I’ll kick it off with;

Ras Kass - Rasassination

It's a disappointing album but I love the intro, Group Therapy, and Been There, Done That. Shittin on Top of the World, Blunt Time, and Fame are pretty good as well.

I’m going to check it out

You could call it a compilation, similar to Compton that came out much later.

The artists are acts he signed to Aftermath, outside of B Real, Nas, and KRS-ONE who along with Dre recorded under the name Group Therapy and made East Coast, West Coast Killas.

Dre produced a couple of tracks but most other production was from other producers.

Dre tried to move past the hardcore gangsta imagery and incorporate more mature themes. Been There, Done That is a good example of the tone he tried to strike.

It's not a bad album but it seemed like he thought it would be another classic like The Chronic. It may have gone platinum but it obviously wasn't near the quality of 2001 or some of his later songs.

In a way, we may have this album to blame for Detox never seeing the light of day. Dre seemed to distance himself from this album due to it's light-impact on hip-hop. Maybe he spent so much time tinkering with Detox because the reception of ...presents the Aftermath hurt and he didn't want to experience that again. Ironically, it's what happened anyway, just with the material from Compton.

I was off Dre and pretty much west coast as a whole at that point in my life. Other than Xzibit of course!

Lol

The reception to that album and “the Firm Flop” really seemed to get to Dre.

IMO, it’s unfortunate that he abandoned becoming more “mature” in his content. It affected not just his own releases, but everything his label put out. He was even trying to have Rakim cursing and talking some bullshit, smh.

2001 was a banger, but that period that followed was my least favorite stretch of Dre’s career. All he would put his name on was some shock value “controversial” shit. He was like late 30s and into his 40s. It was corny and came off too calculated, especially after “Been There Done That” and all the interviews he was giving around 96-97.

>The reception to that album and “the Firm Flop” really
>seemed to get to Dre.
>
>IMO, it’s unfortunate that he abandoned becoming more
>“mature” in his content. It affected not just his own
>releases, but everything his label put out. He was even
>trying to have Rakim cursing and talking some bullshit, smh.
>
>2001 was a banger, but that period that followed was my least
>favorite stretch of Dre’s career. All he would put his name
>on was some shock value “controversial” shit. He was like
>late 30s and into his 40s. It was corny and came off too
>calculated, especially after “Been There Done That” and
>all the interviews he was giving around 96-97.

The problem with The Firm and Aftermath Presents wasn't the content necessarily, it was that the beats were pretty wack haha. I don't see why he couldn't have dropped that same g-funk heat while being a little less gangsta w/the lyrical content. I'm thinking "The Watcher" and that type of tone and content. Bangers don't *have* to include vulgarity and gangsta shit lol.

Agreed on “The Watcher”. More of that.

But I don’t know about the beats being wack in 96-97. I think it was just the direction on the Firm album that was off. The overly commercial Firm Biz single, and not having Nas and AZ together on damn near every song was the main problems IMO. Thought the beats that Dre did were strong. Phone Tap and Firm Fiasco were 10/10 to me. In fact, not having enough Dre tracks was another flaw with the album given how much he was associated with the album. If he did every track and Nas/AZ were on every track, it wouldn’t be a “flop”.

>Agreed on “The Watcher”. More of that.
>
>But I don’t know about the beats being wack in 96-97. I
>think it was just the direction on the Firm album that was
>off. The overly commercial Firm Biz single, and not having
>Nas and AZ together on damn near every song was the main
>problems IMO. Thought the beats that Dre did were strong.
>Phone Tap and Firm Fiasco were 10/10 to me. In fact, not
>having enough Dre tracks was another flaw with the album given
>how much he was associated with the album. If he did every
>track and Nas/AZ were on every track, it wouldn’t be a
>“flop”.

I often forget that Dre didn't do the whole Firm album. I always associate that album with him in totality because of how loudly and how often he denounced it during the 2001 era, both on song and in interviews and shit.

>It's a disappointing album but I love the intro, Group
>Therapy, and Been There, Done That. Shittin on Top of the
>World, Blunt Time, and Fame are pretty good as well.

