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Nas - NY State of Mind Could probably make an argument for any track from Illmatic, but NY State of Mind stands out as an opener that perfectly sets the bar for everything else to come on an album that is widely regarded as one of, if not the greatest ever. Every element of the song is top tier, but my favorite part of this song and Illmatic in general is Nas' flow. I actually think his opening line hits on this -- "monkey flip em with the funky rhythm". Lot of contemporary east coast gangsta rap at the time was focused on speed and getting more triplets into each bar. Nas doesn't try to kill you with speed, he goes slow enough that his rhymes hit even harder, and that gives him more room for more complex multi-word rhymes and also makes for a more vivid story. My favorite line from the song: quote:I'm a addict for sneakers, 20's of Buddha and bitches with beepers I could write a lot more but don't want to be overkill so will just stop there...
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Jan 13, 2022 02:10
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| # ¿ May 18, 2024 00:05 |
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all great stuff so far, i'm going to try to write up a couple more nominations laterbuffalo all day posted:ride wit me is my favorite but this is definitely a classic. i listened to this album so many times that basically the lyrics to the entire album are burned in my brain for life my college rock band did a cover of ride wit me and i rapped it. grateful every day that this was before smartphones were everywhere and there's no footage of it
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Jan 13, 2022 21:29
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ok here's a few more, going to keep the write ups pretty brief and just link to youtube 2Pac & Dr. Dre - California Love One of the slammingest beats ever, could just listen to a loop of the pianos & drums by themselves but then the Zapp vox and everything else makes this beat an all timer. It might not be pac's most impressive rapping ever, but his delivery and flow are spot on. And the vibe it captures, it feels rooted in that east vs. west coast 90s rivalry, but also feels like a timeless tribute to one's home that anyone can relate to even if they've never been to CA. UGK - Diamonds & Wood Have to rep something from Ridin Dirty and I had a hard time choosing. i landed on D&W because Pimp C and Bun B both rip on it and it totally captures their swagger, flow and delivery, which is a defining feature of the album, but also because the beat perfectly represents the slow, swirling funk of the southern/houston sound and even has a screwed hook which was still very much not a national phenomenon at the time. Kendrick Lamar - The Art of Peer Pressure Good Kid Maad City will probably always be my favorite Kdot record, I just have a soft spot for how it throws back to golden age era while still being totally unique in terms of his flow, vocal styles, personas, storytelling and so on. I picked Peer Pressure because I think it gets all these elements. The whole song captures the vibe of the story so well, the story itself is kind of the perfect one-song encapsulation of the good kid/mad city tension, it shows how creative Kendrick's flow can be, sometimes rapping kind of mundane rhymes but it still sounds so fresh (we made a right, then made a left, then made a right and then another right -- how does this sound so fuckin sick?), it's funny and dark and serious all at the same time, has Kendrick adopting different personas through the song... drat, i didn't think i was going to write this much but i just loving love this song
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Jan 14, 2022 21:29
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Kuvo posted:De La Soul - I Am I Be Great song. This isn't a nom but there's a nice homage to this song by the minneapolis doomtree rapper POS, of course doesn't compare to the original but worth appreciation in its own right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lFVTUqSCaI
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Jan 15, 2022 00:57
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BigFactory posted:Deltron - Mastermind Tempted to veto the troll. If anything from deltron is nominated, 3030 would be the obvious choice
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Jan 22, 2022 08:19
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| # ¿ May 18, 2024 00:05 |
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Larry Parrish posted:they're sub linkin park tier 
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Jan 24, 2022 18:02
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