Saturday, June 30, 2012

Man, Did I Really Buy That?

Yes that is the question u ask urself when u buy a LP that u thought was dope but its turn out to be doo-doo. During the golden era, u had to go out and buy the LP's. No such thing as internet or downloading or etc. You only had The Source, Rap Pages, Rap City & Yo! MTV Raps. Those was ur source of info for LP's coming out, then after that the decision was yours.
One of my favorite blogs to check out: Unkut, recently had a topic about this same discussion. And it was greatly well written. But the responses people posted was insane. People is puttin down LP's that to me are classics and they are sayin that its wack!! Like Jay Z's In My Lifetime Vol 1?!!? Are u kiddin me? Nas' Nastradamus & It Was Written? You jokin right??!!! Plus many others. If people out there think that these LP's are wack, i dont know what the hell is goin on!
Now its time to post your opinion, what LP's u bought during the golden era u thought was gonna be dope but end up being wack? Let it be known in the comments box!

Here's five for me that I can remember:

1. Canibus- Can-i-bus: Back in '98 this man had mad hype surrounding him. His rhymes was crazy and fierce, plus he was holdin his own against LL (until LL came back with The Ripper Strikes Back). Now i didnt like him when he was on Wyclef's "Gone til November", i hate that record. But he got me open on LL's "4,3,2,1", then the "2nd Rd TKO" blew him fast! I even bought the single with a dope B-side track on there that i cant remember right now, i think its called "Wildest niggas" or somethin like that. Then he dropped his 2nd single which was "Honor U", i thought it was OK with great topics he was spittin. But i was waitin for that LP to drop, and when it did i was dumbfounded. But i fooled myself cause i failed to realize that he was runnin wit Wyclef. And he dont know nothin about handlin a MC like him and pickin out beats. That was just a sad ending to a upcoming beginning.

2. Mase- Double Up: Cmon people, we all know how Mase came and blew up the game. So when i heard in early '99 that his 2nd LP was gonna drop i couldnt wait! I was thinkin that if this LP sounded anything like his 1st one this would be too good to be true. But there was a little hint that happened before the LP dropped that bad things were coming. Mase presents.... Harlem World. Man this LP was striaght trash, i thought that by him teamin up with Jermaine Dupri on this project thing would be OK. Boy was i mistaken. So couple of months after that, Mase's 1st single for Double Up drops, "Get Ready" with Blackstreet. Now i thought that this track was pretty nice. U gotta love the intro to the track, "i doing like im doing it cause im doing for tv!" So now im thinkin OK this LP is gonna be nice....... Wrong again. This time though i was stunned cause i thought Mase cant go out like this. And he did cause he retired right after that. Not a good exit plan.

3. AZ- Pieces Of A Man: AZ was and still is my nigga, but this LP was very dissapointing. But i dont think it was his fault. Certain songs didnt cleared and some songs didnt make the cut. I was hooked on gettin this LP once i heard "Hey AZ" with SWV. At that time that song was my shit!! I loved how he took that Mariah Carey beat and flipped it! So i was open after that, then comes the 2nd single "Whats the Deal" and i was like ah man it cant get no better than this! Plus "Your World Dont Stop" was gettin mad play on mixtapes. So i was hyped for this LP to drop, and when it did that hype went down the drain. I could not believe Hey AZ was not on the LP!! Your World Dont Stop was altered with a different beat! The only 2 standouts was The Essence with Nas and Whats the Deal. Im still pissed Hey AZ wasnt on there man.

4. Missy Elliot- Da Real World: Surprised i went this route huh? Well I was a huge Missy fan back in '97 with her 1st LP. I think that LP is borderline classic with dope Timberland production. So in '99 people was askin can Missy do it again? She was on top at this time in the Music game doing great things. Now i kinda liked her 1st single "She A Bitch", she went left wit it but it was ok. All In My Grill & Hot Boyz was kool but i was wondering yo, is this LP anything like her 1st one? Will she continue to provide great hip-hop tracks plus dope R&B tracks? the answer was definite NO. I couldnt believe she fell off on this LP especially at the time it was released cause Timberland was in the zone makin beats at that time. Very surprising let down.

