Please use the thread to discuss the selections and inform everybody of your voting intentions. A poll will be added at a later date in order to tally votes, once everybody has had the opportunity to listen to all of the selections. If there are specific links to the albums or singles you have nominated (on Youtube, Spotify, etc.) that you would prefer voters to listen to, please post them in this thread. _________________ 2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.
Last edited by Skinny on 02/10/2021 19:52; edited 1 time in total
I am maybe the only user here who thinks this, so take it with a pinch of salt, but I woulda used Nelly in the albums category and mined Stankonia for a single ('B.O.B.' or 'Ms. Jackson'). It just feels like a step-down after their first three albums, a deeply inconsistent and flawed release propped up by its admittedly astonishing highs, whereas Country Grammar (the album) is an unheralded classic, a record that glides by on bouncing beats and effortless flows.
Besides that, a really great matchup. OutKast and E-40 are two of my favourite artists of all-time, but neither of their albums here are quite in their respective top tiers for me. Fishscale is my favourite album here, but Masters of the Universe is also a classic, an amazing slice of traditionalist underground hip-hop that still feels vibrant today, unlike many of its contemporaries. (I considered nominating Waterworld for 1999, which was basically the self-released dry-run for this album, a sort-of demo version, but it just isn't as good. Waterworld is the Jerusalem to Masters of the Universe's Dopesmoker.) The singles are much more lopsided, however - both those 2000 singles, and particularly 'Big Pimpin'', are worlds ahead of 'Vans' or 'Pop the Glock'. Leaning 2000, despite my reservations about Stankonia, largely because of an underwhelming 2006 singles roster. _________________ 2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.
It's listed as Pop Rap on RYM. Skinny could've blocked it, but it made it through.
Totally! Once it makes it through the Skinnymaster, I think we shouldn't really argue among ourselves what's in play. But instead just judge the tracks on their own merits. I personally really dig that Uffie track and had never even heard of her b4. Kind of foreshadows a lot of trends in the coming years.
if you told me uffie had a myspace prominently featuring pictures of her at a halloween party in blackface I would believe you _________________ A Variety of Artists
Last edited by KitchenSink on 01/28/2021 00:08; edited 1 time in total
I would agree that Pop that Cock is an... unorthodox choice, but knowing Chief Rocka is definitely Not Like those Other Girls it certainly stands out from everything else in Rd2. And yes, so very, very 2006.
Anyways strong matchup, it can depend on mood whether I prefer Fishscale or Stankonia and should give both a re-listen as I haven't heard either in their entirity in years. That e-40 record is a lot of fun, been listening to a lot of him recently, and maybe if not him at his most hard-hitting it certainly one of his most effervescent. I haven't heard Binary Star in years either so should put that on. On singles I;ve heard Rid Wit Me at least a thousand times (no exagg) so like anything off Nevermind I've become completely numb to it though never really cared for it in the first place. Big Pimpin' is timeless. Vans single was also a lot of fun.
Def the most entertaining matchup this round, that's for sure.
My Ghetto Report Card is a really strange album. It leans really heavily into percussion-heavy hyphy, a subgenre E-40 hadn't really dabbled in too much previously (preferring to stick to funkier, more organic sounds, which in itself says a lot about how alien hyphy sounded, given how inorganic E-40's take on funk was), which was then overseen was by Lil Jon (self-styled King of Crunk, another high-energy hip-hop subgenre that stripped away traditionally melodic elements in favour of something more futuristic, more dancefloor-ready, more repetitive). Does this move suit E-40? Well, frankly, it doesn't really matter. E-40 sounds good over anything. It could be argued that the cartoonish elements of this hyphy/crunk hybrid suited E-40's cartoonish rapping, but he had already been rapping over extremely cartoonish takes on g-funk and Mobb Music, so it's not as though he had to make major changes to his playbook. What I will say about this record is that it feels extremely dated, and I certainly don't mean that negatively. Timeless music is great, but so is music that completely defines its era. This also feels like a major turning point for Earl, the moment at which he decided minimalistic, almost robotic beats were what he wanted to rap over for the rest of his career, and it casts a shadow over everything since. Again, this is not a negative. Despite the sheer volume of E-40 music we have received in the 15 years since this dropped, he rarely misses. He is one of my favourite rappers for a reason, and no rapper in his age-bracket sounds as young nor as willing to experiment as he does. This is because he steadfastly refuses to make mature music. It's a blessing. Anyway, this album does occasionally fall back on the type of funk shit I prefer from him, though when it does it is inevitably louder, quicker, less nuanced, less cosmic. This is fine. I'm not disappointed. I don't want rappers to make the same record over and over again. Otherwise, you're just Chris Crack.
This is not my favourite E-40 album. Hell, it's probably not even top five. But we're talking about E-motherfucking-40 here, and it's a very good E-40 record, potentially even his most unique record in a lot of respects. (Even my two favourites, In A Major Way and Charlie Hustle, basically draw from the same sonic palettes as the records that respectively preceded them, even if they both took it up a good few notches.) Funnily enough, I prefer this to Stankonia, another experimental release from one of my favourite artists that doesn't quite live up to earlier work. Stankonia feels too full of ideas, and some of them simply don't work. Both albums share one thing in common: they're kinda exhausting. I love both artists, but sitting through these particular records is a chore, and the skip button calls to me, which rarely happens with their earlier work, even if I massively appreciate what they're trying to do.
Anyway, quick ranking:
Albums:
1. Fishscale - It's genius, some of the best storytelling rap of all-time. The beat selection is ridiculous. Weak moments don't exist, fuck what you heard.
2. Masters of the Universe - Just a really great, slightly lo-fi, "real hip-hop" album. Better than it has any right to be, frankly.
3. My Ghetto Report Card
4. Stankonia
Singles:
1. Big Pimpin' - Top ten rap song of all-time.
2. Ride Wit Me - Early Nelly is sorely underrated. One of the most natural flows of all-time.
3. Vans - Actually a whole lot of fun. Lil B went on to much greater things, mind.
4. Pop that Glock - a.k.a. Fuck that Shit.
Leaning 2000 on the strength of the singles, but that mixture of Ghost and E-40 (two of my top ten) is damn enticing. Will decide later. _________________ 2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.
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