JumpinJack AJ

I think L.L. ripped both Canibus and Wyclef. Canibus' "2nd Round K.O." waz okay but i didn't think it waz that great...and having Mike Tyson on the track waz just corny. And Wyclef's "What's Clef Got To Do With It" waz just wack (and i'm a Wyclef fan). Not 2 mention the pointless cameo by Niomie Camplle (sp?). 2 me, "The Ripper Strikes Back" waz much iller, and on the underground tip, "Rasta Impasta" waz gutter but still better than "What's Clef..." I'm just glad that L.L. and Wyclef are still cool cuz i respect both of them...never cared for Canibus much.

I don't think them working 2gether is an issue since they already have. Will's studio is probably more for laying down vocals. The kinda music that Jeff makes dosen't seem like it could be made in Will's trailor-studio. Who knows. Just knowing that they are hanging out is all that matters 2 me...2 know that they are still close is much cooler 2 me than them working 2gether just cuz of history.

I wouldn't consider P. Diddy cuz his rap skills are average 2 bad depending on the track. And he's not really a producer cuz all he dose is jack beats. And Eminem just started producing...and all the trax i've heard produced by him sound almost exactly the same.

I don't know about the new battles like the Nas vs. Jay-Z one. I think new skool battles are just weak. They often end up just being trax filled with pointless cussing and below the belt shots at the other person. Old skool battles relied more on lyrics and skill. I think the L.L. Cool J vs. Canibus battle waz the closest thing 2 a real battle in recent years.

Happy B-DAY!!

I've heard D12's 1st album (my brother had a bootleg of it...which he threw away...ha ha) and i've heard the 2 singles off their new album. I think he's awful. His lyrics suck. They may be the weakest song writers in Rap. And his flow is sloppy and careless. I just think he sucks from all angles. P. Diddy is barable when he talks about real topics and not his Playboy lifestyle. I'll Be Missing You, Best Friend, Satisfy u come from real emotions and i dig any artist who can get real even when their mic skills are lacking. A party joint like Mo' Money Mo Problems and Shake Ya Tailfeather are alrighty from time 2 time.

I waz just listing producers...i replyed 2 this post early in the morning and didn't even notice the "rapper" part of it...ha ha. I don't count many people as producers and rappers cuz they usually lack in one of the feilds.

I waz counting any kinda feud as a battle.

Either L.L. Cool J vs. Kool Moe Dee or L.L. Cool J vs. Canibus KRS-One vs. M.C. Shan is also noticable. The Roxanne battle...ha ha. I hope nobody says that 2Pac vs. Biggie one tho'...that waz just awful.

I think Bizarre is easily worse that P. Diddy.

1. DJ Premier 2. DJ Jazzy Jeff + A Touch of Jazz 3. Jermaine Dupri + So So Def 4. Timbaland 5. Easy Mo Bee 6. Eric B. 7. Ummah (A Tribe Called Quest, Slum Village) 8. Dr. Dre 9. DJ Scratch 10. Kanye West 11. Rodney Jerkins + Darkchild There is somebody i'm 4getting!!

If u look at the careers of Hip-Hop and Rap artists...u'll notice that the ones who have fallen off often follow the same formulas. Selling out, embracing sucess and money, trying 2 be more negative...fakely hardcore. It's just funny that they all take the same road which leads 2 the end of their careers. U think that after u saw the 1st set of Jay-Z's, Ludacris', Ja-Rule's, and Trina's fall off, why would they ALL do the same thing. People are so stupid and blinded by the business. That's why only the best (and smartest) survive.

That's cool!! I wonder if he brought the Fart Spray.

Man, i've always said Vanilla Ice waz one of the worst rappers of all time...but Ja-Rule's imagin is just as watered down as Ice's when he 1st came out. I'll say Vanilla Ice...but Ja-Rule is just as bad. He had a few sinlges i liked but he seems 2 be pushing the level of trash music 2 new lows.

I got the remix 2day!! It's a fly OFFICIAL club mix from Oct 1993. I'll try 2 get a snippet up in a few days.

I think i'ma go with Benzino. I havn't heard much of his stuff, but i thought most of what i have heard waz trash. I don't like 50 Cent much either tho'. I don't think either of these guys write well or have decent subject matter. And from what i've heard, they don't have decent beats either (tho' i've heard 3 beats or so that i've liked done 4 50 Cent). I just don't know how u can make music and know that u have no originality. I think 50 Cent has potential, but i don't see him persuing a higher level of making music that dosen't suck.

