90's Rap misconceptions?

[hex]

Dude, nobody listened to Juvenile Hell outside of Queens.

When "Shook Ones" came out, a lot of people thought they were a new group.

Nas's "Illmatic" was as my man said above, a critical success from day one, and "The World Is Yours" and "It Aint Hard To Tell" ruled the "Rap City Top 10" for all of '93-'94, which was a huge deal at the time because BET, like The Source was still respected.

That's how I got into it, far from New York.

What Biggie did was make East Coast Rap pop, simple as that.

Puffy admitted, him and Biggie listened to what Dre & Ice Cube were doing on the West Coast and copied it because that's what was selling at the time.

Wu-Tang didn't go platinum immediately either, neither did "Midnight Marauders" or "Enta Da Stage" by Black Moon, which had more successful singles than all of those records (outside of Biggie of course).

"It Was Written" was written about as a failure when it happened, musically at least.

It was seen as Nas "selling out" and that's the record that's standing has improved over time.

"It Was Written" was seen as a pop sellout, now it's viewed as classic.

"Illmatic" was classic before it came out.

Yeah, I think it was Prodigy that said Nas' success is why labels were willing to give Mobb Deep a 2nd chance.

Fred.

 

[hex]

The album didn't even go platinum until 2001!

This is false and you cats gotta stop using RIAA.com.

The RIAA posts the cert date. When the album is certified, which is after the audit. Which is after the label pays for the audit.

So if an album ships 1 mill in 1995 and nobody pays for the certification process until 2015....the site will make it look like the album took 20 years to go plat.

Fred.

 

[gluvnast]

Bruh, you're not telling me anything I didn't already know. My whole argument is that even though Illmatic didn't sell, it made a critical impact with hip-hop heads on the East Coast which was why Nas was revered and It Was Written was looked at sideways by the heads...that's ALL I'm saying.

I got you. It is true that those who HAD listened to Illmatic didn't appreciate Nas' direction for It Was Written. But you saying how Illmatic was an IMMEDIATE impact for the East Coast and that's not necessarily true. It was hyped up, especially prior to the album's release because Nas was then heralded as the "next Rakim", but Ready to Die was the most impactful east coast album of '94 alongside a slew of amazing albums and singles at that time. Not to mention the whole Wu-Tang movement was up and running real strong with Method's debut album hitting close to the end of that year.

The truth is Illmatic wasn't THAT ALBUM. It was revered years later.

 

[gluvnast]

Dude, nobody listened to Juvenile Hell outside of Queens.

When "Shook Ones" came out, a lot of people thought they were a new group.

Nas's "Illmatic" was as my man said above, a critical success from day one, and "The World Is Yours" and "It Aint Hard To Tell" ruled the "Rap City Top 10" for all of '93-'94, which was a huge deal at the time because BET, like The Source was still respected.

That's how I got into it, far from New York.

What Biggie did was make East Coast Rap pop, simple as that.

Puffy admitted, him and Biggie listened to what Dre & Ice Cube were doing on the West Coast and copied it because that's what was selling at the time.

Wu-Tang didn't go platinum immediately either, neither did "Midnight Marauders" or "Enta Da Stage" by Black Moon, which had more successful singles than all of those records (outside of Biggie of course).

"It Was Written" was written about as a failure when it happened, musically at least.

It was seen as Nas "selling out" and that's the record that's standing has improved over time.

"It Was Written" was seen as a pop sellout, now it's viewed as classic.

"Illmatic" was classic before it came out.

I didn't now say anyone listened to Juvenile Hell. I said Nas didn't open doors for Mobb Deep when Mobb Deep already was out the gate. Mobb Deep didn't have any influence of Nas at all. Again if anything, Q-Tip's mentorship was elevated them and opened the door for the Mobb Deep we know and love today.

And nobody arguing about Illmatic critical success. It got 5 mics at the source. Nobody is arguing about the HYPE. It is the FALSE presumption that Illmatic had an immediate influence on the East Coast and the wrong assertion it opened doors. It DID NOT. None of the albums that came out in that time, the successes of those albums and the emcees that emerged weren't due to Nas. If anything it was Biggie's commercial success. Saying Mobb Deep because they're both from Queensbridge isn't legitimate because Mobb Deep was already out. Don't act as if nobody was going to check out THE INFAMOUS has Nas never been on the scene, because that's not true either.

And lastly, It was Written was never a failure. Many people who listened to Illmatic was disappointed because of Nas' direction, but It was Written did EXACTLY what Nas wanted to happen and more people was introduced to Nas due to that album nationwide than to Illmatic. It was mostly because of It Was Written that Illmatic became so revered overtime, because that's when many went to Illmatic AFTER listening to It was Written.

 

[Asicz]

That rappers today are weirdos and drug addicts and all that but in the 90's everyone was just a dealer and thoro, etc...

Do you know how many undercover, DL punks there was in the 90's man? And do you know how many of them 90's dudes was smokin coke blunts and runnin thru pain killers and all that shyt? It just wasn't as out in the open and "cool" as it is today...and they weren't wearing tight pants and nail polish while doing all their funboy sucka shyt, . 90's cats rockin skullys and beef and broccolis with Avirex's and shyt with a whole tranny in the whip at 1am in Midtown and shyt like that, behind the tints. .

And they was rattin then too, lol, it's not just the chumps today doing it

Where is your proof of any of this?

 

[Cheech&Chong]

Where is your proof of any of this?

