Can we revisit Black On Both Sides for a second?

[TheDarceKnight]

is quality not a great album in its own right?

Quality is a dope album and I'm even fine with saying it's great but I think it's a clear step below Train of Thought, Black on Both Sides, and Black Star.

I gave it a solid 3.5 or maybe even 4 mics at the time, but those other 2 I named were both easily over 4.

 

[Yayo Toure]

Mos really had next. Shame how his career turned out.

 

[I love Latina women]

Album is a true classic
i can remember the 1st time i heard this in 99';
me, my sister, my cousin and brother in law was riding around listening to it after my brother in law bought it from Best Buy
I was hype for this album too, cause the Blackstar album was great; that album is 1 of the most easy flowing albums of all time, shyt just flows from 1 song to the next
But yeah, Black On Both Sides was 1 of those albums you had to be there to really get the jest of how great that album was
The underground was flourishing with cats like Yasiin
Rawkus Records was nice

 

[TheDarceKnight]

He was miles ahead of Kweli and I didn’t wanna admit it because Kweli held his own in their early colabs like Fortified Live. But I had to admit it to myself when this album dropped. It was even more clear when that Reflection Eternal album dropped

The crazy thing is Kweli has actually had a much more consistent career after all this

Don't ask me how this happened, but somehow I heard Train of Thought before Black on Both Sides. Then obviously BOBS I heard next and solidified Mos for me as top 3 rappers alive at that point in time. But I think if I'd heard BOBS first that I would've liked Train of Thought less, maybe. My big issue with Kweli was I thought he tried to fit too many words into bars, and some of his lines sounded rushed or forced. TOT is still a personal classic and I love everything from that Rawkus era. But Mos Def was on track to become a top 5 of all time candidate.

Crazy what happened with their careers musically. I thought The Ecstatic was a great album though. Not as dope as BOBS but it's my 2nd favorite Mos album.

 

[PlayerNinety_Nine]

Great album

I always think back on it as part of the tapestry of LP's that Rawkus dropped that year with 'Internal Affairs' and 'Heavy Beats Vol. 1. when I was buying a shytload of vinyl.

Black On Both Sides was a great formula for him. I didn't mind 'The New Danger' on some experimental shyt. Even Tru3 Magic had a joint or two. 'The Ecstatic' is the closest he's come to recapturing the BOBS vibe to me.

I still think he has another great album left in him. Let Madlib and Q-Tip go halves on it to indulge hus jazzy side and curb some of his more 'off the beaten track' instincts, and we're set.

 

[BmoreGorilla]

Mos really had next. Shame how his career turned out.

Yea idk what happened. I hung with some wild cats back then who used to laugh at the Black Star album but even they loved this album. The streets were all over it. Dude was even somewhat of a heartthrob too becuz the ladies loved this nikka

 

[I love Latina women]

Great album

I always think back on it as part of the tapestry of LP's that Rawkus dropped that year with 'Internal Affairs' and 'Heavy Beats Vol. 1. when I was buying a shytload of vinyl.

Black On Both Sides was a great formula for him. I didn't mind 'The New Danger' on some experimental shyt. Even Tru3 Magic had a joint or two. 'The Ecstatic' is the closest he's come to recapturing the BOBS vibe to me.

I still think he has another great album left in him. Let Madlib and Q-Tip go halves on it to indulge hus jazzy side and curb some of his more 'off the beaten track' instincts, and we're set.

Honestly, i like all of Yasiin's albums except for that Dec 99th joint he put out 2 years ago

BOBS is a classic
The New Danger was a good experimental joint and was still spitting on there too
True Magic had some gems; this was a dope in a underground mixtape type of way
The Ecstatic is an underrated classic IMO

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Rawkus Records was nice

Rawkus got me into hip-hop for real for real. Got me digging into crates and into producing, and wanting to have 12" singles and white labels. Nerding out hard over wanting to know the process of making hip-hop hip-hop music...those Rawkus releases made hip-hop a passion and not just something I enjoyed.

Black Star, Black on Both Sides, Internal Affairs, Train of Thought, The Big Picture, and of course Soundbombing 2 and Lyricist Lounge 2.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Great album

I always think back on it as part of the tapestry of LP's that Rawkus dropped that year with 'Internal Affairs' and 'Heavy Beats Vol. 1. when I was buying a shytload of vinyl.

Black On Both Sides was a great formula for him. I didn't mind 'The New Danger' on some experimental shyt. Even Tru3 Magic had a joint or two. 'The Ecstatic' is the closest he's come to recapturing the BOBS vibe to me.

I still think he has another great album left in him. Let Madlib and Q-Tip go halves on it to indulge hus jazzy side and curb some of his more 'off the beaten track' instincts, and we're set.

Daps and rep on all of this.

When Mos is in the pocket I'd listen to an album of him flowing over click tracks.

 

[BmoreGorilla]

Don't ask me how this happened, but somehow I heard Train of Thought before Black on Both Sides. Then obviously BOBS I heard next and solidified Mos for me as top 3 rappers alive at that point in time. But I think if I'd heard BOBS first that I would've liked Train of Thought less, maybe. My big issue with Kweli was I thought he tried to fit too many words into bars, and some of his lines sounded rushed or forced. TOT is still a personal classic and I love everything from that Rawkus era. But Mos Def was on track to become a top 5 of all time candidate.

Crazy what happened with their careers musically. I thought The Ecstatic was a great album though. Not as dope as BOBS but it's my 2nd favorite Mos album.

RE was pretty good but after hearing BOBS I expected more tbh. It wasn’t even Hi Tek at his best if you ask me

 

[JayStarwind]

Why didn't Mos blow after this album?

Called them yts out

 

[BmoreGorilla]

Album is a true classic
i can remember the 1st time i heard this in 99';
me, my sister, my cousin and brother in law was riding around listening to it after my brother in law bought it from Best Buy
I was hype for this album too, cause the Blackstar album was great; that album is 1 of the most easy flowing albums of all time, shyt just flows from 1 song to the next
But yeah, Black On Both Sides was 1 of those albums you had to be there to really get the jest of how great that album was
The underground was flourishing with cats like Yasiin
Rawkus Records was nice

Rawkus was on fire in 99-2001. Then all of a sudden it was over

 

[I love Latina women]

Yea idk what happened. I hung with some wild cats back then who used to laugh at the Black Star album but even they loved this album. The streets were all over it. Dude was even somewhat of a heartthrob too becuz the ladies loved this nikka

You know what i think happened, i think he just got disillusioned with the business side of things and the way hip hop was going
Yasiin seems like an artist's artist
Like, he's all about his craft and the culture and i think when things shifted more and more (both the culture and the business) he lost interest in the music
Look at the time he took off between albums from Black On Both Sides to The New Danger, at least 5 years and i think acting became more of his outlet then

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Mos is also the best person to rip the Who Shot Ya beat besides Big. Jay-Z did it well but re-flipped a lot of Big's lines. Mos brought a unique flow to it.

when I heard those ice cold keys come in

 

[I love Latina women]

Rawkus got me into hip-hop for real for real. Got me digging into crates and into producing, and wanting to have 12" singles and white labels. Nerding out hard over wanting to know the process of making hip-hop hip-hop music...those Rawkus releases made hip-hop a passion and not just something I enjoyed.

Black Star, Black on Both Sides, Internal Affairs, Train of Thought, The Big Picture, and of course Soundbombing 2 and Lyricist Lounge 2.

Yessir man
Back when the underground was this special movement that felt so pure and golden