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 19:51; edited 1 time in total
There's stuff I love on both teams, and there's absolutely nothing here that's not dope. I think there are some real parallels here: Company Flow and Non Phixion have a lot of similar qualities, both being New York hardcore hip-hop groups who bring a sense of apocalyptic menace to their music, and who are integral to a certain strand of underground rap; Biggie and Scarface are two legends who are generally thought to be at their best when writing paranoid, grimy crime raps, who have both skirted (at least) with mainstream success, and who are both represented here by their poppiest, most sonically varied releases; in the singles department, there's a young and hungry Jay-Z against two young and hungry Jay-Z protegees (alongside the man himself); 'The Rain' and 'You Already Know' represent two very different strands of Southern rap, but both feature minimal, synthetic, almost mournful beats, a couple of brilliant exercises in less is more. I'll be doing some focused relistening before deciding, but it's a really wonderful matchup. _________________ 2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.
Yeah this is a great match-up. My side features my two favorite discoveries from my year. The first is The Future Is Now, which is just a joy to listen to. Incredibly slick production and hard hitting rapping that reminds me a lot of what Czarface have been doing in the past decade, just a decade earlier. Then there's "You Already Know," which I couldn't stop listening to when I first heard it. Like Skinny mentioned the minimal production really works but it also has an incredible hook and a really smooth, conversational flow.
And even though my opinion of The Diary has grown over the years, I still think The Fix is Scarface's best. He's one of the most underrated rappers and it's a great mix of his introspective and cold blooded tendencies.
Love the 1997 team as well. Biggie is one of my favorites; Life After Death was an album I used to love and then kind of grew off me, but over the past couple years I've really started to love it again. Funcrusher Plus is an album I've always wished I liked more than I do. As far as El-P productions go it's near the bottom of the list, but I'm excited to give it another go here. Not familiar with either of the '97 singles so I've got a little bit of listening to do. _________________ And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.
two pretty solid teams. echoing what Skinny said it's interesting to see Funcrusher Plus up against The Future Is Now given the many simliarities, although I have to say I have to give the edge to Company Flow in the very specific category of "New York underground menacingly apocalyptic vaguely sci-fi noisy beats with those weird chunky lopsided east coast rhyme schemes that shouldn't really work but mostly do". El's production here isn't quite at a cold vein level but this is probably my second favorite beat collection of his. And then again to echo Skinny interesting to see The Fix up against Life After Death given the similarities, and these 2 much closer together in terms of quality for me. The singles are all good. Honestly the teams are really tight but the decider for me that just pushes '97 over the edge is the fact that The Rain is straight up a top 50 song of all time. practically a trump card for me but still wouldn't necessarily have voted in that direction if the rest of the team wasn't also solid _________________ A Variety of Artists
That 2002 team is dope, good job BBS. I've not yet heard that Non Phixion album, looking forward to it. Upon (re)listen, both singles are killer.
I just went with the big hitters this round. The last team is gonna have some wildcard albums/singles, but I couldn't decide between a few options and this bought me some time. "Buying some time" with Biggie, Jay-Z, CoFlo and Missy Elliott feels good. Honestly, Company Flow and Biggie make for an interesting pair, fairly different albums but ultimately very New York at their core. And both are cream of the crop when it comes to their respective styles. 100% agree with Skinny's and KitchenSink's assessments. Feelin' It is the ultimate rapper + RnB singer combo, one of the catchiest rap songs I can think of and it's my favourite Jay-Z song (currently). Mecca should've been waaaay more popular, her voice is stunning, like it's made to sing massive choruses on rap hits. And Jay man is so effortlessly good, he could write a standout line in his sleep at that point in his career. The Rain is peak Missy Elliott, couldn't ask for a better single for my team. Minimalistic groove, great hook, solid verses, it's stuck in my head permanently. I find myself singing it in the shower, during an exam, before sleep. I might have to get that checked. Everything you'd want from her song. _________________ Finally updated the overall chart
Non Phixion are a group that will always hold a special place in my heart - me and my mates used to listen to them when we were fourteen or fifteen and smoking copious amounts of skunk, alongside Jedi Mind Tricks, dead prez, R.A. the Rugged Man, Klashnekoff, Moorish Delta 7, all of whom are artists I now link together in my head, rightly or wrongly. However, listening to a whole album of these ominous, minor-key, string-driven, decidedly un-funky beats and wordy, angry, conspiracy theory rhymes in 2021 is kinda oppressive. Whilst a lot of what they have to say feels prescient today, for reasons both good and bad, theirs is a style which is distinctly humourless. I still think songs like 'If You Got Love' (Pete Rock), 'It's Us' (Large Pro), 'Rock Stars' (Preemo), and particularly the effervescent 'Black Helicopters' (Necro) - which is hands-down one of my favourite hip-hop songs - more than hold up, even if they are very much of their time, but I also find the album as a whole exhausting, and I struggle to shake the feeling that it strays into InfoWars territory, what with all these white dudes shouting at me about government cover-ups. Not sure if there was a link between being high as shit and being able to enjoy this stuff on a regular basis, but I imagine it's not entirely coincidental.
Anyway, this is just one of those write-ups where I explain all the things I don't like about an album I actually do like. It's a good choice, and a great nostalgia hit. Probs like a 3.5/5. _________________ 2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.
2002 contains my favourite (The Fix) and least favourite albums of the four, and my favourite ('You Already Know') and least favourite singles of the four.
Interestingly (to me, anyway), Pitchfork's initial review of this by Sam Chennault is a quaint time-capsule of a simpler time, for a couple of reasons: it posits that Kanye has "officially arrived", and it uses a RZA quote unironically to add weight to its criticism of the album's R'n'B hooks ("R'n'B equals rap and bullshit"; jeez, that's painful). Also, the 6.3 rating is laughable. (Sam Chennault currently works for The Dowsers, a "magazine about playlists", apparently; jeez, that's painful.) _________________ 2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.
I think '02 has a strong team, and I respect the choices up there for sure, but that's four really rock solid punches thrown from '97. The Fix and Life After Death are pretty equal for me (if anything maybe a slight lean towards Biggie), and one tier lower on both counts I'd put Funcrusher Plus a couple steps of ahead of The Future Is Now, but not by an exaggerated amount. Singles are all 7.5-8/10s for me. It's close, but it just feels like '97's got this. Can't see myself swinging the other team over it.
The thing is, I really like that Freeway single and that Non-Phixion album, but they're comfortably the worst in each category, whereas The Fix and 'You Already Know' aren't quite as comfortably the best things in each category (both '97 singles are super close to being my favourite, and the difference between The Fix and Life After Death is miniscule - both are some of my favourite albums ever made, and The Fix has recently become my 'household chores' album). Leaning 1997, no decision made yet. The nostalgia factor that Non Phixion brings, even if I don't love it these days, is very strong. _________________ 2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.
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