And while I wouldn’t say it’s great, it’s still a strong album. Some classic songs, great features(Come on Down f/ Boot Camp!), Khrysis beats. Sean Boog got a lot better flow-wise in his later years IMO, but he always had that straightforward, earnestness that worked.

Relistening now. Phonte: “you can rhyme like Nas. Or rhyme like Pras. Won’t matter ‘cause it still won’t knock like ours.” SMH. So good.

Honestly, if he cut off P.B.E. and Right One this shit would be flames.

Those two in a row really kill it.

Still love the title track.

Fat Joe and DMX features were dope.

I thought he had a good commercial single with Flash The Message.

Medina Passage is dope.

agreed. I pulled out that album last year and I was really digging it.

Although I still contend that it's wildly underrated in Snoop's catalogue. It's way better than people remember it.

But it's still not *great*, just somewhere between pretty good and really good. So I'll submit it.

I can agree with Rassassination as well - I listened to that album relentlessly when it came out when I was in I think 8th grade haha.

I feel like we did this post recently by the way ? Only because I remember mentioning Doggfather in that post, too. May have been a slightly different OP topic tho ...

Clowning that we never listened because we thought he was corny by that point. Lol

Far from a classic but not trash like most people claim it is. Pooh, Daz and others gave Snoop some heat! Guest spots from Dogg Pound, LBC Crew and Tray Dee was on point too.

>Far from a classic but not trash like most people claim it is. Pooh, Daz and others gave Snoop some heat! Guest spots from Dogg Pound, LBC Crew and Tray Dee was on point too.

It's got a quintessential mid-90s non-Dre west coast sound. If R-Tistic still frequented these parts I know he'd be in agreement with us, too.

Only a disappointment because of what preceded it. Snoop’s catalog in general is underrated.

Obviously they're two entirely different artists/MCs, but I think their output has been pretty similar. One out and out, undeniable classic, a couple really great albums, a couple good albums, and a few incredibly uneven or "bad" albums that still contain flashes of their typical greatness.


>Only a disappointment because of what preceded it. Snoop’s
>catalog in general is underrated.

Snoop has put out a ton of great material after 2000.

So much.

Nas has not.

It's really that simple.

Snoop's catalog is miles and miles better than Nas's. Not even close.

the body of your response would go in the opposite direction.

Anyway I think they're comparable *shrugs*

And you are out of your mind.

Nas’ highs on ANY of his albums is miles better than Snoop’s output.

What did Snoop do around 99? I’m sure nothing comparable to NY State of Mind 2, Nas Is Like, Life We Chose or Project Windows.

And those are from lower rated albums from Nas’ catalogue.

>What did Snoop do around 99? I’m sure nothing comparable to NY State of Mind 2, Nas Is Like, Life We Chose or Project Windows.

.....uh....


It came out in the "perfect time" for it (DreamWorks label still had hope for doing big things in "not dead"/"still alive" old era music industry - the mighty year 2000)

It had the right look and feel (his great 1998 album "XO" looked and felt kinda rough - which ...eh... wasn't "optimal" for some of the songs)

but....


....eh, I'm not feeling most of the songs.

But I do like a couple of them...and I just appreciated how one of the songs off of it "fit" on a pretty random mix CD I made


...so...

If I keep making weird far flung mix CD's I guess I might go to "figure 8" again for yet another song.

I was late to Elliot's party but I couldn't get into XO.

But Figure 8 was more my speed, especially Son of Sam.

(and a couple of other tracks), so I "want" to love "figure 8"

why I keep coming back to it.

half of it is really dope. the other half is horrible.

I thought it was dope throughout.

Yeah, there were some weak joints where they were singing but they seemed to have a fun nostalgic vibe for me lol

I do think that ultimately what you’re alluding to was the problem though. Their dope tracks were so dope it made the weaker joints unacceptable.

And you can probably count on one hand the number of artists that had a better or equal A and B side than them.

The Actual and Priceless are fucking SPECIAL!

among the heat

That is *quintissential* 90s Preemo.

I love it.

Wow.

