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 03/16/2021 20:27; edited 1 time in total
Yep I might be voting for 2002 too. I need to listen to Blackalicious but Original Pirate Meterial and Lose Yourself are both better than anything on my 2015 team.
Honestly, that's the heavyweight on the board here.
Blazing Arrow was one of the biggest reasons I picked 2002. I love everything about it. Gift of Gab's fast paced rapping, which still manages to sound largely relaxed and playful despite being so wordy. "Make You Feel That Way" is probably the highlight for me, he sounds so at peace and conversational. But the beats are also fantastic, "Make You Feel That Way" sounds like a series of sunrises and the sung parts of songs like "Day One" and "Sky is Falling" really add a lot to them (I say this as someone who really enjoys this kind of thing in rap music, I know there are some who don't). And the overall feel is so uplifting, I tend to think a lot of conscious hip hop ends up feeling a bit corny but this one avoids that, for the most part.
Funny story, but I didn't intend to use Original Pirate Material when I chose 2002. I had listened to it once ~6 years ago and hated it. I rated it like 2/10 or something. And I didn't want to use any albums that I didn't personally enjoy. But since it had been awhile I gave it another listen and really loved it. The UK electronic styles that form the beats, which I can't hope to talk intelligently about due to my unfamiliarity with those genres, sound so unique on this type of album. And while Mike Skinner isn't really rapping on these tracks, I think his style meshes really well with the beats. Plus it's just full of bangers. I also want to mention, since I didn't have time to comment on the 2004 team that nominated it, that the follow-up to this album is also fantastic and that "Empty Cans" is an absolute masterpiece. Possibly my most listened song so far this year. Skinner has a knack for closing tracks I guess, since "Stay Positive" is also one of the highlights on this album.
I've been meaning to give Oblivion Access a listen so I'm glad I'll finally be able to. I really like Mista Thug Isolation so I'm excited for that. Have to say I don't have great memories of that Action Bronson album but will probably give it another go since I haven't heard it since it was released. _________________ And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.
Original Pirate Material is definitely the heavyweight here. It's the best album of the four by an insane amount. I do have a soft spot for Mr. Wonderful, but it was probably the beginning of Bronson's fall-off, where everything he did suddenly sounded somewhat half-hearted compared to what had come before. His masterpiece is the first Blue Chips, and Mr. Wonderful is quite a way off being at that level, but it has aged surprisingly well and definitely holds up all the way through. The Blackalicious Nia vs. Blazing Arrow debate is a good one - I've contemplated reaching for Nia at various times throughout the tournament, but theirs isn't a style I'm massively enamoured with. They fit into that same tasteful, post-De La Soul category as Little Brother, but I've always preferred the latter.
Am surprised anybody would pick 'One Mic' over 'Made You Look', though. Whenever I've seen Nas live, the crowd reaction for 'Made You Look' always far surpasses that for 'One Mic', and rightly so. It's a much better song. I think I might be allergic to Kate Tempest, but in spite of this I honestly very much enjoyed hearing 'Europe Is Lost' for the first time in a few years. It will probably surprise nobody to learn that I used to frequent rap open mic nights when I was at uni (very rarely stepping up myself, mind), and Kate Tempest very much takes me back to those dingy little bars and hearing half-poet, half-rappers do socially conscious shit in exaggerated London accents over grimy old school beats. My thoughts on Run The Jewels are well-documented at this point, and 'Early' is doing nothing to change my view, whilst I preferred Lil Ugly Mane when he used to do Memphis pastiches, rightly or wrongly. Oblivion Access deserves a relisten, however.
It's a very good matchup.
(The less said about 'Lose Yourself', a song made to soundtrack boxing montages, the better.) _________________ 2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.
Man, this matchup is brutal. I can't imagine voting againist a team that features The Streets. On the other hand, I can't imagine voting in favor of a team that features Eminem. Most likely I will violate the second principle, but it's gonna be a tough pill to swallow.
Am surprised anybody would pick 'One Mic' over 'Made You Look', though.
This decision was mostly based on keeping my options open if I wanted to use God's Son should I happen to make it through to the next round. Lots of Nas to choose from in 2002.
I was torn on whether to swap out Lose Yourself for something that was likely to get better reception. When I first picked 2002 I was looking at lists of singles and I thought "well of course I'll use that!" But as the first couple rounds went on I started to realize it probably wouldn't be popular with a lot of folks. I stuck with it though because I enjoy it a lot and I have a decent amount of nostalgia for it. Definitely the only thing I've chosen that I was actually aware of in 2002. _________________ And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.
The Streets - Original Pirate Material is an album I was more than glad to see being nominated. I rarely - if ever - listen to either this or the album I chose for my first round team (A Grand Don't Come for Free) these days - and when I do, they admittedly don't sound as good as they did back then - but I will always have a special place for them, I don't even dare to calculate how many times I listened to them starting from 2004/2005 and for more or less the next decade. This one might not have the central narrative that ties their sophomore album together, but when it comes to production this is on a completely different level, pretty much every track is addictive. His rapping barely qualifies as such, it resembles more spoken word than anything else - with his accent being the icing on the cake - but it somehow works into perfection in this specific environment.
To sum it up, my favorite The Streets album, my third favorite album of the whole tournament so far (rather obvious which two I'm ranking above this) and a good enough reason to vote for 2002 without even checking the rest of the picks (of course I will).
Next one is gonna be Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