You think gay people and drugs were invented in 2000?

 

[Asicz]

You think gay people and drugs were invented in 2000?

Could you please produce specific evidence of his claim?

If not don't post in this thread ever again

 

[The Bilingual Gringo]

Just looking at the record report I posted, they gave Hammer a 1!!! They the lowest I’ve ever seen in any Source mag.

I'd have to go back and look, but Phil Knight’s son (of Nike fame) released an album back in the early/mid 90's and I swore that was a 1/2 rating, if not a solid 1 for sure.

I couldn't even tell you if that rating is available somewhere online.

 

[The Bilingual Gringo]

DAS second album was dope and different. they switched their style and that hurt them.

i had their demo from my bot Chico when i was in college

And spawned one of my favorite remixes:

 

[semicko82]

I got you. It is true that those who HAD listened to Illmatic didn't appreciate Nas' direction for It Was Written. But you saying how Illmatic was an IMMEDIATE impact for the East Coast and that's not necessarily true. It was hyped up, especially prior to the album's release because Nas was then heralded as the "next Rakim", but Ready to Die was the most impactful east coast album of '94 alongside a slew of amazing albums and singles at that time. Not to mention the whole Wu-Tang movement was up and running real strong with Method's debut album hitting close to the end of that year.

The truth is Illmatic wasn't THAT ALBUM. It was revered years later.

To be honest I wasn’t familiar with illmatic till the late 90s early 00s
I love the album, but I can’t pretend like I was onboard with it since it’s release

 

[Why-Fi]

probably can't call it a misconception...but there's always overwhelming accolades for atcq 2nd and 3rd albums. it was their 1st album that changed the way hip hop sounded. so much so that you can still hear it now if you listen to albums before then albums after, from anybody

they probably had as many clones as das efx, maybe more

 

[DANJ!]

I once had a 20 year old try to argue me down that '94 was Nas' year simply because he had the best album... I hate to pull out the "you wasn't there" card but I had to slam that shyt on the table.

I loved Illmatic, a lot of people who were REALLY following hip-hop (not Billboard, radio, MTV) loved it, artists loved it and many have cited it as influential... but it wasn't this thing that transcended or dominated in '94... it was one of those "if you know, you know" kinda things. But it becomes something else when we get into who was standing at the top of the game... I would say when it came to the East Coast, even just speaking on a street level, BIG and Wu-Tang were ahead... overall, there was Snoop Dogg... Nas had his accolade and respect, but even by his own admission, he was very much underappreciated/underrated considering how great that album was.

 

[Atsym Sknyfs]

And spawned one of my favorite remixes:

thats their third album

 

[gluvnast]

Das EFX 2nd album was very dope. And severely slept on because they abandoned their gimmick. It's a shame too.

 

[The Amerikkkan Idol]

No it's not.

You had De La, Wu, Nas, BCC, BIG, Mobb Deep, Redman, Rakim, Gangstarr, LL, etc.

You had Hiero, Death Row, The Coup, Ras Kass, etc.

I could do the same for the south. The midwest wasn't really popping at the time so it's a moot point.

Anyway, none of them sounded the same, despite being from the same regions.

If you want argue a few rappers went on tangents where they tried to mimic a style or gimmick (like the DAS EFX shyt, or several rappers turning hard core over night) ok cool but to say "everyone had their own sound is a misconception"....is flat out false. Hell, even the mimicry was a response to new sounds in hip-hop.

Fred.

Common, Da Brat, Bone Thugs N Harmony, MC Breed, DFC, Dayton Family, Twista, Do or Die, Crucial Conflict, Psychodrama, Eminem were most definitely "poppin" in the '90s, G.

And nobody arguing about Illmatic critical success. It got 5 mics at the source. Nobody is arguing about the HYPE. It is the FALSE presumption that Illmatic had an immediate influence on the East Coast and the wrong assertion it opened doors. It DID NOT. None of the albums that came out in that time, the successes of those albums and the emcees that emerged weren't due to Nas. If anything it was Biggie's commercial success. Saying Mobb Deep because they're both from Queensbridge isn't legitimate because Mobb Deep was already out. Don't act as if nobody was going to check out THE INFAMOUS has Nas never been on the scene, because that's not true either.

And lastly, It was Written was never a failure. Many people who listened to Illmatic was disappointed because of Nas' direction, but It was Written did EXACTLY what Nas wanted to happen and more people was introduced to Nas due to that album nationwide than to Illmatic. It was mostly because of It Was Written that Illmatic became so revered overtime, because that's when many went to Illmatic AFTER listening to It was Written.

Dude, Prodigy admitted that Nas' Illmatic had an effect on their success with their 2nd album

And dude, you've got it backwards.

"Illmatic" is the reason "It Was Written" was so heavily criticized when it came out.

"Illmatic" was being called the best album of all-time in '94 or at least one of them. As you said, he was being compared to Rakim, FFS.

"The World Is Yours" & "It Aint Hard To Tell" dominated Rap City's top 10, so you can't say it made no real impact. Back then that mattered.

If Nas had put out "It Was Written" first, he would've been the biggest star in Hip-Hop, but since "Illmatic" came first, actual Hip-Hop heads viewed it and Nas as a sellout and back then that mattered. It sold a ton of records, but it was still seen as a disappointment .

But I think you're talking from a pop perspective and I'm talking about a Hip-Hop perspective, which back then mattered.

Now, there's no divide between what's pop and what's actually respected Hip-Hop,