5. Raekwon- Immobilarity: Now this is a LP i didnt even bother to buy. And i never heard nothin from it or anything. This came out during when i was in US Navy boot camp in late '99. When i got out I went to the NEX to pick up some LP's and i had no idea what was out that time . I remember buying Mos Def's Black On Both Sides just based what he done with BlackStar ( great choice) and i think bought Nas Nastradamus too as well ( another great choice). But then i saw Raekwon's LP and i was stunned cause i didnt know he was droppin a new LP before I went to boot camp. So i gettin ready to scoop that up until it hit me, will this LP be better than Cuban Linx? will it even come close to Cuban Linx? And i knew that it wasnt. So i passed on it. And boy am i glad i did. From all accounts that i heard, i heard that LP is straight trash. Im glad i saved dough on that 1. A Lesson folks, u cant always go on a artists past work, but sometimes u have to.

There u have it people, now let me heard yours! Let it be known then!!!!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

man, the original golden era was like 88-90 and in that era there was no source mag or any of that shit, in the 2nd golden era 93-96 there was. please get ur facts right.

bbk said...

I agree with alot of these especially the Canibus album. About AZ "Pieces of a Man", I think you meant "How Ya Living" feat Nas instead of "The Essence". Also, "Your World Don't Stop" is from his first LP, "Doe or Die." "Love Is Love" feat. Half-a-Mill & Nature was fire, as well as the track right after it, "The Pay Back"

BIG D O said...

man, Immobilarity was my shit and can-i-bus was ill too...

people have always been so down about those records...for what reason i'll never know...

Anonymous said...

Agreed on all those.

But far as It Was Written... I wouldn't put that in the same category as Nastradamus. I've never heard anybody call that one a classic, LOL. Seriously, I think It Was Written has gotten MUCH better over time. I wish Nas could drop something that solid today, honestly. IWW is a lot better than it got credit for being, I just think people wanted him to continue doing Illmatic over and over.

I tend to feel the same about Jay's 'Lifetime' album too... don't get me wrong, there's some definite duds on there, but it's far from the absolute weed plate that it gets made out to be.

-D!

Rembrandt18 said...

Immobilarity might be the most misunderstood album in all of hip-hop because it followed Cuban Linx.

I bought an album by Murda Mill based off of Beanie Sigel being from Philly plus he had Jive money backing him. It was terrible as was Major Figgas. Might be a Philly trend.

and I will never forget how the internet don't know if you remember collegeclub.com, people convinced me to buy "I'm Serious" T.I.'s first album which is straight buttcheeks!

www.asishiphop.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Pieces Of A Man is damn near classic

the kid said...

i gotta go with:
bdk - taste of chocolate
...wtf? blackula?
lltk was mt goat album till i heard illmatic btw.

greyson & jason - sweatin me wet
off the strength of the 1st single "livin like a troopa"

marley marl in control vol2
just basura/trash

Chuck said...

Definitely disagree with AZ Pieces of a Man...that album is ill...the intro alone blew me away when I heard it, How Ya Livin is a classic for sure, Love Is Love is one of AZ's best and Nature/Half A Mill dropped heat all over it, Sosa was hard, Pieces Of A Black Man is a ridiculously under rated track, dropped some knowledge on Last Dayz, I mean some could even argue this is AZ's best album...honestly only had 3 tracks that weren't all that good, Trading Places, Betcha Dont Know and Just Because...

Realistically it's a great album with top notch production, and perfect features. Nas, Nature, Half A Mill, Rza, and Foxy Brown, while still having stand out solo tracks....4/5 mics easy.

Anonymous said...

I try not to buy wack albums but I bought a bunch that weren't necessarily trash, but definitely didn't live up to expectations:

1) Cappadonna - The Pillage
2) Slick Rick - The Ruler's Back
3) Jay-Z - Blueprint 2
4)Cormega - Born & Raised (yeah, I said it)
5)Mic Geronimo - Vendetta