Can you guys make a graphic for this week's episode?
I need, like, a black screen, I think.
And help me design this, Lo.
Eddie and Nick, y'all jump in, too, for the design.
But where are we, like, what's your idea?
A black screen.
Maybe it's, like, one of them old school, like, we can't even broadcast a little rainbow joint.
Okay.
Where it's like, this broadcast has been, type thing.
And it goes like, there's nothing to talk about until Iceman.
We interrupt this program to bring you a special report.
Thank you for tuning in to the Rap Life Review.
For Nick and Eddie in LA, and Lo and Ebro in New York, we'll see y'all next week.
No.
That's not the episode?
Yes.
Yes.
That's the episode.
Yes.
That's it.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Right before the fucking release?
Yes.
Nah, that's it.
That's it.
But there are some phenomenal records out this week, though.
I want to shout out to Isaiah Rashad.
It's been awful.
That album's incredible, bro.
I love that Isaiah Rashad project, bro.
Hold on.
You love it?
You love it?
Guys, do we want to talk about this?
Like, we were talking off camera before you got here.
I really do.
I really enjoyed it.
Do you guys like, because we all, me, Eddie, and Nick had pretty much a kind of similar take.
What do y'all feel?
Okay, let's talk about how we feel about it.
It started with Nick.
Okay, so how do we feel about the album?
Let's start with that.
I think it's a really good listen.
I think we are watching an artist take their like first breath after damn near drowning, right?
Like which seemed like they were on the brink of being in a terrible.
They were in a terrible place.
It's been awful.
And he's coming up and taking his first breath and taking that first look back of everything that he'd been through.
And those are the thoughts we getting.
And I think that's super powerful on this project.
All right, Nick sure called it.
But, okay, so here's what I thought.
What Nick's saying now, what Nick's saying, but it's cool, it's cool.
It's cool, it's cool, it's cool, it's cool.
So the first- Wait, you saying he changed up for the episode?
He did, he did.
But it's cool, we'll get there.
Yo, this is-
I'm not trying to dogpile you, but yeah, Nick, you kind of shifted the tone a little bit.
You might as well just wait until the end of the episode and figure out what they missed.
We're bringing off-camera takes into the show now?
We're bringing off-camera takes into the show?
Because we can do that.
We do this show all the time, Nick.
We can absolutely do that if that's what y'all want to do.
Nah, we do that.
We do that.
We do that sometimes, Nick.
You changed your tone a little bit.
I mean, I changed it a little bit.
You went the complete opposite direction.
I went completely opposite.
You did a 180, bro.
Yeah, fam.
I went completely opposite.
You want to know my comment?
Let me tell you my comment.
I don't think you're wrong in your assessment.
No, he's not.
You're not wrong with how you feel.
But I didn't know that's how you was going to start and you was going to leave on that.
Because I thought we all were going to share the same sentiment.
Okay, so this is what happened.
Okay, all right.
When we were off camera we said one of the things that's been hard for me to get into Isaiah Rashad's music.
One thing throughout his entire career is oftentimes I can't completely understand what he's hearing.
So when he said that, we all were like, wait a minute, I thought that was just me.
It's not just me, yeah.
So we all had the same sentiment, because when I listened to the project yeah, when I listened to the project, there was a lot of you know, Happy Hour, I think, GKYT.
There's a lot of records that I wanted to understand and I felt the pain and I felt the vulnerability but I just couldn't really make out cohesively like what he was saying and how he was saying it.
Like the tone was there, but I just couldn't really grasp it.
So that's why I was just like, ah, this is pretty moody.
This is pretty mumbly.
And you know, it's cool.
Like Eddie said, it's cool.
Yeah, yeah, and yet again, he's vulnerable.
I respect, this is what I want, I say this all the time, this is what I want out of Art.
I want you to talk about how you're feeling in track, specifically when I go from boys in red superficial Scared, to Look Down Happy Hour he's talking about, and even Do I Look High something like his addiction issue, his sexuality and all these other things and I was here for it.
And Don't Give Up, I think, another one.
Okay, fair.
If I'm being real, the first time I heard it and this can happen with certain albums I was like it's whatever.
It's cool.
I realized what I expected.
My first listen and the mood that I was in didn't line up to listen to this.
Cause it's a very moody, chill kind of album.
I don't know what my expectation was.
Isn't that always the style though?
Yeah, but I just, my head wasn't there with it.
I listened to it again.
I listened to it again and I was like, oh, I got a better idea of what he's doing now.
I actually like this album better than my first two listens.
It took my third listen for me to get there.
