"Hip Hop is goin wherever we are goin"
Its such a complete album from top to bottom. U cant even pick a favorite or top 5.....or top 10 for me
honestly youd think it was a Greatest Hits album if u aint know better 
- Opening monologue where he just talks witchu about his thoughts on different shyts, very introspective and still vibin witchu 2016
- Incredible lyrics, incredible storytelling, GOAT level worldplay with just
complexity
- soulful, philosophical, societal, political, educational, religion, empowering, black issues etc.
t really shows the beauty and ugly of goin from the 20th century to the 21st
- effortless spittin despite the technical acumen of the bars, dont be strugglin to rap his words like some other rappers these days whose voice dont match they pen. Flow just consistently amazing. Great pace, ebbs and flows, not just the rhyme and wordplay, the layers for the bars and the presence he gives just gets at u, dude takes complete control of the mic
- versatility, not only he rap seamlessly but dude got experimental tracks like Climb and Umi Says but lyrical slaughters like Mathematics and Do It Now. He didnt have to take too risky shyts, like production or approaches that could end up makin a track
or 
- charismatic as hell really make u feel like he giving u a tour and u about to buy everythin he sellin. Very energetic when he needs to be, serene when not.
- live instrumentation and really solid production allaround
- you feel it on a deeper level than most other super lyrical albums, socially conscious (it capture so much of the Brooklyn struggle of the crack epidemic/AIDs problems from the 70s-90s) and shows the struggles of being black and from the ghetto.
- cant be understated how seamlessly he transition from tracks, can move from traditional battle rap shyt like Speed Law to still will hit ya with that classic Ms. Fat Booty track
, it not even just about a chick with a fat ass, its one of the best Hip Hop love songs ever and really shows the struggles nikkas have with relationships, loving, losing etc. Aint shyt black n white
- nikka had a track about water conservation was dope as shyt, how many rappers can do that? He relates it to our struggle with ourselves through many issues. Aint seen anyone even attempt to tackle an issue like that till Mick Jenkins and IMO is better than any track on The Waters.
His emotion on Umi Says, was impeccable and the soul/jazz vibe made it a classic, takin ya back to the subgenre of shyts like Tribe, De La Soul, Digable Planets etc. Mos Def didnt sing as much here but he could always seamless string that with spittin or whatever
- songs that hype a nikka up to do whatever, like Do it Now. Busta and Mos was such a sick combo with their energy levels and how they complimented each other
How ya feel? Feelin Great! Watchu want? I wanna do it to death wassup witchu
- Brooklyn is prolly the GOAT rap record about a place, it captures everything from the grittiness, struggles, issues plaguing it at the time etc. Its lyrically so damn advanced, he shows 3 style of flow/Hip Hop and the beat change is just
But it aint just grit and problems, got the positivity and inspirational shyt there too
Got a track with that Premo beat, one of the GOAT slays of a Premo beat. talkin about political and social issues that still relevant or came about today. Its crazy how many messages are still relevant today and this was made in the 90s
Power-lift the powerless up out of this towering inferno
My ink so hot it burn through the journal
nikka talks about a different genre and makes it dope on a Hip Hop record
Rock N Roll talkin about evolution of rock and how cacs stole it from us and didnt credit shyt, Little Richard > Elvis
not even gonna post every like but so many alltime one liners that stick witchu
Fear not of men because men must die
You know the motto stay fluid even in staccato
if we smoked out; hip-hop will be smoked out
Young blocks cant spell but they can rock u in Playstation
ass so fat that u can see it from the front
- Cohesive structure, it dont just feel like tracks on it. The flow of the tracks and it ended with a laidback May December where a nikka could just decompress, reflect and take in everything about the album One of the few albums i can listen to anytime from beginning to end
I think its aged amazingly better than some other classics from that era too. 17 tracks but from the pace, spoken word, instrumental and flow its very easy to go through and not a hassle
its had impact too, perfectly captures the late 90s underground vibe. This is when the underground was rising post Boom Bamp and Bad Boy influence. Thats where this came out, after Black Star to follow up something like that and he killed it. This IMO is the album that showed underground could be radio friendly, it still reached well known artists, ur lyrics didnt have to purely lyrical miracle shyts, making this showed underground didnt mean u couldnt make an LP with a thematic flow. It really bridged underground and mainstream IMO
It def birthed so many rappers styles specially underground and conscious 2000s rappers, and most prominent early Ye (which Mos renegaded
)
by the end i always feel the same message that will always resonate, he promotes thru social, philosopical, political, religious, economic etc. ways that WE need to improve the world we livin in but also appreciate the lives we been given, cause we are special and valuable
There are some 10/10 albums in Hip Hop history, not sayin its easily the best ever but IMO allaround package it is a bit above the rest and the usual suspects that gets brought out. Illmatic deserves to be in the convo obviously but one of the key differences for me is Black on Both sides was far more intimate and felt a stronger connection to Mos
Its such a complete album from top to bottom. U cant even pick a favorite or top 5.....or top 10 for me
honestly youd think it was a Greatest Hits album if u aint know better - Opening monologue where he just talks witchu about his thoughts on different shyts, very introspective and still vibin witchu 2016
- Incredible lyrics, incredible storytelling, GOAT level worldplay with just
complexity- soulful, philosophical, societal, political, educational, religion, empowering, black issues etc.
