THROWBACK RAP: Roc The Mic

Still gotta bop and dance when this joint comes on.

Hip-Hop Ish: Best Debut Feature Verse of All The Times???

A week or so ago on Twitter, I mentioned that I thought Freeway's verse on "1-900-Hustler" off of Jay-Z's Dynasty album was the best debut feature verse (in my opinion). And by "debut feature verse" I mean a rapper whose debut verse was on someone else's song and they BBQ'd the verse (picture the verse from "Renegade" being Em's first verse you ever heard him on or Jay's "Free Mason" verse being his first joint you ever heard him on). I guess you could say my argument is confined to mainstream rap so all you hip-hop purists and back-packers and underground hip-hop heads that are gonna pull some random Cory Gunz verse out of your azz need not read any further.

In response to my tweet(s) about this, a friend replied that he mentioned it to his homeboy who said Snoop's verse on "Deep Cover" and AZ's on "Life's a Bitch" or Method Man on "Method Man" may have to be in the discussion as well. I also thought that DMX's verse on "24 Hours to Live" was a sick debut verse as well. And I have to add Lupe's verse on "Touch the Sky" in there to.

To be honest, some of these verses may very well have not even been debut verses, just the first time I'd heard these guys on a track. But nevertheless for the purpose of this blogpost, I'll consider them debut verses. Check out all the songs mentioned after the jump and drop a comment with any songs you think should be added to this list of potential greatest debut feature verses ever.

Jay-Z feat Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek, and Freeway - 1-900-HUSTLER



Dr. Dre feat Snoop Dogg - Deep Cover



Nas feat AZ - Life's a Bitch



Wu Tang Clan - Method Man



Ma$e feat (Diddy's shyt talkin') The Lox, and DMX - 24 Hours to Live



Kanye West feat Lupe Fiasco - Touch the Sky



After listening to all these I gotta say it's definitely not Free's verse even though I like it a lot. I think it comes down to Lupe, Snoop, and AZ.

"Grammy nominated, hotel accommodated, cheerleader prom dated..." - Kanye West

Two Words - Kanye, Mos, Free!!!


This song is a CLASSIC!

Visuals in the video > Kanye verse > Grittiness of the video > Mos verse > Freeway's mouth movements when he's rapping > Freeway's verse

Video: Jake One (feat. Brother Ali & Freeway) - The Truth

I really like this song but it's nowhere near as potent a verse from Brother Ali as the one he did on 2nd Time with Wale. That verse >>>>>> This verse.

The TIs at Def Jam/Universal must listen to NPR

Am I the only person who has noticed that within the last two weeks, there have been a crapload of Freeway and Young Chris songs hitting the InterWeb/streets (fyi - the InterWeb is the new bootleggah, minus the exchange of cash for goods)?

Anywho, my man Sei put me on (I PUT ONNNN) to this NPR review of the Carter 3 (an album I kinda went on a lil while back). In said review, the author (Robert Christgau) suggest that the Carter 3's sales (a milli a milli a milli, in the first week) were due to "a daring marketing strategy that doubled as a cocky musical challenge" and that "In the two-and-a-half years between major-label releases, Lil Wayne whetted his fans' appetites by giving away more songs than anyone can count."

The key there is that he gave the shyt away. So now I'm seeing artists like Mickey Factz, Freeway, Young Chris, and others with songs poppin up all over the InterWeb. Mickey is definitely giving his songs away in the form of a mixtape series called "The Leak". I'm not so sure about Freezer and Young Chris leaking everything that's hit the name from them on purpose, but this stuff isn't hitting the nets by chance either. And while I think Mickey's leaked songs are a pretty brilliant mixtape concept, it doesn't have me itching to hear an entire album, just "Good Money". Not that Mickey's songs are wack (because they aren't), but because I'm not into being inundated with free songs off the InterWeb because there's far more noise than there is music. And that's what I think the problem is with technology and music nowadays. The market is flooded with crap.

But back to my original point...

My guess is that the TIPPORDS (read: TIs) at Def Jam/Universal saw the success of the Carter 3 and thought similarly to what Christgau seems to have thought. That is... "Wayne put out a bunch of free shyt and then he sold a million in the first week because fans started itching for more." Then the TIs started thinking it could work for everyone else. Not too shrewd, not to stupid either though. Why wouldn't it be worth a shot for other investments artists?

Leaking songs to the net prior to an album's release is nothing new. Lots of artists have leaked a mixtape (or two) to create a buzz for their albums. But Lil Wayne took the shyt to a stupid-azz level. I repeat, a stupid-azz level. There were so many songs and mixtapes hitting the net/streets between the Carter 3 and his release prior to that, that I got tired of hearing it. No bull. I will give him credit in that he obviously had a serious work ethic that most of these artists don't seem to have. But I can't be convinced that the leakage of 6 or 10 or 20 songs (or ten mixtapes) by any other artist in a relatively short period of time means anything either, unless all of (or a majority) of those songs are completely and undeniably DOPE. Not that Wayne's were dope across the board, but there were so many released that you couldn't help but liking some of them if for nothing else than his slick wordplay.

But my point in this post is that maybe (just maybe) the higher-ups at these record labels are going to start pulling a Lil Wayne and releasing a bunch of their artists' records in the form of mixtapes, interWeb leaks, or some other form of "free promotion" in an effort to create a buzz similar to that of the Carter 3. I'm all for free music (of course) but I personally think it's a crock of shyt that all those songs were the sole reason that people wanted to buy the Carter 3. I think that it was a combination of lots of factors like media hype, Lil Wayne's level of lyricism, his features, his run-ins with the law, and the free ish he unleashed on the hip-hop audience. But I do agree with Christgau in that Lil Wayne "redefined" the mixtape scene.

I wonder if this is going to pan out well for Chris and Free considering studio time is not free and I am sure Def Jam is going to want their advance money recouped. Rappers might want to start investing more in themselves (ie - their product) by purchasing top-notch home studios (that is, if they own a home or momma/roommate wil let them) and providing their favorite producers with Food and Liquor (and weed probably) in order to keep the costs low on all this music they are gonna give away free on the InterWeb. It is a Recession, isn't it?!?!