What keeps Ice Cube from being labeled the GOAT rap artist?

H.S.

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If he would have stopped after the 1st westside connection album he might have the greatest discog of all time. Truth is he became kinda corny on the mic and released a bunch of very sub par albums and tarnished his legacy.

But keep in mind there's an entire generation, maybe two, who him for his family friendly or comedy movies.

This and this, coupled with the fact that in 2016 most fans and critics don't seem to care about rap released prior to 1994.
 

Inspect Her Deck

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Cube was by far the most devastating rapper in his prime.

The only other rappers who were just as ruthless in their primes are Ghostface Killah (who had a longer period of success) and Redman.
 

ISO

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Was Nas rapping over g-funk or generally funky beats or Bomb Squad type beats?

Nas has a shytty ear for beats post-IWW. His albums have had extremely spotty production. Hit and miss. As for Illmatic, yeah it had the super producers. I'd argue The Predator is up there in production, and Lethal Injection did well to replicate quality g-funk sound using low-key producers. Just like you wanna say voice is subjective so too is production anyway. That doesn't factor into who's better, but a lot of the reason that Nas' albums don't have as much acclaim as they could is down to production. Cube has never had that problem.

Once again rhyme schemes and all that is a product of one's technicality in rapping. I've said 100 times already Nas is more technical. Cube's vocab is more basic because it doesn't HAVE to be complex. That isn't what Cube is trying to do. He's trying to make powerful and meaningful music. Most West Coast MCs aren't really all about the complexity, and the times where Pac employed more advanced vocab or if you look at someone like Kurupt, you'll find in both cases they have East Coast influence, being that they came from NY and Philly respectively. The only exception as far as I know is Ras Kass.

You say Nas has at least 2? Nah he has 2 and that's it. Same with Cube, who if anything has more of a case for 3rd (Predator) than Nas. Idk where you are getting this more critically acclaimed information from.
Nas has rapped over more legendary beats period. I think we can agree DJ Premier, Q-Tip, Havoc, Extra P, Trackmasters work aged better than the BS. Even post-IWW he rhymed over plenty of great production you're running with a bullshyt narrative, Nas put out good albums after IWW. The Lost Tapes has some of the best production of any album that came out in the 2000's and arguably better than any Cube album.





There's other West Coast lyricists that are more complex with it. Like you said Pac, Kurupt, Ras Kass, members of Hieroglyphics like Del and Souls of Mischief. The point is though Cube just isn't as good lyrically he's not as nasty with it just reading lyrics off paper one can see that. Cube's strengths are his strong voice, storytelling, concepts, content. His rhyme schemes, vocabulary, word play are basic. Especially compared to other lyricists at the G.O.A.T. level like Nas or Hov. Nas made a powerful album while still being "complex" with Untitled. Nas also never sharked other nikkas lyrical styles like Cube is accused of.

No, he has arguably three I've seen Stillmatic called a classic plenty of times. The album has plenty of classic and top tier tracks (2nd Childhood, Ether, The Flyest, One Mic, Destroy & Rebuild).

Predator is not better than Stillmatic, Lost Tapes, God's Son... :francis:

Did you just say The Predator is up there with Illmatic production wise? :comeon:
 
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The Ruler 09

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If Cube ain't at least in your top 20 you don't have no business listening HipHop music period.
I think that's nonsense, there's a bunch of rappers that have claims of being in a top 20...

2Pac
Nas
Scarface
Biggie
Rakim
KRS-One
Big Daddy Kane
LL Cool J
Kool G Rap
AZ
Slick Rick
Ghostface
Raekwon
Jay Z
Chuck D
Big Pun
Guru
Common
Cormega
Bizzy Bone

There's 20 rappers just there that could be in a conversation, not that they should be above or below Cube but it's a choice and a preference, there's no way any of those would be out of place... People need to realise it's a preference and people will differ and it's not neccesarily a case of being right or wrong, that's like saying there's under 20 great Hip Hop artists which I disagree with...

And didn't even mention others who I've seen or could be in a conversation such as...

Prodigy
Kool Moe Dee
Z-Ro
Q Tip
Melle Mel
K-Rino
Pharohe Monch
Brother Ali
Talib Kweli
Slug
Fat Joe
Big L
Andre 3000
Canibus
Jadakiss
Ras Kass
Tragedy Khadafi
Chino XL
Wise Intelligent
Grand Puba
Jeru Tha Damaja

If talking most iconic or biggest Cube guranteed to be there, but best is subjective and there could be many many MC's that would be worthy on a list.
 

Flav

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I think that's nonsense, there's a bunch of rappers that have claims of being in a top 20...

Guru
Cormega
Bizzy Bone

And didn't even mention others who I've seen or could be in a conversation such as...

Prodigy
Kool Moe Dee
Z-Ro
Q Tip
K-Rino
Pharohe Monch
Brother Ali
Talib Kweli
Slug
Fat Joe
Canibus
Ras Kass
Tragedy Khadafi
Wise Intelligent
Grand Puba
Jeru Tha Damaja


:russ:

:snoop:

Wow
 
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Inspect Her Deck

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Nas has rapped over more legendary beats period. Even post-IWW he rhymed over plenty of great production you're running with a bullshyt narrative, Nas put out good albums after IWW. The Lost Tapes has some of the best production of any album that came out in the 2000's and arguably better than any Cube album.

There's other West Coast lyricists that are more complex with it. Like you said Pac, Kurupt, Ras Kass, members of Hieroglyphics like Del and Souls of Mischief. The point is though Cube just isn't as good lyrically he's not as nasty with it just reading lyrics off paper one can see that. Cube's strengths are his strong voice, storytelling, concepts, content. His rhyme schemes, vocabulary, word play are basic. Especially compared to other lyricists at the G.O.A.T. level like Nas or Hov.

No, he has arguably three I've seen Stillmatic called a classic plenty of times. The album has plenty of classic and top tier tracks (2nd Childhood, Ether, The Flyest, One Mic, Destroy & Rebuild).

Predator is not better than Stillmatic, Lost Tapes, God's Son... :francis:

Did you just say The Predator is up there with Illmatic production wise? :comeon:

2/4 songs had good beats, the other 2 not so much. But production is subjective, so let's get off that topic because it doesn't prove anything. You're the only one who'll say Nas had better beats than Cube throughout the discographies.

Yeah there are some West Coast MCs that are more complex but for the most part it isn't in most artists' DNA on that side. Plus as I said that isn't his purpose. Cube has done some slick rapping stuff before like on The Bomb or The Grand Finale (DOC's song). Complexity does not necessarily factor into how good a lyricist one is. Chuck D was never super technical. Scarface was never super technical. You gonna call them lesser lyricists because of it?

The Predator is more of a classic than Stillmatic and any Nas album not named Illmatic. Hell even IWW has been debated at times. At least Cube has 2 UNQUESTIONABLE classics.

Nas or HOV (especially Reasonable Doubt HOV) or Prodigy or whoever may appear more lyrical because they are more poetically-astute, which means their expression involves capitalising upon many rhetorical devices and poetic techniques. But in the balance between lyricism and technicality, that makes them better technicians in rap, not necessarily lyricists.

When something as deeply artistic for evoking emotion exists, as it does in Cube's raps, you cannot call him an inferior lyricist. He's one of the greatest.
 
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tbh Stillmatic is pretty overrated. It does have some fantastic songs such as 2nd Childhood, One Mic or Rewind, but it's also got some bullshyt like My Country:huhldup:

Production has its ups and downs (2nd Childhood's beat is amazing while Ether's isn't that good)

I'd say it isn't a classic.
 
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