Great review!! THANX!!

I wonder if that'll make any BWS-sell-out fans pick it up when they see it. Here Will's albums go 4 about the same price as any other CD. I see Willennium marked down 2 about $10 and the Greatest Hits waz originally priced for just over $10. When i ever i'm in a used CD place (one of them regluates the prices down every month or so) and whenever a JJ+FP CD gets down really cheap, i get it if it's in good condition.

Most really young artists don't write their own stuff. ABC had Mike Bivens, Boyz II Men, Dallas Austin, Busta Rhymes writing their stuff. Kris Kross had input but Jermaine Dupri wrote almost all of their matieral until their last album. I 4get who wrote the stuff by Da Youngstas. I'll also check up on Illegal. A+ is the only young cat that i think wrote most of his own stuff. When u are 12 and 13, u probably shouldn't be writing most of your material. I waz writing back then, and when i look back on it, most of has some really good lines surrounded by stuff that i'd be embarassed 2 write these days. I'm pretty sure Lil' Romeo dosen't write much of his material tho'.

Lil' Romeo makes better than music some of the current chart toppers (that suck)....ha ha..but i'm gonna go with him also. Alot of Bow Wow's early stuff wasn't 2 bad. I wazn't gonna hold high standards 2 him since he waz a kiddie emcee coming up. He's growing in2 a good artist. "My Baby" with Jagged Edge waz one of the best Hip-Hop singles out last year.

Romeo aka Young Rome of Imx/Immature dropped his solo album 2day. The album is titled "Food For Thought" and i love this album. Of course i'm biased cuz i grew up with Immature since 1992. The album is a good mix of legit mainstream accessable Hip-Hop. The beats are good and the trax stand out from each other (which is getting harder everyday on alot of rap albums). Romeo has this uneek flow that seperates him from the rest and while he dose party type trax, the quality of lyrics are much better than your average mainstream Hip-Hop artist. This isn't De La Soul, Tribe type stuff...but it's nothing like current commercial stuff. He comes off a lil' more down 2 earth than Nick Cannon's sugar-coated album (which is dope, don't take that as a diss). Check the 1st single "After Party" or the trax Best Days, Wha Cha Doin' Tonight, Clap, if u find 'em online. Immature/Imx fans will be happy 2 see Marques "Batman" Houston on 2 trax (and doing back up vocals on "After Party" on the album. I think a few peeps on this board will like what Rome has 2 offer. p.s. Circute City has the album on sale for $6.99 this week and Wal-Mart has the edited version for $8.49...the cussin' isn't overdone either but it's there.

I like Cassidy's 1st 2 singles...and 2 or 3 of Fabolous' singles. I'm not gonna buy their albums even at half price, but i think some of their songs are alot more barable than most of the stuff by Jay-Z, Ludacris, Nelly, etc. Don't get it twisted, i'm not comparing these guy 2 my favorite artists. But of the rappers who are getting airplay (not including Twista, OutKast, Black Eyed Peas, and Kanye West)...i think they beat out the compitition.

Nelly is so stupid....that waz wack...ha ha. I hope he gets hit by a car. Anyways, 2 me Bizarre is really annoying cuz he totally personifies those "group member rappers" that are so wack that they could never stand as a solo artist. I don't think he's ever wrote a verse that actually had one topic. I think his verse in "My Band" is kinda funny...but D12 is just a garbage group 2 me. Chingy kills me with the overdone southern accent. When i 1st hear "Right Therr" or whatever, i didn't bug me, but by the 5th listen it had me 4 mercy. That 'holiday in' song waz so wack that even Snoop couldn't make it barable on the hook. I kinda like this 3rd single tho'...the beat is good, the R-N-B hook is dope and Chingy isn't as annoying as he normally is but i just don't understand why he has a record deal. Both of them are pretty bad but i think Bizarre is the wackest of the 2.

I see what u mean.

However, respectable sales are kinda important. For instance, the music award shows that are totally focused on the quality of music and not sales, media hype, etc, can't have music up 4 awards if they have no success at all. Without a lil' success, they don't get considered. Touring goes the same (tho' some established groups/artists don't have 2 worry about that). If u don't have a succesfull album...not many people are gonna come out 2 support some no-name artist. That's not waz the biz is like these days 4 big labels. It's multi-platnium or u get dropped. Ain't nothing wrong with barely going gold, but that's looked down on these days. In Hip-Hop/Rap, there seems 2 be a popular trend of the lower quality of music, the higher sales u get.