90's Rap misconceptions?

[classicmaterial]

Mobb Deep was huge on the East Coast, "Hit It From the Back" pre-"Shook Ones" was actually a semi-hit single even though people like to ignore their first album. By time Infamous and Hell on Earth dropped they were a pretty big deal in the culture but not really record sellers. They got bigger worldwide towards the end of the 90s going into the 2000s when Quiet Storm dropped.

This

People always look back at Shook Ones as though it was the biggest song ever but there was so much heat in 95 that it was far from the biggest record

Quiet Storm was definitely the song that made Mobb Deep superstars, and it was partially cause they had Kim on it

 

[Taadow]

I'd say this about Yo! and MTV Jams, but Rap City not so much. Rap City (pre-Basement) was playing pretty much anything that was out there, sometimes to a fault

One of the biggest misconceptions is that "back then you had to have lyrical skills/be original to get signed" and shyt along those lines. There was a LOT of wack/subpar nikkas out there. Not only did you not need skills/originality to get signed, you didn't need it to make a hit or get airplay either. There was a fair share of gimmickry, biting, and mediocrity. We don't celebrate any of those MFs today (OR then), but if you were there, you know they existed.

I always say there's a reason why songs like "I Used To Love HER", "Paparazzi", "Time's Up", "Come Clean", etc. existed... they were all more or less commentaries on the wack shyt that was going on in hip-hop. It wasn't just ALL dope shyt ALL the time as folks would like to believe.

Even though I wouldn’t use the term “wack”, I definitely agree.

I don’t wanna start no chit in here - but as a West Coast nicca looking back, I think that was
part of the disconnect. “How y’all gonna say our chit is wack, but y’all trying to sell us The Artifacts
and Fat Cat Kareem?”

 

[get these nets]

The Source magazine's credibility stature in its prime.
I think if you are a younger millennial or younger there is no way to explain how important and major The Source was
1. There is still not a modern equivalent to The Source not even Complex, less dependency on reviews/reviewers and critics because back then because reviewers weeks or months in advance of consumers, for most of the 90s music sharing and downloading.
So many today associate The Source with Benzino. But Benzino had extremely little visability, and input for basically all the 90s. Like his existence was not known at all then. Made Men was a blip on the radar. For some reason this is almost impossible to explain it seems.

Like the fact that a Source writer got physically assaulted by a Wu member tells you how much weight the mag held.

The Source literally was called The Bible of Hip Hop amd lived up to the title

Good post.

But it was a Rap Pages writer who was confronted by Masta Killa.

They ran illustrations of Wu members in an article that Cheo wrote. The Meth drawing was what we called fruity back then.

MK ran up on the writer or a person who wrote for RP.

 

[DANJ!]

Even though I wouldn’t use the term “wack”, I definitely agree.

I don’t wanna start no chit in here - but as a West Coast nicca looking back, I think that was
part of the disconnect. “How y’all gonna say our chit is wack, but y’all trying to sell us The Artifacts
and Fat Cat Kareem?”

Fat Cat Kareem? I don't remember anybody tryna sell nobody that guy... I don't even think his label gave a fukk.

Artifacts was dope tho

 

[mobbinfms]

Even though I wouldn’t use the term “wack”, I definitely agree.

I don’t wanna start no chit in here - but as a West Coast nicca looking back, I think that was
part of the disconnect. “How y’all gonna say our chit is wack, but y’all trying to sell us The Artifacts
and Fat Cat Kareem?”

You didn’t like this?

 

[FreshAIG]

I think y'all basically saying the same thing. I'd believe that Meth was bigger, to me it was Big Poppa that pushed Big over Meth. I HATED Big back then and it used to piss me off how that damn song was everywhere and it seemed from that point on Big had all the momentum and everything he was on started killing. Meth to me was on that trajectory but the Tical CD killed some of that buzz in regards to taking over the game where with Big he was able to build on that momentum due to Ready To Die being a classic so as each new song dropped and got people checking for his CD then it just never stopped growing.

I think it's a case of people being too young to remember or they're not thinking about the time frame we're discussing. Since Biggie's name is so much bigger than Meth's now in the scope of rap history, it's hard for people to fathom there was a time they were neck and neck. But when their albums dropped, they pretty much got equal play (Meth probably got more if we're being honest), and both albums were performing at the same level until Biggie dropped the remix to One More Chance/controversy started with Pac. And like you said, Ready to Die being so much more acclaimed than Tical also helped Big, but it still didn't dim Meth's light all that much.