I listened to it three times as well.
So in saying that, I'm like, okay, cool.
I respect it.
It's just not an easy, you throw it on.
I'm like, oh, I love this album.
I understand the complexity of it.
I didn't all the way grasp it through my first two listens.
And that's just how I felt.
You got to be in the mood.
You got to be ready.
You got to be mentally positioned to really digest.
So I'm sitting here listening to y'all and I didn't hear why y'all disagree with what I said.
I heard I heard it just took you too long to get to Eddie.
From what I heard from you, Nick was similar, but not that far off, which is just kind of like you know.
But all of y'all, nobody talked about.
Like, I love the musicality of it.
Like, you know what I'm saying?
Musically, it was fire.
Production-wise, it was good.
And that's always where I start with an album.
Like any artist, like you could be saying the most fire rhymes, but if your music sucks, we're out bro.
Like, there's nothing to talk about.
You turn on Isaiah Rashad.
Every project musically, Isaiah Rashad is always, always getting the job done.
Now we can debate whether, like Eddie was talking about, you know too vulnerable, not vulnerable enough.
I couldn't get concepts.
I couldn't get to it.
But the songs on here are dope.
Yeah, there's a very reoccurring theme with the movie.
The melodies are dope?
Yeah.
The theme stays, you know, throughout the project.
Man, you took the words right out of my mouth.
Yeah.
One of the biggest things I look for in artists is, do we even have a theme?
Like, what am I even listening to here?
Yeah.
No, it does.
He locks in on what he's trying to deliver.
It's been awful.
Like, he's going through all of it.
So what's to not lock?
And the subject matter and the context matter is not what we're saying, that we're confused or we're, you know, judging on a bad scale.
It's just how we're hearing it.
No, what y'all really saying is y'all wasn't in the mood for it.
What, in addition no not not, not went over our head, just not in the mood for it.
I mean, part of it was initially yes, i wasn't in the mood for it, i like it better.
But if you know art, let's be real artist subjective.
I wouldn't go say i love it, my ex, what i wanted out of it.
I was like i wanted to love it.
It's kind of like you go to a movie.
You're like all right, cool.
This is this is my genre.
I can't wait.
And you leave.
And if I was conflicted the first time, I heard it and I finally got there the third time, clearly I didn't love it.
I finally understood it better by my third listen.
I enjoyed it for what it was, but I didn't come.
But it took work for It took work, and it wasn't like 100% approval rating.
I think this is a great album.
This stands as one of the best albums of the year.
I didn't leave with that feeling.
You said love.
Well, you know it's interesting.
You say that too, because I went in expecting an Isaiah Rashad album which, for me, was always something I had to pay attention to.
It's not background music.
Yeah.
It's intentional music.
You know what I'm saying?
It's not, you're not just throwing it on and bopping and you know what I'm saying?
Like, you're like, oh, okay, bro.
I gotta be intent.
I gotta be intentional with this shit.
And I think my head was already there when I pressed play, because of the type of artist he's always been.
Right.
So maybe that was, you know, I mean, for me, house is on fire.
The house is burning.
Excuse me.
God damn, my fault.
House is burning.
It seemed like it was an easier listen.
That joint.
It rode for me where I was like yeah, it was very intentional, still very deep, and he still had those themes and everything.
Yeah, some of those beats are more traditionally southern.
On The House is Burning, whereas on this project, sorry to cut you off he does jump into some of that indie pop, folk space, right.
He's got Dominic Fike on songs, you know what I mean?
The track with SZA, because he came and played it for us before it came out and we got to talk about it.
It's like, oh yeah, you can hear that at a festival, you know what I mean?
Like an outdoor festival.
So there were some of those songs on there as well, which kind of changed what The House is Burning was.
Y'all, also, speaking of dope hip-hop that's out here, I want to show, we shouted it out last week.
I'm seeing some of the tweets or some of the comments that said we breezed by the Vince Stable Blackberry Marmalade song last week.
I didn't feel like we just breezed by it.
Nadeska gave a great breakdown of it.
That's what I thought, but I wanted to shout it out again because I know the album's on the way.
I also wanted to shout it out again, because some of the lines that he has in the record I was listening to it again this weekend and there's just a lot of, you know, poignant things.
You know, Vince is, I'm hoping this Crybaby thing is, you know, all in this vein.
I mean, he already said it.
Like, he said, like, this album's gonna be very black.
It's a very political album in Crybaby.
And, you know, especially for us on this podcast, this is what we've been screaming about.
Like we want music to say something.
And hip-hop um used to be, and it's not anymore because money got involved.
