I got more Premier coming up down the track, but for now here’s a track I wasn’t going to post because the rapping is ordinary, but it’s a tight beat.
Main post today though is switching coasts and I have some underrated tracks from West Coast legends. First up, off Snoop’s debut album, this Dre-produced beat is one of my favourites of all time, this is such a killer track:
As a bonus, here’s Tupac freestyling over that beat, there are three others as well but they all suck. Tupac bringing that energy and charisma, starts at 1:35.
This is my favourite Tupac track, really showcases how melodic he is, and the third verse is somewhere in my top 5-10 verses ever.
This is more of a classic but I feel like I have to mention the Snoop-Tupac collaboration.
There somehow exists an incredibly crisp HD live version of this from 1996, which is pretty awesome.
Finally, when you talk West Coast you gotta talk Dre and while I can’t claim this is his best track or anything, it’s underrated imo and it’s the only track I have where it’s just Dre rapping. No guests and a stripped-down production that sounds like it could have come out of the East Coast. Shout out to the late Tupac as well.
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overlooked west coast gangster/horrorcore artist, i bet @JohnnyTruant knows this one. Lynch should have done a track with Gravediggaz. This album is great, his lyrics are repetitive but when i’m in the mood for this kind of stuff it’s one of my go-to’s.
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El P has lyrics I’d steal if nobody noticed. “We grin in the face of frauds and tell monsters to suck our dicks”
RTJ in general super fresh for a bunch of older guys still coming up with good stuff.
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It’s actually my favorite El-P verse. Cool that you picked a line from it.
Every line in that long verse is gold, this part is my favorite.
But maybe you should be careful when flipping a stranger’s switch
Like assuming the war is won ain’t a symptom of arrogance
When nothing to lose a step up then everything’s for the win
So, we grin in the face of frauds and tell monsters to suck our dicks
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It’s my favorite, now too. Because today I looked up my former favorite and I always misheard it haha!
I still think “We might be giants, standing on little baby shoulders” would have been the funniest image, ever, but the internet says it’s “dandy”, meh.
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Theme for today: Weed! Hell yeah.
“You’ll be way up in them guts sharing chromosomes, you feelin’ me homes?” great line.
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It’s not strictly Rap, Hip Hop, Grime, Drill only but french producers L’Entourloop are pretty great.
Full album:
Nice mix:
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Theme for today: Black Star. This combination of Talib Kweli and Mos Def released a classic album in 1998, here are imo the three best tracks off it:
Hard to separate the first two but Mos Def’s very long second verse off Thieves in the Night (the one that begins “I’m sure that everybody out listening agree…” is for sure in my top 5 verses ever. Super jazzy delivery and brings it back just in time to emphasise the punchlines.
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This is the album I was listening to the very first time I logged into 2+2 years and years ago, hence my user name.
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Nice. You know there’s supposedly a new album in the can since 2019 and awaiting release?
I like Mathematics as much as the next man but I feel like Mos Def’s best work was on this album. He needs that jazzy beat, he’s a cerebral guy. In that spirit, here he is in a track I imagine you already know, with another cerebral guy, Pharoahe Monch:
“Passed more essays than motorcade police parades through East L.A.”. Indeed.
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When re:definition hit the radio it was a banger.
I’d put children’s story up there too.
Man idk. “Black On Both Sides” is pretty hard to top.
This is one of the most underrated hip hop albums of all time.
The original is just better imo.
I just appreciate how J made the beat on that one.