90's Rap misconceptions?

[Sankofa Alwayz]

People don't really speak on this like they should but New Jack Swing R&B was humongous in the early 90's -damn near neck to neck with rap

Seems like House music was right up there too during that particular time

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

Who hasnt shown proof bro?


Read a book. Prodigy admitted being a coke head. DMX is a crack head. ODB overdose. Pimp C, codeine. Cash Money, dope. Wu Tang, Dust. Eminem, Pills. Ja Rule, Extacy.

Snoop Dogg, Marijuana. I know MJ ain’t a hard drug like the others but keep in mind that just before Death Row took off, most of Hip Hop was very anti-marijuana. nikkas used to brag so much on record about not smoking Buddha and bragging about how fukking scared they were to eat some p*ssy Crazy how the mentality of the 80’s started to gradually changed as the 90’s progressed.

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

R&B in general was neck and neck with hip hop the whole decade really. In a lot of ways it was bigger. That’s what made that decade so dope. It was the really the peak of black music

Facts. Not only you had Hip Hop at its most diversified (East Coast/West Coast/Midwest/South) but you also had R&B at its most diverse (Hip Hop Soul, New Jack Swing, and Neo Soul). Then on top of that, House music was at its peak, especially with the shyt coming outta Jersey, Baltimore, and NYC as well as Detroit Techno making noise and spreading its influence to Europe....Then you had Reggae reinventing itself into a more urban and Hip Hop-influenced sound....Then you had Old Skool Jungle, Drum & Bass, UK Garage, and Trip Hop coming out of the UK....Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson still dominating all things Pop....GoGo music going through a crazy renaissance during a good chunk of the decade....Black music influencing some dope ass OSTs to a lotta iconic movies from the 90’s....The South had their own local regional music scenes going on with Yeek/Yeekin’ (ATL), Bass/Booty Bass music (MIA/ATL), Bounce music (NOLA), Jookin/Buckin (Memphis), and Screw music (H-Town)....The 90’s saw Black music at its absolute best, I really wish I was the age back then that I am now so that I could’ve appreciated that shyt more intimately and actively

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

Anybody ever listened to Shook Ones Pt. I back then?

 

[malbaker86]

Nobody knew jigga when reasonable doubt dropped outside of NYC and nobody even knew he was on the Ha remix let alone a remix

the song that got jigga bubbling especially in the south was Money Ain’t a thang by JD.

Aint No nikka use to get hella burn down here. nikka what lol

 

[FunkDoc1112]

Infamous went Gold in 2 months and AZ had a platinum selling album with a top 40 single. AZ indisputably blew before Nas.

 

[gluvnast]

Snoop Dogg, Marijuana. I know MJ ain’t a hard drug like the others but keep in mind that just before Death Row took off, most of Hip Hop was very anti-marijuana. nikkas used to brag so much on record about not smoking Buddha and bragging about how fukking scared they were to eat some p*ssy Crazy how the mentality of the 80’s started to gradually changed as the 90’s progressed.

Cypress Hill was the main ones responsible for the whole weed head phenomenon in hip hop. You right, prior to '91... HARDLY ANY ONE was rapping or promoting smoking weed on wax. You had FEW exceptions like Tone Loc had a song called Cheeba Cheeba, but really it wasn't the thing most rappers were wanting or willing to rap about, even if many were weed smokers downlow.

The Cypress Hill came through and like overnight, you have all of these rappers talking about the smoke they inhale.

And p*ssy eating was so taboo back in the early 90's. They made it sound like it was the most un-masculine thing a man can do.

 

[FunkDoc1112]

This is an interesting discussion on what qualifies as "opening the door" for someone. The argument to me is, is it literally being the one to put someone on, or is it more creating a big enough buzz and being successful enough that it allows other people from your area to get on and blow up.

People don't understand how down bad Queensbridge was after KRS-One dropped the Bridge is Over. Shan was a huge star, and after KRS smoked him, literally nobody was trying to hear anyone from Queensbridge. Intelligent Hoodlum lowkey reopened the doors for them, he had a number 1 rap song on Billboard with Grand Groove. Then Nas came with Illmatic, and nikkas started putting respect on QB's name again. That allowed for Mobb Deep, CNN, etc...to come through later.

Yeah, that's what I meant by opening the doors. He created an environment that put Mobb Deep in a good position.

 

[gluvnast]

Infamous went Gold in 2 months and AZ had a platinum selling album with a top 40 single. AZ indisputably blew before Nas.

The only caveat though is that AZ probably never would of even got a deal had he not done "Life's a bytch". But that Sugar Hill record was HUGE back then.

 

[daze23]

Anybody ever listened to Shook Ones Pt. I back then?

first time I heard it was on the b-side of the Pt II cassette single

 

[gluvnast]

Aint No nikka use to get hella burn down here. nikka what lol

Let's keep it real. When Ain't No nikka was out, it did have play...but people at that time were checking it because of FOXY BROWN. Foxy's buzz in '96 was crazy. That's like saying people wanting to listen to "Touch Me Tease Me" because of CASE. No. Foxy was the star. So, what ol' dude said was accurate, outside of New York, people wasn't checking for Jay-Z like that. That's partially why Reasonable Doubt didn't hit the way they wanted it to hit that year and motivated themselves to leave Priority to Def Jam.

