Hip-Hop Heads Only: Who are your top 10 LYRICISTS right now?

[John-John Joe]

I'm really feeling your choices of lyricists right there. First off it's evident that you're about or over 25 years old, 'cause know way a young cat is taking about Masta Ace and Jeru.

I'm 13 and I've heard and love Masta Ace so don't speak too soon. Though, I would of never escaped the real of mainstream had it not been for the Hip-Hop heads at BBB.net.

WOW. Have you ever heard his first album? "Take A Look Around?"

BBB.net huh? I'll have to check that site out, no doubt.

[John-John Joe]

Lyricists eh?

1.)Immortal Technique
2.)NAS
3.)Masta Ace
4.)Jeru the Damaja
5.)Guru
6.)Talib Kweli
7.)Inspectah Deck
8.)Ali Vegas
9.)AZ
10.)Common

as for my favourite Rapppers all around:

1.) Jigga
2.) Jeru
3.) Masta Ace
4.) Biggie
5.) ODB

ahh yeah and there's only one choice for the best MC of all times:

The Notorious B.I.G.

I'm really feeling your choices of lyricists right there. First off it's evident that you're about or over 25 years old, 'cause know way a young cat is taking about Masta Ace and Jeru.

Jeru? I feel bad for that dude, I really do. No one recognizes the fact that he dropped a Hip Hop classic with The Sun Rises in the East. Seems like when he and Primo fell out his career spiraled downward.

Biggie is a good choice for GOAT but the problem is that we don't have that much material from him. Sure we have two albums and various mixtape appearances but it's still lacking, you know? I really miss BIG man, and it pisses me off that cats have the audacity to say that Tupac was better. Hehehehehe, PUH-LEEZE!

yeh, jeru really did have some bad luck...I mean while the sun rises... was a 10/10 lp, wrath of the math was still classic material...people often tend to forget about wrath of the math...heroez for hire however was a 7/10 at best...only 99.9% stands out...he's just missing primos beats...and divine design is awful...those beat are craphouse...

ace is a legend...he has changed his style on every single lp and every single lp is a classic...disposible art being the ebst imo...

those two often get overlooked especially in the states...europe is another story anyway...

ohh and btw...i'm 18

Yet another knowledgable Hip Hop head, I have to stop sleeping on you young cats. All the ones I come across will swear up and down that wretched Fabulous is one of the top MC's in the game.

Yeah, I agree with your assessment of all Jeru's albums. Matter of fact I saw that cat last summer selling soap downtown Brooklyn. I was like WTF?!? Jeru?!? He wasn't looking too good man, pretty sad....

Yeah, Ace is dope. My favorite album is "Take A Look Around" followed closely by Slaughtahouse. Lord Digga lives right around the way as a matter of fact.....

[trubucksfan]

damn i wish i lived in new york, sounds like you see famous people all the time. Digga lives right around the way thats dope as hell!

[XianeX]

I'm really feeling your choices of lyricists right there. First off it's evident that you're about or over 25 years old, 'cause know way a young cat is taking about Masta Ace and Jeru.

I'm 13 and I've heard and love Masta Ace so don't speak too soon. Though, I would of never escaped the real of mainstream had it not been for the Hip-Hop heads at BBB.net.

WOW. Have you ever heard his first album? "Take A Look Around?"

BBB.net huh? I'll have to check that site out, no doubt.

Actually, I've only heard his most recent album -- A Long Hot Summer -- but it's the album that I can't get enough of. I definently want to check out his precedent albums but I haven't had that much money lately (I recently bought Nas' new album -- Streets Disciple -- so that wiped me out).

The link is http://basketballboards.net . Good, knowledgeable site for both hip-hop and basketball.

[SkipToMy_Lou]

Actually, I've only heard his most recent album -- A Long Hot Summer -- but it's the album that I can't get enough of. I definently want to check out his precedent albums but I haven't had that much money lately (I recently bought Nas' new album -- Streets Disciple -- so that wiped me out).

A Long Hot Summer was a great album, this guys been in the game for so many years and he still release high quality albums. I think Slaughtahouse is Ace's best album, but Take A Look Around Your Shoulder was great too.

Going into the city to buy Vaudeville Villain by MF Doom and Death Is Certain by Royce Da 5'9", looking forward to both those albums.

[John-John Joe]

damn i wish i lived in new york, sounds like you see famous people all the time. Digga lives right around the way thats dope as hell!

Know what? I'd never thought of it like that. Digga (Reggie) is good peoples and loves playing Madden (I've busted his ass on quite a few occassions. He's not treated any different than anyone else and as a matter of fact will get ragged on sometimes for that gruff voice of his & how much weight he's put on. When I think famous? I think of Denzel, Leo DiCaprio, Lucy Liu (HOT!) and people like that. But Diggs? Nahh.....