It used to be revolutionary music and it was people that were the disenfranchised that finally felt like they had a voice, that were saying something that was specifically for our community, And we've gotten away with that.
And some people still do it, but the popular version of it isn't that.
And Vince Staples is someone who's always been of high moral fiber.
And sometimes it gets lost in the joke because he comes across very funny but he's dead fucking serious when he says the stuff that he's saying.
So I'm glad in this time and age, because this is part of the quote he said when he's speaking about the album and he's these wild times that we live in.
Art should reflect it.
And in our community, we need more voices like Vince Staples.
Now, I don't want everybody to do it because everybody's not capable of doing it.
But he is somebody that is very capable of doing it and is using his platform and using his art and using his music to do so.
That Blackberry Marmalade, he talking that talk on it.
That's what I'm saying, right?
It is an indictment on, you know, the judicial system, right, on politics.
And then we look at that album cover of what it's going to be.
And you pair that with the title.
And I think we have a pretty good idea of exactly what we're going to be in for.
Right.
So yeah, Vince has never shied away from these topics, but it seems like he's going to hit them even further head on.
Right.
Like after everything that happened at the White House Correspondents Dinner.
Was that two weeks ago now?
He quoted that situation and put blackberry marmalade on top of it, right?
Which goes to show it was hand in hand with everything that was happening in the video.
And he's independent now.
So he might not necessarily have the same restraints that he had previously.
And he's even got like little mini documentaries.
I think it was Converse of all people that released like a 10 minute breakdown of him making the song.
What the album's gonna be about?
Yeah, let's get into it.
Vince staples what is it?
June 5th cry baby.
Yeah, it's gonna be a situation.
Uh, what about the remix?
The baby glorilla, young miami yk knees pop that thing remix.
I like that.
Okay, what is it?
We're in the beginning of March.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Excuse me, beginning of May.
What are we doing?
What are we doing?
This is May.
Let's do it.
Oh, we're back?
Are you ready?
Summer, summer.
Son of a... See, no, no, no, no, hold on.
Wait, did I not say this on this program?
He did.
He did.
Did I not say this?
But with this remix... You think it juices it.
Listen, this is an old... Did I not say this?
Listen, let me co-sign your statement then.
This is an old fashioned remix.
This is one of the ones where it's like, all right, I'm going to put three more people on it.
This song's about to be long as hell.
It's going to be three women going crazy.
I already did my version of it.
Let's flip the energy of it.
Amen.
And he didn't just put his old verse on there.
Nope.
New verse from the baby on here.
I said this back in, what, January, February.
I said this is the perfect time for that record to come out, because it has to bubble up between January and about April.
It hit April.
We got the video.
He's on tour.
Now, everybody really loves this record.
He went and got the three of the most hottest females out right now, flipped his own verse and now this shit is really about to bubble.
At the start of May,
Summer starts next month.
I called this shit back in January.
I said, this is gonna be one of, if not the song of the summer.
I would say he was, I said back then he was too early, but the remix came, I got a cosign.
I'm happy for y'all.
It wasn't a hard call.
Y'all really made a hard call.
No, but they were just like... It was ass-shaking reggae.
It was talking nasty.
The beat is easy for everybody to get to.
That's why I was just saying like this.
It's a layup.
That's why I did.
I was getting some resistance.
A lot of people try layups and they smoke them.
You know what I'm saying?
You gotta execute.
Not low.
Not low.
What?
He can hoop.
Low can hoop, and he can do 300 push-ups in 10 minutes.
Okay.
We forgot about that shit.
They brought it up in the comments like two weeks ago.
They did, they did, they did, they did.
It was 10 minutes, right?
It was, it was like 10 minutes.
He said 15 minutes.
It was like 310 or was it 110?
I can do 110.
That's easy.
10 minutes?
Yeah.
Nobody believes you, dog.
It's okay.
That's the biggest motivator when no one believes in you.
I mean, I hope you're working on it.
I hope one day we get it.
I did.
I did something this morning.
How many did you do this morning?
50.
I did 50 this morning.
Okay, so like 50.
Like 50, yeah.
Like 50.
Listen, Versus is happening.
French Montana, Rick Ross.
Let's go over here to Eddie.
You like this matchup?
I like it. because I think French Montana has sneak heaters.
And I know they're not sneaky.
We just don't think of French Montana like that.
They are.
No, you're right.
They are sneaky.
But when you go through his discography, Bro got like first of all, I've been screwing up names today, so let me actually go look before I actually say something again, because I've been screwing it up.
