Of all the conversations and debates surrounding the best of the best in hip-hop — MC’s, groups, producers, labels — perhaps the most difficult to ascertain is what is the greatest year in hip-hop history. Let’s answer it with a 16-slot bracket tournament.
When the conversation of the greatest rappers of all time comes up, those crazy people that believe The Notorious B.I.G. should not be at or even near the top of the list point to the fact that he only released two albums in his lifetime.
Documentaries – unfairly – have long been seen as a snob’s film of choice.
Let us all bow our heads and take a moment to remember the hip-hop soundtrack.
Since 1995, there has been a connection between Nas, Mobb Deep, and Raekwon.
Lil’ Kim was 22-years-old on November 12, 1996, when she uttered those lines, the first lyrics on her debut album, Hard Core. Just one week later, 18-year-old Foxy Brown released her own debut, Ill Na Na, and together the two Brooklyn College Academy alumni set the course for female emcees for the next two decades, changing the way women in hip-hop present themselves to the world — and how they are received by it.
From the cover photos to the lyrics to the album titles, almost nothing was left to the imagination, and with their lethal combination of sexy and street, they easily appealed to fans from both genders.
While Kim and Foxy may not have been the first female hip-hop artists to use their looks as their strongest weapon, they were certainly the most visible and, at least up until that point, the most successful.
Welcome back to the latest edition of Flashback Friday Flop, a weekly feature in which I examine a hip-hop album from years ago that was considered a flop, either critically or commercially or both, when it was released and see if it has gotten better – or worse – over time.
In hindsight, it’s fascinating to look back and see how quickly hip-hop changed from 1997 to 1999. Yes, the culture shifted when 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. were murdered within about a half-year of one another, but I’m talking about what happened after that.
There have been a multitude of studies and stories done on the connection between geography and success. In the history of hip-hop, one of the most fertile grounds for superstars has been Brooklyn. For proof, think about the fact that Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z, The Notorious B.I.G. and DMX all went to George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School together.
Nas and The Notorious B.I.G. are two of the greatest rappers in history.
“Only Christopher we acknowledge is Wallace”
The Passion of Christopher Pierznik 