FREEFORM 1990's ALTERNATIVE ALBUM POLL - THE RECKONING (TOP TEN COUNTING DOWN NOW)

I see him. Never got him - his rapping still sounds comically inept to these ears.

Wow, really? He's like the only person on the Bad Boy roster who has any real concept of flow.

When did this poll happen?

Only over the course of like, two months.

Yeah, in a way I am kind embarrassed, because I thought that 87 points would end up guaranteeing it a place in the lower reaches of the countdown, but w/e

I still think this is a really great album, as is the second one. First disc starts off with a 10 minute long Orb remix and then has some FSOL. At the time it came out it seemed to me really unusual to have a "dance" cd that wasn't really club orientated. I worked in Our Price at the time and whenever I stuck this on (often) I was always gratified to see that people who I didn't expect to be into this sort of music would come and ask me about it. And I was probably guilty at the time of not thinking people could be open to music outside their usual genres, as I remember telling people I thought were middle aged (probably just my youth though - I would imagine they were younger than I am now) "the second disc might not be your sort of thing"!

I'm not from a journalism background and I am terrible at describing genres, but on the second disc, Castle Trancelot's "The Gloom" and the segue of the final three tracks Banco de Gaia to Humate & Rabbit in the Moon to Underworld still actually brings me out in a physical sweat, some sort of automatic genetic memory of chemicals that were in my system 15 years ago making themselves known again.

I'm pretty sure this is deleted now. It won't be to everyone's tastes and I when I realised it was going to end up charting quite highly I was expecting it to get hammered for being cheesy. I'm glad to see there were actually some ILX quotes for this album, I wasn't expecting that. Hope some of you give it a go and enjoy.

(Above about Northern Exposure xxxx-posts)

This album has the funniest skit on any hip-hop album ever.

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Saturday, 5 July 2008 07:36 (1 year ago)

Dude is all about the skits, isn't he?

xxp

I am using your worlds, I used to play the follow-up albums on in-store play in Sam Goody and sold a few as a result.

I loved it when young couples and university professor looking bearded dudes would buy this!

I see him. Never got him - his rapping still sounds comically inept to these ears.

― Ismael Klata, Thursday, 6 May 2010 16:06 (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

wait... what?

I mean seriously... what?

You confess to actually liking britpop and yet you don't 'get' biggie?

Are you Geir going fucking awesome on a sock puppet that we just never picked up on?

IT'S ALL KICKING OFF

is sam still drunk from last night?

How can anyone hear this and not think 'greatest mc ever', let alone 'comically inept'?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNwvHEme_JE

+ bonus funniest skit ever if i'm guessing what whiney is on about

Shit just got real

Not drunk. Saying Biggie has no skills a worse crime than saying Wenger is a bit shit w/ no vision imo.

who is the darraghmac of rap?

Suge Knight?

in a lol you crazy still talking about 2pacjol out need to get over it son

i dont think "greatest mc ever", and initially i didnt really get biggie either, and then one day i listened straight through this album and it just clicked how good he is. but if youve just kinda casually listened to the hits in the background, i think its harder to see all the crazy deep shit and the sort of burbling but pitch perfect flow going on there.

How can anyone hear this and not think 'greatest mc ever', let alone 'comically inept'?

he is definitely not the greatest mc ever. I don't think he's comically inept, but in general he doesn't interest me and never did

he's not even the greatest of the fat mcs

http://www.retroist.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/scanners.jpg

Yeah, it the same with me. I get that he had some talent, but what he was doing has never really clicked with me in a way some other rappers have.

(xx-post)

he's not even the greatest of the fat mcs

― the sound of a norwegian guy being wrong (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 6 May 2010 16:27 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Ok so this is just trolling, right? I can understand 'ok maybe not greatest rapper ever' but not even better than fat joe, biz markie and RAWSE?

I'd rate Big Pun above him.

E40 bitch

As far as fat rappers go.

Also: Vast Aire, Cee-Lo.

it sounds like everything on ready to die refined and sometimes perfected and all the new things that you've never heard him do before. there's the twisty storytelling tracks that build down into perfect payoffs ("nigga turned around holdin his daughter..."/"through all the excitement, they range got towed-- they double-parked by a hydrant"), the big puff/big tracks, the gully tracks, the slow jamz, whatever. it's amazing just to hear him rap-- like, he's perfect and most of the time it's just sort of in the back of your mind, like, "oh, he's good," but there're so many moments on it where it's like just .......... "this is perfect" and he can do anything.

