Alright guys here is the deal. I'm a big fan of rap, but I can't find anything that I like these days. I don't have time to shift through mixtapes to find who is good and I dont want to waste time downloading cds and seeing if I like them. I'm going to list albums I love and maybe you guys can point me in the right direction. I don't actually like the rappers from the albums I list anymore, they all fell off in a bad way.

Black Rob- Life Story
Memphis Bleek- Coming of Age
50 cent- Power of the Dollar + Guess who's back
Nore - N.O.R.E. and Melvin Flint da Hustla
Beanie Sigal- The Truth and The Reason
Joe Budden- 1st CD ( I think padded room sucks balls)
Nas- It was written, Illmatic
AZ - Most of his early stuff

I do fuck with Jeezy but I dunno if there is anything out the similiar to my list, maybe my generation of rap style is over. Please no Kanyne West either. I prefer my rappers to rep the streets, not fishsticks.

Blu and Exile - Below the heavens

Common Market - (cd could be called Tobacco road, not sure.)

Deep Rooted.

Decay - The unlikely Hero.

Redman, Common, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Roots, Lupe Fiasco, Wu Tang Clan, Royce Da 5'9, Saigon

Thanks guys I'll check them all out.

Brother Ali puts some good shit out too, check out Undisputed Truth and his new EP. emc is pretty good as well. Hope you find something good out there.

You might want to check out some Immortal Technique..some of his lyrics a very full on!! Not that the other rappers I'll mention may be similar but you may also like..
Three 6 Mafia
Cam'Ron.. i know I do anyways!

Seriously check out Saigon. He is one of the new artists he is possibly the new Nas

I don't listen to rap but I heard one group that sounded alright.

La Coka Nostra is their name I think.

I liked Joe Budden's 1st album but he got better after that IMO

I have to say though, I really like TI. I'm Serious, Trap Musik and Urban Legend are ridiculous. Even the new stuff is quality, just not as much depth on the albums.

Wu Tang for sure but I listened to those albums so much they don't even work anymore. Hopefully ITunes can get some more older stuff, I found it to be veruy useful in looking for music.

My roomate, all he listens to is this guy Drake. Lil Wayne's boy or something. He's actually not that bad but I don't think he is considered a rapper really.

I'll check out Saigon (that dude who was on entourage right?) and Maxys list. I totally forgot about Redman. Loved that cd with "Ill be dat" on it.

Saigon sucks ass! Pure shit!

I'm a fan of 3-6 and Trick Daddy

But dude you should really check out Little Brother and 9th Wonder. Joe Scudda is pretty straight and so is Consequence. But definitely check out that little brother and if you want to go with something more mellow listen to Foreign Exchange.

Go to www.datpiff.com and there you can listen and download mixtapes for free of charge, no catches or anything.

Hey 3King...how can you say Saigon is shit....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7B1X8ANSoc

Redman is a certified HOF in Hip Hop. His first 3 albums were classics...

Little Brother's album the Minstrel Show is something you might like...

To be honest...I'm looking forward to this rapper named Cage next album. He's a white rapper and he makes some crazy tracks...easily better than Eminem of present

Nah that aint him. That last picture pretty much settled that for me.

Why you hope he is still dead?

Of course it's not Tupac. You think he would really be out in the public like that partying?

WOW...you never cease to amaze me.

I dunno bout Fitz but he deserved what he got. You wanna play gangsta & live teh thug life then don't be suprised if your life ends by the thug life.

Nothing I Glorify but he always said "live by the gun, die by the gun". He even predicted his own death. I'm sure he expected it.

Tupac's back story about being a street hustla is full of holes like his body was.

Saigon is not new..I was listening to him with Tru Life back like 8-9 years ago I think..Not a fan of him now but Tru Life is still dope..They are really underground..You can see em on the movie Beef when they have beef with Mobb Deep..

