Ok let's get serious up in this bitch.
I discovered rap in middle school. I found out that I loved the whole gangsta rap attitude in the music. For me, it has always been about the beat/melody and the delivery of the lines. I don't care what the lyrics are about, I almost never did with any genre of music I listen to. And to be honest, I can barely understand half of it. Understand as in 'I can't hear what they say'. Of course I started with 2pac like everybody else. Still consider him as the best rapper of all time and listen to it occassionally. Later on I was more into the New York sound of rap. Ruff Ryders became one of my favorites because of Lox's catchy beats. I always saw Nas as one of the top 5 greatest rappers of all time. I am... was such a perfect album for me, but it's weird how no one really likes that one. They always mention Illmatic or whatever, that album didn't do much to me. I'm really not into all too lyrical albums and that's why I dislike underground rap. Although there are some great ones inbetween like Atmosphere.
There's anothing thing that I really loved but realized how everybody hated it, and that's No Limit and Cash Money Records. Yeah, they are a bunch of jokers and fake-gangsters but their beats were awesome. Mystikal, Kane&Abel, C-Murder, Mr Magic, Mannie Fresh, Baby, BG, Lil Wayne, Juvenile....I loved the way these guy sounded. No Limit was different, their beats were very melodic and eerie most of the time. I think that's what interested me the most about them. For Cash Money it was those fast percussion(?) taps on the background. I'm not sure if I used the right word here.
Capone N Noreaga were also great with their The Reunion album. I started to hate Noreaga after Capone went to jail and he had his whole silly solo-career with goofy songs using silly catchphrases the entire damn time.
And then there is Eminem of course, may be my favorite one of the bunch. This whole story I've been writing isn't in a very chronological way and I'm missing out on a lot, but Eminem was one my first. He went downhill after 8 Mile. But goddamn, I listened to The Marshal Mathers LP and The Eminem Show soooooo much.
PD: another observation. rap is the only music genre ever where the fans are so goddamn close minded and ignorant that they forget the music's history. All the other black music genres know their history, how come rap rarely acknowledges its history? You'll find tons of young white kids that love classic rock, but rare is it that you will find a young black person who feels 80's and early 90's rap. You, me, and a few others are a rarity.
Yup, I discovered this too. While I could appreciate rap from every era, most guys listened to the current albums. I remember one time when I was at my nephew's place and dl'ed Straight Outta Compton for him. He listened to it for 20 seconds and bursted out 'this fucking sucks'. The rage I felt at that moment was so big. And he listened to shit like Fabolous and Lil Zane
Nowadays 2pac, Mobb Deep and Nas are pretty much the only rap I ever listen to. I grew out of the genre and am into Metal.
