If it was released according to plan in 2003? Any at all? A big hit single?

I realize this is an impossible question to really answer, but a Rakim produced by Dre track came up on the iPhone today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbSCDgw4s7U&feature=related

Not baaaddd, but kinda forgettable.

So I did a search and came across these more joints.

The original plan, IIRC, was to get Rakim hot first with features to build up Ra again:

had him on Truth Hurt's single (Quik produced), a marginal hit that I remember being big in clubs that spring/early summer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTjPmgN98H8

It was an interesting placement, and I don't know if it fit with what people wanted to see from Rakim's first Aftermath look. Not wack though.

then he was on BP2 with Jay-Z and Dre (and Dre rappin a verse obviously written by Ra):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO-R69IU75E

One of the more popular album cuts from an otherwise forgettable album to the majority (it has some joints, but the ratio wasn't favorable)

then he had a joint on the 8 Mile OST, which was, cool?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DC0djnkSno

I dunno if this really works. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I cannot skip fast enough. The beat would've worked better with '04 50 Cent or G-Unit.

Then we have the other album joints:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsFBg2QEHVU

kinda dull...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1yFSU9jcUs

Produced by Ayatollah too! This is probably my favorite joint of all these. But, at best, a street single. Nothing that wouldve popped off during that time.

We all know what happened. Dre and Ra apparently had creative differences in 2003. Another record deal after that comes and goes.

And we don't get an album until 2009. And the shit really wasn't that good. It had a few heaters, but it was kinda soft. I know he says he and Dre parted ways because Dre wanted a more gangsta approach, and he wanted to go more, dare, I say, conscious (remember when that word was used EVERY day in hip hop discussion??). And I see what he went with. More love joints than you might expect, a very educational tone to the whole thing, even if from a street perspective, with some politics and religion thrown in. Not at all gangsta.

And yet, producer Needlz has said they told him they wanted to get a Dre like beat for his first single in 09 with Maino

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpaDGBiJ6Lg

It sounds VERY Dre like.

By this point, the resurrection of career ship had long sailed. The album didn't sell and I never saw any songs on any BDS lists. It failed.

What if? What if off the 8 Mile joint, they put out one of the above songs as a single and given it a legit Interscope backed push?

Does it STILL sudder out?

___________________________
OL' DIRTY BASTARD on himself:
"I may curse, I may have a bad mouth, whatever whatever. I'm not that bad, yaknow'mean. Bad to y'all, I dunno how y'all... I don't give a fuck. Um, I'm a good person at heart, for real and shit.

Couldn't some first-rate producers have thrown Ra some beats for free if his finances aren't straight?

The potential to make classic music has to still at least appeal to some of these guys with all the success they've seen.

Then again, I suppose it's fair to say Rakim isn't as sharp as he once was - whereas guys like Slick Rick or Kool G Rap have still got it.

That "Holy Are You" track had me sooooo excited for the album, then it came out and was pretty meh.

but i agree with what you said about Slick Rick, he sounds as fresh today as he did in 88. That "Need Some Bad" track with Premo sounds like it was recorded in the early 90s (i mean that int eh best way). I need a new LP from Rick.

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would have negatively affected his legacy not because it may or not have been commercially successful but because the gangsta subject matter would have conflicted with his more conscious reputation.

i don't think Rakim talking hard would have gone over well with his fans and even might have affected Dre for having put Rakim in a character compromising position by signing off on Rakim turning tough.

i could see a situation similar to Nas going Nas Escobar, but worse because Rakim seemed like he would have been above or not into making that sort of statement.

__________________________________________

http://www.twitter.com/chriscjamison/

People who don't take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.

Peter Drucker

Rakim might be the Baddest cat to ever rock a mic, however unlike LL COOL J for isntance his time card was only good for a small window.

for me Rakim would have had to follow 2Pac and Ice Cube's blueprint and balance the social and rawness to hit.

and i just don't hear Rakim ever being fully accessible.

i know he wants back in,however i just don't feel he has that drive to get there again and like i said he wasn't cut out to be the kind of cat who would be riden with a Dr Dre.

it would only work if Rakim switched up his style and i don't know.

ask yourself this could Rakim in 2003 done any of the tracks that 50 cent, the game or Eminem did and hit with it?

you see that is the real question and I don't know how a Rakim in 2003 could have sounded on a "in da club" or 21 questions or Hate it or love it.?

mistermaxxx R.Kelly, Michael Jackson,Stevie wonder,Rick James,Marvin Gaye,El Debarge, Barry WHite Lionel RIchie,Isleys EWF,Lady T.,Kid creole and coconuts,the crusaders,kc sunshine band,bee gees,jW,sd,NE,JB

Miami Heat, New York Yankees,buffalo bills

I agree 100%

"Highly developed spirits often encounter resistance from mediocre minds."-Albert Einstein

http://twitter.com/#!/TonyHanesPoetry

I really hated that 8-mile track when it dropped and still do. I think that beat was disgusting (in a bad way) and Ra's verses and hook were uninspired at best. I digged the truth hurts song for what it was and Ra came through with the lyrics. Before you die and the Ayatollah tracks seem suspect to me, because they didn't want the public to hear these.. so i'm regarding these as premature sketches. However, they were indeed unimpressive.

Of course in theory the 'best producer' and 'best emcee' in Hip Hop linking up for an album had a lot of potential and Dre was still very much on top of things at the time. It was a big chance for Ra then and Aftermath was going out on a limb really.. so the match up wasn't equal from the start.

Personally i felt that Dre would have to go into a different lane for this to work out, kind of like he did with Em. But 50 and 2001 were popping and Aftermath probably felt that was the way to go with Rakim. If they wanted they could've went with a 'American Gangster' like narrative, but Rakim is probably just not the type of artist that can still be told how to work. Honestly his vision and ways to create most likely didn't fit well with Dre's ethics. Truth is the early 00s were just not the era were Ra's usual subject matter could have worked (and it declined even more since then).

For Rakim to still have critically acclaimed new music out right now, i feel he has to stop playing catch up with current trends and embrace the style and feel of the era that made him. I think that if he puts something out like nas' made you look, busta's don't touch me now or the Roots' boom. maybe feature thought,nas, ghost and them, he would have relative succes.

Then again, he could tour forever off his catalog and rep without ever putting out some new music. I saw him last year in Amsterdam and the show was so much better than in the late 90s. He got his shit together live, but no release he puts out now would probably live up to his legendary status.

His last two albums lacked the production and inspiration to enhance his catalog, but i think he can still spit. Maybe Quest should Al Green Rakim something serious, i would definitely go and cop that still.

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