Where Do You Rank Them? (Vol 47) - Rakim

[5 Grand]

LOL @ Marvelous being better than Meek

Fam, back then there was no such thing as "radio friendly" hip hop. Everything got played. If it was dope, it got spins. Shit, even if it wasn't dope it could get spins.

Eric B and Rakim got spins because the shit was dope, not because it was "radio friendly". Thats the difference between then and now: Right now, it's gotta appeal to the masses with catchy hooks, simple lyrics about simple shit (club, drugs, clothes/designer shit, my money, etc), and "bangin" beats. Back in the 80's/early 90's the masses cared about the shit being dope. That's why 40 and 50 something year old chicks can recite "I Ain't No Joke", "Follow The Leader", "You Gots To Chill", or "So What You Saying" word for word: The shit was dope and it got hella spins on the radio. KRS was the same way: Mad people my age know "My Philosophy", "You Must Learn", and "Love's Gonna Get'cha" 'cause that shit all got radio play.

BTW: "The 18th Letter" was certified RIAA Gold a month after it was released. The deluxe edition: "The 18th Letter / The Book Of Life" was also certified Gold at the same time.

That's hardly what anyone would consider a flop in 1997.

Everything you posted is a lie

R&B and Top 40 stations didn't play rap AT ALL!

The only two markets that had Hip Hop on a regular basis was KDAY in Los Angeles and 98.7 Kiss and 107.5 WBLS in New York. Otherwise the only time you'd hear rap on the radio was either on a college radio station on a Friday or Saturday night, or it was a commercial song like Walk This Way, Push It or It Takes Two.

The songs you mentioned, "I Ain't No Joke", "Follow The Leader", "You Gots To Chill", or "So What You Saying" "My Philosophy", "You Must Learn", and "Love's Gonna Get'cha" didn't get any spins on the radio.

However, those songs got played in the underground. DJs made mix tapes and if you went to a school dance you'd be likely to hear those songs. Also you had Yo! MTV Raps and Rap City that played those songs, but as far as commercial radio, Eric B & Rakim, EPMD and Boogie Down Productions didn't get any play.

They even rapped about not getting played on the radio. Ice T and Public Enemy had songs about not getting played on the radio.

When I was coming up I used to stay up late at night and tape the college shows (88.9 WERS and 95.3 Streetbeat) If you taped a show you'd have something to listen to for the next week until the next show came on. At least that's how I remember it.

Top 40 radio didn't start playing Hip Hop on a regular basis until 1992/93.

I remember when C.R.E.A.M. was getting top 40 radio play, that's when I really noticed the difference.

 

[Goldie]

Old head fight!

 

[Mister B. M. Ed.]

That's a classic case of groupthink. We've been on the same message boards for so long that we've been brainwashed that Pac, Nas, Jay & Big are the top 4 as if it's a fact not an opinion. As if LL Cool J can't get a spot, or Ice Cube, or Melle Mel.

So who is LL better than in that Top 4?

BIG? Jay? Pac? Nas? Cause I’m (and most of us) will tell you FOH for any other those options..

 

[konceptjones]

Everything you posted is a lie

R&B and Top 40 stations didn't play rap AT ALL!

The only two markets that had Hip Hop on a regular basis was KDAY in Los Angeles and 98.7 Kiss and 107.5 WBLS in New York. Otherwise the only time you'd hear rap on the radio was either on a college radio station on a Friday or Saturday night, or it was a commercial song like Walk This Way, Push It or It Takes Two.

The songs you mentioned, "I Ain't No Joke", "Follow The Leader", "You Gots To Chill", or "So What You Saying" "My Philosophy", "You Must Learn", and "Love's Gonna Get'cha" didn't get any spins on the radio.

However, those songs got played in the underground. DJs made mix tapes and if you went to a school dance you'd be likely to hear those songs. Also you had Yo! MTV Raps and Rap City that played those songs, but as far as commercial radio, Eric B & Rakim, EPMD and Boogie Down Productions didn't get any play.

