What makes a perfect song? I'm more interested in what makes a perfect album because most hip hop artists are trying to make the next big single rather than a great album. Fortunately The Roots don't have that problem.

But for this discussion I'll try to stick what makes an individual song a class. To me, it's got to have some sort of impact or lasting impression. That's essential. That impact doesn't have to necessarily be an in your face message like "Fight The Power" (although it works in that case) because there are plenty of imitators who have been forgotten. It doesn't have to be the greatest lyrics ever put on wax (Canibus might be a technically skilled rapper but I'm lucky if I can stay awake to hear it). It has to be...memorable. Like Rakim said, a classic song is a timeless song and it needs to have this impact so that it's remembered. Because of this, it is a very individual idea. What may impact one person may not impact another.

To use the artists in this song, all of them had a large impact on me personally, but even moreso on the general scheme of things in hip hop. They've all been imitated, they've all been copied. Rakim is the foundation of what rappers are doing today. Nas upped what he did to make beautiful street poetry. KRS...continues to speak complete and utter nonsense. Kanye defies all the rules of physics as his head continues to swell to unbelievable levels. I'm sorry about those last two...I'm not the biggest fans.

But in all seriousness it's always been a difficult thing to judge for me. It's not about having the absolute greatest lyrics or the best produced track. This song, "Classic" will never be a classic to me. Even though it has the dream team of artists on it I won't ever consider it a classic. There is more to it than that. It's almost indescribable. T.R.O.Y. is the culmination of some AMAZING production in hip hop with some tight lyrics, but there's some intangible goodness that makes it THE greatest song of all time for me (...as I said this is all subjective). Is it the premier showcase of lyricism? No. Is it the best produced song? ... actually it might arguably be so (damn, doesn't help my argument!). But together, somehow it has this indescribable impact that will be permanantly imprinted in my brain and makes it my favorite track of all time (?uest you need to do a version of this song when you play live now).


...after all that, the answer is obviously...I have no idea. Maybe someone older and wiser (?uest?) can explain exactly what this "indescribable" impact actually is. Frankly I don't care...as long as I can continue to get that undescribable feeling every few years or so when I hear something that just blows me away, I don't care what the hell that thing actually is. In fact it might even be worse to know it, it might take the enjoyment out of it. That's the one fear I have had when deciding whether to pursue some sort of musical career; will it lose that magic if you are actively trying to achieve this so called "classic"-ness? Sometimes artists become so wrapped up in this goal that they can never achieve it. NaS is a great example. Hip Hop is Dead is easily his greatest achievement since Illmatic because he finally stopped trying to recreate Illmatic. He finally got some proper motivation even though it had to take the demise of hip hop to do that.

I think I'm done. I just got this...indescribable urge to sit back and listen to TROY for the rest of the night. Peace.