Priceless is even better to me

I'm not sure why people slept on All City's album, it was good from beginning to end, to me it only had two songs I would skip (and that was cause of the singing got a lil' too annoying) but overall every album I love has at least one song I would skip on the norm.

Anyway, doing the 90's almost every NYC rap group tried to have a Premier & Pete Rock produced song on their album, it was almost like expected.

Gonna check out this album this weekend. Feel like it was on my "list" of things I needed to hear years ago, I recognize the title .. but I just never got around to it.

Excited to hear it now. Sounds vintage late 90s NY hip-hop.

That beat is damn near perfect

Although I personally think it's great, I accept that I am in the minority and that it is good at best to the majority. It's in my top 5 Jay-Z albums, probably my #4 behind BP, BA and RD.

If you love The Blueprint (which I do) it's hard to understand why you wouldn't at least really like this album. It's got Just Blaze, Bink, The Neptunes in lieu of Timbaland (and "I Just Wanna Love U" is for sure >>>>> "Hola Hovito"). Sure there are a lot of of guest spots from The Roc fam but Free and Beans do enough to counterbalance Bleek and Amil, and even though the Rick Rock tracks don't fit the rest of the vibe I still dig "Change The Game".

"Soon You'll Understand" is one of Jay's best album cuts, the Intro is a classic obviously, "Guilty Until Proven Innocent" is a hit to me (as much as I prefer to avoid any and all R. Kelly these days) and "Where Have You Been" is a fucking hell of a closer.

Cut some fat and this is a hell of a 12-track album.

1. Dynasty Intro
2. Change the Game
3. I Just Wanna Love U
4. Streets is Talking
5. This Can't Be Life
6. Stick 2 the Script
7. You, Me, Him and Her
8. Guilty Until Proven Innocent
9. Parking Lot Pimpin'
10. 1-900-Hustler
11. Soon You'll Understand
12. Where Have You Been

The New Danger and The Beautiful Struggle

It's hard to follow up a classic. For every Tribe, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, OutKast or Kendrick, there are acts like The Pharcyde or even De la who put out good work but aren't as successful.

There are some really good songs on The New Danger. Sex, Love, and Money and Ghetto Rock were my favorites.

Like in the case with a lot of late '90s and early '00s albums it's just too long. And the highs just aren't as high as BOBS.

Really liked The Roots - Tipping Point, around that same time though.

But in hindsight BS is really forgettable. I don't think I've listened to a single song from that album since like 2005 haha. Shame, too, cuz I thought and still think Quality is a damn good album.

Meanwhile, New Danger I didn't like at all outside a few tracks ... but I still listen to those tracks to this day. Namely "Sex, Love & Money," "Sunshine," and "Grown Man Business." "Champion Requiem" is a pretty good song too, though I haven't heard it in a while.

With you 100% on The Tipping Point. They clearly were making an album they didn't want to make but that album still has heat, even if it's not generally what I wanted the tone of album I wanted to hear from them at that time (and they agreed so I don't feel bad saying that lol).

But man, "Guns Are Drawn," "Stay Cool," "Web," (!!!!), those songs are still heat to this day.

And really there's not a track I *don't* like on that album. But it was definitely not the tone and quality I expected or wanted from them at that time. But I listened to it a lot in the moment and still listen to the tracks above all the time.

Even "Don't Say Nothin'" is dope cuz Thought is just blatantly calling out the album for making them "sell out."

I’ve always liked it a lot even though many of their fans and themselves seemingly didn’t.

Shit bangs, and Thought MURDERS it. Closest we got to a Thought solo over “outside” production” (in sound plus I think Storch came back and did some of those?)before these EPs he’s been dropping. I was all in on that one.

>I’ve always liked it a lot even though many of their fans
>and themselves seemingly didn’t.
>
>Shit bangs, and Thought MURDERS it. Closest we got to a
>Thought solo over “outside” production” (in sound plus I
>think Storch came back and did some of those?)before these EPs
>he’s been dropping. I was all in on that one.

Yea Storch did "Don't Say Nothin'" I believe, and maybe had co-production on something else ? I'm not sure.

Not saying it’s a classic but it’s dope as hell

those beats still sound fantastic and Amp Live had this sort of down to earth presence while still keeping that vintage 90's larger than everything air about him.

