Classics / Canon edition of the DiS Hip-Hop Listening Club

TI is a much less idiosyncratic rapper than cam. More smooth for sure. Very much in the UGK lineage.

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Yeah I love King, got a lot of love for Tip in general, and this is probably my favourite record of his. Got into him through Ride Wit Me being on the Entourage soundtrack iirc. King, Front Back, What You Know, Why You Wanna, Ride Wit Me, Top Back, You Know Who, Told You So, all massive songs, but I love the whole album, can just about get through the whole thing in one go too.

T.I. is genuinely consistent too, the recent Us or Else was very underrated imo. He also managed to do a reality show without ruining his credibility and is the kind of MC who isnā€™t afraid to spread out some of his most electrifying verses to other people for features:

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Yeah he hasnt released a bad album/ep really. his last couple lps were a step up, if anything.

I love that his personality matches his beats. you can just picture him making beats with that smile on his face and that infectious laugh, dancing around like such when he hits the perfect combination of sounds:

Mannie dancing

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This interview was really good from a few years (or 7) back

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OK. Struggling with this one a bit, lads. Got to the Jamie Foxx spot and when I saw that there were still 13 tracks to go I had to bail. Going in again now.

Thatā€™s the first kind of dip in the album. But itā€™s immediately back to bangers after! Ride Wit Me to Iā€™m Straight is a great run. What they were thinking shoving a dead homies track after What You Know and Iā€™m Talking to You?

Like, these guys have had too much hype, letā€™s cool them off

ok confession time - probs that car thing again but I never really got ā€˜what you knowā€™. sorry. itā€™s fine but yeah, top back and front back are both miles better. tried to find the promo ric flair cut on tip for stealing his strut in the front back video but it seems to have been scrubbed from the net :frowning:

listening now, itā€™s obvs way too long and thereā€™s a couple of forgettable numbers in the back half, but man, the bangers are undeniable arenā€™t they.

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But then Why You Wannaā€¦ Is that a sample of Crystal Waters - Gypsy Woman?

:neutral_face:

It is indeed :joy:

I didnā€™t skip it!

This is a weird analogy, but it popped into my head just now. You know when you watch that Lord of the Rings film that they did in 60fps, and it all just seems so shiny and slick that you canā€™t get your head round the fact youā€™re watching a film? You just want to touch the screen and check? This kind of reminds of that.

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I can get that. It is all very crisp and shiny but I think itā€™s just a great time almost the whole way through. Thereā€™s a time and a place for bright colours and broad strokes too :smiley:

On the other hand it can be fun to hear TI over grittier production like

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Yeah - didnā€™t mean it was a bad thing, just makes it a very full on listen. Had it on my headphones at work and just found it super distracting - but strolling round in the sun this morning and I was into it.

Didnā€™t really register that that was TI on Big Beast. Love that album.

yesterday a colleague brought a new pair of steel toe-ies to me and I changed into them on the spot, just leaving the old pair on the floor*. thatā€™s pretty much the exact equivalent of this, right?

*and took them home after work- might want to use them again

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ha, closer than Iā€™ll ever get to it

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some fun moments here, right from the off- the blaxploitation horns go well with that tubular bells ish on king back.
love get it- whistles, clattering carnival music. swizz beatz is unique

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Mobb Deep - Hell on Earth

Mobb Deep - Pre-Hell EP (Unreleased Tracks From ā€œHell On Earthā€ - Bonus listening)

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ā€œyā€™know how we did on The Infamous album, right? / Aight, we gonna do it again son"

Have a feeling this might not be the most original of choices, but the anniversary of Prodigyā€™s death made me dig it out, as well as the Drake and Pusha T spat which had me digging through some classic diss tracks. I was reminded that Mobb Deep went ahead and put Drop A Gem On Em on this album, despite Tupac being shot dead a few months before. Brutal.

Love the production on this. Sounds crisper than The Infamous but simultaneously has quite a woozy sound. I find it a really absorbing listen. Great storytellers.

Nice selection of features too. Interesting to watch the different trajectories of Nas and Mobb Deep after their breakthrough albums. Live N__ Rap_ from It Was Written I discovered was actually recorded for this album, but Nas was adamant that he wanted it.

Added the Pre Hell EP as a bonus as some of you may not have heard it. Mobb Deep have some of the deepest of deep cuts and I think this EP is great example. Rep The Q.B.C. is one of the hardest Havoc beats ever. Would have been interesting if some of these had made the album. In The Long Run was actually included on an enhanced version of the CD that you had to use a computer to listen to. Was going to dig out the CD and see if it still worked but alas I not longer have a laptop with a DVD drive so it was not to be.

Anyway. Whether or not youā€™ve heard it before, enjoy duns!

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King flies out the traps like a greyhound but lost steam for me. King Back, What You Know, Iā€™m Talkinā€™ To You, Ride Wit Me, Why You Wanna and Top Back are fucking great though (had heard a couple of them before obvs)

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Great choice. I reckon a lot of users maybe stopped at the Infamous and never gave this its due. I actually got this album before The Infamous, probably why I prefer it ever so slightly.

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Guilty as charged. Which is weird because The Infamous is probably top 10 for me.