You know when you get to 50 or 60, your skin's going to get all wrinkled. They're dying and going to the grave with that. I'm in the circle, but I don't understand the power to that magnitude. Do you know how many people with Wu-Tang tattoos have died already — shot in the street or in a car crash?
All praise is due to God, the most high and I thank him for letting him be a part of Wu-Tang. This team, these guys that came and made a mark. I felt it in my gut that we were going to do something, but I didn't know it was going to be something like this.
Have you listened back to. Once Upon A Time in Shaolin. You don't know what it sounds like? I know what it sounds like, but I haven't listened to it back. When I was doing it, I heard the record with people on it, but I haven't heard it all the way back to back of each other.
I do records and I'm tired of hearing it as I have to listen to it over and over and over. For this particular record I didn't get to really hear it as an album: that's song number one, that's song number two, that song's number three I just know the seven or eight songs I did. It's a beast. Some people might see it like, 'this is too hip-hop for me. Too hip-hop might sound like '93ish. No, it was not alright, it was good.
It was wow! Coming out of the s, artists like Queen Latifah and Monie Love wanted to educate younger generations on the roles women have played in music and history in general. Jay-Z has released a lot of big songs and albums since Songs rarely unite generations like this to the point where your parents were asking you about that rapper who was rapping about their favorite musical. Jay-Z Getty Images. Marley Marl feat. Marley Marl brings together four legendary emcees that try and outperform each other over a piano-driven beat.
You could make the case the verses get better as the song goes on. Let the debate rage on. The Notorious B. The song certainly presents as such.
However, B. Every great New York City rap act has to have a song dedicated to its city. And Beastie Boys have one of the best. Beastie Boys Getty Images. Naughty by Nature was doing it at the start of the s. Big K. Release a way better track. Fans had to wait four years for another Wu-Tang Clan group album. But its first single lit a lyrical storm in the rap community.
The track is also historic. Thanks to an intro and interlude from ODB and a verse from Cappadonna, it stands as the only song to feature every Wu member released on a proper album.
This could easily be an Isley Brothers song, as it showcases just how deep and soulful the Memphis sound can be. Fugees were in borrowing mode in But when it comes to wow moments, no one comes close as an emcee. The mythological nature that developed almost immediately following his death was due only in part to the life he lived.
Some of it was owed to the music that came out after he passed. La dadada la la la la? Part of it had to do with the kung-fu samples. Dre feat. The genre had sampled jazz before. But this was the most straightforward attempt yet to prove hip hop was a genre on par with other musical art forms in America. Stetsasonic was on a mission to put critics in their place while sonically giving the jazz-rap acts of the s a blueprint to go by.
The nine-minute song features different words and never ceases to grip you. Rap as a form of expression rarely gets better than this. His background may be a bit sketchy, but his music allowed you to suspend reality. Rick Ross Getty Images. Nas may have never achieved the massive record sales of Jay-Z or Biggie.
But in New York, no one could create a window down, summer anthem quite like him. The beat from Salaam Remi is a master class it taking it old school. The result is the ultimate escape cut from a rap group that was intent on offering something different. The entire song is about taking rap back to its roots and demolishing rappers who have focused more on the superficial. Three 6 Mafia feat.
Biggie could do it all, from making a pop record to delivering vicious rhymes that could make you quiver. He was also a genius storyteller. Gunned down at the age of 24, Lamont Coleman had already established himself as one of the best lyricists in hip hop. But his time at the top of the rap world was limited due to overexposure.
Call him a mumble rapper if you want but the message here is clear — Playboi Carti can get the party started whenever he wants. Still, the goal was to create a meme-worthy anthem and no one does it better than Drake. The social conscience rapper creates one of the few rap songs you could envision hearing at a wedding. The Roots feat. No other hip-hop act could make this song. The Roots Getty Images. Its hypnotic beat feels like something that could and probably did play at a jazz club.
You can call Kanye West a lot of things, but never a slouch. With his career and life in the balance after a devastating car accident, West spit through the wires of a closed jaw for the single that would make him famous. Backed by a sped-up Chaka Khan sample, West was evoking emotions no one ever had in hip hop before and he did it while setting a new sonic trend for the 21st century in rap.
