Better artist: E-40 or Missy Elliott?

[Still Benefited]

Missy has a double platinum album. She was consistently going platinum over a span of 8 years with two year gaps in between some of those albums. What that says is she had longevity and people who were invested enough in to cop her albums. She wasn't some flash in the pan artist who came and went. You can't put her in a category of ringtone rappers who had two hits at most and disappeared.

What Missy has done that Hammer didn't do is earn respect. Hammer spent most of his career addressing detractors. Missy spent most of hers with respect from her peers. Missy was never supposed to even be a rapper. Puffy convinced her because he thought she had something unique. You had MC Lyte putting her on a song before Missy even had a solo hit. She's done songs with Nas (including writing Aaliyah's hook on "You Won't See Me Tonight"), Q Tip, Slick Rick, and Jay Z to name a few. Snoop's 213 got production from her.

What doors did Missy open in Hip Hop? You could start with the videos. Then you could go to her giving artists like Drake a lane (singing and rapping over trippy production to). You still have artists like J. Cole and Drake sampling her songs.

Even mentioning Beyonce is funny because Beyonce's first feature as a solo artist was on Missy's second album.

So in my post I mention Beyoncé siting E-40 as inspiration,talking about listening to that mob shyt as a teen growing up in texas....How u expect us to be impressed about Beyoncé taking the opportunity of a good placement,getting it through politicking,or because Missy wanted to fukk,or because she got a check?Her declaration of 40's inspiration was so organic,she had nothing to gain

My debate was against OP actin like Missys sustained success was unbelievable while not acknowledging 40's longevity or Hammers success,when actually her success isn't that unbelievable nor her longevity...And your overstating her respect in regards to this rap shyt....people respect her as a producer which I do as well,but this rap shyt breh?You cant even compare her to Hammer because she wasn't the bonafied threat that came through and hurt ya favorite rappers feelings with crazy success....Missy Elliot took a back seat to every popular mainstream rapper of that era when she was the one making crossover pop hits that weren't pigeonholed into the rap category....She still took a backseat to all the most popular mainstream RAPPERS of her era,all of em....not to mention it was a different era where everybody was selling out trying to cross over,you cant really hold Hammers hate against em.

What about her videos?she didn't basically just do the same thing as the animated Busta Rhymes?but wackly? How many rappers is going to get credit for singing/rapping?She definitely wasn't the first?smh at her being the one to give Drake a lane.

Lets never misunderstand what Missy is respected for,it definitely aint this rap shyt....do rappers even give her a verse when they feature her?40's been asked to feature on goats of every regions album,yet apparently he's regional.

 

[JustCKing]

People use the term regional in a variety of ways and it gets confusing.
Very few artists back in the 90s were getting nationwide "urban" daytime radio play.
The video shows evened out the playing field for all regions.
The east always had "real" hip hop heads almost everywhere. You could fail to go gold in the East and not be regional.
Most people in there regions fukked primarily with what was hot in their region. Most people aren't really hip hop fans like that.
In the South and (to a lesser extent the Bay) you could go gold (maybe even platinum) and still be "regional". People in those markets bought albums more for whatever reason. I'm from the Bay and I never knew anyone who had a 8Ball and MJG or UGK album - but they were going gold in the mid 90s.

Eightball & MJG were consistently going Gold with solo and group material. On top of that, Mobb Deep, Foxy Brown, and Mase were featuring one or both of them on their albums. How were they regional?

 

[mobbinfms]

Eightball & MJG were consistently going Gold with solo and group material. On top of that, Mobb Deep, Foxy Brown, and Mase were featuring one or both of them on their albums. How were they regional?

Mid 90s breh. First video I saw of them was the Candy video in 96. People tell me Space Age got video play in 95 - but I never saw it That album went gold. That's what I'm referring to.
After the Candy video - things fell into place for them.

 

[JustCKing]

So in my post I mention Beyoncé siting E-40 as inspiration,talking about listening to that mob shyt as a teen growing up in texas....How u expect us to be impressed about Beyoncé taking the opportunity of a good placement,getting it through politicking,or because Missy wanted to fukk,or because she got a check?Her declaration of 40's inspiration was so organic,she had nothing to gain

My debate was against OP actin like Missys sustained success was unbelievable while not acknowledging 40's longevity or Hammers success,when actually her success isn't that unbelievable nor her longevity...And your overstating her respect in regards to this rap shyt....people respect her as a producer which I do as well,but this rap shyt breh?You cant even compare her to Hammer because she wasn't the bonafied threat that came through and hurt ya favorite rappers feelings with crazy success....Missy Elliot took a back seat to every popular mainstream rapper of that era when she was the one making crossover pop hits that weren't pigeonholed into the rap category....She still took a backseat to all the most popular mainstream RAPPERS of her era,all of em....not to mention it was a different era where everybody was selling out trying to cross over,you cant really hold Hammers hate against em.

What about her videos?she didn't basically just do the same thing as the animated Busta Rhymes?but wackly? How many rappers is going to get credit for singing/rapping?She definitely wasn't the first?smh at her being the one to give Drake a lane.

Lets never misunderstand what Missy is respected for,it definitely aint this rap shyt....do rappers even give her a verse when they feature her?40's been asked to feature on goats of every regions album,yet apparently he's regional.