I've also met Masta Ase more times than I can count and he got mad at me one day when we were playing Madden. He came to Reg's crib with Paula Perry (anyone know about her?) and Reg told him I was a beast in Madden. Well, Ase is no slouch himself and a highly competitive dude on top of that. Shit, I DESTROYED that dude with the Falcons 35-0 and was straight screaming on him like, "WHAT NI**A?!? WHAT?!? to the delight of Reg and others because he's always beating them and talks so much shit. He got so mad at me he left without saying goodbye, VERY competitive brother. I suppose that is what makes him the dope lyricist he is.

Ever heard of a cat by the name of Blahzay Blahzay? He had a joint back in '94 by the name of "Danger" which was a street banger but his career never took off. Well he moved around the way about 2 years ago and to his credit he's been hard at work trying to get these young knuckle heads out of that gangsta lifestyle and into the studio.

I guess he's a busy dude because I've only seen him once at the video store and it was more of a wussup thing than a full fledged conversation. Regardless, I'm ecstatic that he would go out of his way to try to school these young thugs because I always do the same being an old head myself. Maybe they'll listen to him because of his "stature", because they damn sure don't listen to yours truly....

I could go on and on about just rappers I've met but I don't want to appear to be a name dropper or "poppin my collar" in any way. I guess living in NY does have some advantages but never thought about it in that fashion....

[SkipToMy_Lou]

Lol nice post about Masta Ace playing you in Madden

Heres some info direcetly off his site:

Masta Ace is a super dooper football fan. He loves football so much he does whatever he can to be involved in football. He has been an assistant and head coach of a team in the Junior Development League (which is something like junior football for kids). He plays tag football every year. He also likes playing video football games and plays tournaments with his friends every year. He was the 1st to win the National Madden football tournament in 1996. He has also gone as far as being a player in the Madden 2002 video game playing for Team Ecko. On top of Ace loving football, he also loves to cook. He considers himself to be a good cook and prides himself on his own meal creations. There is more to the man than just music.

So what you said about him thinking he was good, he really must of thought he was good. This guy loves Madden!

[John-John Joe]

Lol nice post about Masta Ace playing you in Madden

Heres some info direcetly off his site:

Masta Ace is a super dooper football fan. He loves football so much he does whatever he can to be involved in football. He has been an assistant and head coach of a team in the Junior Development League (which is something like junior football for kids). He plays tag football every year. He also likes playing video football games and plays tournaments with his friends every year. He was the 1st to win the National Madden football tournament in 1996. He has also gone as far as being a player in the Madden 2002 video game playing for Team Ecko. On top of Ace loving football, he also loves to cook. He considers himself to be a good cook and prides himself on his own meal creations. There is more to the man than just music.

So what you said about him thinking he was good, he really must of thought he was good. This guy loves Madden!

Haha, great find! Yes, he loves him some Madden and supposedly has gotten better. The last time I caught up with him (I THINK he stays out in Cali now, not sure) was back in '94 on that fateful day when I destroyed him. I see he must have stepped his game up since that time, I laughed when I saw him involved in those tournaments.

Down to earth brother, very down to earth. Did it say anything on the site about Paula Perry? I haven't heard shit about her in a while and Remy Martyn from Terror Squad reminds me so much of her in some ways. I always thought she was going to come in the game and completely take over....

[Colin]

Ha, as I read you say not many of heard of Masta Ace I was listening to Long Hot Summer. And before this I was listening to Disposable Arts. Great stuff.

I don't like Immortal Technique. Don't know why...

So you've met rappers, eh? Well Sarah McLaughlin (sp?) lives across the street from my high school.

[John-John Joe]

Ha, as I read you say not many of heard of Masta Ace I was listening to Long Hot Summer. And before this I was listening to Disposable Arts. Great stuff.

I don't like Immortal Technique. Don't know why...

So you've met rappers, eh? Well Sarah McLaughlin (sp?) lives across the street from my high school.

I'm ashamed to say that I don't even know who she is....

[John-John Joe]

One of the most lyrical songs in the history of Hip Hop?