No chorus, no hooks. Just Meek giving you chills with some of the hardest rhymes you will ever hear. Meek Mill Julia Hatmaker jhatmaker pennlive. Outkast was from Atlanta.
But from an artistic standpoint, the duo was truly from a different world. The title track is an impressive merger of Southern bounce and synths that finds Big Boi telling listeners to go get their shine box just seconds before Andre is examining the future of humanity.
Who does that? Talib Kweli feat. When people say they miss the old Kanye, they mean both the rapper and the producer. Ultramagnetic MCs were a hip-hop act unlike any other in The group, led by Kool Keith, made use of unique samples and lyrics based on odd content and even more unique delivery.
Before Ludacris was dropping hit single after hit single in the 21st century, he helped usher in the new era of Southern Rap with some help from the Neptunes. Ghostface Killah feat. The combination of wordplay and flow borders on insane. It demands repeat listens to just make sense of it all. The bass explodes in and out of the track. The song borrows from disco, funk and jazz thrillingly, crafting one of the best early instrumentals in hip hop history.
They knew how to lead a party and not overwhelm a song that was near perfect for the dancefloor on its production alone. So much so when it was released, both jazz and rap clubs played it in and well into Digable Planets Getty Images. Noreaga never claimed to be the greatest lyricist. But he had contagious energy. No emcee should be able to make sense of it. But Noreaga makes it work. The Game feat. Sadly, 50 Cent and The Game had a falling out. They were perfect for each other.
Fiddy was becoming more of a mogul by the mids. But was still capable of writing a brilliant hook. At the same time, The Game possessed the street-savvy nature 50 Cent used to become famous in the first place.
Eric B. At a certain point, it felt like everything Eric B. And a landmark one at that. Mike Jones feat. So, on its fourth studio, The Roots sought to engage a broader sonic landscape that could start to build its legacy.
Those claps and synths were the backbone of Cash Money and New Orleans rap in the years that followed. Pharoahe Monch came up in the most lyrical rap group of all time, Organized Konfusion. But when he went solo, Monch truly came into his own artistically. But the group was looking to carve out its niche in the emerging Southern rap scene. Mission accomplished. Digital Underground did a lot of great things the group should be appreciated for.
It would take his follow-up songs for Eminem to gain respect from true hip-hop heads. The song earned Tyler comparisons to early Eminem, only somehow weirder and crazier.
How else do you explain a guy taking shots at Bruno Mars and recruiting Stevie Wonder to be the wide receiver on his football team? But he was wise in his ability to use that outrageous personality in interesting ways. And the song still went platinum. That should clue you into how much of a phenomenon it was. De La Soul feat. Both versions are lyrical tour de forces. Okay, so Jay-Z lied a bit.
Mary J. But it never does thanks to earnest Ghost is. The song is the most in-depth look at life growing up in poverty rap music has seen. Ghostface takes all filters off giving us his life story in tear-jerking fashion. The first classic of the jazz-rap era. To counterbalance any lack of a budget, Jungle Brothers utilize a deep collection of samples. That starts with James Brown, of course, but also brings in a barrage of horns, bass and other sounds that make for an infectious groove on the title track.
Kanye West feat. Nicki embraces her Barbie persona, rapping about rocking gold teeth and fangs, moving effortlessly from horror movie bars and braggadocio rhymes. Jadakiss feat. MC Lyte was the first female emcee who could hang with the boys. That was clear from her lyrical talent. Not only was MC Lyte now the greatest female rapper of all time, but she was among the five or so best in the game at that point regardless of gender.
Trying to come up with a beat that matches the craziness of Busta Rhymes seems like an impossible task. And they were violent as hell.
The hip-hop Avengers. Also, how young men help each other learn to become men, and help each other grow up, without fathers in some cases. Sanders, however, has had his literal role model on set throughout. He said his process was more about absorption than scrutiny.
The more time I spend with him the more I can pick up on his speech patterns, the nuances, the way he moves. Memories are triggered, nuances are happening, sometimes anxiety. I felt bad for the character. My wife felt bad for the character. But for RZA, it was an opportunity to see how much has changed. You go to Stapleton and Park Hill alone, and consider how much talent came out of it.
And 20 million records. Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd are comedy masters.
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