Here's the song I was talkin about..It wouldn't let me post the video for some reason,the video button wasn't working for me..
Tru Life and Saigon

Thats Coke - LCN

You are right Johnny..BUT...Im pretty sure Saigon blew up only in 2005 and was a prospect then...he hasn't even released his first album yet....so I call him new

New to mainstream,definitely..95% of hip hop that I listen to is underground or was underground at that point of their career..I listened to Mobb Deep like 10 years ago and now everyone is actin like they're huge fans as soon as they sign to 50 Cent's label..I don't listen to new Mobb Deep and you'll never get me to either..They sold out..I'm glad they are gettin paid,but they are weak now..Atleast they had a few good cds..Did you listen to that song BigG??My favorite line is "When I'm clappin at your show it ain't a round of a applause,leave niggas on the floor dead with shit in they draws"...hahahahaha..

Here's how I view Tupac.

Tupac was what you could call a contemporary Malcolm X, the next leader in a modern day civil rights movement. Most of you may laugh at the comparison, but you have to take into consideration how fragmented the US black population has become after a long history AFTER the Black Panthers of drugs, guns and gangs. With hip-hop/rap music being a common unifier amongst the black community, Tupac was the closest thing to bring them together.

His rumored attempt at faking his death was modeled after the Italian philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli, hence Pac's moniker, "Makaveli", who advocated faking one's death in order to fool one's enemy, which IMO, Pac viewed as the US government. Also, it's said that he had taken out a 7 million dollar insurance policy on his life months before his death which his mother, Afeni Shakur, is said to have received. In fact, Pac's bookshelf at the time of his death was full of, not only revolutionary text, but of complex thinking in general. If you actually listen to the ENTIRETY of his songs, you will see that many of his songs were socially conscious, often depicting the ill conditions of the US ghetto and encouraging people to come together against a common issue. Being that he was very influential amongst the youth of ALL races and had the ideas, but more importantly the POTENTIAL of changing things, he was viewed as a problem by many.

Now all that West Coast/East Coast bullshit was a media creation made to sell records, but I'll be the first to admit that Pac got himself caught up in the hype. Maybe it was real. Maybe it wasn't.

Do I think he's still alive? No. Do I think his death was a government conspiracy, possibly, but not likely. What I think was more likely was that Suge Knight killed him for wanting to leave Death Row records. Suge was a shady muthafucka.

The point is a lot of people seem to make brash comments like, "he deserved what he got" or "he was nothing but a street thug", when they seem to know very little about him.

Great Post!

People should really check out some of his documentaries. There also a course at UCLA on Tupac.

Thanks bro. I actually took a course on him at the University of Washington. Dude was a lot more complex than people give him credit for.

The new Eminem album, Redman & Method Man albums...FIRE!!!

Saigon is ok, but pls dont ever mention him and Nas in the same sentence again

You're right.

No doubt, Saigon is aight, but with Nas u know ur talkin possibly the G.O.A.T

Wow, a rapper who read machiavelli. Now he's on par with every high schooler in the country.

The greatest rapper of all time was, is, and always will be Rakim Allah.

Close seconds IMO would have to be Big Daddy Kane and KRS One. Kool G Rap's another one not far behind.

Ice Cube was a ferocious lyricist in the early N.W.A. days.

Some of my personal favorite hip-hop albums of all-time would be, in no particular order:

"Paid in Full" Eric B + Rakim
"The Infamous" Mobb Deep
"Only Built For Cuban Lynx" Raekwon
"Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" Wu-Tang Clan
"Whut? Thee Album" Redman
"AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted" Ice Cube
"No One Can Do it Better" The D.O.C.
"It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" Public Enemy
"The Low End Theory" A Tribe Called Quest
"Aquemini" Outkast

I'm sure there's more.

I stopped listening to rap sometime in the late 90's, early 2000's. It's just real hard for anyone to come out with anything new and original anymore. And I fucking hate all the jewelry, money, bitches, blah blah blah.

New School sucks. Same reason I hate Floyd Mayweather Jr. I still love the old stuff as much as I ever did, but for me rap is more or less dead.

I've bought a few CD's over the past few years that I've liked.

"The Black Album" Jay Z (also liked "The Gray Album" that Dangermouse did)
"Hell Hath No Fury" Clipse
"Bake Sale" The Cool Kids

Mostly I'm done with it though.

