1. "Same with Royce. But my shame is I slept on Dr. Dre. " In response to Reply # 0
Wait let me explain!!!
I was generally underwhelmed at the time with the G Funk era. Namely because my dad was heavy into funk and I thought it was just easy recycling of music I knew really well. I felt like he was doing what Puffy was doing sampling super recognizable beats.
It wasn't until the Chronic 2001 did I start to recognize the production value of what he was doing. Actually Death Row released a live instrument album before that and I started appreciating the musicianship of Dre.
That's all.
********** "Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson
Besides being aware of Pump It Up, I've never actually heard anything else he's ever made. It wasn't until I started listening to the podcast and was in the gym one day that I decided to give his playlist some run. Can't believe it took me this long
How About Some Hardcore came out on the House Party 3 soundtrack. I figured 'how hard can these guys really be?'. Then I heard 'Worlds Famous' on DJ Clue's Spring Break mixtape.
I've been doing penance ever since
<-- Dave Thomas knows what's up... __________________________
Jay: Look here homie, any nigga can get a hit record. This here is about respect. Game: Like Gladys Knight. Jay: Aretha Franklin. Game: Word, I like her too. Jay: Nigga...
6. "Jay-Z is the biggest one" In response to Reply # 0
My boy had Reasonable Doubt back in '96. He loved Jay but I just couldn't get into it. I'm usually behind the curve on shifts in music and Jay's style and East Coast specific beats were too much for a St. Louisan to swallow in high school.
I kind of went back and listened to Reasonable Doubt at some point in my mid to late twenties and really liked it. His energy on the mic was undeniable.
Because I was a backpacker, looking back, I didn't really get into Jay-Z until The Black Album. At that point, ?uest and The Roots gave him some cred that I didn't he deserved but on the strength of their record, I bought the album.
It was really dope to me. I think I respected Jay's lyricism but his production always seemed lackluster to me, at least the more pop songs, I listened to which he released to that point.
I still didn't like Change Clothes but by then I bought the album and dug Dirt off Ya Shoulder and 99 Problems.
I've bought songs off of every Jay album since. Kingdom Come was a bit of a step back but there were songs on there that I really liked and the same with The Blueprint III. 4:44 was dope too.
I also dug a lot of his features from Kanye and Freeway and Beanie Segal from the mid 2000's.
Charles Mingus was another great artist I slept on. My dad is really into jazz but he didn't play Mingus at all. I didn't learn about him until I was doing some digging into the influences for Kid A where Thom Yorke mentioned a song of Mingus' was an influence for The National Anthem.
Later in my early 30's I think, Ken Burns released his Jazz doc and Mingus had a collection of songs sold as a CD. I picked it up and was awed by the versatility and artistry of the songs. One of the virtuosos of the 20th Century.
I kinda slept on Biggie as well.
I was big into Death Row, which looking back was kinda odd since I was a teetotaler as a kid when Death Row was hittin. Anyway, while I respected Big's talents, I never really listened to him like I did the Death Row artists.
But later on in my 20's I got into Ready to Die. It would be some time until I got into Life After Death. (Truth be told, being a backpacker prevented me from listening to some dope music when it dropped.)
That album is too long, but there are some dope cuts there.
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