But when you go through his discography before I even get to my guy Rick Ross because I'm an unabashed Rick Ross stan, but you got Unforgettable, which is like
Is that Diamond now or something like that?
It's crazy.
It's crazy.
And we've already talked.
And then ever since you left me, that's new.
And I absolutely love that song.
Pop that featuring Rick Ross.
Maybe they'll do that together.
Let me see what's going on.
But anyways, we could no stylist.
Fridge got them things.
Cowboy.
And then we get to my boy, Rick Ross. who pretty much for me, invented a sub genre of rap, right?
We already had Cook Coke rap, right?
Cook Coke rap was already existed before Rick Ross.
But Rick Ross gave us opulent wealth raps in a different kind of way.
Luxurious rap?
No, because luxurious raps.
Because before, people rapped.
He definitely gave us luxury raps.
Yes.
Because we talked about wealth before in music, but the richness in which Rick Ross' music personifies wealth.
Oh, I want to put on a fur and go.
You going to wear a fur?
Well, first of all, if I had, it had to be used fur, because you know I don't want to do that to minks
I live in LA.
What am I going to do with it?
I don't even got a coat.
You got a fur?
Oh.
Yeah, but I would like that it's him.
You got a fur?
No.
Why would I have a fur?
No, I'm just saying, he dresses like Rick Ross makes music, very luxurious and very opulent.
He do have the expensive stuff on.
You feel what I'm saying?
So that's why I'm like, I would not be surprised if he pulled up.
I'm going to do one of these with some Tom Ford.
Yeah.
See, and walk right through it, right?
And then, I'm ready.
I'm ready.
Maybe I'll put my slugs in.
Yep.
Indicate myself with some gold.
It's a Louis Vuitton day.
I'm telling you guys now.
On Thursday, it's going to be Louis Vuitton.
Just make sure your shoe don't rip again.
That's all.
That was bad.
That was bad.
That was my Gucci lovers.
I got them repaired, though.
Two of them joints.
Shout out to Squaw.
He got them fixed, so we're good.
But it's going to be Louis Vuitton Thursday for her. for that day.
I'm definitely going to wear sunglasses indoors, guys, so don't judge me.
That's how I'm going to feel.
For that battle, yeah, that's very welcome.
But can I say something real quick?
I think the battle, the matchup that I was looking for, that I was hoping for, would be Ross and TI.
Not French Ross.
Not French Ross.
I think the T.I. thing got so beyond...
Remove all that conversation.
Move that narrative.
But to do that matchup now, it makes it weak.
You know what I'm saying?
It took away the flip.
It took away.
If that T.I.
50 Cent, whatever that shit ended up being, didn't happen, yes.
But then how do you come right now and go Ross T.I.?
Oh, it's like, oh, because 50 ain't want to fuck with you and he want to battle you.
You went to, oh, you went to his arch nemesis or whatever.
And then if I'm Ross, I'm like, why am I?
I'm the second best thing.
Like, I ain't trying to.
Yeah, I'm not doing that.
Okay, I see what you're saying.
How do we feel about Ross already doing it, though? like this is his second time doing it?
Yeah, it's his second time.
Several other people.
I think we've had repeats before.
Hit-Boy did it twice.
Jadakiss did it twice.
And yeah, and now Ross is doing it twice, so.
I think we'll get to others too.
Like I'm sure we'll get like Luda again.
I'm sure we'll get, you know, Jeezy again.
Yeah.
I'd love to get a Jeezy again.
Maybe, maybe it is a, Ooh, maybe it's a Jeezy T.I.
Or maybe a Jeezy T.I. might be something.
I can make a playlist right now in my head for that.
We might want to do brackets if we're going to do multiple.
If we're going to do this, we got to bracket them out and do a tournament style.
Like a March Madness bracket?
So now you go here.
If we're doing a multiple, it's like, well, now we got to pick winners.
Because now you've made it to the second round.
Yeah, and they didn't even know they was in a tournament.
They didn't even know.
They didn't know.
They didn't even know it.
See, very Rick Ross coach.
Who y'all got really?
They got so many collabs, French and Ross.
That's why it's going to be a concert.
That's just going to be a... No, this is really a celebration of their catalog, right?
Yeah, that's all it is.
It's not like, oh, my record's better than yours.
It's going to be like, all right, come on, let's do this record.
Here's the thing, though.
That's all it's going to be.
Oh, go ahead.
E-Bro, you're not allowed to speak about this, though.
So me, Lo, and Nick are going to have to talk about this.
I know, I was just about to go in.
E-Bro, you can't say that.
You can't say nothing.