You most def have some all time great albums listed, but is there a reason Illmatic, Reasonable Doubt, and Ready to Die are not listed?? Hope just an oversight cuz those are three of the all time best ever made

Gramsci, Nietzsche, Fanon, along with many other complex text were also found on his bookshelf.

Now he's escalated to an undergrad, go state! First rapper to read existentialism, how novel. Tupac, college freshman and savior of the masses, its such a shame we don't have his leadership anymore. Him and bigs could have ran for office one day under the ' death row ' party, it would have been special

I don't understand why you think it's unbelievable he could have been a leader for the masses. Malcolm X never finished high school and was self-educated in the state correctional facility. And disagree with the fact as much as you want, but hip-hop music, then and now, has an incredible grip on the youth. Have you ever actually listened to his music? My guess is 'no' since you're unaware of the fact he was trying to leave Death Row at the time of his murder. My point is that people here seem jump to ridiculous conclusions based on not liking rap or his image, without knowing anything about the man, and when anything else proves the contrary of him being a ruthless, uneducated thug rapper, they refuse to listen.

No I loved those albums too just figured everyone always mentions them. Same with The Chronic for example. And while I thought Illmatic was definitely great, I always prefered Whut? for a solo debut, though that never really got the same hype.

Whut? Was, is a great album just pulled it out the archives the other day, but Illmatic is in a league of its own...personal choice I guess

Not unbelievable, just untrue. Malcom X was a leader of his people, and sought cultural reforms. Tupac had rap videos, and imaged himself as a thug. He could have been a cultural leader, but he cared about money more than leading his people. Just perpetuating the same bullshit, no one knows why Tupac got killed, but everyone knows why Malcolm X did. Ali was a leader, King was a leader, X was a leader people listened to them.

And as far as his image, he created it, so don't cry about that shit either

Again, have you actually listened to his music? Nearly every one of his albums had tracks advocating social and cultural reform, but of course, you would never hear about them if you never bothered to open your mind.

T.H.U.G.L.I.F.E (which I'm guessing is why you refer to him as a "thug") was a code of ethics he created for the U.S. ghettos in efforts to curb growing gang violence and was modeled from Huey P Newton and the Black Panthers.

And his image is subjective, depending on how much you actually know about the person, which most Tupac detractors, like yourself, don't bother to learn about.

Do I think Tupac was on par with a Malcom or a King? No. But did he have the ideas, the following, and the potential? Yes, definitely. You're reasoning to say he didn't seems to stem from ignorance of his personal character and disdain for the hip-hop culture rather than listening to facts.

Out on bail fresh outta jail, California dreamin
Soon as I stepped on the scene, I'm hearin hoochies screamin
Fiendin for money and alcohol
the life of a west side playa where cowards die
and its all war
Only in Cali where we riot not rally to live and die
In L.A. we wearin Chucks not Ballies (that's right, uh)
Dressed in Locs and khaki suits and ride is what we do
Flossin but have caution we collide with other crews
Famous cause we program worldwide
Let'em recognize from Long Beach to Rosecrans
Bumpin and grindin like a slow jam, it's west side
So you know the row won't bow down to no man
Say what you say
But give me that bomb beat from Dre
Let me serenade the streets of L.A.
From Oakland to Sactown
The Bay Area and back down
Cali is where they put they mack down

how progressive. what part of this song, one of his most popular, is uplifting? The half he doesn't rap is worse. Image is what you create, and he chose to be a part of this. I don't remember the last time King rapped being a Georgia playa, or Malcolm X told bitches where he puts his mack down. Do i need to put more lyrics up here. Get your shit together, make heroes out of heroes, not rappers and sports stars.

