bigted

Yeah it's like what Big Boi said on one of his songs: "Your whole shows consists of everybody's s*** but yours" which refers to pop rappers biting what those did before them did.

Eminem doesn't do what he says that's why I think he's in it for the money, it's just like when 50 Cent raps about how he looks up to Rakim and then puts out songs with no substance in them, if he really looked up to Rakim he'd put more thoughts into his rhymes, it's just like when Eminem says he looks up to LL Cool J and 2Pac and then makes heartless songs, 50 and Em don't live the words they say that's why they're wack to me! That'd be like Will sayin' rappers need to make an example for kids and then starts rapping about killing people, that'd be hypocritical. :sick: Outkast's releasing their album on the same day as Em's greatest hits album so I think it'll probably flop anyway, lol. btw, KRS-ONE's working on his 14th album "My Life" that'll come out February 2006, I think he'll be still rapping when he's 60 years old along with LL Cool J, Chuck D, and Will Smith while Eminem, 50 Cent, and most of today's rappers'll be long retired.

I doubt that Will's contract would be for only one album unless he decides to leave Interscope, which I hope he does, he deserves better, but Will always has enough money to promote himself if nobody signs him, unlike a lot of other ol' school rappers that're going broke and need to sign to a label, Will doesn't have to sign to a label if he don't want to. Worst case scenerio is if he stays, basically Interscope can't drop Will 'cause he's the highest selling on the label after 50 and Em. I don't see Eminem rapping that much anymore honestly, people're gonna be bored from him after awhile, once one of his albums don't go platinum he'll retire, maybe if this greatest hits album flops he'll quit 'cause he's one of those rappers that only does it for the money, Will is about the artistry, the only way he'll retire is if he runs out of ideas but great artists always have something to say, there's better odds that we'll see Will rapping 10 years from now than we'll see Eminem still rapping.

Well it might sound like an easy idea to us but maybe it's not really that easy for Will, it'd probably take him more time to establish a label and that'd be hard considering how busy he is, it's probably easier for him to sign with labels and let them handle that buisiness for him, as long as he keeps making albums I could care less. Maybe this greatest hits album is the end of Eminem's contract and he's callin' it quits or this is a gimmick to get people to buy his albums again, either way I could care less about it 'cause I ain't his fan or Stan you could say, lol.

He could've made that decision 3 months ago and saved the Knicks cap room if he announced he was retiring around the time they release him, maybe they were hoping he'd have a comeback year like Grant Hill though and make the all-star team.

That's why they re-released 50 Cent's "The Massacre" again, it's all just buisiness. I feel it'd be better if Will just establishes "Overbrook" and promotes himself, he'd probably make better profit that way to make his own videos too, tour, and release exactly what he wants to release.

Interscope is gonna spend more time promoting Eminem's greatest hits album than they did promoting "Lost and Found"! :therain:

I saw that commercial this morning on ESPN, I don't mind that song either though, that's like the only song from him that I liked, they're advertising his greatest hits album already.

Good thing Will doesn't have 15 kids or else he'd have to dedicate a whole album to them! :rofl: :rofl:

I think that'd be kinda boring if Will did songs for all the kids he has, it's actually better that he does different things for all his kids, they're all loved! :word:

I just joined as 'Big Ted 05-06', I was trying to figure out where the draft was and I noticed that it said auto, I thought I missed it for a minute there. :whew:

