Friday, April 15, 2005

Hip Hop Underachievers. My short List of Disappointing MC's

Life is filled with disappointments, whether it be career oriented, or being let down by a loved one unexpectedly. I have gave you my opinion in list form of the greatest male MC's, top female MC's in my opinion, groups, and those who fall under the wack category. The following individuals might have great lyrical talent, but their career didn't go the way that I personally expected. But hey, a couple of guys on this list are filthy rich, so what in the fuck do I know? Here is another list(try not to steal this list as well you fucking blog biter, and you're still biting I see..Ahem)of Hip Hop Underachievers.

Eminem: When he first came out I was his biggest cheerleader. When cats were dissing him simply because he was white I would not only inform them on how ignorant they were, but I would point out that the dude was extremely talented lyrically. He has a way with words, and he has so many flows you can't really pin point one particular style to him. He is talented, and can go toe to toe with any rapper out there. His albums are another thing. The first couple had a few things that I liked, but I basically forgave him because I expected this "great" musical growth. Years past and it never came, it was always more of the same. The saddest part is that Eminem has a built in audience, he could put out an entire record of him on the toilet and it would go triple platinum. So you would think that he would use that opportunity to promote some cutting edge Hip Hop, some straight up underground shit that I know he probably wants to do. Nope, he has remained faithful to the TRL crowd more or less and that's sad because he is wasting a golden opportunity.

Rass Kass: I have always had a deep respect for this MC hailing from Carson California. One of my favorite lines from his is, "I drink Listerine, and Brush my teeth with amphetamines/So I can sound fresh and say dope things." Classic. But waiting for him to drop a coherent album is like waiting for Condi Rice to make black folks proud, just ain't going to happen.(Unless you are of the House Negro variety) I once heard him say that he isn't concerned with beats which puzzled me. If you say that you aren't concerned with crossing over then that's one thing, but not caring about spitting over a hot track is the equivalent to you not wanting a tasty meal, or a lover with a fat ass. It's just stupid to me. The cat still spits fire, but that doesn't mean shit if you can't gather a focused 12 or more songs.

Canibus: Very lethal MC, who made the lethal decision of going against the G.O.A.T(greatest of all time) or so he calls himself, LL Cool J. He has some of the sickest rhymes out, with razor sharp visuals that would cut you like a knife. When I heard his first release it sounded like a glorified demo type, with no real vision behind the music. Of course he blamed his album of Wyclef, but his ass had a chance to hear those tracks before they made the album, come on Canibus..I got a hold of one of his recent CD's and I noticed that he has 1 style, 1 delivery, always in attack mode and he never changes up. You would think someone who has the ability to come up with such interesting lyrical content would change his style up a bit.

Royce da 5'9: Royce, Royce, Royce..What happened? You came up as Eminem's boy and you had a clear path to super-stardom, what in the fuck happened? Rumor has it you were pissed that Eminem was taking too long bringing you out, so that is what caused the split?? I don't really know, but it is a shame. It's a shame because Royce is better than anybody that Eminem has ever signed. 50, D12, Obie Trice, he's better than all of those fools. Hopefully he will find a place to shine, but for all the high hopes I had for this brother it looks like he is a big ass disappointment thus far.

Mad Skillz: I remember seeing this dude freestyle on stage alongside A Tribe Called Quest more than a decade and he tore it up. I anxiously awaited his album, and when it came out I realized that just because you are a good battle rapper doesn't mean that your ass will make a decent recording artist. Over the years I have seen him on people's singles, and dropping his own material, and to say that he bores me is a understatement. I know I shouldn't hate on the cat because we are both from the Virginia Commonwealth, but fuck that this dude annoys the piss out of me. From him having this weird beef with Shaq, to those irritating year end wrap-up songs, I am wondering why he is even still around. You know the same way Martin Lawrence is allowed to make bad movie after bad movie, you want to ask "Who keeps giving this jackass work??!!".

D.O.C: OK, his underachievement has nothing to do with bad career moves, it has to do with a car accident that ended his career too early. His album "No one Can Do It Better" is still one of the best West Coast records of all time. Definitely ahead of his time, it is just a shame that he wasn't able to bless the Hip Hop community with any more classic material.

Bahamadia: In a world where its hard to find a female MC who not only possesses Mic skills, but doesn't show her ass every 5 minutes is a rare occurrence. Bahamadia, hailing from Philadelphia was for a brief moment in history a breath of fresh air in this smog filled world of the female MC. She had lyrics, flow, she was a legitimate artist. I don't know what happened to her, the last album that I heard from her was wack and unfocused. But I hesitate to diss the female MC too harshly, not to be chivalrous, but because in a society where the female rapper has to sell sex at every turn, it makes it difficult for legitimate sisters to get a fair shake.

19 comments:

Amadeo said...

Cannibus also killed himself by releasing most of the songs from his album on Mixtapes before he finished the actual joint.

C.R.C. said...

Yeah, what did ever happen to Bahamadia??? I liked what I'd heard from her.

Joey said...

More than just an underwhelming MC, Eminem is an underwhelming presence in music and hip-hop. He has so much power and does so little good with it. Instead, we have to deal with the g-g-g-g-g-g g-unit incessantly. Eff an Eminem.

Unknown said...

HC I think you've got a point on most of the emcee's you listed.