It's like when you bring up the fact at one point there was legit debates about Mcgrady vs Kobe. But since Kobe got so much bigger over time and his accolades far exceeded Mcgrady's, if you bring it up now, people will think you're crazy. But there was a good 3-4 year period when people would 100% argue who was better.

 

[get these nets]

More of an oversight than a misconception, but EPMD and the Hit Squad set the template/blueprint for the rap families/dynasties that came after them.

Had a 2-3 year period where they had a top album, their proteges had top albums, and they had top selling tour. Pretty much everything done in house, production and management.
No guest producers or famous guest appearance features.
red, Das Efx, K Solo....and later Keith Murray

Group had internal problems that spilled into street shyt, criminal charges and legal problems.

When you compare the GOAT groups, one of the things you look at is their family tree. Up until the time they split, EPMD's tree was up there with anybody.

Ghost has said on camera that Wu was assembled as sort of an answer to the Hit Squad. With him and Rae as their version of Erick and Parish.

 

[JustCKing]

Since Biggie's name is so much bigger than Meth's now in the scope of rap history, it's hard for people to fathom there was a time they were neck and neck.

It's not so much the names as it is the volume of material. Biggie had remixes, guest spots and put on a group during the time that widened the gap. It also helped that The Source was pushing Biggie as the KONY.

 

[BmoreGorilla]

A lot of People hated Chuck D on the low, and the lack of mentions of Public Enemy from Hip Hop Historians proves that.

I don’t remember anybody hating on Chuck at all. They were very well respected. They had one of the best runs ever. They always get mentioned but when these type of debates come up we a tend to talk about solo rappers more than groups

 

[Still FloW]

That nikkas was more thorough back in the days.

lol nah they were all hoes still, just wasnt no SM to expose how corny a lot of them were

 

[Self_Born7]

Absolutely correct in that Big L was not that big an artist when he was alive. Big L was one of those very regional east coast rappers (Really NY) that was incredibly dope but wasn't in the talks of ever being a GOAT when he was alive. Big L wasn't regularly brought up in conversations of who was the nicest at the time to the general public. You had to REALLY be into Hip Hop to even know L like that. Once he died you have a lot of teenagers/younger people enamored with the mythology of Big L more than anything. Big L had 1 album before he passed, and it was 4 Mics at best. The beats were kinda dated by time it dropped and even some of the raps were, to no fault of his own, a lot of it was recorded in 92-93 and it didn't drop til March 1995.

Not to take away from L, he was an elite MC. However, how he's regarded now from people that weren't outside during that era is nowhere near how he was regarded when he was alive.

I remember when I first the L and Jay Z freestyle on WKCR when Big L went in. the next day after recording i played that shyt to the crew and the consensus was L murked Jay. I think that freestlye put him on the map

 

[BmoreGorilla]

Another misconception is that the west coast had this big dominant run in the bulk of the 90s when really all they did was catch up to the East coast and prove that another region could make high quality hip hop too. A lot of it was controversy and media driven tbh. The movies like Boyz in the Hood and Menace, the Rodney King situation, and the fact that many West coast rappers had a different sound and image and were more vulgar all played a part. But it’s not like they were blowing away anything on the east coast musically

 

[OHSNAP!]

Ten years is a long ass time. 1990 was completely different from 1999. There were so many different artists, trends n stories...useless thread basically

 

[OHSNAP!]

Yes he was. Specifically from 93-95, he 100% was. He was actually a bigger deal than Biggie when Ready to Die dropped. Biggie didn't fully surpass Meth in popularity until like late 95 going into 96. Between C.R.E.A.M., Bring the Pain, Ice Cream and All I Need Remix, Meth was as popular as any solo act on the East Coast during that 2 year period.

Why you think Big went out his way to get Method Man (the only feature) on his debut?

You compare one and a half years of being more popular to 25 years?

 

[OHSNAP!]

Misconception: Master P and No Limit weren't TRU LYRICISSSESS COULDN'T RAP FOR SHYYT

Truth: Master P showed them bums how to profit off the shady ass music industry and released real hood records. Fiend, Mac, Mia X, Mystikal talent and contributions > most bummy eastcoast MCs, Wu Fam crackheads and back pack hobos