Wow, saw this on Obi's website, and this is really cool. Jin Tha Emcee has produced this song with a video clip called Top 5 Mc's Dead or Alive. You HAVE to watch it here.
The idea is that he takes the question to the streets and gets people to write their top 5 Mc's on a ballot card and totals them. In the end, he writes his top 5, but he doesn't show you?! Lyrically the song is awesome, and its so witty - cop this sample:
10th grade I became a hiphop addict ass backwards copped/
It Was Written and then Illmatic/
some say Ready To Die was Biggie’s best/
but then again theres always Life After Death/
way before Dame and Jay changed views and split/
on the real 22 2’s was my shit/
just when you thought PAC only brought drama/
he had joints like Keep Ya Head Up and Dear Mama/
Pun did it his way just like Carlito/ ...........
Puffy is good but Wu Tang is for the children/
Scarface ya mind playin tricks just illusions/
Pharoah Monch out to Organize the confusion/
tryin to figure out this fly chick I discovered/
at the same time Common said He Used to Love Her.........
You can find the rest of it here.
So who's your top 5 Mc's dead or alive?
Here's mine:
5. Guru
4. Jay-Z
3. Tupac
2. Rakim
1. Biggie
If I could put 6, I'd put in Nas or Big Pun or KRS-1 or Common .......the list goes on. IT'S TOUGH!!!!!!! It's hard trying to decide who's in your top 5, dead or alive.
18 comments:
Its funny, cos I stumbled on this clip for the first time while randomly web surfing earlier today.
My Top 5:
Biggie
Jay Z (these 2 are no brainers for me)
Actually, beyond them, I can't pick so I;ll just list a few contenders:
Mos Def
Ghostface
Talib Kweli
Common
Kanye West (just kidding, but he makes greats tracks)
Snoop
Ice Cube
Lauren Hill
KRS
Rakim
Nas
Guru
Tony Parker
Andre 3000
I could go on, but I'll leave it at that.
Tony Parker?! I didn't realise he was an highly rated MC. I know he has like one French rap single but cmon!?!!!!!!
That was to joke to see if anyone was paying attention.
I've never heard him rap, but he's got Tim Duncan in his video, so he must be good.
1. Common (Love that poetry)
2. BlackThought (Love the way he drives a song)
3. 2Pac
4. Mos Def (I love the way he wails)
5. L Boogie
tim leaves out 2pac, what the hell??
no particular order (thier all great)
5. Ghostface
4. Nas
3. Rakim
2. Biggie
1. Redman
Can't believe 'Pac generated so much debate! I'm a bit biased in my opinion coz i'm a huge 2pac fan. Here's my 2 cents: the reason that I feel pac is because he raps about things that you can relate to/that are personal and keeps it simple. I'm probably focusing more on the positive songs or the ones he talks about dear firends that are lost. Though I agree with Nate's comments that you have to consider the artist in whole - in respect of all their work that they have done. And though their are songs that are just too gangsta for me, i think 2pac just keeps it real - rapping about the things that he saw, felt, his struggles and the whole thug life mentality.
THUS - to me 2pac is definently in my top 5, dead or alive.
Side note: Still can't forget Ivan and Scott walking up to me at the traffic lights @ Hurstville, singing "All Bout You" and emphasising the line "I see the same HO".......
okay... alright, i should have said i liked the philosophical 2pac, rather than the rar rar 2pac... how's that?
i'm curious Nate's who's in your top 5, dead or alive?
damn dj! props for the link!
top 5 (in no order)
1. nas
2. Jay Z
3. Ras Kass
4. Biggie
5. Crooked I
I did leave 2pac out deliberately, but if i continued the list he would have been in there somewhere. 2pac was a gifted MC, definately amongst the greats in terms of his talent. He was prolific in his track making, to the extent that I think he didn't spend enough time fine tuning many of his tracks. From what I understand, him M.O. was to go in the studio and just rhyme off the top most of the time, then come back and turn what he recorded into a track. Its a gift to be able to do that, but someone like Jay-Z can craft a complete song in his head and then just spit it in one or 2 takes, and that played into why I rate him so highly, apart from the fact that I love most of his tracks irrespective of the manner in which they were created.
so, I respect Pac, but I don't like listening to a lot of his tracks (and I'm not just talking about the after-death bullshit they keep pulling out) so I put MC's who I want to listen to all the time.
Are you happy now Bosco?? You see what u started by questioning me??
I didn't intend to start anything... i was just surprised you left 2pac out, thats all.
Haha, I like this shit.
Nate, I think you have a lot of pent-up agression that you need to unleash in online arguments cos you and Irene are so easy-going with each other and never argue. I just unleash mine when I'm drunk by giving ppl the finger and taunting Ed (allegedly, since I have little or no memory of this occurring and I havn't seen any video or photo evidence as yet).
And Ivan, BIG UPS for going way back into email and/or blog archives just to get evidence to prove your point. What a lawyer. Refuse to lose.
I think i might keep this up a lil longer. It's generated some interesting discussion.
Nate, How can you say that Biggie/2pac and the whole gangster rap genre is not Hip HOP????!!!! If you ask any music fan and 99% of people will tell you that Gangster Rap is hip hop. The other 1% is just trippin'!.
Of course its a subgenre of hip hop. You've got different styles of hip hop - its a very broad definition and it DOES embrace gangster rap.
I'm sure in the early 80's-90's people might not have been able to categorise NWA as they came out with their aggressive street gangster F the police style. But I would say that if you ask people NOW of the artists that you mentioned the first group that would categorise as hip hop would be NWA. I respect De La and PE as much as NWA's contribution to hip hop, but to say that NWA, Biggie, 2pac, or any other gangster rapper ain't hip hop is like saying Metallica ain't heavy metal or Britney ain't pop music.
Hip Hop evolved, and gangster rap was part of that development fueled by pioneers like NWA, LL Cool J. What i find interesting, are the artists that try to push the boundaries of what hip hop such as Outkast - like as you say combine different styles of music that is 'rap rock and soul'.
Nate, you raise some good arguements, but I don't necessarily agree with your views.
I think much better than the Nelly debate, was the email debate/discussion we had about Nas v Jay-Z. Maybe we should raise the stakes, as to who is the GREATEST OF ALL TIME. Who is the best, numero uno MC to ever take up the mic?
Yo! dj I found a bitTorrent for the Milio JayZ/Nas joint:
fire up your BitTorrent client ...
sowwy the link:
Milio Mixtape bittorrent
big ups for the link Obi! I've listened to it, except i dont really like it. it just sounds weird, might take some time getting use to. I've got the Black Chronic by the Bash Brothers - Jay-Z's Black album lyrics over Chronic 2001 beats, and that initally sounded totally wrong mashing the two together but i've grown to like it.
Perhaps we will just agree to disagree. What we need is a night of listening to different styles of hip hop and we can discuss/debate/chill out and then you guys can battle it out with some freestyle sessions to release Nate's pent up anger!
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