 

[gluvnast]

Let's keep it real. When Ain't No nikka was out, it did have play...but people at that time were checking it because of FOXY BROWN. Foxy's buzz in '96 was crazy. That's like saying people wanting to listen to "Touch Me Tease Me" because of CASE. No. Foxy was the star. So, what ol' dude said was accurate, outside of New York, people wasn't checking for Jay-Z like that. That's partially why Reasonable Doubt didn't hit the way they wanted it to hit that year and motivated themselves to leave Priority to Def Jam.

EDIT: come to think about it, BOTH those songs were the LEAD SINGLES of the Nutty Professor Soundtrack. Clearly Foxy was their stimulus package back then!

 

[The Amerikkkan Idol]

No people checked out Mobb Deep because of Shook Ones Part II. The release of that song and it being banned from MTV which was a big deal sparked people's interests over the controversy and hype of the song.

Again, you are conflating Mobb Deep finding direction/purpose because through hearing their homie's album with "opening the doors". Nas didn't put Mobb Deep on. People didn't start listening to Mobb Deep JUST BECAUSE they heard Illmatic. That's like saying Tragedy Khadafi opened the doors for Nas because Trag's from Queensbridge and Nas found motivation from his music. That's bullshyt logic you are spewing.

And Biggie and Jay-Z is a totally different situation. Biggie didn't "open the doors" for Jay-Z. Jay-Z only wanted to release ONE ALBUM which was Reasonable Doubt. Jay-Z at the time didn't care for rap because he was already making huge money hustling. He and Dame wanted a legit outlet and focus on running a record label. It wasn't until Biggie died that Ja-Z felt an obligation to continue on rapping and fill Biggie's shoes. It took TWO and nearly a half full YEARS until Jay-Z got big. That wasn't because of Biggie who was well dead by that point, but because of hard work and dope music and elevating his own Roc-a-Fella brand. Jay-Z with the help of Dame and Biggs put himself on. Biggie didn't sign him to Undeas like he did with Junior Mafia. Jay-Z wasn't part of Bad Boy. But just because they were CLOSE doesn't automatically mean Biggie "opened doors" for Jay-Z. Especially during that period, Jay-Z's interest was having an one and done album.

Dude, listen to Jay-Z in Original Flavor and then listen to Jay-Z on Reasonable Doubt

One's from 1993, ones from 1996, yet they sound totally different.

what happened?

Biggie

Why does "It Was Written" sound so different than "Illmatic"?

Biggie

That's what it means to "open doors", brother.

Jay-Z is still on some fake Das-EFX type shyt if Biggie hadn't done "Big Poppa" and "One More Chance" and "Juicy" and showed all them nikkaz how to sell records.

Nas would've still been doing Boom Bap type shyt if it wasn't for Biggie.

That's what opening doors means.

Biggie opened the door for everybody on the East Coast to sell records because virtually none of them nikkaz was selling shyt before him in comparison to Snoop, Dre, 2pac, Ice Cube, Ice T, and even Cypress Hill

I don't know what to say to you, Prodigy admitted Nas opened doors for them and you ain't hearin' it.

Nas being great (which he was) has nothing to do with the fact that Mobb Deep was bigger than Nas in 1995

Mobb Deep blew up before Nas (mainstream wise)

As someone who was like the biggest Nas stan back then in 1995 you average causal Hip-Hop fan barely knew who Nas was....you had to remind them

If you think more people knew Prodigy & Havoc than Nas in 1995, I don't know what to say to you.

You obviously aint watch BET or read The Source, Vibe, or any Hip-Hop centered publication.

Seems like House music was right up there too during that particular time

THIS!!!!!

Everybody forgets how big House used to be back in the days.

Infamous went Gold in 2 months and AZ had a platinum selling album with a top 40 single. AZ indisputably blew before Nas.

Dude, remember Nas' "Illmatic" suffered from rampant bootlegging, so you can't just go by records sold. That's in any story that has ever been written about the record, how the whole city of New York had the album the year before it came out.

That's why I'm talking as somebody who was actually steeped in Hip-Hop culture at the time.

There's no way in hell that more people on Earth knew who Mobb Deep or AZ were than Nas.

The only reason people knew who either of them were was because of their relationship to Nas.

Prodigy admitted it in the interview I posted and AZ's verse on "Life's A bytch" is one of the most heralded in Hip-Hop history.

 

[malbaker86]

Let's keep it real. When Ain't No nikka was out, it did have play...but people at that time were checking it because of FOXY BROWN. Foxy's buzz in '96 was crazy. That's like saying people wanting to listen to "Touch Me Tease Me" because of CASE. No. Foxy was the star. So, what ol' dude said was accurate, outside of New York, people wasn't checking for Jay-Z like that. That's partially why Reasonable Doubt didn't hit the way they wanted it to hit that year and motivated themselves to leave Priority to Def Jam.

Foxy buzz or not, nikkaz knew who Jigga was down there, that’s a fact bruh. He wasn’t some low level nikka like Rampage, come on now

 

[cjt11203]

This describes Tommy Wright III perfectly.

I've been listening to his stuff on youtube recently. That's exactly who I was thinking of when I read that.