That the east coast struggled so much with 'hooks' and/or making overtly likeable songs that still had good rapping. Most cats have to Kurupt it up (almost randomly use bigger words to give off the impression of lyrical spazzing) to have a song that sounds lyrical. And when those same cats go to make a song about women, they either try to redo Ice Cream (and fail) or they can't open the door with a 'some say the x makes the sex spec-tacular'. And club songs...even worse.

Honestly, I think a lot of Combs for making BIG stretch out a little bit. Juicy was excellent and BIG didn't even want to go in on that. If other folks could really pull it off, BIG stop coming up as a harshly-argued top 3. Jay never really got in the pocket like BIG did, but he was close enough once he slowed it down that folks rolled with it. I still think the world of RD-Vol 2 JayZ..Stalley does too apparently.

People not liking I Love the Dough is insane to me, but whatever.

Jimaveli

>just like Nirvana, Big did come in with his own style and was
>accessible from the start thanks to Puff's marketing.
>
>and while Big was dope and did what he did well, he opened up
>a lane for every MC after him to try to go down and let's just
>say that lane has led us to the super commercial bullshit that
>we see now.
>
>I do put more blame for that on Puff but Big was the face. So
>I can't say he didn't bring anything to the genre, but I can
>say that doors he opened didn't lead to a good place.
>
>and in my opinion, he was never the greatest. Back in 94
>there were so many dope artists and even on Ready To Die,
>people were still placing Meth in that spot which makes his
>guest appearance so dope.
>
>and you had Nas, AZ, Mobb, the entire Wu and many more MCs who
>were loved just as much as Big in regard to the skill level.
>It just so happens that Big had the most success which made
>him more easy to crown by people who weren't really even
>hip-hop heads.
>
>and by the time LAD dropped, which most hip-hop heads thought
>was decent but WAAAAY too commercial, the line had really been
>drawn in the sand.
>
>add him passing and Puff and Jay shouting from the hilltops
>that Big was the GOAT and you get everyone and their moms
>saying he's the best ever which really was never the case.
>
>so yes, he was dope and he did have his own style but he was
>not head and shoulders above anyone.