Okay, you go ahead.
Okay, I'm going to go here.
Here's the issue.
They both have some of their best songs in their catalog.
They feature Drake.
And if you remember, let's rewind two years.
Rick Ross' beef with Drake started because of French Montana.
What do we do here, man?
What do we do here?
So here's the caveat to that.
Ross, I think, was asked about when he performs his collaborations with Drake.
And he encourages the crowd to recite the verse, whatever.
So he plays through the verse whenever he performs.
He ain't got no choice.
I'm just saying so he's not looking at it as a form of like oh, I'm not playing his records or I'm not playing his verses.
I'm cutting this shit off.
It's my record.
He's welcoming the actual verse from Drake.
He's welcoming because clearly those verses make those songs.
And Ross would be oblivious to think otherwise.
But in the verses, you don't usually play the full song though anyway, right?
You kind of typically just go for your verse and maybe a hook.
Yeah, but some of those Ross and Drake records, you got to.
Drake ain't the best part of them songs?
Come on, man, what are we talking about?
Yeah, like, come on, let's not, let's not, let's not, let's not be.
And I've been corrected.
So, even though the beef with Rick Ross started because of French Montana, I've been told that French said him and Drake are cool, though.
I would assume they are.
I don't see no problem with that.
Yeah, French don't be having problems with people.
Yeah, French don't got issues with nobody.
But that's what Rick, that's his beef started because of French.
He inherited the beef.
It could be a lot of behind the scenes shit that we'll never understand.
It's just not for us to really.
All I want to say is, when I think about all of those collabs, I just want to say they're all great records.
And I think that they all contributed to all of their great careers, whether they were Drake Records first, and he asked those gentlemen to collab, or if they were their records and Drake collab.
I think it was, you know.
Drake and Ross make some great, great music together.
Drake and French made some great records.
Yeah, I prefer Drake and Ross, but it's sad that they do have the falling out because Well, I thought that was all, because they have records that they never put out together and Drake don't want to put them out.
Like they had a collab album.
Wasn't that the thing?
They had that record called Made Men, which was fucking stupid.
That was back during the MMG era, but I don't know if they had an actual project together.
I remember seeing some social media about that.
Oh, yeah.
But listen, Versus going down Thursday, 9.30 p.m.
Eastern on Apple Music.
9.30?
Well, it'll be 6.30 in LA, 9.30 over here.
That's a late one right there.
That's late for you?
Yeah.
Why, you be asleep by 9.30?
No, I'm just saying, like, people will be moving around.
On Thursday?
Thursday, Thursday night, people will be moving around.
Where y'all going at 9.30?
I mean, like, might be going to dinner, might be going to the movies, you know.
Thursday night?
Yeah, Thursday night, you know.
Okay.
A little date night, whatever.
There you go.
You gonna be out here for that?
Who?
E?
Yeah.
Yeah, I'll be out there.
So yeah, man, check that verses.
Now, the New York Times, 30 greatest living American songwriters.
Why are you looking at me?
You looked uncomfortable when we got into this.
No, no.
Go ahead.
Finish your spiel.
No, that was it.
I was setting it up.
New York Times put this thing out.
A lot of people missed where it said living and American.
So people were arguing about Mike not being there and Prince not being there and Drake not being there.
Right.
So on and so forth.
Drake not American.
Unfortunately, Prince and Mike are no longer with us.
No, they're not.
That's right.
Okay.
However, on the list, Kendrick Lamar.
As he should be.
Missy Elliott, outcast.
Yes.
Young Thug.
No.
Whoa, did you just say no?
You just said no?
So if Young Thug is there, why is Jermaine Dupri not there?
I don't have an answer for you.
Oh, man.
Continue on.
Continue on.
You're kind of cooking.
Also, Nas wasn't there.
All right, then.
Oh, you're kind of cooking.
All right, then.
Is the grease heating up?
You're kind of cooking, bro.
Young Thug is a great, phenomenal artist.
Based on, I believe, let me Do they have.
Is there like a?
Yeah, there was like a.
How they voted.
A criteria.
Yeah, it was like, let me see...
Dang.
Jermaine Dupri?
It was... My God, Jermaine Dupri's not on that?
I mean, The Dream's there, as he should be.
Brian Michael Cox not there?
Jonte Austin?
Man, we ain't even talking about the others.
Sean Garrett?
You know what I'm saying?
The others probably got a million.
That's just the R&B and the hip-hop space, right?
What's the lady that always gets nominated for Grammys and never win?
That old white lady?
Yeah, Diane Warren.
Diane Warren's on there.
