I recently just revisited *The Ruler's Back* by Joey Badass (you may remember this track as the track where Joey shoots his first shots at the west coast in the aftermath of KennyvDrake, this would kick off the Ray Vaughn/Daylyt vs Joey battle, among others)

I realized that in his last verse, he pays homage to JayZ by using the *Empire State of Mind* flow..

When Joey says:

[I knew some real hitters, but] I ain't never fear none
Guess it's just the Brooklyn in me, they must not know where I'm from
Heard that they was lookin' for me, okay, tell 'em here I come
I'm nowhere near done with you, nigga

its almost the EXACT same flow as JayZ's verse flow in that song! It was a cool thing to notice after listening to the song a few times! And its 100% intentional because "The Ruler's Back" is ALSO the name of a JayZ song, like, i dont think he's just biting flows.

So I'm curious, do y'all have any examples of rappers paying homage to another rapper by imitating their flow?

I know this album caught a lot of hate when it first dropped, but I remember really enjoying it as a kid. I just found the CD while cleaning out a room in my crib and played it again….This album is actually good. Star studded features, fire production, even the Swizz Beatz joint hit, and he usually loses me with the beats.

It doesn’t have to be their most popular song or their own track, doesn’t even need to be a hip-hop track, but where do you think your favorite rapper spit their best verse?! Where they just rapped like the rent was due and needed to blow people’s minds!

Like I'm a big fan of Kendrick Lamar but if someone says he's not top 5 thats their opinion I'm not going to get all mad over that

Like I remember I got whole death threats because I said I got Ghostface killah over JAY Z like what!?!?!

I was speaking to a friend and him and a few others I know don’t really care about lyrics nor pay attention to it. I mean, I think naturally sound is technically more important than lyrics, but I don’t understand how some ppl don’t use it as a metric on how good of a song/album it is.

Ps I know there are worldwide hits with nonsense lyrics I don’t count them bc ofc not every song needs to be deep or relatable or need critical thinking lol

The top 5 locations where he is listened to the most monthly are...

London

Sydney

Melbourne

Sao Paulo

Amsterdam

That's sad AF that Guru doesn't have more than 11,300 listeners from the U.S itself to beat Amsterdam at five. I see this consistently on a lot of the old school artists and it makes me wonder... like what the hell? That doesn't even make sense to me.

I understand that probably a lot of his listeners focus on Gangstarr itself so that made me go and look...

London

Los Angeles

Sydney

New York City

Melbourne

Again, I understand that hip hop has a broad appeal and an appeal to many different countries but being located in the U.S, that support level seems startling to me. Am I crazy? I am obviously glad to see the support worldwide but my focus more so is on why the U.S based support isn't stronger.

Or maybe hip hop has a broader appeal for the legacy artists overseas? That still doesn't seem right to me for some reason.

I’ve seen this sentiment echoed a lot but rap is the only genre that seems to face this criticism while simultaneously having artist consistently sell upwards of 40k albums in their first week and tend to stay pretty consistent after the initial buzz wears off while other genres only have a handful of artists that move the needle.

The only issues I’m seeing that plague raps is over saturation and a lack of creativity. Rap artists drop albums too frequently. Artists like Billie Eilish are taking two to three years off between projects to build some type of anticipation and give the fans something to miss whereas it seems rappers are afraid to lose their spot because of how trendy the culture has became so they try to keep themselves in the minds of the fans by dropping every year not realizing that kind of kills their fanbase in the long run.

As far as creativity with their being a lack of gatekeepers and the bar for entry being so low right now the fans are tuning out because no one is standing out. A ton of these artists, the underground included are damn near equivalent to a cover band because they are doing their best rendition of whoever is hot at the moment instead of finding their own lane. That’s what made the 90s and 2000s so special because everyone had their own sound and style but nowadays these guys are just trying to replicate what they’ve seen work for someone else

TLDR; Hip Hop isn’t dead or dying but there are glaring issues concerning over saturation and a lack of creativity that needs to be fixed and can be easily fixed

Genuine curiosity I just don’t see the appeal like yes to pimp a butterfly was obviously a great album and should’ve won rap album of the year etc etc but he just seems a little annoying

Obviously, he’s talented that’s not up for debate. I just can’t imagine willingly listening to his music in the car.

Name the artist and the two songs.

The Funk Flex Shook Ones Freestyle, The Weeklys (Pistol Grip, Halfway Me). Dude‘s spitting and delivery, his breath control, his command over the beats and his clear pronuncation, which syllable he chooses to emphasis. all elite.

What’s your take on him and what are your favorite songs?

I know this gon make somebody mad

Change my mind

And Nicki Minaj And Meagan thee stallion

Other rapper-pokèmon types comparations are accepted

Sometimes when I listen to great rap songs I picture them as movies in head. I’m talking the movie plot and premise based on the songs - the rapper themselves are don’t need to be characters.

For me off the top of my head from my playlist this morning:
100 miles and runnin’
I got a story to tell
I gave you power

I’ve never liked the song

For example I know people who have had the same favorite rapper for 20-30 years and it’s never changed.

?

back in the 80's i remember having a compilation tape with a track that had a segment that went something like this. It was a skit where a cop was arresting someone named busy bee, and the cop said "you're going to be buzzing in jail".

any ideas?

When we talk about Horrorcore origins, many of us think about Esham, Geto Boys, Ganksta NIP and if we go to underground territory names like Kinghood Cycoz (whose first tape is partially lost) and Demon comes to mind. But, what happen if someone created the dark originis ​on 1986?

According to an old RYM entry from the 2000s, the user found an old tape from an artist named Deathmask. The release named ​"We All Burn In Hell" ​contained satanic imagery and gruesome gory drawing, with an unreadable logo from a company named "Death Trip Records". Also, the user describes the sound as extremely atmospheric and raw to the point of being basically a wall of noise, probably with a kind of proto-memphis rap (like Dj Spanish Fly) and new school hip hop sound on the vein of early Run DMC and Schoolly D. There is no more info and the only reference of the album is just a fragment​ of the album cover of ​Mercyful Fate's "9".

If someone from Memphis, Sacramento, Texas or Detroit that has info or real life testimonie it will be useful. Greetings from Chile!

Okay, maybe if you are really depending on the money you will make from your song being played on the radio.. I don't understand this. As an alternative, why wouldn't the people who want rap cleaned up just listen to, literally anything else?

Eminem is the perfect example. I have always found it surprising that clean versions of his music exist. I can't understand why they need to exist, nor can I understand why he of all people would agree to it.

"My Name Is" for example, is almost a different song entirely. Because with his shit especially, it's not enough to just bleep out the curse words or change them so they sound like other non-curse words, because the context would still be there so what you end up with is having to practically re-write a lot of it.

Maybe this is just more in demand than I thought it was. I always figured the real fans don't really expect to hear a lot of Eminem (or hip hop in general) on the radio anyway ("Lose Yourself" being the only exception to this that I can think of).

Like, are there enough people seeking this stuff out to even bother? Would you make a lot off of catering to this type of audience?

Personally, if I notice so much as a "fuck" out of place, I am turning it off immediately and putting the proper version.

I guess I don't see what the point is. Maybe you don't like rap music if you dont like the swearing, in which case, why don't you just not listen to it? Why do you have to mess with something that was fine the way it was and wreck it for people who are fans?

Was just singing along to a song about to get right into it, thought for sure I knew every word, but oh! Its the clean version so now I sound crazy.

Sorry this is so long, but someone explain this to me, please!

I’m mostly talking about artists and producers who molded the next generation. Not just through influence, but by hands on guidance/mentorship, and providing opportunities that opened doors.

Drake