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Let me be the first to say that the new Rakim album is really awful IMO.
Let me be the first to say that the new Rakim album is really awful IMO.
Don't get me wrong he is one of hiphops greatest emcees (if not THE greatest), he dropped classics during the Eric B & Rakim era & 2 quite good solo outings.
But the last one, Seventh Seal, is by far his worst .IMO
I'm was really disapointed waiting 10 years for this.
He is still sharp lyrically , but the production is really the weak point.
I've found that a lot of times great MCs are often paired with some subpar production and poor MC's have great production.
Bad MC and good Production (50-Cent with Dr. Dre) -- He's all mumbling and bumbling over a hot track that any MC with skills would kill.
look at the WU organization. some of hottes beats went to the worst acts..levels out abum sales and when you make albums you gotta give your sub par rappers the heat just to catch those soundscan numbers
While I agree that not all of the WU emcees are on the same level, I don't think any one of them is as you say sub-par. IMO 3 of them are some of the best in hiphop history.
IMO
...and during all the meth and red hype who saw ghost coming out as the most successful wu member in the music

I enjoyed the vision of early hip hop. as an example I'll use "say no go" by De La Soul. They used samples from Hall & Oates, the Detroit Emeralds, the Emotions, and Sly Stone and dropped a slammin' track. I find that kind of creativity missing from todays hip hop artists. Good for bassists though.
Ghostface's skills are razor sharp.
IMO Gza , Ghostface, Raekwon are the c.r.e.a.m (pun intended) of the Wu.
Honorable mentions go to Masta Killa (most underated Wu Member), his album No said date is one of the best Wu solo albums & is the one that sold the least.![]()
no said date is really raw and i dig it alot. its funny to see his talent since he was the last out of all of em to start rapping

And the Bomb Squad at their peak.prince paul is just one of those guys that dosent just bite a sample . he sangs 100 different samples and makes something so uniquely his. hes right up there with dilla and pete rock and large professor when it comes to using multiple pieces to make something holisticly theirs
And the Bomb Squad at their peak.
I keep meaning to put together thoughts for this long-overdue thread, but I haven't had time. I'm old and not as in touch with hip hop as I was 20 years ago--I'm hoping to learn more about these newer MCs.
I was lucky enough to see Public Enemy twice back then. I've really been digging the Roots for a few years (one of the best live shows I've ever seen). I also like the punk/hip-hop connection, there's something to that (going all the way back to early Beasties). Anyhow, more soon...
BOMB SQUAD! if they woulda charged Hank Shocklee for every sample the bomb squad used he could have acumulated the national debt easy. PE was enormous in sound for sure and alot of the hip hop world owes a ton to them.