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Jin

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Well this is a serious topic 'cause ranking mcs that pioneering this culture/took it to the next level get ranked lower than those who're currently toppin' the charts now, damn what Chuck D said in Dec. 2001 on his terrordome is still true today, things haven't changed yet:

"THE NEED FOR A HIP HOP HALL OF FAME

December 11, 2001

BET ran a show on their RAPCITY segment last month, listing the 50 greatest emcees of all time. I’d heard about this through the Enemy Board and I sat down mid-afternoon and began to watch it. I should’ve known better, but this is the business I’ve been in for over 20 years and this is what I’m known to do. Tigger, the host of the show, said that the voting was compiled from a consensus of voting by staff, fans e-mail, executives and other artists. Right off the bat, when I caught them putting MELLE MEL of GRANDMASTER FLASH and the FURIOUS FIVE waaaaay down the list at 48, I called my friend and peer KOOL MO DEE ( he’s dropped the ‘E’ in MOE ) who happens to be writing a book called ‘THE 100 GREATEST EMCEES,’ due out next year.

MO’s amazing career has spanned 3 rhyme generations. First as a member of the TREACHEROUS THREE, with LA SUNSHINE and SPECIAL K, creating incredible verbal poly-rhythms. Then re-inventing himself as a soloist in 1987, and then as the conscious spokesperson of the art in 1990 –1991. He is usually SISKEL to my EBERT, or vice versa, or the two of us go into commentary ala the sports reporters on ESPN, critiquing the rap game with analogies that go well beyond the American teenager’s take on the art. I envy the sports world for their organization, building their structure on the fact that mere mortals cannot do what is done on the field, ice or court. It’s what keeps it amazing, and keeps a fan a spectator. In art criteria it’s no different, you have to be knowledgeable in all aspects of the art to pass critical mass judgement. When the history of what we do is constantly dictated back in the name of commerce, you have a distorted total picture of what it really is.

Anyway, so I’m on the phone with MO and embarrassed to tell him that he was BET’s 41st best rapper of all time. He’s on the West Coast continuing a film career, so he was on a 3 hour time difference. (Now HE was the first cat to judge rappers... period... with his rappers report card which he broke down into various categories of skill.) It was laughable as we got to RUN DMC at #35, SLICK RICK at #24 (behind EVE at #20), KRS ONE at #17 , and pound for pound the most talented rhymer ever BIG DADDY KANE at #14. Like I said, I should’ve known better. I came in at #9 which beats the hell outta me because those cats I just named created the styles that are used today. This is the third list of major note, with other lists being BLAZE magazine’s Top 50 , and the incredible EGO TRIP BOOK OF RAP LISTS which came out a couple years ago, and I came in at a surprised #4. These contests don’t mean much to me as I’m more insulted at the slighting of my peers and others who I’ve seen and heard with my own eyes and ears create phenomenal artistic tasks that have inspired me to do better.

I first came involved with hip hop because I found it a competitive outlet for creativity, and since I played a bit of sports I foresaw this new rap thing getting organized like such. All other genres of music seem to have been organized to at least fold all the myths into a respected timeline. The participants, however, end up as debris, but their place is historically preserved by writers, filmmakers and fan bases who know what they’re talking about. In the rap game a cat can’t even come out with his rhyme legacy intact. We live in such ‘out of sight out of mind’ times that RUN–DMC’s efforts are seen as miniscule compared to NELLY. Today’s youth who are fanatical about hip hop to the bone marrow not only don’t know their rap history, but lack in the musical knowledge that created the artform in the first place.

Thus the need for a hip hop HALL OF FAME, to collect data and artifacts, and to be a standard bearer so that some of these writing, and invisible, empire judges will stop freestyling myths off the top of their d-zomes. Be it in the Bronx or Manhattan, or even Philly or London, online before physical, although the way that this neglect is flowing we’ll take it wherever. Seriously, the Bronx is the obvious location but with NYC in 911 aftermath turmoil this will now have to be a privately raised project. There were talks about the mayor of MOUNT VERNON, a NY suburb and HEAVY D and PUFFY COMB’S hometown, being a key spot but there were too many purist naysayers. HARRY ALLEN has been proposing the idea ever since the 80s, and the ZULU NATION, an organization just starting to get the respect its deserved, will structure itself first before taking on the whole hip hop picture this new century. The deal is that hip hop needs more organization, and true structure from within. Thus I am in talks with the Schomburg Museum on 135th street in HARLEM to recruit, organize and galvanize this project. I think my contribution to the culture is warranted enough to add legitimacy, as I’ve been involved in the CLEVELAND Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Exhibit as well as the JIMI HENDRIX Museum in SEATTLE archiving of the form.

As a people who are artistically judged by our quantity instead of our quality, corporate capitalism doesn’t give a damn. Why would they give a damn about the art, if they never gave a damn about the people it came out of? They continue with the audacity to think that a billion dollar purchase means they’ve bought a culture, and can hire any Uncle Tom, Dick, or Dick to lay crucial word upon it in order to sell it across the earth like detergent. The altering of history has crippled our contributions forever, its no surprise that it would happen in the rap game only 22 years after the first ‘official recordings’. In sports, accommodations are considered when events take place for the ‘greats’ that came before. In hip hop cats like EDDIE CHEBA, JAZZY JAY, and FEARLESS FOUR cant get to the BET or HOT 97 door. Now that’s sad , and something that cats like myself dedicate to turn around as best I can while informing you that even in hip hop the television will tell lies to your vision. "

Now if I ever won a Grammy I'd probably give it to Chuck D and he'd probably give that to Melle Mel 'cause you see as an artist you should give props to those who inspire you but I see cats like 50 and Em spittin' on the hip-hop history it seems by actin' like they're bigger than hip-hop itself, I have nothin' against Common 'cause he has respect for hip-hop and wouldn't rank himself ahead of the greats.

Edited by bigted
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Hey I told u Kanye West is overrated, Common should ask DJ Premiere for beats again. Common being Top 5 All-Time MC is a complete joke! :kekeke: btw, I read over at the okayplayer board that he dissed Nas, he better watch out, his career might be over now, that shocks the hell outta me 'cause I thought he respected Nas. :poke:

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I can't figure out why would Common diss Nas 'cause they were hangin' out together with Chuck D a couple weeks ago in the UK! :confused3:

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If Common dissed Nas he's sellin' out 'cause you don't diss somebody you said you respect! :speechless:

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  • 4 weeks later...

mh .. what are you guys talkin about ? .. ive heard the album a few days ago and its one of the best albums ive ever heared .. the production is great .. even if yall think its that 'random-kanye-style' .. its not .. the production is def .. commons raps and messages are fantastic and i love every of the tracks ... ill definitely buy the album when it comes out ..

its all a question of taste .. i know .. but hell yeah .. this album rocks :thumb:

'The chosen one from the land of the frozen sun

Where drunk nights get remembered more than sober ones

Walk like warriors we were never told to run

Explored the world to return to where my soul begun

Never lookin’ back or too far in front of me

The present is a gift and I just wanna BE !'

Edited by Lhunagar
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Hey I found out that Common dissin' Nas was just a rumor, I have no beef with him, I'm looking forward to his album now! :peace:

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