Allan Houston's retiring: Allan Houston to announce retirement Monday ESPN.com news services Two-time All-Star Allan Houston is to announce his retirement from the Knicks at an afternoon news conference Monday. Houston, who appeared in just 70 games over the past two seasons due to chronic knee pain, wanted to test his knee in training camp this year before deciding whether to retire. The shooting guard wasn't participating in the full workload of two-a-days his teammates were running, but had been encouraged by early results. Houston, considered the Knicks' best player a few years back, hasn't consistently displayed the smooth shooting stroke that earned him more than $150 million worth of contracts over a 12-year NBA career. Chronic knee soreness ended Houston's season Jan. 19, causing him to miss New York's final 44 games, and he averaged only 11.9 points while shooting 41 percent from the field -- his lowest numbers since his rookie season of 1993-94. Houston's last good year came in 2002-03 when he averaged a career-high 22.5 points. Houston, 34, played the last nine of his 12 seasons in the NBA with the Knicks. He posted a career average of 17.3 points per game, and a career-playoff average of 19.3 points in 63 postseason appearances. He was to earn $40 million over the final two years of his contract. Houston was the last player remaining from the Knicks' team that reached the NBA Finals in 1999. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

It was a below average Outkast album to me but it was refreshing to hear something good on the radio for a change at that time and a step above everything else then, every brother and mother owns that album it seems, over 10 million sold.

It might be best if there becomes less interest on the commercial rap scene then maybe when a lot of these disposable commercial rappers get dropped from the record labels maybe they'll sign some underground rappers that've been looking to get some exposure to take hip-hop back in the right direction and bring more of that universal feel to it again. The whole music scene needs repairing it seems though, it's gotten too corporal that artistry doesn't really get the recognition it deserves, there's more focus on tabloids than there is on the songs being recorded, it's more of a revolving door with artists coming and going all following the same style, maybe you'll get a rare handful of those that stand out from the pack.

You misinterpreted what I said, I said that I personally feel all hip-hop is hip-hop but not everybody feels that way, in reality there's too much of a gap between underground and commercial on the most part but who knows maybe that's just my opinion, I just wanna hear good music that's all. :stickpoke: I'm sure a lot of underground rappers would like to have exposure too for what they do but the problem also lies where music channels refuse to play the videos that they make so they don't get it, the problem is more towards the buisiness rather than the artists so this looks like a problem that's gonna be here as long as lots of people buy into the commercial style that's selling a lot, true artists won't get that full exposure that they deserve. Commercial artists come and go though with disposable and short careers if they stick to the same formula all they time, they should try to do different things and that's what I was implying to there, they should try to bridge that gap.

Commercial rappers are afraid to collab with underground rappers on the most part 'cause they're afraid that they're gonna lose their commercial appeal and underground rappers are afraid to collab with commercial rappers 'cause they're afraid that their hardcore fans'll say they're selling out, so how'll they'll ever be a change? :paperbag: Having different styles coming together would make music sound more creative to me, ol' school artists collabing with new school artists would interest fans of all ages for example if parents that're 50 years old and're Run-DMC fans heard Run-Dmc do a song with Jay-Z that person might actually gain interest in listening to Jay-Z and the 20 year old son that's Jay-Z fan might become a Run-Dmc fan too then suddenly the family's listening to both Run-Dmc and Jay-Z!

I think the problem with hip-hop is basically how it's divided up in "commercial" and "underground" before it was just hip-hop, it's like 2 different political parties now, lol, I actually dig a lil' bit of both styles but on the most part you either like commercial or underground but I like anything as long as it's hip-hop, if it goes platinum or sells a few thousand, it could still be hip-hop to me, some underground stuff sucks too just like commercial stuff does, there's no difference, it's all music. Commercial artists should collab more with underground artists, I could actually applaud Kanye for attempting to do that, more commercial rappers need to do that, that'd bring more flavor to the game.

Y'all just have to check out the introduction of "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" that was written from Kool Herc, hip-hop pioneer and role model! “Hip-hop has always been about having fun, but it's also about taking responsibility. And now we have a platform to speak our minds. Millions of people are watching us. Let's hear something powerful. Tell people what they need to hear. How will we hear the community? What do we stand for? What would happen if we got the hip-hop nation to vote, or to form organizations to change things? That would be powerful. Hip-hop is family, so everybody has to pitch in. East, west, north, or south-we came from one coast and that coast was Africa. This culture was born in the ghetto. We were born to die. We're surviving now, but we're not yet rising up. If we've got a problem, we've got to correct it. We can't be hypocrites. That''s what I hope the hip-hop can do, to take us all to the next level by always reminding us: It ain't about keeping real, it's about keeping it right.”

