Monday, March 31, 2008
UNDERRATED EMCEES PART 1
Here's my list if my underrated emcees. This is purely opinion, and I don't expect you to agree with me 100% but I feel each emcee I list is underrated for certain reasons. Not all reasons are the same also. You might not even think they're underrated so bear with me.
50 Cent - This man is very underrated as an emcee. Keep in mind his career's success overshadows everything he has ever fallen short on in terms of music making. He became extremely wealthy off capitalizing off the Eminem/Dr. Dre connection, blowing up on the mixtape circuit, and finding ways to profit off his brand name. When you think 50, you think of his big business and his gangsta. However, pay closer attention to the songs he writes. 50 Cent actually has a versatile style in flow structure and writing. He's very under appreciated for his skills, but at the same time it's harder to see the talent because he's gotten so rich he probably doesn't care as much about the music as before.
Fabolous - Fab isn't really underrated, but he's misrepresented. The Fab I know spits gangsta on mixtapes and comes with those sick metaphors...all Brooklyn style. Mainstream American views Loso as a rapper for the women, like an LL Cool J in a sense. People always criticize Loso for his albums, and say that his mixtapes are bangers. I think in the eyes of mainstream America, Fabolous is underrated in terms of his skills and true talents, and has to dumb it down for the more pop oriented crowd.
Kanye West - Kanye West isn't as wack as everyone thinks on the mic. In fact, his most recent stuff is getting ever more complex and he's got great metaphors, and rhyme structures. It's funny to see Kanye West come into the game as a backpacker, only to become a mini Jay-Z with commercialism in his raps and boasts of arrogance. Not hating either, I'm a big Jay-Z fan. Kanye West is more known for his production, where as I think he is also an extremely capable emcee.
Obie Trice - This man is so slept on, it's ridiculous. His first album Cheers was a monster, and he dropped Second Round's on Me and that was hot too. I admit, the second album wasn't quite as good as the first, and I'm not sure if it was because of the production, or because he started freestyling everything, but both albums were fire. If you're unfamilar with Obie Trice, I want you to check out a lot of his mixtape material and even peep his albums, his lyricism speaks for itself.
There are plenty more of underrated emcees that I know about and would like to share my knowledge with you on them because they too deserve their shine. I'll put that in another post sometime. There's a lot of NY rappers who don't get love because the south is what's hot right now. A lot of dudes from Chicago don't get attention either because if you think Chicago, you think either Lupe, Kanye, or Common. Detroit is full of great emcees as well. I got love for the south, but if you're a hip hop fan, you gotta pay attention to these other regions even though BET and MTV don't give them equal airtime.
What do you expect out of Eminem now?
There's been a lot of news springing up recently about Eminem's emergence back into Hip Hop. Personally, I have no idea what he's been doing for the past few years, but its probably something like hanging out with his daughter and sitting around a lot. This is purely speculative. Rumors were swirling around about how he got pretty chubby and let himself go, while other rumors talked about Eminem being a pill addict.
Honestly, I liked Eminem better when he was off the drugs which was around the same time as he was dropping all those tracks on the 50 Cent/DJ Green Lantern mixtapes. He was slowly turning into this mixtape rapper who put out ridiculous quality freestyles and raps on dope ass G Unit mixtapes.
However, Eminem quickly receded into doing nothing and did his Encore thing for a while but that was pretty bad. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who thought that album was actually decent. Eminem stopped trying because rap was boring for him, and it was very visible. There were A FEW good tracks on that album.
What happened to Eminem from The Eminem Show? Or Slim Shady LP? I'm aware his style evolved across the two albums, but seeing one of those hungry mc's would be very appealing, especially for his rumored King Mathers coming out in the near future.
This post was truly written to get your thoughts brewing on Eminem and his most recent moves. Is he washed up and going to fade into the hip hop legends pool, or is he gonna come back with more heat and take his position near the top of the game? Keep in mind, he's been apparently working hard on his new album, he's got a track with DJ Premier, and he's reopened up his Shady Ltd. clothing line. We can only hope for the best for Mr. Mathers...
SOULJA BOY INTERVIEW ON TIM WESTWOOD
talks about his music career and how he made himself a superstar
NEW CASHIS!!! RED LIGHT DISTRICT REMIX FT MISTAH FAB, HOT ROD, DIRTY BLACC
fixed video
freshly leaked cashis track, check it out