They even rapped about not getting played on the radio. Ice T and Public Enemy had songs about not getting played on the radio.

When I was coming up I used to stay up late at night and tape the college shows (88.9 WERS and 95.3 Streetbeat) If you taped a show you'd have something to listen to for the next week until the next show came on. At least that's how I remember it.

Top 40 radio didn't start playing Hip Hop on a regular basis until 1992/93.

I remember when C.R.E.A.M. was getting top 40 radio play, that's when I really noticed the difference.

You can't really be serious... All the songs I mentioned got all types of radio spins, especially the EPMD shits.

Bruh, there still exists cassettes in shoeboxes in the corner of a closet or basements across the country from the late 80's that people my age recorded off of R&B radio stations. I still have some in storage right now! That's how we got music back then or did you forget about all of that? I first heard EPeeMD's "You're A Customer" off R&B radio along with everything else from that era. I had cassettes I made back in '84-'85 of Newcleus, Man Parrish, Ice T, Force MC's, Arabian Prince, Run DMC, Fat Boys, Whodini, etc all recorded off the radio.

I'm from a family of radio DJ's. My pops was a DJ in the early 70's. My mother and uncle (her brother) were DJs on the same station in Saginaw in the early 80's. I DJ'ed from 1990 through 2006 with some of my early mixes being played on the radio and the cats that mentored me, Charles Henderson and Gary Chandler, were spinning on the radio: They played hip hop on R&B stations because there was no such a thing as a "hip hop" station back then.

 

[konceptjones]

As far as the topic at hand: Rakim is The God MC. He's the best MC dead or alive. The dude singlehandedly and permanently changed hip hop. Without him, there's no Nas, Jay or Big.

 

[Chi-Town B]

So who is LL better than in that Top 4?

BIG? Jay? Pac? Nas? Cause I’m (and most of us) will tell you FOH for any other those options..

You can make an argument that he's better than all of them

 

[konceptjones]

You can make an argument that he's better than all of them

Not really.

 

[Chi-Town B]

Not really.

Don't act like LL dont have more classics than BIG, a better rapper than Tupac. LL stayed at or near the top for 2 decades.

 

[konceptjones]

Don't act like LL dont have more classics than BIG, a better rapper than Tupac. LL stayed at or near the top for 2 decades.

Saying he's a better rapper than Tupac ain't saying much. Pac ain't even in my top 25 and if I sat down and really thought hard enough, he might not even make my top 50.

I rank MC's on skill and by that measure LL might make my top 25... MIGHT. LL has rarely ever had me rewinding a tape, CD, or MP3 on some "did he just say...???"-type shits. His shit is competent, and combined with the beats he selects his shit comes across well.

 

[Mister B. M. Ed.]

I’ve come to the realization that Rakim is Rap’s Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Supreme Greatness in the game and probably should be recognized as #1, but came from an older generation that doesn’t have as big of a say on these things anymore, so he gets pushed to the side for the more modern legends.

 

[5 Grand]

You can't really be serious... All the songs I mentioned got all types of radio spins, especially the EPMD shits.

Bruh, there still exists cassettes in shoeboxes in the corner of a closet or basements across the country from the late 80's that people my age recorded off of R&B radio stations. I still have some in storage right now! That's how we got music back then or did you forget about all of that? I first heard EPeeMD's "You're A Customer" off R&B radio along with everything else from that era. I had cassettes I made back in '84-'85 of Newcleus, Man Parrish, Ice T, Force MC's, Arabian Prince, Run DMC, Fat Boys, Whodini, etc all recorded off the radio.

I'm from a family of radio DJ's. My pops was a DJ in the early 70's. My mother and uncle (her brother) were DJs on the same station in Saginaw in the early 80's. I DJ'ed from 1990 through 2006 with some of my early mixes being played on the radio and the cats that mentored me, Charles Henderson and Gary Chandler, were spinning on the radio: They played hip hop on R&B stations because there was no such a thing as a "hip hop" station back then.

Where are you from?

 

[Matike85]

Where are you from?

He/She is from Michigan

 

[konceptjones]

Where are you from?