IamAlejo

Reasonable Doubt is without a doubt a top 5 rap album of all time. Jay-Z is much more than just what MTV plays of his.

YouTube - Jay Z - Dead Presidents 2

YouTube - Jay-Z - D'Evils

YouTube - Jay-Z Can I Live

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a man, a plan, a canal, panama

Janszoon

I have no idea what MTV plays of his. I haven't really watched it since the early nineties, a couple years before he started releasing albums. But aside from your opinion that it's one of the top five rap albums of all time, what is it that you like about Reasonable Doubt? What draws you to it?

Thanks for the links. I'll check them out. Is there something I should be listening for in particular?

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A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

IamAlejo

The lyrics, the flow. Put it in it's time frame of mid-nineties and he was one of the first to touch on the sort of mafioso type lifestyle in rap. He touches on actual subjects and was completely original for it's time.

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a man, a plan, a canal, panama

midnight rain

I love how people act like rap is a means of measuring how good an artist is, and if that artist isn't up to their standards of quality, it can't be classified as that genre. People who like emo seem to have this mentality as well (denying bands like Hawthorne Heights as emo, for example, simply because they don't like them, though they'll try to come up with other reasons to hide their real reasoning).

Janszoon

Putting it in the timeframe of the mid-90s, the mafioso thing sounds like a lot of hip-hop at the time actually. And I'm not sure if I understand what you mean about him touching on actual subjects being something original. That's been a part of hip-hop since the very, very early days.

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A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

Trauma

Aesop Rock is awesome.


In reference to the "realness" factor.
Lil' Wayne is real hip hop.
So is Aesop Rock.



If you don't want to dance or want some actual intellect, listen to Aesop Rock.
Definitely.

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A mi no me importa nada
Para mi la vida es un sueño

IamAlejo

The very very early days? Not really. Besides Kool G Rap I can't thin of anyone who did it that much ahead of him.

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a man, a plan, a canal, panama

Janszoon

How about "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)" by Grandmaster Melle Mel? I guess I'm not sure what you mean by "actual subjects". Do you just mean serious subject matter? Surely everyone from Public Enemy to Sister Souljah to Arrested Development would fit that bill.

__________________
A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

IamAlejo

Not what I mean at all...and lmfao if you consider a song about the perils of drug use as a "mafioso" song.

You're completely missing the point. I'll simplify.

You can't point to one song of Aesop's...much less an album, and say it's classic.

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a man, a plan, a canal, panama

itsnuts

What’s funny is I never intended this post as an attack on Aesop Rock (I could’ve picked dozens of other artists, I just selected Aesop because I’m most familiar with his music). It was really supposed to be about the superiority complex of people who disregard any rap that doesn’t come from Def Jux, Rhymesayers or any other indie label.

To be honest, Aesop actually says cool things every once in a while. (“You wore my sneakers but your feet just never fit in. That’s what you get for trying to walk a mile outside your limit.”) Unfortunately he surrounds these lines with what could only be described as jibberish - and yet a lot of people interpret his every word as gospel.