I just had to name an other.
No, Diane Warren's the truth, man.
She's the truth.
She always get nominated.
She don't ever win.
But they also had a piece about how many people, 25 people from the New York Times.
Is that what it was?
It said something like that?
They voted? it was like 25 journalists and six from the New York Times.
That was the people creating this list.
So I think providing that context I think is important for this discussion of like, because I believe that Young Thug is there.
Yes, because of some of the criteria, that which was like cross genre reach, amount of catalog innovation.
You know what I mean.
Some of these other things you're looking at when some of the names you named, you're going.
These are the biggest in a genre, but were they the biggest across genres?
Not disagreeing with you, by the way.
Okay.
Just trying to provide some context.
Yeah, I got you.
Because yeah, Young Thug stood out where people, for better or for worse I don't think a lot of people look at rappers like they should as some of the greatest songwriters that have ever lived.
And I'm not and, by the way, that's all rappers, because the intricacy of rhyme, finding melody, finding a way to get people to follow, along with detail and storytelling, that's-.
Pockets and all, it's a lot.
It's a lot that rappers are doing.
Now on the other side, the simplicity of some is the magic, right?
Where they said so much with so few words. and it was melodic and all of those things.
So anyway, I felt like it was a great conversation and I love seeing Mariah and Jay talk about what songwriting means to them and those videos.
Matter of fact, here's Hov talking about some of his songwriting.
It's like, I can't explain it.
All happened upon a word.
And I'm like, man, I don't even know how I knew that word, especially earlier.
Or some type of vibe will come through and I'll say, why is that work so perfect?
And I'm sure other writers gonna relate to this.
Most times I'll come up with the flow first.
I'm trying to work out the pockets and then I'll fill it with words.
Black and ugly as ever.
And then the word, one word was so powerful, however.
Black and ugly as ever, however.
Anything he said after that was going to be amazing.
Those are little tricks, as a writer, that you know everyone's trying to accomplish to make a word mean more.
It's triple entendre, quadruple entendre.
That's when I feel like I'm at my best.
But I love seeing that.
I thought it was cool.
I think that's one of the biggest things that a lot of people echo, that seeing him talk about his craft and kind of like geek out about his songwriting.
You feel what I'm saying?
Instead of always just talking about like the current state of what's going on.
One take hold.
The one take hold.
I'll write that.
Yeah, like we want to hear you talk about the bar splits and collaborate with people and how you come up with these ideas and everything.
So watching him nerd out was a beautiful thing to have.
Not about if there's a new album coming out or who's he talking about on this record.
The structure and the format and the simplicity of you writing some of the best records we've ever heard in hip-hop and in music in general.
And I like, you know, I'm a fan of Jay-Z.
Like, he's my GOAT.
But watching him fan out specifically over Biggie and him talking about and I've seen it in documentaries before like how Biggie had a jazz pocket.
And I don't have a musical background.
I don't necessarily understand it.
But hearing other people talk about how Biggie's inflection was like an instrument and how even Biggie making fun of himself.
And then he broke it down.
He was like black and ugly as ever.
However, and that was, that was the best part of that.
However is, and you're like, dang, Faye had twins.
She probably had two pox, get it to pox.
And you're like, damn, like watching him, uh, Be a fan of his homeboy that we've long lost.
I just enjoy that, man.
If you're a fan of music, you guys, we got to stop being so cool and acknowledge we love stuff.
We love rap.
I love sports.
Why was there negative feedback on this?
What do you mean?
I just think in general, because we get it.
So it's either you glaze somebody or you get off his thing, or you're a fan too.
You're too much of a fan.
It's just like nah.
I just enjoy watching these very spectacular people um, you know, explain the art that they've given us.
Like I just like that greatness.
I like lebron james, like watching it, like i don't want to be critical watching greatness, you know what i'm saying.
So watching those guys break down something i can never fathom, um doing in these intricacies that go into these songs that i love, i just enjoy it, man.
And there was a part that they spoke to Pusha T not on video, but they spoke to Pusha T about Jay's songwriting and a particular song, Hovie Baby.
How he said, how Pusha said that made him scared of Jay-Z's songwriting.
And when you listen to Hovi Baby and how he's chasing the hi-hat and just how he's behind the beat.
That's intentional.
And Push was like when he discovered that he was like.
That made me scared of Jay-Z, just as a rapper and as a songwriter.
So, going back to Eddie's point, watching people fan out over people that they love and then inspire to be like and will be one day is a beautiful thing.
We need more of that.
So shout out to the New York Times.
Now, great thing by the New York Times.