[Pharoahe Monch]
As you look from whenceforth I come; riding the wind
thus eliminating competition from bird's-eye view, I'm
descending in helicopters -- in a village raid
Flesh will burn when exposed to the poetical germ grenade
I'm highly intoxicating your mind -- when I'm operating
on cell walls to membranes, cytoplasms to protoplasms
Disintegrate em eliminate em now no one has em in battle
I display a nuclear ray that'll, destroy bone marrow in cattle
Thereby destroying the entire food supply
that's crawling with AIDS, maggots, flies
It's ironic, when a demonic, government
utilizes bionics and a six million dollar man to capture me
Clever, however; you could never ever begin to apprehend a hologram
Who's determined to fight solely, to defend in wars a land of the holy
I threw I-raq/a-rock and I-ran/I-ran
cause I couldn't stand anymore within the depths of the sand
So don't ask me who's sane/Hu-ssein
cause the hypnotical gases are eating my brain

{oxygen levels, check it, hydorogen levels, check it
nitrogen levels.. check it}

[Prince Poetry]
Twenty-thousand leagues down below,
minus one-hundred and forty-three degrees
Seize the info, gather the archaelogists
The aftermath needs to follow this cause it's, deep
Equivalent to the esophagus, spreads to scientists
a.k.a. Optimus Prime -- time, television is, dead
on this issue and very much irrelevant to this intuition
de-leting any alias info and descriptive
Mortal calm, partition with infrared light, vision
precision, beams
Colors, reds, fuschias, lime-greens
Black, don't you know my formulas form dope lyrics
uplift spirits and yo I hear it's fatal
to walk the path of Konfusion, where it's
torture some cherish, while most human-like beings perish
Subjected to death
Their bodies don't agree with the hypnotical intellect
Poetical acid is burning up flesh
At the end of corridor do you see me sitting there
Johnny More Grotesque
Literature somewhat equivalent to concentrated sodium hyperchloride
Insight, foresight, more sight
The clock on the wall reads a quarter past midnight
You feel nauseous
Forever you will avoid my royal presence as I step into darkness

{Now is the time.. to stretch your brain to it's maximum}

[Pharoahe Monch]
I am one who is one with all things, thus the unorthodox I am
The paradox I am, the equinox extending my hand
into dimensions to unlock new doorways
And so the light has revealed to me that there must be more ways
And so I play with rhythms, for something more than a mere game
enabling me to advance in wisdom
Words will exist like vampires
No need for sunlight, from concentrations camps I escape
with my sanity -- in 2010 every man will be
subject to global warming, formless oval
Millions of locusts swarming
Seek and you shall find the deliverer of a rhyme
the intelligent one, utilizing the mind third vision
Surrounded by a three-sided figure, containing the brain
The triggering mechanism from which I strike
sight beyond sight, sound beyond sound
which comes from below the magma, the granite, the ground
The surface will seperate, dispersing harmful ashes
Your optics will not be able to detect
the deadly hypnotical gases
Damn it's hard to breathe!!! But if I got one breath left;
I'll suck wind from the valley of death, here I come
from the slums of earth to center
I reveal myself as a beast within a, unbreakable shell
Walkin through the doorways of Heaven -- or is this Hell?

{The time is now.. right now.}
{This is the hour, this is the new dawn!
This is the new day.}

[Prince Poetry]
As I step into the Thunderdome, with flows as the wind blows
Visualize the intros, releasing hypnotical gases
chemicals mixed, fixed, takin it to the sixth
round of poetical warfare; energetically I walk with the flare
Rampaging like a rock-like figure
throughout the night's atmosphere I swear
My wrist holds mind-trigger darkness can't overshadow me
cause of high rate of smashin you, then trashin you
after I'm bashin you, with my hammer
Whenceforth passed to me, by Odin
Occasionally my pro-file is low-key Gamma
Rays brainwashed to transforms me
but I still withhold my hammer, to lift me up
For God still is my upliftor
I use this knowledge just to crush the cluster of grifter
Night approaches so I proceed in flight
back to the Hall of Justice as I continue to disintegrate em
Translating the codes in hypnotical language
then a Theta assault steppin up, frontin to be blunt
but I'm a radical creator of a poetical hypothetical
mathematical slay slur, punch that, stun that amazes and dazes
and phases the stranger, with pages of the lost chapters
Unfound factors
So I stretch like Reed Richards across the land
Continue with reading your e-quilibrium
with concepts that confuse ya, metabolism's fallin off
Data consider oblivion
Now as I walk through the valley of death
ignorin the battle lashes and gashes and rashes
the atom smashes, cause I released the last hypnotical gases!

WHOA!!!

For those that don't know that is "Releasing Hypnotical Gases" by Oranized Konfusion which was released to little fanfare in 1991. One of the group members Pharoahe Monche has seen a fair amount of individual success since then.

[And1_Aussie]

my top ten,
would have to be

1)mos def
2)talib kweli
3)de la soul
4)B.E.P( older stuff)
5)Nas
6)KRS-ONE
7)diverse
8)jurassic 5
9)a Tribe called quest
10) run-dmc


NOT IN any particular order

[Boyk]

I bought Streets Deisciple today..................and i tell ya, best rap album i heard in ages, probably since 2pacs R U still down(I like that one too

Nas goes to number 1 on my list, i think im just missin one of his albums now.