The only one I will try to explain is Bahamadia.

Bahamadia is probably one of the best female MC's out there today but the sad thing is she is not easy on the eyes. Let's face facts the sista's grill is jacked up.

Now in a perfect world it would just be her musis that matter and not marketing and how good she looked but alas we live in a world in where a sista that looks like her doesn't get much A&R respect.

Here are some guys you should add to the list:

Big Daddy Kane
Lauren Hill
Phife (from ATCQ)
U-God

Anonymous said...

I was a huge D.O.C. fan. I played his cassette to death in college. Yeah, that car wreck put a screeching halt on his career. Maybe his child with Erykah Badu will bless the world one day with some musical talent.

G. Cornelius said...

Royce da 5'9...So much patench...I'll keep you posted

Anonymous said...

I think Em's deal is probably that he's so spoiled by not having to be challenged by the pop-fans that he'd rather sell millions, making tons of cash from the families of those kids who hated on him growing up - aka other white kids - and maybe he'll get older and then start using what he has, after he's grizzled and isn't considered a factor anymore.

I dunno. Maybe Dre has influenced him, since all he does is produce and doesn't release an album much, Em is trying to just release junk and then wants to spend all his time in the studio helping fiddy and his ilk make equally bad music, but Em gets a cut.

Who knows. Good list, as always.

Unknown said...

i feel you on some of these EXCEPT Royce and Bahamadia...

Royce's last joint was hot. check it out it was well worth it

Bahamadia got a new joint coming out. she killed it on Zap Mama's latest joint.

50 Cent was and always will be wack. he should have not been on the list anyway

Anonymous said...

i agree with this list but i wanna speak on the 2 that stood out the most to me: rass kass and bahamdia. rass most definitely in my eyes highly underrated, and ur right he couldnt put a coherent album together and that might have been his biggest problem. so who to blame him or his producers? not sure, but i'm going home and dig in the crates for sure now. bahamadia is no doubt the best female emcee in the game right now followed closely by jeangrae (in my humble opinion) as far as her being hard on the eyes - um, lateefah, and eve (selfproclaimed pitbull in a skirt??) hello?? i picked up badu's worldwide underground not too long ago and bahamadia shit for real on one of the later tracks...sorry for the long post lol.

www.rhythms247.com

Jdid said...

where to start
Eminem peaked on dre's 2001 album
I thought 50 had potential when I heard u not like me on a mixtape but again as you said he became ja rule jr
Ras Kass just never put together a coherent offering and plus i'm tire of waiting on that golden state warriors collabo
Canibus - last two joints had potential but yes very disappointing for a guy with his wordplay
Royce - I'm actually not too harsh on homeboy
Mad Skillz - I just need more output, less wrapups and shaq battles
D.O.C - completely agree
Bahamadia - Expected more from homegirl

Beana said...

I totally agree with you about 50 cent & Emenem. Emeinem goes by the same formula on every record. First the funny/offensive song, then the serious/offensive song (usually involving his rage for his mother or the government), then the this is for my baby girl song. ugh!

deborah said...

Its great to read this from someone who obviously knows his hip hop and is passionate about it. Im learning about mc's ive never heard of... and my excuse... i live on the other side of the world :)

Rachael said...

You gotta check this out if you havn't already seen this:
www.postsecret.blogspot.com
It's really interesting, its not your average blog.
~Rachael
http://rachaelswonderworld.blogspot.com/

Dayrell said...

Good post. I to HATE (with a passion) when a lyrically talented MC puts out a wack album. I mean, you wait patiently and anxiously for the album to drop (all excited and shit)...like "WHOOO, I can't WAIT until so-so's album drops! It's gonna be that hot shit, I know it!" Then bam, the ish is a complete let down. *smh* LOL.

As for Rass...I've ALWAYS thought he was a prime MC. VERY talented! I'm a HUGE fan. In fact I still listen to Soul On Ice and Rassassination. Just did not to long ago as a matter of fact, but...I think his time in jail might have put a big hault on his career as well. Now that he's out though, I'm pretty anxious to see what he will do next.

Hey HC, this post was VERY on point. I co-sign with you all the way! You said what a lot of up are thinking.

Dayrell said...

*us

the management said...

Bahamadia was in town recently and I missed it. Loved her flow, but yeah...ditto what you said. Nice site by the way. I'll be back.

Anonymous said...

Might I also add Method Man and Busta Rhymes to the list.

Meth had some very promising flashes early on, but he's got absolutely no consistency.

As for Busta... He was great in LONS and his first album was pretty good, but making money obviously won out over making good hip-hop.

Anonymous said...

I'm probbaly going to get blasted for this, but I would ass Common and Talib Kweli to the list of underachieving emcees, to be perfectly honest. Common just has a problem making cohesive albums, although the buzz on the new jawn is good, so maybe he's found the remedy in the Rap Jesus - that nigga Ye. And Talib Kweli just went there with an album that has more guest appearances than a Lou Rawls telethon. And "Reflection Eternal" was so good. I just thought he was going to be a force to be reckoned with. Oh well...

The Humanity Critic said...

Regardles of how "evolved" you think they are, at the end of the day their body of work is disapointing. Of course I could single out specific examples of genius by theses artists, no one is calling them wack, but the uunfufilled potential is great. Now you know..