The production is on point, Larry-O is one of those rappers who is good at storytelling, and was always on some crime-related topics, with a laid-back flow, now new kats are basically do the same type of thing but without the storytelling rhymes though.

K-Def's production was what made this album such a gem to listen to, not sure if Larry-O would but able to do an entire album if he didn't have K-Def's beats paired to it.

Their first single is still fire to me with the strings sample and the chorus scratches, it was one of those beats that is so epic and is like a moment in time when a producer makes a beat different than what others were doing just makes others want to imitate.

Coincidentally, I listened to this album a couple times last week for the first time in many years.

And yes, it not great, which was a massive disappointment to me when it was originally released. But, what stands out to me is how great a rapper Ras Kass was. He spits amazing bars all over this! It had me thinking that his career and his status in rap could have been much more elevated with just a few tweaks, and less personal and record label drama.

Outside of RL’s absolutely horrible performance on Lap Dance, I can play it through.

Love 'em both.

I would argue it’s underrated though.

Which to me would be different than this post because I do think that’s a great, if not, at least very very good album from top to bottom.

I still enjoy it quite a bit and believe it was his best album of the '00s decade. I don't even mind "Who Killed It?"

>believe it was his best
>album of the '00s decade.

I actually didn’t like Hip-Hop is dead. It felt all over the place to me.

I’m going to listen to it this week.

>I actually didn’t like Hip-Hop is dead. It felt all over the
>place to me.

I mean, it is all over the place, but there's a lot to like: title track, Black Republicans, the songs with Snoop and Game, etc.

>I’m going to listen to it this week.
>

I, personally, *do* love it. It's not perfect but it's got a lot of really great songs IMO.


>I still enjoy it quite a bit and believe it was his best
>album of the '00s decade. I don't even mind "Who Killed It?"

______________________________________________________________________________

"To Each His Reach"

but.....

Fuck aliens.

actually, nah fuck that... this album is great.


werd.

Yeah, I wouldn’t argue with that being great.

...their demo was better though

What's this about a demo??????


werd.

i think this shit goes, but theres enough staunch opposition to this take that I'm willing to admit theres probly just something wrong w my ears.

https://genius.com/albums/Dec-99th/December-99th

i have it in my library tho i cant actually find anywhere to buy it now, so i dont even know where i got it
but ya
email me if you want it (fontgangsta - gmail)

assuming these are the real songs...

I’ve heard people say this is his worst album.

*shrug*

I love this shit.

I understand people thinking the other members may get too much shine but that never really bothered me.

"Slaughta House" was and still is one of my favorite albums ever (see that Top 25 post), and it bothered me that it seemed like he was basically going against the premise of that album after "Born to Roll" was a hit. While I still don't like Born To Roll and the title track, I've gotten into the rest of it.

I’m from the Bay, but I was disappointed to see Ace go “West Coast” but in hindsight I’m helped him gain a wider fan base so I can’t be mad. Nothing tops Slaughtahouse though.

No, it wasn't Slaughtahouse, but yes, it always was, is, and will be a dope ass album. To this day I have this argument with my brother and every time, he realizes he likes waaaay more songs on the album than he thought.

And the Pitkin Ave mix of Sittin on Chrome? Flames.....

I will never understand people who say this is his worst album.

Ace is in my Top 5 but for some reason the only 2 songs I'd heard from this were The title track and Born 2 Roll

I thought the whole album would sound like that but instead it was more subdued/jazzy sounding

Hearing this for the first time in 2020 it's shocking to me people didn't feel this when it came out.

The other members of the INC spitting on this made for some much better variety and an overall better album in my opinion

That’s what this post is all about

The INC Ride is one of my favorite joints ever. That’s the first song I heard with that sample so as much as I dig the others like Nas’ Good Morning, they don’t hold up to me.

Both of these albums have something in common which used to happen a lot in hip-hop.

First you make the cheaper album that blows up......so both these albums are the bigger budget albums that aren't talked about much but I love a lot.

