Because of popular demand (that is, like, two people) I am turning I Love Rap into a semi-regular series. Maybe once every 2-3 weeks or so. Add the blog to your favorite RSS feed and keep up with the hip hop goodness. Ever since I stopped adding pictures of famous people, my stats have been going way down, puncturing my hopes of providing for myself and any future family with a hyper-monster blog. So bring the love.
This time around, I highlight some of the songs you might have missed – those tracks that are buried deep within an artist or group’s catalog. I can’t pretend that any of these songs will be your cup of tea on the first or even the tenth listen. For me, most of them resonated after I listened to an album countless times until I could taste their greatness outside of the shadow of the immediately tasty tracks. Without further ado.
The Roots – I Remain Calm (Do You Want More?!!!??!, 1995)
The Roots are still making records. Sometimes I give them a whirl but don’t pay too much attention. The magic just isn’t the same. A lot has changed for the Roots since the early days but I wonder if one of the main reasons for their relative decline is the lack of Malik B. Black Thought was always the deserved lead performer but the straightforward performances of Malik B provided a wonderful balance – without him the rapping is a little monotone.
Pete Rock (f Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Prodigy) – Tha Game (Soul Survivor, 1998)
It’s really the beat that does it for me on this track. It feels epic even though not much is going on. Far from the typical Pete Rock sound but still brilliant to my ears. I can’t get enough of it. It doesn’t hurt that one of my all-time favorites and hands-down the best Wu member (Ghostface) is a guest. He’s in dada verbal calisthenics mode for this one. Great stuff. And yet another classic beat snippet at the end of the track.
Jay-Z – D’Evils (Reasonable Doubt, 1996)
There’s no doubt Jay-Z is the most successful rapper in history. Certainly not the best but definitely the most successful. In the 10+ years since his debut, he’s had countless great tracks but as far as albums go surely Reasonable Doubt is his finest. So little has changed – the flow is the same, the lyrics the same brand of bragadaccio and his producers the cream of the game (this track produced by Primo). But there’s something I can’t quite place about Reasonable Doubt that sets it apart – maybe a hungriness for success that’s missing from his later albums? Whatever it is, this is one of my favorite tracks off the album. Using samples for the hook never gets old.
Busta Rhymes – Turn it Up (When Disaster Strikes, 1997)
What’s great about this series is the fruit of my research into these songs. For example, I had no clue DJ Premier produced D’Evils and was shocked to see that Busta himself produced this track. I feel like the two main singles from this album – Dangerous and Put Your Hands where My Eyes Could See – haven’t aged too well. This cut on the other hand, is the only song from this album I ever put on playlists. It’s not Busta at his craziest but the Al Green sample is just too much soul to pass up.
OutKast (f Cool Breeze, Big Gipp) – Decatur Psalm (ATLiens, 1996)
Andre 3000 – one of the best rappers ever in my opinion. But he’s not on this track. Big Boi, however is, and he’s flanked by two guys who sound like 400-pound offensive lineman that could snap your neck with the flick of the pinkie – Cool Breeze and Big Gipp of Goodie Mobb. In reality, judging from a quick Google search, both of them seem to be of reasonable size and weight. Both of them have flows that are, well, rudimentary but their styles fit the dirty funk beat of this track. Add the awesome hook and soulful fade-out and I’m sold.
PS I am willing to argue that ATLiens is OutKast’s best album.
Dr. Dre (f Lady of Rage, Kurupt, RBX) – Lyrical Gangbang (The Chronic, 1992)
What? No Snoop? No G-Funk beat? Surely this is a throw-away track on one of the all-time classics? Nah… This is just three hard rappers taking advantage of a hard beat. The main draw might be the microphone presence of Lady of Rage. Hands down, the best female rapper ever. But it diminishes her talent to classify her in terms of her gender. It’s a shame that her legacy is composed of some (great) guest spots and Afro Puffs. I feel like it should have been so much more. Trust me when I say I played this at high volume in a residential area many a time.
PS A great Rage guest spot is on the You Know My Steez Remix. Not sure what album it’s from but it is on Gang Starr’s Full Clip retrospective.
hellyes.
Though I think Jay’s changed his flow up quite a bit recently. Blueprint 3 has him taking in new flows. Lots of looks to Kanye’s style in my opinion.
I haven’t listened to the new Jay Z beyond the singles. I need to pay more attention to them. I was looking at the track listing and noticed No ID is producing. What! Blast from the past, man. I guess it’s the Chicago connection with Kanye but man that’s random.
I definitely agree w/ you that Ghostface is the best Wu member, but you have to give props to the Rza for his producing skills. Ghostface’s Ironman album is one of my favorite solo albums, though he did collaborate with someone in just about every track – hard to give him too much credit w/o insulting Nas’ illmatic album.
You know I never heard that Pete Rock track, joint is hot.
Ironman is great but Ghost has done other great stuff without RZA producing. Obviously I think Ghost is great but maybe it’s better that he always has a guest… I feel like all Ghost all the time could cause a brain ache.
The entire Soul Survivor album is really good in my opinion.
Nice – was just listening to reasonable doubt at the gym today – love brooklyns finest even if it has the fakest sounding gunshot sounds in the history of rap
That’s a great song except for the intro. At least it’s a pretty short intro otherwise I would have given it the Cool Edit treatment.