Aight, let’s try something different...this isn’t a post about your favorite verses by your favorite MCs.
This is a post about the verse that raised that MC to favorite status.
It may be your favorite verse by that MC, it may be the first verse you heard from that MC, but it’s definitely the verse you heard that made you say “aight...this MC is OFFICIAL!” and from that point on they were one of your favorites.
Post the MCs name in the Message and people can respond with the song and verse below.
4. "Sumthin’ Wicked This Way Comes (TLC)" In response to Reply # 1
I was already rocking Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik ALL damn summer and I’m partial to his verse on Claimin’ True but this was the verse that I played on repeat non-stop and instantly lifted him to my Top 3 all-time.
5. "This ol' sucka MC stepped up to me..." In response to Reply # 1
That verse on "2 Dope Boys" was some pearl-clutching shit for me when I was 12 at the time.
"One is in the air, and one is in the chamber" from SPCM was a good placeholder until ATLiens came out and it was that era's "hit different" occurrence.
Now as an Outkast, I was born, wasn't warned of the harm That would come to meet me like Met Life, but yet life Done sent me through a lot of ups and downs like it ain't nothin' Like elevators but I ain't the one that's pushin' the buttons
6. "The Good, The Bad, and The Desolate (High School High)" In response to Reply # 2
Loved DYWM and Thought had some moments on that album like the title track and Silent Treatment but when I heard this joint, I said “hold on...who is this mafucka right here?!!!??!” and then that continued onto Illadelph when he jumped to my favorite MC throughout my high school years.
26. "not a verse, but..." In response to Reply # 2
the song The Hypnotic. I already knew he was nice, but that song just had me in a trance for weeks. Still one of my favorite Roots songs, til this day.
...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft
33. "I remember Ralph Mcdaniels playing "Distortion to Static" on " In response to Reply # 2
Video Music Box with no introduction. The scene set for the video is very creepy and attention grabbing, I was glued to the screen waiting to hear something. Tariq comes on and he has the vocab, he has the clarity, he has the confidence, and he was changing rhyme patterns effortlessly. It was pretty intense hearing him for the first time, I wanted to be that nice one day. I was taken aback by the level of polish he had, especially since I was under the impression this is the Roots debut single.
45. "RE: Black Thought" In response to Reply # 43 Wed Dec-30-20 09:20 PM by cloak323
Another thing. Before the third album he was already solidified but that first verse on You Got Me ...photo flash focus record... clique do the score- him using that is both amusing and amazing. Love that song, album.
31. "East New Yawk.... East New Yawk....... " In response to Reply # 3
I don't like how his voice & flow sounds on "Life's A Bitch" all that much. I know I'm in the minority with that though, I was just a hypercritical hip-hop nerd at the time.
"Sugar Hill" threw me off a little being from Harlem and already knowing of an Azie from Sugar Hill.
But by the 2nd verse of the single's B side "Rather Unique" AZ's flow already felt legendary. My username is "micMajestic" so you can guess the raps were up my alley.
"My verbals rip shit, brain gives birth to thoughts in triplets" "Slaughter your circulatory like leukemia" "Physiologists couldn't even figure out the exoticness"
I take seven emcees put 'em in a line And add seven more brothers who think they can rhyme Well, it'll take seven more before I go for mine Now that's twenty-one emcees ate up at the same time
30. "Verse 3 of Follow the Leader" In response to Reply # 12
I remember it hit me so hard, I was like...holy shit, this dude is RAPPING. LOL. That whole song was crazy lyrical, but the third verse...he transcended. Lotta songs back then were like that. Dudes would do their thing for 2 verses and then come back after the chorus like...Oh! You thought there was just 2??? Hold this THIRD VERSE!! I've mentioned this in the Lesson way back. My boys and I made up a term for when a rapper does that. We call it the "Attitude Verse"...because of the third verse of Rebel Without a Pause. The song would have been completely fine, but Chuck comes back at you like..."ATTITUDE!! When I'm on fire..." To this day, we still will text each other about a song like, oh shit...he had an attitude verse. It's few and far between, though.
...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft
80. "1st and only verse on Paid In Full" In response to Reply # 12
First time hearing this, I was fully engrossed and emerged in what he was saying.. his voice, words, and flow really took me to another place. I don't think I had ever really experienced that feeling before from a rap song.. at least not on that level.