But any other people that you guys think was looked over that should have been here?
Just in music, period?
In hip hop.
Let's keep it hip hop.
It's Rap Life Review.
I think.
Because you clearly have a problem with Young Thug.
Based on the criteria, I understand it now a little bit better.
I still would not have him, but I get it now.
So I can live with that.
I mean, Young Thug is just being one of the most innovative voices in rap ever.
You know what I mean?
I can see it.
And him being such an out-of-pocket unorthodox, you know, artist.
I think yeah, I think he deserves to be there 100.
Yeah, so yeah, okay.
So pardon self.
Not future mean.
That came up and yeah, i felt like over the weekend people were trying to choose future over young thug and i think young thug just is a little bit more orthodox than young.
Than young thug is, you know, like young thug's voices, you know what i mean the different tones and all the different pockets he uses, i think does break out more than future does.
I think Drake should have got a fair share.
He's not American.
Okay, okay.
I'm just trying to say who I thought could have been on it.
He can't be on it.
He's not American.
Why is that?
No, we can't do that.
We can't do that.
We can't do that.
No, I was just asking.
No, that's how they wrote the title.
It literally is written, The 30 Greatest American Songwriters.
Yeah, Living American Songwriters was the title they chose.
So then, I think, Probably to narrow the scope, because if they would have not made it American, then it would have changed the whole thing.
Was Push on there?
No.
Come on, man.
Come on, man.
What are we doing?
What are we doing?
All right, never mind.
All right.
Y'all ask me a question, I answer the question.
What are we doing?
Well, I think Pusha.
He's obviously a great rapper, but I don't think his music has gone as far as we would have liked to have seen.
You know what I mean?
Especially with cross-genre, which I think is why Jay-Z makes it as a...
Because Jay-Z has made those records that have, you know.
Frozen.
Cross genre and reach beyond hip hop.
Yeah, OK.
Yeah, so I guess based off of that, I don't think, I think they nailed it.
And maybe that's why Nas didn't make it.
Maybe they didn't feel like his catalog, or he has enough songs that reach beyond hip hop.
His catalog is there, but yes, the cross genre thing is also, and the innovation might be something.
Go ahead, man.
What are you saying there, Eddie?
I mean.
I don't know, man.
I mean, yeah, but... I mean, hasn't Nas crossed genre?
Like... Has he?
Nas is one of the biggest rappers ever.
Like, just by the nature of that, you have crossed genre.
Well, I think, but I think, name a song that you feel like... The world is mine.
You know, like, so for instance, but remember, Outkast is in here.
Yeah.
So...
Right.
So you're comparing, you know somebody like Outkast right with 3000 doing so many different styles of creative music.
Right.
And all of that.
And then when we, when you think about a Nas this isn't a slight on Nas, because I'm a huge Nas fan, but it's very much centered around being in hip hop
That's a pretty blatant understanding or reasoning why Nas wouldn't be there.
All right, I'm unfair.
Whereas Jay made...
Collision Course with Linkin Park, or the Punjabi record, or 99 Problems, or the Alicia Keys joint, which went super pop, or sampling Annie.
It's just too many examples for Jay not to be the main.
I think that's the piece that we're talking about.
But I get it.
I get it.
I get it, Eddie.
I understand.
So I think, yeah, I think they got it right.
In the Jay-Z convo, people were trying to act like he was being shady.
Yeah, I hated that.
Why was that?
Because, yeah, like, Eddie, if you want to take it, go ahead.
Because I already hated the scene of your voice, too.
Here's my issue with it.
All Jay-Z is saying, it's a conversation we had earlier with Isaiah Rashad.
Like we want some depth in our music, right?
Like we all, everybody on this panel, on this show, we like depth in our music.
And all Jay-Z said, as you get older, as an older...
And Jay-Z can say this because he probably made the greatest older rapper album ever in 444.
The oldest rapper ever to have a classic.
Yeah, from where I was in the beginning of my career to where I am now, everything I'm going through with my wife and my children, how I want to be viewed in life, and everything being very reflective of who you are.
He can speak on this.
And as rappers get older and we just talked about last year we had so many examples Nas included the clips all these older rappers that De La Soul released albums in the narrative that we had with it was how their music has matured, as they've matured.
So Jay, speaking on that, because of that somehow, because no matter what we talk about in hip hop, it always comes back to fucking Drake like no matter what.
And this isn't even me taking a shot at Drake.
I'm saying Drake probably had nothing to do with this, but because so many people view this genre through the lens of being Drake stands and, like Ebro says, not necessarily hip hop stands.