t really shows the beauty and ugly of goin from the 20th century to the 21st- effortless spittin despite the technical acumen of the bars, dont be strugglin to rap his words like some other rappers these days whose voice dont match they pen. Flow just consistently amazing. Great pace, ebbs and flows, not just the rhyme and wordplay, the layers for the bars and the presence he gives just gets at u, dude takes complete control of the mic
- versatility, not only he rap seamlessly but dude got experimental tracks like Climb and Umi Says but lyrical slaughters like Mathematics and Do It Now. He didnt have to take too risky shyts, like production or approaches that could end up makin a track
or - charismatic as hell really make u feel like he giving u a tour and u about to buy everythin he sellin. Very energetic when he needs to be, serene when not.
- live instrumentation and really solid production allaround
- you feel it on a deeper level than most other super lyrical albums, socially conscious (it capture so much of the Brooklyn struggle of the crack epidemic/AIDs problems from the 70s-90s) and shows the struggles of being black and from the ghetto.
- cant be understated how seamlessly he transition from tracks, can move from traditional battle rap shyt like Speed Law to still will hit ya with that classic Ms. Fat Booty track
, it not even just about a chick with a fat ass, its one of the best Hip Hop love songs ever and really shows the struggles nikkas have with relationships, loving, losing etc. Aint shyt black n white- nikka had a track about water conservation was dope as shyt, how many rappers can do that? He relates it to our struggle with ourselves through many issues. Aint seen anyone even attempt to tackle an issue like that till Mick Jenkins and IMO is better than any track on The Waters.
His emotion on Umi Says, was impeccable and the soul/jazz vibe made it a classic, takin ya back to the subgenre of shyts like Tribe, De La Soul, Digable Planets etc. Mos Def didnt sing as much here but he could always seamless string that with spittin or whatever
- songs that hype a nikka up to do whatever, like Do it Now. Busta and Mos was such a sick combo with their energy levels and how they complimented each other
How ya feel? Feelin Great! Watchu want? I wanna do it to death wassup witchu
- Brooklyn is prolly the GOAT rap record about a place, it captures everything from the grittiness, struggles, issues plaguing it at the time etc. Its lyrically so damn advanced, he shows 3 style of flow/Hip Hop and the beat change is just
But it aint just grit and problems, got the positivity and inspirational shyt there too
Got a track with that Premo beat, one of the GOAT slays of a Premo beat. talkin about political and social issues that still relevant or came about today. Its crazy how many messages are still relevant today and this was made in the 90s
Power-lift the powerless up out of this towering inferno
My ink so hot it burn through the journal
nikka talks about a different genre and makes it dope on a Hip Hop record
Rock N Roll talkin about evolution of rock and how cacs stole it from us and didnt credit shyt, Little Richard > Elvisnot even gonna post every like but so many alltime one liners that stick witchu
Fear not of men because men must die
You know the motto stay fluid even in staccato
if we smoked out; hip-hop will be smoked out
Young blocks cant spell but they can rock u in Playstation
ass so fat that u can see it from the front
- Cohesive structure, it dont just feel like tracks on it. The flow of the tracks and it ended with a laidback May December where a nikka could just decompress, reflect and take in everything about the album One of the few albums i can listen to anytime from beginning to end
I think its aged amazingly better than some other classics from that era too. 17 tracks but from the pace, spoken word, instrumental and flow its very easy to go through and not a hassle
its had impact too, perfectly captures the late 90s underground vibe. This is when the underground was rising post Boom Bamp and Bad Boy influence. Thats where this came out, after Black Star to follow up something like that and he killed it. This IMO is the album that showed underground could be radio friendly, it still reached well known artists, ur lyrics didnt have to purely lyrical miracle shyts, making this showed underground didnt mean u couldnt make an LP with a thematic flow. It really bridged underground and mainstream IMO
It def birthed so many rappers styles specially underground and conscious 2000s rappers, and most prominent early Ye (which Mos renegaded
)by the end i always feel the same message that will always resonate, he promotes thru social, philosopical, political, religious, economic etc. ways that WE need to improve the world we livin in but also appreciate the lives we been given, cause we are special and valuable
There are some 10/10 albums in Hip Hop history, not sayin its easily the best ever but IMO allaround package it is a bit above the rest and the usual suspects that gets brought out. Illmatic deserves to be in the convo obviously but one of the key differences for me is Black on Both sides was far more intimate and felt a stronger connection to Mos
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those Rawkus years
but the rest of it 