Finger tips on the hips as I dip, gotta get a tight grip, don't slip
Loose lips sink ships, it's a trip
I love the way she licks her lips, see me jocking
Put a little twist in her hips cause I'm watching
Conversations on the phone til the break of dawn
Now we all alone, why the lights on?
Turn 'em off, time to set it off, get you wet and soft
Something's on your mind, let it off
You don't know me, you just met me, you won't let me
Well if I couldn't have it (silly rabbit) why you sweating me?
It's a lot of real G's doing time
Cause a groupy bit the truth and told a lie
You picked the wrong guy baby if you're too fly
You need to hit the door, search for a new guy
Cause I only got one night in town
Break out or be clown, baby doll are you down?
I get around

How about groupie bitches?

Some say the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice
I say the darker the flesh then the deeper the roots
I give a holler to my sisters on welfare
Tupac cares, and don't nobody else care
And uhh, I know they like to beat ya down a lot
When you come around the block brothas clown a lot
But please don't cry, dry your eyes, never let up
Forgive but don't forget, girl keep your head up
And when he tells you you ain't nuttin don't believe him
And if he can't learn to love you you should leave him
Cause sista you don't need him
And I ain't tryin to gas ya up, I just call em how I see em
You know it makes me unhappy (what's that)
When brothas make babies, and leave a young mother to be a pappy
And since we all came from a woman
Got our name from a woman and our game from a woman
I wonder why we take from our women
Why we rape our women, do we hate our women?
I think it's time to kill for our women
Time to heal our women, be real to our women
And if we don't we'll have a race of babies
That will hate the ladies, that make the babies
And since a man can't make one
He has no right to tell a woman when and where to create one
So will the real men get up
I know you're fed up ladies, but keep your head up

Tupac (Keep Ya Head Up)

Time to question our lifestyle, look how we live
Smokin weed like it ain't no thang, so even kids
wanna try now, they lie down and get ran through
Nobody watched 'em clockin the evil man do
Faced with the demons, addicted to hearin victims screamin
Guess we was evil since birth, product of cursed semens
Cause even our birthdays is cursed days
A born thug in the first place, the worst ways
I'd love to see the block in peace
With no more dealers and crooked cops, the only way to stop the beast
And only we can change
It's up to us to clean up the streets, it ain't the same
Too many murders, too many funerals and too many tears
Just seen another brother buried plus I knew him for years
Passed by his family, but what could I say?
Keep yo' head up and try to keep the faith
And pray for better days

Tupac (Better Dayz)

Here's the thing. I have never denied that Tupac had contradictions or even music I didn't agree with. But what seems to be happening is that people are denying another part of him existed. People want to reduce him to some uneducated street gangster when they know absolutely nothing about him. Am I claiming he was the last Malcolm X or Martin Luther King? No. (Although I think it is VERY unfair to hold him those standards since the black community in the United States has changed DRASTICALLY). But I don't deny him the potential to have those ideas given how much I know about his life and the music he made.

Do I think his shit is the most socially conscious hip-hop out there? Hell no. Not when you have artists like Mos Def (at least the old Mos Def), Common, Talib Kweli, etc. But none of those artists had the same type of following (from consumers of all races) that Pac had. These days it's your 50 cents, Soulja Boy's and all that other stupid shit that has the public's attention. Tupac was more than that and it's unfair to categorize him with the like without knowing a damn thing about the man.


Oh please. It's not like this forum has had a history of advocating gender equality as evidenced by the numerous threads about "beating up women that deserved it" or the other sexually objectifying avatars I've seen on this page. I don't really judge people about it, but don't start pointing fingers and chastising people about objectifying behavior like "groupie bitches" when most of ya'lls comments aren't any better.

I was never the biggest Tupac fan but "Dear Mama" is still one of the greatest tracks ever. Lyrically he was never on the level of a Nas, Common, Talib Kweli, Notorious B.I.G but he was a great ARTIST who made great music with meaning.

Exactly. Tupac wasn't a great lyricist, but he was an artist who conveyed emotion very effectively through his music.

He was also a very charismatic person.

Tell that to Obama.

Yeah, but we're not talking about us, we don't have people claim that we're the new vocal leaders for social change of a community. My comments don't have to be better, I'm not claiming to be the voice of a generation. Stay on topic, this argument is shit. I'm pretty sure I'm done with this discussion though. Choose better heroes.