It was more than just a placement. That was her introduction as a solo artist.

Missy's success isn't anything to scoff at. Missy's a rapper in a genre where female rappers were irrelevant after the third album (if they made it that far). She amassed the amount of success that only a handful of rappers (male or female) could ever achieve.

And yes, she did give Drake a lane. Missy definitely wasn't the first rapper/singer, but her doing that over the type of production she was given gave Drake a lane. Drake and his producer 40 have stated how that sound influenced them.

 

[JustCKing]

Mid 90s breh. First video I saw of them was the Candy video in 96. People tell me Space Age got video play in 95 - but I never saw it That album went gold. That's what I'm referring to.
After the Candy video - things fell into place for them.

"Candy" wasn't even that huge. At least not as huge as "Space Age" or even their feature on Tela's "Sho Nuff".

 

[Biscayne]

Because of Missy's pop/r&b leanings...it's not a good comparison period.

Which is weird, because they tried to make this same argument AGAINST Hammer in the thread about "Name a single Bay Area rapper who's reached global stardom" thread. Whenever Hammer was mentioned in tge 1st reply post that basically shut down the thread, they came with the "Hammer's just a pop artist, Hammer's just a dancer, Hammer's not really an artist" arguments. All of a sudden Missy's 100% Hip Hop.

 

[Big Blue]

This the shyt I'm talking about.... Missy wasn't an R&B artist, or a technically a hip hop artist for that matter.... and I've never Ever EVER, heard a grown ass nikka bumping a Missy album.....

At the same time, I've never anyone on the East Coast bump an E-40 album.

 

[mobbinfms]

"Candy" wasn't even that huge. At least not as huge as "Space Age" or even their feature on Tela's "Sho Nuff".

I remember Sho Nuff. Now that I'm thinking about it, the other thing that opened my eyes to them was their song on the AIDS compilation.
Space age didn't get any play in the Bay, that I picked up on anyway.
Where were you that it was a huge record in 95?

 

[Field Marshall Bradley]

At the same time, I've never anyone on the East Coast bump an E-40 album.

Rap\Hip Hop fans only live on the east coast?

 

[YakSpiller]

I know it sounds far fetched but it's more arguable than you would like to admit that lil b is more influential than E40

You sound so fukking stupid, its unbelievable.

Yeh, Maybe to millennium nerd wannabes(like you), 40 is recognized by people who actually matter and make decent music.

Kanye
Kendrick

and that's just two nikkas y'all clowns swear by that have stated how much they fukked with 40.

You new young nikkas are so stupid. I hate you fukkboys.

and Lil B was influenced by 40 you stupid mothafukka. He is from Berkeley, and I can guarantee you The Pack was trying to get 40 features back when they started.

 

[SirBiatch]

Bay Area posters still rambling I see

 

[CACarot]

You sound so fukking stupid, its unbelievable.

Yeh, Maybe to millennium nerd wannabes(like you), 40 is recognized by people who actually matter and make decent music.

Kanye
Kendrick

and that's just two nikkas y'all clowns swear by that have stated how much they fukked with 40.

You new young nikkas are so stupid. I hate you fukkboys.

and Lil B was influenced by 40 you stupid mothafukka. He is from Berkeley, and I can guarantee you The Pack was trying to get 40 features back when they started.

Damn you mad brahhhhhhhh

I said it's arguable. I can see the argument either way, but lets be real here for a second.

Lil B actually started a movement unlike E-40. He had everybody cooking and wearing chef attire. He developed his own unique rapping style much like E-40 has. He was the first rapper to utilize the meme platform to rise to stardom and fame. People talked about Lil B in his prime way more than E-40 was ever mentioned. Lil B was actually heard of and well known outside of bay area. I'm talking lil B away from all that pack stuff. Lil B pretty much grandfathered the androgynous/homosexual wordplay, dress , and style that you see rappers like thugger and others capitalizing on. Think of how many people started using the word based and etc. You can feel and see the pretty bytch cultural influence. E-40 got him on album sales but Lil B occurred in a time that is based on youtube views vs album sales. The margin between basegod and E-40 is smaller than you think that's my point. You 40 stands don't want to accept this. Like seriously you bay area dudes is worse than NY'kers.

 

[Northern Son]

Missy

 

[MrWestGrand]

People stay trying to downplay 40 and his skills, like it didn't put him on another level in the game...

 

[feelosofer]

Let's keep it funky, for as much as E-40 gets talked about on this site, he doesn't have a wildly successful album to his name nor does he have anything approaching a classic album. Missy gets a lot of hate on this forum for reasons, I can't really understand. If you're going to go bar for bar, then yes E-40 takes it, but Missy is a very solid rapper, who is technically proficient and can ride beats at multiple tempos, she's a good singer, she also co-produces and arranges her stuff. Her 1st two albums are not classics but were very good albums and her discography has been extremely consistent, she knows how to make a straight up hip-hop song, a soulful ballad, or a club jam. 20 years later in the game and she's still not only relevant but one of hip-hops bigger acts. She basically helped bridge the gap between Hip-hop and R and B, she kept female artists relevant without being overtly sexy and has more gold and platinum albums than most of her peers. So in short, E-40 is a better rapper and lyricist but Missy is a more complete artist.