Nappy Roots worked with all sort of new people (Raphael Saddiq, Kanye, Lil Jon, David Banner) but each producer really catered to what the Nappy Roots were already making. This album sounds a lot better today than it did back then honestly...if Gary Clark Jr had been around then they prolly would've made something perfect.

This is: "Leave This Morning" featuring Raphael Saddiq

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYulcIg0RME

X's album got a little more notoriety, but it's a disservice that people only remember it for the silly Dupri diss and finding women that know "Choke Me, Spank Me (Pull My Hair)" (tho....if you do have a lady that knows this song, you're prolly in good situation lol). It also had a loud, ridiculous collab with M.O.P, an awesome intro based of getting out of jail, and a DJ Premier song as a bonus track (which I remembered from Conway's album having a Primo beat as a bonus too).

This is: "Losin' Yo Mind"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svx8bZJ8Fw0

Literally came back in here having just thought of it and saw that you posted it. Great minds.

But yea you nailed it. It's a little more inconsistent than his first 3 albums but if nothing else, "What A Mess" (the Preemo track you mentioned) was worth the price of the CD alone.

I always associate this album with Nas' "God's Son" cuz a girl I was hooking up with freshman year at college, an upperclassman who lived on my floor, had an internship for Sony and always got limited edition copies of albums early. So one day when I went to her room she had God's Son and Man vs. Machine waiting for me lol.


>X's album got a little more notoriety, but it's a disservice
>that people only remember it for the silly Dupri diss and
>finding women that know "Choke Me, Spank Me (Pull My Hair)" It
>also had a loud ridiculous collab with M.O.P, an awesome intro
>based of getting out of jail, and DJ Premier song as a bonus
>track (which I rememebered from Conway's album having a Primo
>beat as a bonus too).
>
>This is: "Losin' Yo Mind"
>
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svx8bZJ8Fw0
>
>
>
>

...after they were released. Got into all of them. My favorite of the three was probably "The Humdinger," but "Wooden Leather" was dope too.

They've been pretty consistent since then as well.


As for Xzibit, "Choke Me, Spank Me..." ruined that album for me. So much so that the only things I remember from it or that and the Preemo bonus cut (which is incredibly dope). That shit might be the worst song by a "respectable" hip-hop artists of the '00s.

Album is damn underrated these days. It’s got a few skippers, but overall I love it. Coolio made a lot of bad career moves, but I always liked him as an MC. He’s underrated now. Snoop been doing the same corny WTF type of things for years and nobody cares, but Coolio’s credibility got written off a long time ago for the same type of stuff.

I *LOVED* that album when it dropped. And there's still a few tracks I listen to from it.

It's not great by any means but that's an album I have a soft spot for.

Glad you reminded me of this - I may have to give it a front to back listen sometime soon.

I bought it on tape when it came out. 2 minutes and 21 seconds of funk! Knight Fall and Hit Em were my joints too. I liked Side A a lot, and also C U When U Get There.

I don’t remember a lot of the Side B songs that well though, would have to revisit.

>I bought it on tape when it came out. 2 minutes and 21
>seconds of funk! Knight Fall and Hit Em were my joints too. I
>liked Side A a lot, and also C U When U Get There.
>
>I don’t remember a lot of the Side B songs that well though,
>would have to revisit.

"Knight Fall" and "Hit Em" were dope too. I also loved "Ohh La La" (still do), "One Mo'," and "Can I Get Down 1x"

He needed to change that shit up because it was just a gimmick after that first album and made him seem more corny. Lol

I don’t remember liking that album when it dropped. Obviously Fantastic Voyage was a hit which is why copped it back then.

This is back when we were like 12 and I remember just chilling all summer with my boys, and we had a little pool table with the boom box set up next to it.

Every day one of my boys would try to get me to put Coolio in and every day I said “nah!” And proceeded to play Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. Then when I would say “you always wanna listen to Coolio man!” And he would say “and you always want to listen to same OutKast album!”

Then I would pause and go “that’s cuz this shit is DOPE and Coolio is wack!”

Good times...good times

“Ugly Bitches” was hilarious to me and my cousin back then. Still remember talking shit about a couple girls we were hating on, with that song as the inspiration, lol.

