But growing up in the Bronx, Hip-Hop was always a culture thing. Between the graffiti writing and the breakdancing, it was all about FEEL and there aren't too many rappers who I FEEL anymore. I still think Eminem is the best at making words rhyme, as well as winning a crowd over in a battle. Nas is the best at telling a story and lyrically no one can touch the pioneers of Tupac and Notorious BIG but the guy atop my favorite rappers list is definitely Joe Buddens.
After his Hip-Hop weekly series Crooked I has stayed a close second and when they came together to form Slaughterhouse, I started to listen to Joell Ortiz and Royce Da 5'9 a lot more and what do you know...they are now 3 and 4 on my list. But back to Buddens. A friend of mine, Mark Williams (who runs TEAM FOOTPRINTZ basketball training) and I were having a discussion of the top 15 Buddens songs of all-time. I put together a little list for him and thought I'd share a couple of my favorite Buddens songs with you over the next few weeks (randomly) to see if you can FEEL Hip-Hop music again.
Do What You Do Hallelujah Hollaback ...blackhercules21...
Being an rap fan for over 30 years, i have been lucky to have heard many styles of the "voice of the streets"...those that are geared to only trying to sell records, those that are interested in "moving the crowd", the ring tone movement, and those that are just pure gimmicks...
ReplyDeleteI, like many growing up in NYC, have been convinced that rap (hip hop) started in the Bronx and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were the starting point...As I grew so did my knowledge about other rappers (i.e. kool moe dee, whoduni, and run DMC) and their stories. Although, as a teenager, i identified with a skinny kid from Farmers Blvd...His style and attitude attracted my attention especially when he battled and dared to attack the "establishment"... To me, James Todd Smith aka LL Cool J was that DUDE...After COOL J, that DUDE became NASIR JONES, who too, changed the game...his lyrically skill appeared to paint a picture even for those that lacked sight...around this time , early 1990's, the rap game began to look and sound like a hustler's world and their plight...the rise of acts like Jay-z, BIG, and The Lox (mase) coupled with "mixtapes" began to rule the airwaves...but too me, it was a hungry rapper from "upstate NY" that combined a hustler's story with REAL LIFE trials and tribulations that "caught my ear"...Earl Simmons aka DMX, to me, embodied a regular man who had a knack for rapping...he had substance and understood that people, despite their image, were flawed on certain levels...this leads me to JOE BUDDEN...
His image is exactly that!!!...a REGULAR DUDE, who, like everyone else, is FLAWED...his style varies dependent upon his mood and with each style he seems to excel as h points out in his song DUMB OUT..." Don't put niggaz in the same sink as me
I mean metaphors, storylines, deep shit, club shit, girl shit, world shit / They don't use to ink like me / Niggaz don't even THINK like me "...In essence, whatever the style - he believes he is the best and for each of the different elements of rap he can lay claim to having one of the best in his catalog...
NOT, saying i dont listen to other forms of rap, but in a microwave era of rap or the ring tone era (sizzle), and at my age, i prefer to listen to rap that has a meaning, a motive, a direction or ANY form of FEELING (substance/depth) and for the past 7 years that has been only one rapper that has filled that void...
JOE BUDDEN
Now who said they f#%%in' with me
They just said that f@#$in' with me, they didn't mean it (NAH)
MY TOP 15 (maybe a little more) Joe Budden songs 9as of 12/22/09 @ 2:34am
ReplyDeleteall of me, hiatus, calm down, anti, invisible man, dear diary, dumb out, are you in the mood, ER intro, unforgiven, state of you, now i lay, stained, under the sun, 3 sides of every story...BONUS - OUTCAST...ITUNES BONUS - MY LIFE/ ANGEL IN MY LIFE...AMAZON BONUS - VENTILATION