1.) Dr. Dre
2.) Kanye West
3.) 2Pac
4.) DJ Quik
5.) Jay-Z
6.) OutKast
I think in terms of overall final product. These six seem the most concerned with making the best song possible.
The way I'd read this list is, if I heard that all these five artists released a new song today, this is the order I would care about those songs. And I'd probably listen to them in this order because of the overall quality of the song, from most disappointing to least.
Dr. Dre may not write his own lyrics, so it's kind of unfair to put him at the top, but I'd imagine that Dre treats lyrics like another instrument in the song, and his voice is a pretty good rap voice, and he can perform pretty well. His ability to put together all those elements is what makes him so good.
Also, Dr. Dre is number 1 because of the same reason Michael Jackson is innocent, "He made Chronic."
I prefer 2001 to OG, but 2001 means more to me.
Also, Dr. Dre wins because Chronic 2001 and, arguably, The Black Album, as the last hip hop albums that just about anyone could dig and play on repeat. I would like to enter Nas' Hip Hop is Dead and Busta Rhymes' The Big Bang as honorable mentions in this category. I don't think I can put any of Kanye's CD's in here, maybe the greatest hit's one that I made.
Kanye West is a new and improved Jay-Z, learning from Jay's mistakes and doing in 4 albums what it took Jay-Z 11 to do. Sure, Kanye might not be as smooth a lyricist as Jay, but he's making the debate turn into apples and oranges with his own styles, kind of the same way it's tough to compare different rock and r&B singers. Hiphop is great, but it is self-limiting. It's difficult to make a music expand when there's so money pushing it to stay the same, a similar problem with movies.
Even though Kanye's my dude, I don't know if any of his albums stand up all the way through. A couple songs are just way too out there. But when he's on, he's dead on to the point where it's all you want to listen to and just try to figure it out, like a puzzle, what's it about.
2Pac, I guess, means if he were still alive, that's how important I'd imagine his music would be. A first of his kind hip hop artist, maybe Too Short as well, with a tireless work ethic but also an amazing ability to sustain high quality product. Every 2Pac song that he was alive to make is pretty dope. Some of it is average, but nothing stands out as totally wrong, something that you can fault Lil Wayne and Kanye and Jay and Nas for daily. But I can only imagine how well 2Pac could have embraced modern hip hop, and not go down the roads of the Snoops, 50 Cents, Eminems, getting stuck in themselves and questioning their abilities.
DJ Quik gets a spot because of how much better he is than everyone else. He might make a similar song really well, but damn, every one of his songs pops through the speakers better than any other artist I've heard. The bass line are so crisp and potent. His snares are the fattest I've heard, blowing Dr. Dre's new fake handclaps out of the water.
He's also the best musician I've heard to learn musical theory from. For starters, keep the BPM's up. Something the rap, Timbaland, like to do is long drawn out beats. Quik's beats are all for stepping, walking around, moving, it's a genetic funk thing and Quik's got it- one of the few people who's definitely doing exactly what's he put on earth for.
Jay-Z makes the list because, when it's all said and done, he is going to have so many hits that it's impossible to say he wasn't the best. The same way that the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson and Elvis are all the best, Jay-Z is right up there with them. It's what he's always wanted to do, and he is doing it. He can release Blueprint 3 because he knows he tried some shit, it worked all right, and then he'll do it again but better, or at least different, next year. Pretty impressive that he has released so many songs in such a short period of time, while doing all the business he handles as well.
And OutKast definitely means them together. Even Speakerboxxx/The Love Below I wouldn't really call outkast. I think Idlewild is probably more OutKast. I'm not so interested in their solo work, because, let's be honest, we've already heard it. It's good, and it made them a lot of money, but I don't want to hear Hey Ya anymore. Also, you can see that on Stankonia, they ran into a wall and had run out of good ideas. Funny that this happens when you put out your best single to date too, Ms. Jackson.
I think of what would have happened to Outkast if that had been their first CD.
But on Southern..., ATLiens, and Aquemini they were all about crazy songwriting. And that's what their new album together would bring. They are so in tune with how their music should sound and what they want to convey, that is why they will be timeless.
New List
Top 10 Mainstream Rap CD's - of last 10 years
1.) Chronic 2001
2.) The Black Album
3.) The Blueprint
4.) Late Registration
5.) The Big Bang
6.) Hip Hop Is Dead
7.) The Documentary
8.) Food & Liquor
9.) The B.Coming
10.) Be
1 comment:
This is a succinct recap of a conversation we have had many, many times over the years. I always enjoy the way you carefully define what you consider the primary criteria for evaluating what makes an artist or an album "the best". I may not necessarily agree but it's tough to poke holes in such tightly knit logical reasoning. Kind of reminds me of Aaron Eckhart in Thank You for Smoking. I agree with you regarding Quik, and I think its a great comparison to call Jay-Z the Rolling Stones of rap/hip-hop, especially considering all the classic lines and styles he's spun off and incorporated over the years. When I picture Jay-Z writing a song I can't help but think of Jamal Wallace starting with a short piece by William Forrester, eventually turning it into his own work. Plagiarism in the classroom, superstardom in the music industry. S. Carter is definitely historically relevant and important to rap over many eras of the genre. People can knock the hustle but at the end of the day, what would Maximus say? Are we not entertained?
Just to throw in a couple more pennies on the subject of Nas. I would say that Hip Hop is Dead might be his 5th or 6th best LP. I would rate Illmatic, Stillmatic, The Lost Tapes, and It Was Written as unquestionably higher, with God's Son maybe tied for 5th. Nevertheless, this is a ranking based solely on personal preference. According to your rubric, i guess you can put HHID at the top. That is to say, I would have a difficult time disproving it in court.
Ranking MCs is a timeless hip hop debate that will always yield disagreement. What stands out the most to me in reading this piece is the fact that what we are actually debating is not the artists themselves (or even their bodies of work). The heart of the discussion lies in defining the rubric we use to evaluate these rappers and their careers. Consensus is so elusive because it's nearly impossible to objectify something as inherently subjective as listening to music.
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