86. "Follow The Leader, verse 1" In response to Reply # 12
One of, if not the, coldest verses ever put to 2 inch tape in my opinion.
<-- 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...
I was late on NaS. Real late. I'll admit I didn't check for Illmatic until The Source put out that greatest albums of all time issue in 1998. Before that, I only really knew of It Was Written NaS. So when they had Illmatic #1, I went and copped.
Blown away.
NY State Of Mind to me was the opposite of If I Ruled The World and the Street Dreams remix with R.Kelly.
87. "Never put me in your box if your shit eats tapes" In response to Reply # 24
We were listening to the cassette at my man's house on the 'battlebox' which would do just that. I was sold.
<-- 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...
29. "Verse 3 of It Ain't Hard to Tell...." In response to Reply # 19
"This rhythmatic explosion, is what your frame of mind has chosen.."
I was a HUGE college basketball fan, back then and for him to drop...."groove even smoother than moves by Villanova..." made my crew and I lose it. He also dropped a Sylvester Stallone "Cobra" reference. I was like, yeah...sign me up.
...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft
and it is going to make me listen to Atliens today... which was the album that made me an Andre believer. Now...which verse was it specifically..... hmmm
46. "Yea that may be mine too. I was struggling to remember ..." In response to Reply # 42
... how I was put on to him. Then I remembered I'd seen the video for "Ain't No N" on BET around the time RD would've been getting spins on radio/video. I didn't love "Ain't No N" but thought Foxxy was hot so I decided to do more research on both of them haha. Somehow I came across "Feelin' It" and "Dead Presidents," both of which I loved. But I think his first verse on the latter was the first time I was like "oh damn dude can spit."
"I dabbled in crazy weight/ without rap, I was crazy straight/ pahtna, I'm still spendin' money from '88 - whaaa"
55. "same song, but second verse, for me..." In response to Reply # 48
dude blacked out. I stepped it up another level, meditated like a Buddhist recruited lieutenants with ludicrous drams of gettin cream, let’s do this it gets tedious So I keep one eye open like CBS you see me stressed, right?
...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft
54. "D'Evils particularly the second verse" In response to Reply # 22
We used to fight for building blocks Now we fight for blocks with buildings that make a killin' The closest of friends when we first started But grew apart as the money grew and soon grew black-hearted Thinkin' back when we first learned to use rubbers He never learned, so in turn I'm kidnappin' his baby's mother My hand around her collar, feedin' her cheese She said the taste of dollars was shitty, so I fed her fifties About his whereabouts I wasn't convinced I kept feedin' her money 'til her shit started to make sense Who could ever foresee? We used to stay up all night at slumber parties Now I'm tryna rock his bitch to sleep All the years we were real close Now I see his fears through her tears Know she's wishin' we were still close Don't cry, it is to be; in time I'll take away your miseries and make it mine, D'evils
"The Drop" MF DOOM as Viktor Vaughn VAUDEVILLE VILLAIN (2003)
My guy from DC was like, "You've never heard of DOOM?" I hadn't. So he ran through Operation Doomsday. I'll be honest, while I dug the production samples, I didn't get it. But then I heard the Viktor Vaughn "Vaudeville Villain" project. THIS dude said,
"It's like a barbecue all swine cookout Fuck up they plans like a blind man lookout"
I almost pulled off the road. Yes he has better versus, but that was the line that made me a believer.
36. "I was late to the Redman train: "Got My Mind Made Up"" In response to Reply # 34
I knew who he was prior to that guest spot, I'd heard a couple of his songs. I knew him mostly for "Time 4 Sum Akshun" or howeverthefuck he spelled action lol. And I loved that song but didn't know more than like 3 or 4 of his songs other than that.
But his "Mind Made Up" verse on All Eyez on Me blew me the fuck away. Went and bought all his albums to that point pretty much right away and never looked back. Dude is so great, so unheralded.
His style at the time was so unconventional and off-kilter. It was so different from the Native Tongue type stuff I was really into then but something about the uniqueness of his style worked for me.
63. "Brooklyn Zoo Pt. 2" In response to Reply # 62
He'd been okay on the first Wu album, but I didn't consider him among the group's best. THat verse on Dirty's album showed the potential of what he'd become.
73. "Swing the John McEnroe..." In response to Reply # 62
The first verse of Nutmeg kinda blew my mind. I had NO idea what he was saying. But it sounded good. I liked Ghost before this, but Supreme Clientele made him a favorite.
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