With all the recent talk about "GOAT's" (Greatest Of All Time to the uninitiated) i thought i'd weigh in on the discussion. Now let me start by saying, by greatest i do not necessarily mean personal favourite. I'm talking longevity, strength of catalogue and live show dynamic. All of which our subject has in spades.
James Todd Smith released his first single waaaaaay back in 1985. "I Need A Beat" was produced by a then wet behind the ears producer named Rick Rubin in his dorm room and marked the first official release from Def Jam.
"I Need A Beat" would sell over 100,000 copies and be only the pre-cursor to a long and storied career that would include some of hip-hop's most influential albums and singles. Not only did he give us "Rock the bells" "I'm bad" and "I can't live without my radio" he also made some of the greatest guest spots ("Rampage" and "Flava in ya ear (remix)") in memory. He's battled Kool Moe Doe, Ice-T and Canibus amongst numerous others and never taken a loss. Never mind the cheesy cameos with J-Lo, the gay microphone tattoo and the fucking horrible TV shows he's been on, LL is one of the hardest, most battle ready MC's to ever put the words fuck and you together to make an insult. And thats an often forgotten fact.
By maintaining a strong female following (thats straight fag shit amongst hip-hop's hardcore listeners- irony?) his "realness" has been negated time and time again. For every "I need love" he's done two "I shot ya's" it's just that you have to waid through several R&B assisted, Timberland-esque chart toppers to find them.
In a career thats gone from the era of Kurtis Blow and RUN-DMC through Public Enemy and NWA to 50 Cent and Jay-Z, LL has stayed relevent, and less importantly, topped charts the world over. Which is a feat within itself for a rapper of his history given the current climate in the music industry, where vocoder voiced ring-tone artists top charts for as long it takes a 16 year old girl to answer her phone.
In short LL has proven to be the ultimate hip-hop chameleon, an artist who has been able to re-invent himself and adapt to changes within the ever fickle rap industry. Over the course of 13 albums (all of which for Def Jam) and almost two and a half decades LL has proven longevity and a consistent out put of product is possible, where others of his era have either fallen off (Rakim), gone hollywood (Ice Cube) or just left you baffled (Kool G Rap and RUN-DMC's nineties forays spring to mind) Cool James has kept on keeping on.
As the last of the good rap publications, HHC, once pointed out about "I'm Bad" and "Rock the Bells", if they aren't the ultimate declarations of b-boy supremacy then what the fuck are?
All that and he never lost a battle! (Did i already mention that?).
Rock The Bells- Live @ The Nokia Theatre.
I'm Bad- Live @ The Nokia Theatre.
Rocking With The G.O.A.T. (Off his latest album, produced by DJ Scratch of EPMD)
Flava in ya ear (Remix) Craig Mack 12" release. Ft; Biggie, Busta, Rampage and LL.
Rampage (LL's verse) Live @ The Nokia Theatre.
"2nd Round KO" by Canibus Killed LL's "Ripper strikes back", and I dont even like either.
ReplyDeleteI think maybe L took a loss on that one.
Fact is. He made canibus change his raps on the og "4,3,2,1" joint over that hideous tattoo on his arm.
Agreed he would most def be up there. Good post
Nas = G.O.A.T ??
yeh, but for some reason all the bad shit that he's done (wet songs and shit hollywood movies) put a big dint in that claim.
ReplyDeleteNo way to Nas. That's gotta be a joke.
Guru? Keith? Chuck? KRS? Slick? dunno. who cares.
I aint like anything since that who shot ya
ReplyDelete