I went with option C. I don't think there was an option that expresses how I feel. I was a big fan of rap in the 90's. In the early to mid 90s I caught on to a lot of West Coast stuff like NWA and Eazy-E and Death Row. In the mid 90s I listened to a lot of stuff. None of it really mainstream. In the mid to late 90s, I was really into Bad Boy with albums like Ready to Die, Life After Death, No Way Out, Harlem World, and Money, Power, Respect. Mase was pretty much my fave. After Mase left, and TAFKA Puff Daddy, started changing his name every year, it seemed like he was the only big name left on his own label, and the only good stuff coming out was from him. So I was less interested. Nothing after that really peaked my interset. Maybe Fabolous, but not really.

After the 90's I really wasn't listening to anything new up until recently, rap or otherwise. I was mostly listening to 80's, 90's, and 70's stuff. Even a little bit predating that. I think a lot of it was due to the fact that for several years I didn't listen to the radio at all. I also wasn't watching MTV/VH1 or anything else. Not that they play music anymore anyways. I wasn't reading a lot of magazines and things. So I really didn't know what was out.

I lied. I listen to Eminem. Comes up with some of the best lyrics of all time, IMO.

I will say this about rap though. I went to the Puff Daddy and the Family World Tour and the Jay-Z Hard Knock Life Tour. Rap concerts are either the best concerts to go to or the worst. The first was awesome. Better than any other concert I've ever been to. And I've been to a lot of concerts. The second one was okay. But when you get one guy by himself on stage, its boring. DMX was boring. Jay-Z was boring until the finale when everyone else from the show joined him on stage.

Red_Mage wrote:

I'm a big fan of older rap. The stuff that scamrock mentioned as well as a few of the late 70s or early 80s artists. And Public Enemy fucking rules.

I agree. In the mid 90s (as opposed to the early and late 90s where most of what I was listening to was mainstream popular of the time), I was listening to a lot of different rap. A lot of stuff I picked up from Yo MTV raps and then started getting The Source and stuff like that. So in addition to some of the less mainstream stuff of the time, I was also listening to a lot of older stuff. Slick Rick was one of my favorites.

At the time, I was a big fan of Erick Sermon at the time. I was also a big fan of Kris Kross. And when I say Kris Kross, I mean the album Young, Rich and Dangerous, not Totally Krossed Out. TKO was okay when I was a kid as a novelty. But YR&D was pretty good and kind of molded me into liking the kind of rap I did in the late 90s. A lot of feel good rap as opposed to rapping about violence that personified the gangsta rap I listened to in the early 90s.

Laminated Sky wrote:

Gangsters Paradise is a great song obviously, but back in the day rap was more soul full in the sense that it had feeling to it. Now its just people gloating about having money, hoes, and rims. A line from the song "Get Low" To the windows, to the wall, to the sweat drop down my ball, my ball. To all these bitches crawl. Ahh skeet skeet mother fucker, ahh skeet skeet god damn..." skeet=money shot if you know what I mean

I initially liked Gangstas Paradise, but quickly got tired of hearing it get overplayed. I prefer C U When U Get There. I'm still a sucker for Fantastic Voyage also.

Does anybody remember Skee-Lo?

username wrote:

scamrock wrote: Laminated Sky wrote: Gangsters Paradise is a great song obviously, but back in the day rap was more soul full in the sense that it had feeling to it. Now its just people gloating about having money, hoes, and rims. A line from the song "Get Low" To the windows, to the wall, to the sweat drop down my ball, my ball. To all these bitches crawl. Ahh skeet skeet mother fucker, ahh skeet skeet god damn..." skeet=money shot if you know what I mean I initially liked Gangstas Paradise, but quickly got tired of hearing it get overplayed. I prefer C U When U Get There. I'm still a sucker for Fantastic Voyage also. Does anybody remember Skee-Lo? i only remember 'i wish' (idk if thats the name or not) but outkast is good. goodie mob is good. although outkast lately has just been a little too different for me. i like x-clan a lot. the coup is badass. and i also love fantastic voyage as well scam.

Yeah, I Wish. Skee-Lo was raps mainstream one hit wonder.

Outkast is good, but I have to be in the mood.

I remember buying Goodie Mob's Sould Food Album when it came out. That is when I was really getting into rap aside from the mainstream west coast gangsta rap like Death Row.

But yeah Goodie Mob is awesome. I also like Gnarls Barkley with Cee-Lo from Goodie Mob.

erock462 wrote:

I actually enjoy well done rap. Stuff like Gym Class Heroes The Roots Aesop Rock are really fun to listen too. I also like artists like Common Rakim Eric Sermon KRS 1 ATCQ De La Soul and just a lot of the more ground based rap groups Ghetto Boys etc etc.

I went to a Gym Class Heroes concert. They were pretty solid.

ross_rifle113 wrote:

My opinion of rap today is the same for any music today: a gross bastardization of a formerly great musical genre. NWA, Public Enemy, Ma$e, Puff Daddy, Run D.M.C., Gangstarr et al=excellent. 50 Cent, Soulja Boy, fuckin whatever other one hit wonders with horrible names on the radio today =horrible fucking trash.

Its good to see somebody give some dap to Ma$e. He's my favorite rapper. I know Diddy catches a lot of head, but Bad Boy was the pinacle of hip-hop in the late 90's. They catch a lot of flak for sampling, which is odd because I don't remember Dre catching hell when he sampled George Clinton.

I guess its just easier for me to relate to "feel good" rap as opposed to gansta rap. I'm down with bitches and 40's. But guns, drugs, rollin' hard in general aren't really things I had a lot of experienc with in when I was in high school at the time...well, not until somebody downloaded the GTA demo in the schools computer lab.

ross_rifle113 wrote:

I don't think I could watch some idiot bop around on stage while talking along to a tape recording.

Here's looking at you, Milli Vanilli.

I do like Eminem a lot though. Other than that, I agree about most music today. I like to blame it on The Real World, and Music Television showing anything but music. But I'm sure that's not the real reason. But they do make a good scapegoat.