Fantastic Voyage, County Lines, I Remember, It Takes A Thief, Mama I’m in Love with a Gangsta, Can-O-Corn, U Know Hoo, Thought You Knew....like all those.

Need to break that out

I'm a big fan of that first WC and the MAAD Circle album, so I was hyped for it to drop. I thought "County Line" was hilarious and figured "Fantastic Voyage" was just the radio friendly single. Lotta heat on there.

Its hailed as a classic only because of the beef with Jay. On its own merits its just ait to me, bu I luv how it stunted Jay for a minute

>bu I luv how it stunted Jay for a minute

That's a great line.

Anyway yea with the benefit of hindsight it's definitely really, really uneven. Has some absolutely awful moments. And while I typically shy away from labeling albums this way because I don't think that it's necessarily a negative, it's definitely "dated" at and didn't age particularly well.

But it also has a lot of suuuuuuuuuper high highs. Obviously "Ether" but You're Da Man, One Mic, 2nd Childhood, Destroy & Rebuild, The Flyest ... shit I even love Rewind. And the Intro !

Yea that album is dope as hell lol.

Can you imagine if they made the proper cuts on the track list?

1 Stillmatic (Intro)
2 Got Urself A Gun
3 The Flyest
4 My Way
5 You’re Da Man
6 Rewind
7 One Mic
8 Doo Rags
9 Second Childhood
10 No Idea’s Original
11 Purple
12 What Goes Around
13 Nothing Lasts Forever

That shit right there!!!??

Sure, there’s Ether, Destroy & Rebuild, and Everybody’s Crazy which are all diss tracks but I feel like those are the shots he should’ve put out there and then not put on the album. It just would’ve been better to me if he did those joints but took the stance of “y’all not worthy enough for me to put that diss on my album”

SHE WANTS TO GET RIIIIID OF ME
CAUSE THE THINGS I SEEEEEEEN
CAUSE THE THINGS I SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN

Every Ghetto is dope to me too but those two wouldn’t make the cut.

Although I wouldn’t be mad if they did.

I'm glad it got made. Like a lot of stuff around then, the leak might've been better than the actual album that got put out, but luckily I still have both.

The main reason why I love it TILL THIS DAY? Nate Dogg was at his 'ridiculous phrases and lyrics delivered seriously' best.

'I heeeeeeeeard from my ho-miiiiiiies, that I should never love a hooooooooooeeee! But homie here I gooooo, fallin in luuv again!'

'If you want beef then gone and run on uuuuuuuup!'

'She says she waaaants to riiide, myyyyyyyy JOYSTICK!'. Wonderful. Ridiculous. Funny. Fun. Jammin more than it should've.

I'm Fly. Sassy Ways. Snoop had verses. Warren too.

I also loved In The Midnight Hour from Warren G around the same time. Nate went to town all over that one too. And I was all over the wannabe Prince stuff the West Coast dudes made around that time. Kurupt's Honesty for instance. Good times!

Lonely Girl, too! Nate destroyed those!!! At least one of them didn’t make them album. Maybe 2 of them? I’m with you though, Nate was the star of the show. Still mad Warren didn’t produce the album.

And I’m with you on In the Midnight Hour. Actually went to the store and bought that CD to support and was pleasantly surprised. Album was legitimately good. Nate on “In the Midnight Hour”, “PYT”, and “I Need a Light”....smh. So good. I really miss Nate.

>I'm Fly. Sassy Ways. Snoop had verses. Warren too.

I totally forgot this song existed. Listening to it now - wow. Tons of nostalgia. What a monster song.


>I also loved In The Midnight Hour from Warren G around the
>same time.

Yea Midnight Hour was actually pretty dope, for sure. That's another album I need to give a new spin. Been years. But I remember really liking it. Think that was a few years later tho. The album that Yo Sassy Ways was on was that "G Funk Era 2" album or whatever it was called.

By the way, any way you could send me that leaked version of the 213 album ? I had it on Limewire or something similar at the time but lost it.

Letdown album, but GREAT song.