― William Wiggins, Friday, 2 April 2004 06:10 (6 years ago)

Wiggy knows.

I'm trying to think who I think the greatest MC ever is and basically it's just reminding me that I need to go back and listen to more hip-hop.

Vast Aire? I think I need to go lie down.

he's definitely better than Fat Joe. Big Pun and Cee Lo are kinda debatable. I dunno RAWSE... Biz is an all-time great and a groundbreaker, he's kinda in a different league

lol what about Heavy D (The Overweight Lover)?

RAWSE = rick ross obv

Vast Aire is good in the context of the CO album but the solo wasn't that great.

lol what about Heavy D (The Overweight Lover)?

lol forgot about him. he has some good shit!

can't forget my man Sir Mix-A-Lot

I smell a poll...

ugh can't stand Rick Ross myself

Well, yeah, I haven't even heard Vast Aire's solo stuff, but on the Cannibal Ox album he certainly impressed me more than Biggie ever has.

I just spent too long looking for the thread where (I think Ethan?) was complaining about not being able to recreate Biggie's flow I and wrote "try filling your cheeks with ham"

oh actually maybe it was Big Pun

sounds kinda gay

xp

Lets all buy one record we haven't heard based on this thread - would that be cool? I think that would be cool.

Done. I put the double deluxe version of Imperial f.f.r.r. on hold for $8.99. Funny I'd never heard the whole thing. I always meant to, but never got around to it. I also never bought Spiderland as I had everything on tape and got burned out on it. I'm thinking a remaster of that could pop up next year as a 20th anniversary edition. Downloaded Superconductor last night and heard it this morning, not bad.

double deluxe version of Imperial f.f.r.r.

?? didn't even know this existed

Biz will always be my favorite plus-sized mc.

I always like Biggie's flow, but I'm not a fan of his voice; honestly, I wish he wrote for other people. Also, hate, hate, hate the production. But I'll take Biggie any day over Jay-Z ,whom I've never warmed to in any way.

xposts

It's hard to say, I'm an old east coast fan, so yeah i basically roll with "Who's the Greatest? Jay-Z, Biggie, or Nas" for the most part...

it's hard one, but in some way maybe Biggie is the greatest...he's the most human of the three to me, he seems genuinely scary when jay and nas only seem like they are playacting (or balancing a ledger sheet in jay's case)...he's self-depreciating sometimes, you could tell little moments when it was clear it was hard to be fat, that kids made fun of him for it...

plus, he did genuine party jams....like he was a man of real human appetities...jay is too remote and cold, he has some party jams but he seems like the type of guy that doesn't have much fun at his own parties, he just wants his parties to be the "best"....

nas is a formalist, a hermetically sealed weirdo to the fucking bone and i love him but he's an odd person, a bizarre person really so even after all these years i never feel like i know who the guy is...(though it must be said at his peak, he crafts the most incredibly written verses just from the rhyme as high art perspetive)

jay is off the charts talented and his flow in his heyday was remarkably slippery and inventive...his bragging shit is so regal and imperial and cruel that everyone else's boasts seems pretty weak by comparison....it's no surprise he ended up as he did, an actual businessman....

but yeah biggie has more laughter, more tears, more sweat and blood...sloppier maybe at times, not as focused at jay was, maybe not as absolutely stunning at painting mental pictures as nas was, but biggie was the dude you could relate to and feel

also, he's not as explicitly showy as a rapper as either nas or jay, he never really got by on a big vocab or real elegant rakim-derived stuff...but damn, the man could phrase a fucking line in a way that would just knock you on your ass...

"our parents used to take care of us...look at 'em now: they even fuckin' scared of us"

"Birth-days was the worst days, now we sip champagne when we thir-stay"

"high as a motherfuckin' hel-i-cop-tah"

like they don't even scan as classic rhymes, they even read a little corny but the voice, the delivery, the passion...fuck man...yeah biggie is great, if you think otherwise you are just plain wrong.

double deluxe version of Imperial f.f.r.r.

?? didn't even know this existed

It adds the Isobel Bishop EP and some other stuff from the same era.

really only got into Biggie this year but I get it now; 90s hip-hop remains a gap for me (that I'm actively trying to fill, with pleasure)