[And1_Aussie]

i missed a couple of awesome hip hop groups, like the roots ..and i think there is another one..i just cant think of it...

[Old School Fool]

Jeru the Damager? I think I heard that on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4.

Yeah rap is good.

Pharoah Monch is awesome, when He drops his verse on Madden 2002 it's crazy.

Yes, I play videogames too much, Yes I talk about music in videogames too much, yes I am an indefinite moron.

[SkipToMy_Lou]

[skins]

Ya'll should check out all these good hip hop groups, and artists...

MF Doom
Del the Funky Homosapien
Deltron 3030(Del and Dan the Automater)
Handsome Boy Modeling School
Dr. Octagon
Blackstar
Cunninlynguists
DJ Shadow
Immortal Technique
Binary Star
Edan
Eric B. & Rakim
The Fugees
Genelec & Memphis Reigns
Jedi Mind Tricks
Jurrasic 5
Murs
Non Phixon
Optimus Prime
Old Outkast(Southerplayalistic, Atliens, Aquemeni)
People Under The Stairs
Public Enemy
Rjd2
The Roots

[Jay-Peso]

Fo sum reason, I don't hear much about them groups in the USA cept for the obivous, Nas.

[TheGuRu]

Well I know a lot and i thought we were talking about lyrics and not songs.

Kanye can rap but sometimes if you bought his Lost Tapes and some of his older mix tapes he keeps rapping about the same thing and uses alot of his old ryhmes in new ones. He gets tiring after his 3rd album. But my list :

Its Hova Baby
Lloyd Banks (Guess Whos Back Freestyle. Listen. Get the Mixtapes)
Kardinal Offhsall ( he has some hot old songs)
The Roots (Liking the new album)
Nas (of course)
Run A Blaze ( Underground Cat. One of the best =) )
Young Gunz ( Listen to the 97.1 Freestyles. Fucking Sick. One of the young cat 'hes 16' killed em. All of the Roc was there just freestlying and he killed em all!)
Pharoah Monch

And ill list the rest later.

Who you think would be the best person to battle. Like who can clown on a kid.

Ludacris can ill tell you that and i hate Southern Rappers. All of em cant rap but Luda only one i know.

Roc A Fella Of course

Lloyd Banks

And SOme Otehrs. Who you think?

[.]

^Bizzy Bone

I heard that he once battled Jay-Z, and when he was done Hova just payed him money and didnt do anything back because he got destroyed.

[Matt]

Scarface is the best from the South. The rest is all pretty much crunk rappers.

[TheGuRu]

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jayz/whereimfrom.html

"Where I'm From"

[Jay-Z]

uh-huh, je-je je-je-jeah
ye-ye-yeah, ye-ye-yeah
How real is this, how real is this
Uh-huh huh, Inspect this here, check

[Verse One:]
I'm from where the hammer's rung, New's cameras never come
You and your man houndin' every verse in your rhyme
where the grams is slung, niggas vanish every summer
Where the blue vans would come, we throw the work in the can and run
Where the plans was to get funds and skate off the set
To achieve this goal quicker, sold all my weight wet
Faced with immeasurable odds still I get straight bets
So I felt some more something and you nothing check
I from the other side with other guys don't walk to much
And girls in the projects wouldn't fuck us if we talked too much
So they ran up town and sought them dudes to trust
I don't know what the fuck they thought, those niggas is foul just like us
I'm from where the beef is inevitable, Summertime's unforgetable
Boosters in abundance, buy a half-price sweater new
Your world was everything, So everything you said you'd do
You did it, Couldn't talk about it if you ain't lived it
I from where niggas pull your car, and argue all day about
Who's the best MC's, Biggie, Jay-Z, and Nas
Where the drugs czars evolve, and thugs always are
At each other's throats for the love of foreign cars
Where cats catch cases, hoping the judge R and R's
But most times find themselves locked up behind bars
I'm from where they ball and breed rhyme stars
I'm from Marcy son, just thought I'd remind y'all

[Chorus: 5x]
Cough up a lung, where I'm from, Marcy son, Ain't nothing nice
Mentally been many places but I'm Brooklyn's own

Dude listen to the real song and its !HOT!

And speaking of Hot KRS One - Hot . TIGHTEST SONG! KRS will kill jo ass in a battle. Bet.

[J@3]

[Jay-Z]

uh-huh, je-je je-je-jeah
ye-ye-yeah, ye-ye-yeah
How real is this, how real is this
Uh-huh huh, Inspect this here, check

[TheGuRu]

Lol i know. They copy his sounds... Roflmfao

[Matt]

R&B here.

Can anyone help out with some smooth R&B songs that um, set the mood when you bring that special classy lady from....kind of like BIIM- I'll Make Love To You