Not sure if I got the leaked 213 album, or if I just downloaded the stray great tracks that didn’t make it. If my old laptop with all my music downloaded in the early 2000s still fires up, I’ll see what I have and send it if I got it. Wait....are those kinda sites where you can zip up an album and share it still a thing? Lol.

>Letdown album, but GREAT song.

I said G Funk Era 2 haha close enough.

But yea - agreed, there were like 3 good songs on that album.


>Not sure if I got the leaked 213 album, or if I just
>downloaded the stray great tracks that didn’t make it. If
>my old laptop with all my music downloaded in the early 2000s
>still fires up, I’ll see what I have and send it if I got
>it. Wait....are those kinda sites where you can zip up an
>album and share it still a thing? Lol.

Hahah I'm not sure. Good question.

For some reason I slept on the 213 album the first month in came out, then I finally listened to it and couldn't stop listening to it, I had it in heavy rotation for over a year.

It was one of those albums where all three artists were at their best if you ask me, Snoop was just in a zone, Warren G. was making sure his rhymes & production were on point, and Nate Dogg was already the hook master so when you heard his voice you couldn't deny it and it was like that extra topping on a dessert.

Even though the album is long, I didn't mind one bit, it had production from Nottz, Hi-Tek, Dj Pooh, Fredwreck, even Conyay Mess had a dope beat on it; anybody who doesn't like this album is just hating just to hate.

>For some reason I slept on the 213 album the first month in
>came out, then I finally listened to it and couldn't stop
>listening to it, I had it in heavy rotation for over a year.
>
>It was one of those albums where all three artists were at
>their best if you ask me, Snoop was just in a zone, Warren G.
>was making sure his rhymes & production were on point, and
>Nate Dogg was already the hook master so when you heard his
>voice you couldn't deny it and it was like that extra topping
>on a dessert.
>
>Even though the album is long, I didn't mind one bit, it had
>production from Nottz, Hi-Tek, Dj Pooh, Fredwreck, even Conyay
>Mess had a dope beat on it; anybody who doesn't like this
>album is just hating just to hate.
>
>
>

Word. I think the big issue is that a bunch of folks didn’t take the time to listen to the album. I’m fly felt like a hit to me when it came out but I had a bunch of folks around me who didn’t really mess with that. And it wasn’t cool to listen to west coast stuff for the folks who cared so much about geography at the time. R&G had already hit but that was Neptunes/Pharrell more than a ‘west coast’ thing. And even Game was something else.

but Warren doesn’t?

I’m Fly was cool, but using Monica’s beat that she just had a hit with was....mixtapish.

Album was ok, but I had higher expectations. And leaving a couple of the best songs off didn’t help. Nate was amazing on that album though.

>but Warren doesn’t?
>
>I’m Fly was cool, but using Monica’s beat that she just
>had a hit with was....mixtapish.
>
>Album was ok, but I had higher expectations. And leaving a
>couple of the best songs off didn’t help. Nate was amazing
>on that album though.

So Fly I mean.

>Even though the album is long, I didn't mind one bit, it had
>production from Nottz, Hi-Tek, Dj Pooh, Fredwreck, even Conyay
>Mess had a dope beat on it; anybody who doesn't like this
>album is just hating just to hate.

Made no sense to me why G didn't handle most, if not all, of the beats. Wasn't that kinda the point of 213 ? The MC, the DJ/producer, and the crooner ? Warren G can't rap for shit lol so why they didn't have him handling the boards blew my mind. Was such a disappointment considering how long west coast hip hop fans like myself waited for the 213 album to materialize.

I gotta give it a fresh spin, haven't listened in years, didn't love it at the time of its release. But I'm sure with lowered expectations I'll find a lot to like about it.

Unfortunately last I checked it wasn't on Spotify.

But from the leak, Brown Skin is the shit.

Joystick
Lonely Girl


Dope album, I miss Nate Dogg man.

>Dope album, I miss Nate Dogg man.

He was a bad, bad, bad, bad man. His presence made any song approximately 10 million times better.