Well commercial rap and all music genres appeal today is less universal and is particulary aimed for a younger audience, it always has been but it's more than ever, I doubt there's many people over 30 who watch TRL or listen to 50 Cent and Britney Spears, maybe 20 years ago more over 30 would watch MTV or listen to Run-Dmc and Michael Jackson 'cause the music appealed more to all ages, it was the type of music that everybody in the family liked, the kids thought it was catchy and their parents thought it was also genious, hip-hop in particular was "Bridgin' The Gap" but no matter how much the gap is bridged hip-hop is a culture for the youth and the youth at heart, KRS-ONE said in the speech he made when he was touring in the UK on that BBC.com audio that hip-hop makes him feel like he's 20 years old still. The older heads probably still listen to ol' school music but nothing out now appeals to them to watch MTV anymore since the music's more watered down than ever, the problem with music now is that it just doesn't reach all ages anymore like it used to and the older heads don't realise that there's still some hip-hop out there with that universal appeal but they don't take time to search for it, if we had some real hip-hop artists selling millions it'd really get everybody in the family listening to the radio again.

Yeah wouldn't y'all buy a JJFP album if it was 22 minutes long if it dropped tomorrow? It'd be better than getting no JJFP album right now. Rev. Run's one of the greatest mcs ever so you know it'll be quality! :word: I don't like spending $20 on any CDs if I don't have to but I'd make an exception for Rev. Run if I couldn't find it cheaper.

Heavy D and The Boyz "Got Me Waiting"

I didn't say I blame "The Chronic" but after that a lot of rappers started to immitate that sound and it was just watered down on the most part except for Warren G and a couple others just like a lot of groups started to come out after New Edition and started to sound watered down except for Boyz II Men and a couple others. Yeah if y'all think hip-hop's state is bad, r&b is much worse, I can't really think of anybody that came out recently that could sing, they don't write or produce their songs either, the only thing a lot them get signed for is the way they look, well Paris Hilton has a record deal now and is making an album so that must be the case, J-Lo's career is in jeopardy now. :lolsign: Another problem is that entertainers go from one type of entertainment to another and they struggle, Will's like the only one of few that could drop a great album and a great movie at the same time, basketball players shouldn't rap, models shouldn't sing, and most rappers shouldn't act either, they're taking places away from those who really do have talent trying to get in the game. I honestly can't see many of these new artists coming out on the charts now still in the music buisiness 10-20 years from now or even 5 years from now for that matter 'cause gradually not being able to sing/rap and write/produce will catch up to them, they're gonna be older and record labels'll be looking for more fresh faces, if you could sing/rap or write/produce though there'll be always something you could do even if you sell less, longevity is better than just selling 10 million in 5 years and disappearing forever. 50 Cent thinks he's the next LL 'cause he has his shirt off in his videos but LL has "mind, body, and soul" so even when he don't have the body anymore he'll still have mind and soul which makes him "The G.O.A.T." if he didn't have that his career would've ended 15 years ago "body" could you so far , 50 Cent just has a "body" so when that goes he's done.

Bill Withers and Grover Washington sung the original "Just The Two Of Us" but the ones that sung on the Big Will version are Fuzzy and Tricia Covington, check the "Big Willie Style" credits people! :stickpoke:

I'd say "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" is one of the best books I ever read about hip-hop, they go in depth about the making of some of biggest songs and albums that impacted the history of rap during the golden era, y'all should check that out, I borrowed that from my local library over the summer, I only skimmed through it but there's a lot of good stuff in there, I'm gonna probably take it out again soon!

RIP, my thoughts go out to his family and teammates.