharrell Williams imprint Star Trak, but that was not the case withhis 2005 debut album. receiving mixed reviews from critcs, he failed to match the success of fellow Houston rookies & Swisha House alums, Paul Wall,Chamillionare and Mike Jones.
HATED
Even tho it debuted @ #1, it underpeformed in comparison to his past efforts... & overall it SUCKED BALLS (with the exception of a fewjoints)
Just wasn't a good idea to release a solo album by Tony Yayo... Even though it sold 250K+ (which is good NOW), it failed to go platinum, anddid not produce a hit single... The album was pretty WACK
After an almost 5 year hiatus from the music world, Mase returned with a squeeky clean image to match his playful raps, but in the years since hisMULTI platinum debut, hip hop fans preferred the more gritty style of music, which his dedication to Jesus Christ did not allow him to make atthat particular time, the album went on to go gold, but was QUICKLY forgotten by fans and haters alike.
Never heard it, but I'm pretty sure it SUCKED... He was feelin himself waaay to much, he needed this flop to deflate his oversized ego...
Skimmed through this joint... Heard all I needed to hear, it SUCKED...
100% PURE GARBAGE... Just somethin to break up buds on...
While Fat Joe was able to score a hit with the single "I Won't Tell" the album failed to put up decent #s. The ONE thing he did do right was geta track from DJ Premier with "That White" which was just
LOVED
(Rapper Names)
Freaky Zeeky
Max Bigaveli
The Game
Joey Jihad
Nipsey Hussle
Young Dro
Tony Yayo
HATED
Slim Thug (like foreal??)
Flo Rida
Nashawn The Millinuim Thug
Glasses Malone
Mac Boney
Plies (derrived from the house hold tool known as plyers)
LOVED
(Collaberations)
Jay Z/Beanie Sigel/Scarface - "Can't Be Life", "Some How Some Way", "Guess Who's Back"
Jay Z/Eminem - "Renegade"
50 Cent/The Game - "How We Do", "Hate It Or Love It"
The Game/NaS - "Why You Hate The Game", "Hustlers", "Letter To The King"
Justin Timberlake/TI - "My Love", "Dead & Gone"
Snoop Dogg/Pharrell - "Beautiful", "Drop It Like Its Hot", "Lets Get Blown", "Special"
NaS/Kanye - "We Major", "Still Dreaming"
HATED
NaS/Jay Z - "Black Republicans", "Success"
50 Cent/Justin Timberlake - "Ayo Technology"
TI/Ludacris - The song they had on Paper Trail was UNDERwhelming
Mobb Deep/Lil Jon - "Real Gangstas"
Bravehearts/Lil Jon - "Quick To Back Down"
LOVED
(Beefs/Battles)
Jay Z vs NaS
50 Cent vs Ja Rule
Beanie Sigel vs Jadakiss
The Game vs G Unit
Lil Flip vs TI
HATED
Shady/Aftermath/G Unit vs The Source
Chamillionare vs Mike Jones
Joe Budden vs Ransom
Lil Wayne vs Pharrell & The Clipse
Ma$e vs Loon & Fabolous
Ras Kass vs The Game
LOVED
(Rumors)
Jay Z & Lil Wayne goin at it on wax after a few jabs were thrown...
NaS & DJ Premier doin an album togeather...
BlackStar reunion album...
Trick Daddy & BG signing to G Unit South
Videotape of Rick Ross graduation...
The Game getting slapped by Suge...
Irv Gotti getting Shyne out of prison in 04...
Jay Z & NaS goin @ 50 & Beans on the "Empire State Of Mind" Remix...
Fat Joe getting lumped up by Papoose...
Bow Wow buying Young Berg's chain from the Detroit GOONS...
HATED
Gucci Mane dying...
Lil Wayne leaving Cash Money for Def Jam...
Lloyd Banks leaving G Unit...
NaS signing to Murder Inc...
TI snitchin' to get time reduced...
BIG being behind the Las Vegas murder of 2Pac...
LOVED
(Moments/Events this decade)
NaS & Jay Z squashing beef...
50 Cent joining forces with Eminem & Dre
Shyne Po being released from prison...
Lil Wayne winning big @ the Grammy's
Hip Hop taking a political stance to support Brack Obama
My FAV Rapper Of ALL Time having a bio pic made...
2Pac Resurrection Movie & book... Finally let him tell his story in his OWN words...
Suge Knight gettin knocked the #+@+ out...
VH1 Hip Hop Honors...
HATED
The untimely death of Big Pun...
Aaliyah dying in a plane crash JUST as her career was going to the NEXT level...
The Roc A Fella break up...
Dip Set breaking up...
Lil Cease testifying AGAINST Lil Kim in her FEDeral case for purjury...
MY babe, Foxy Brown goin to jail...
Jay Z becoming president of Def Jam... The Shakir Stewart being the successor and commiting suicide...
TI gettin caught buyin machine guns...
The death of the hip hop publications... (if not literally, creatively...)
Remy Ma being a +$*!#%* idiot and shooting one of her BEST friends... I'm not even mad she went to jail for that cause it wasSTUPID on her part...
Stack Bundles getting murdered
Pimp C passing away...
Ol Dirty Bastard passing away...