Freestyle Fellowship - Temptations
Souls - No Man’s Land
Sadat X - Black October
Mos Def’s New Danger was a good call up above.
Cherrywine -self-titled (was just happy to hear Ish return)
Trendz of Culture - Trendz (I’m the crotch ripper/I’m the mad speaker, lol)
Boogiemonsters - God Sound (it’s not bad, just not touching the debut)
The Nonce -World Ultimate

I always dug it

plenty of guys doing something similar to what he did that are getting lots of love

Dope sophomore release. I listen to damn near every track on that album. Fav's are Rock It Like That, Freshdopedope, Where the F*ck You At, 94 Via Satellite, Ya Don't Stop and Fa Sho Fa Real.

Good call on that album. Listened to that a lot back in the day.


werd.

i mean, it's great to ME but i rarely hear it discussed as such.
but timbaland was my favorite producer growing up (i was born in 89) and this was my favorite of the early albums he produced. damn near made ginuwine tolerable.

The "Crazy" Canibus album where he resurrected Eminem's Stan Character

Just the sheer absurdity of it makes me like it

In a lot of places this was a comedy record which people weren't expecting, but there were some dope Serious, battle rap tracks on this too.

The Theme (It's Party Time) made me skip the album initially but when I heard it in a friend's car I knew I slept on that album. Big Will, Stars in the East, On the Edge and Repent made me cop the album ASAP.

Agreed with all the songs you listed.

I feel like I was the only one up on that album.

Keep Ya Hands High is an obvious highlight as well.

I’ve said it before...damn near my favorite west coast album of all-times n shit!

Still sounds good.

For whatever reason I kept this album in rotation a lot longer than was merited. That being said it grew on me and I really appreciated the "album cuts". I can recognize it is not near his best work but it is probably the one I am most fond of.

Top notch Primo beats that makes up for the most elementary rhyme schemes ever on record!

DFC - Things in the hood

Ice Cube - Lethal Injection

MC Ren - Shock of the Hour

Method Man - T2000 Judgement Day

Nas - I Am

Jay - Vol 3

2pac - Thug Live vol 1

The Roots - Tipping Point

I can see why fans of Cube over the years would be upset that the anger and rage of Cube were missing. But I felt Lethal Injection included enough songs that still contained his anger but also opened up his sound.

Maybe it's only disappointing because it followed up a classic.

Thug Life was a pretty good album at the time. It hasn't aged well to my ears.

The only problems with The Tipping Point was that it was packaged as their 'pop' album and that it followed arguably their best album. The Scott Storch songs are okay, although Thought spits well over them.

Why, The Mic, and Din Da Da are great songs though.

>I can see why fans of Cube over the years would be upset that
>the anger and rage of Cube were missing. But I felt Lethal
>Injection included enough songs that still contained his anger
>but also opened up his sound.
>
>Maybe it's only disappointing because it followed up a
>classic.

Followed up TWO classics, to be sure.

But yea I loved it at the time but also think in hindsight it's understandable why he wanted to branch out a bit and try for a more subtle, positive vibe as opposed to the ultra-militant, political anger he espoused on the first two.

And I think it came w/great results. "Bop Gun" is an excellent single, and fitting for the time period it was released. "Really Doe" is a dope ass opener. "You Know How We Do It" is also a dope single and has such a cool summer vibe.

And then like you said he still sprinkled in some political commentary on songs like "Ghetto Bird" and a couple of others.

I can't call it...but first thing that came to mind. I just love Jeru's flow...especially over Premo.


Another one would be R U Still Down? I know there aren't many Pac heads around here, but even among Pac heads this isn't highly rated...I fucking love it. First true posthumous album, and the updates they did do, for the most part, were on point.

Few duds on this one but the highs are really high IMO.

I think the same can be said for "I Want It All," while we're on the subject of Warren G. I could've done without, for example, the Ruff Riderz songs but outside of those and maybe 1 or 2 others that album is really good. I loved the vibe he went for on that one.

>Few duds on this one but the highs are really high IMO.
>
>I think the same can be said for "I Want It All," while we're
>on the subject of Warren G. I could've done without, for
>example, the Ruff Riderz songs but outside of those and maybe
>1 or 2 others that album is really good. I loved the vibe he
>went for on that one.

100%

Kool Keith - Matthew

*shrugs*