Tupac

Old School Joint: Scarface f/Master P & 2pac “Homies & Thuggs”

By Langston in Music No Comments Tags: , , ,

Man, I used to love this song and video back in middle school. The song remains dope; the video, not so much. In fact the video makes no sense. Either way, Scarface’s verse is flames, Master P holds it down, and its always good to hear an unpillaged Tupac verse. There were two versions of the track/video; one with a Whodini “Friends” sample and the other with an overstated organ party. I prefer the prior, but I’ll post both.

Scarface f/Master P & Tupac “Homies & Thuggs” (Rap-A-Lot, 1999)

“Friends” sample.

Wack organ

Man ‘Pac beasted that.

Peace.

Tupac Producer Johnny J Dead

By Langston in Music 3 Comments Tags: , , ,

Johnny J with Tupac

Johnny J with Tupac

According to Thug Life Army, Tupac producer Johnny J committed suicide in the LA County Jail on October 3rd. Early reports state that he jumped off a jail tier while serving time on a DUI charge. If you aren’t familiar with Johnny J, he produced the brillant “Death Around the Corner” from Me Against the World plus a good portion of All Eyez On Me, including the standouts “How Do You Want It,” “Life Goes On,” “Picture Me Rollin’,” and “All Eyez On Me.” He Leaves behind a wife and two children. R.I.P. Johnny J.

Lil Wayne is not the best rapper alive

By Langston in Music 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Lil Wayne is the hottest rapper alive. No doubt. He along with Kanye West and Jay-Z run rap right now. I’m happy for Wayne. Who knew that the lil dude spittin the bling bling hook would someday be the hottest thing in rap and pop music. I definitely didn’t. Props to Wayne for growing as an artist and taking over the hip hop game.

That being said…

Lil Wayne is not the best rapper alive, no matter what Time Magazine says. What separates him from the rest of the pack? Maybe I’m getting too old or too nostalgic, but I’m just missing it. Wayne is super talented, but no more talented than a lot of artists.

Wayne garners much props because of his freestyle punchline ability. But since when have punchline rappers ever been thought of so highly? Why aren’t Lord Finesse, Big L (rip), Tash, Punchline, Wordsworth, Esoteric, Ras Kass, Cassidy or Lloyd Banks considered great? Aside from Eminem, I’ve never seen such a glorified punchline rapper. “Amili” was cool, but Ghostface did that gibberish shit a little better in the late 1990s.

Much is made of the fact that Wayne does not write rhymes. He freestyles everything off the top of the dome. To some, that excuses the mediocre output. As a fan/critic, I judge the outcome, not the act of production. If something sucks, I don’t care if he freestyled it or not, it just sucks. If John Coltrane produced an improve album and it sucked, we would not excuse it because it was improve. The Carter III was a mediocre to average album. I don’t feel that I should rate it higher just because he freestyled the whole thing.

Wayne makes great mixtapes. Cool. Mixtapes don’t make a great rapper. Mixtapes are supposed to create a buzz for an eventual album. Wayne blacks out on other people’s beats, but so does Asher Roth. So what. (based on the Wayne hype, I think Asher Roth is going to be the next greatest rapper alive. Quote me.)

Lil Wayne was on 3 trillion tracks in 2007. Great for him. He made paper. Hopping on everyone’s song doesn’t make you the greatest rapper alive either. Is T-Pain the greatest singer alive? Nope. Is Akon? Nope. I don’t think its bad the he was on everyone’s song. Tupac did the same thing. I just don’t think it makes you the greatest. It just means that you like to make music and money (probably more so money), which I cannot hate.

Anyway…

I’m a Wayne fan. I’ve defended him hard to people in the past. The Carter & Carter II got major play in my stereo. They were hot albums. The Carter III didn’t do it for me, but it had some strong tracks. Lil Wayne is one of the best out there, but not the greatest alive. He’s basically old school LL Cool J with punchlines. Rakim, Nas, Ice Cube, B.I.G., Tupac, and Jay-Z have all be once labeled the greatest. Does today’s Lil Wayne fit in with them? I don’t think so. I don’t even think he’s better than Nas or Jay right now. I think he’s a very talented rapper, but not the greatest alive.

I wonder if Wayne wouldn’t have called himself the Greatest Alive, would anyone have labeled him such? I think many people got caught up in his powerful marketing campaign. He is what he is, a dope rapper who grinds hard. He’s still very young and I cannot wait to see where his career goes. Peace.