They took that as like, he's taking a shot at Drake.
And all you really did was you're saying to yourself and to everyone else you don't think Drake's music's mature?
See, but I think it was more Drake haters driving that charge than it was Drake fans.
No, it wasn't.
It was Drake fans.
No, it was Drake fans that made that claim.
Look, even Jay-Z doesn't rate him.
No, no, no, no.
I think it was Drake fans.
It was Drake fans that made that claim that looked at that comment and said yo, he's being shady towards Drake.
And the thing that really stuck out to me.
Like Eddie just said, if you really thought Jay was really slighting Drake in that description, that means you really feel like Drake's music is inauthentic, immature and has not blossomed.
I think that's an indictment on your own artists.
I just saw a lot of people using that as another excuse to shit on Drake.
I think it was both sides.
Going back to the Jay-Z conversation though, I think it was really cool.
Some of the things you said were like good advice for artists, right?
Like don't try to chase trends.
Yeah.
I think was super cool.
Talking about making music for your homies.
Yeah.
I thought was super cool.
I think that's a rule that we've heard other artists win on.
It's like well, I just made this song for me and my friends.
It ended up becoming the biggest thing.
I think that's a super cool rule.
And having integrity being the bottom line to everything he's ever done, right?
He talked about the luxury and all that shit being cool, but he was like integrity morals.
You know what I mean.
How you feel about your family Talking about that.
I think that was really strong takeaways for any future songwriter, any living songwriter.
To go on
Who's your favorite American songwriter, Nick?
It's Jay-Z.
That's good.
That's good, Nick.
I'ma go Stevie Wonder.
Stevie Wonder.
Stevie Wonder's my favorite American songwriter.
Stevie Wonder's my favorite songwriter.
Stevie Wonder's probably all time for me.
Stevie Wonder is our greatest living musician, period.
Period, full stop.
Period, stop, we're done.
The Dream, The Dream is high on my list.
Yeah.
The Dream is up there.
He's actually on this list.
No, yes, I'm saying, The Dream is high on my list.
Yeah, The Dream is on this list.
Jermaine Dupri and Dream.
Jermaine Dupri and Dream.
So I ain't about to talk bad about The Dream.
Well, and the Dream has a new single out that's super fire, too.
You should go check it out as he gets ready to drop an album.
You kind of broke that news very, very...
Very soon.
What's that, The Dream?
Yeah.
The new album.
Yeah, The Loving Two, when he was on you, Rosenberg.
Oh, when he was on the show, yeah, when he was on the podcast, yeah, on the ELR show.
You should check it out, 8 AM, weekdays.
But yeah, The Dream's a homie.
Yeah.
He was yelling at me this weekend.
Why was he yelling at you?
Yeah, what'd you do?
Him and Tricky and some other songwriters called my phone.
They ain't like my Michael Jackson Thriller tape.
Oh, hold on, let's talk about this.
First of all, I'm tired of you giving your best takes to another show you do.
The fuck, E-Bro.
That's his show.
Second of all, I know you don't do drugs and I know you're a very healthy and very intelligent person.
However, crack, fucking crack.
What are you talking about?
Here's the deal.
So the blogs jumped on that and put the headline on it that I said that Michael Jackson's thriller is the McDonald's of albums.
Now the me making the McDonald's comment all the time is really tied to the idea that we all like McDonald's.
Right, everybody, nobody, there's something at McDonald's you like.
It's for every, it's literally for everyone.
And so people often, their argument for something being great is that everyone likes it.
Which is why it's great. which is why it's great.
And I always argue, well, McDonald's is for everyone, but you wouldn't say it's the best hamburger.
You wouldn't say, I mean, maybe it's the best French fries.
It doesn't make it the best.
It just makes it the most popular.
It's got some strips.
And so in this convo I have a reoccurring theme where I'm always talking about Off the Walls better than Thriller.
I agree.
Because it has less skips.
I agree.
And I said I always skip 3, 4, and 5 on Thriller. which is Girl Is Mine, Beat It, and Thriller.
I said, this me.
You said this on this show thousands of times.
And then I said it's the McDonald's of Michael Jackson albums, because when you debate someone on Thriller, all they bring up is how much it sold.
Sounds like a... I mean, first of all, wait, wait, wait.
Stop, stop, stop.
Who are you arguing with?
That's the only thing they're bringing up.
Like, Thriller is fucking phenomenal.
You want Twitter arguing about this?
But no, Thriller's phenomenal, but we're up against Off the Wall.
Yeah.
I like Off the Wall better.
We just agreed that Off the Wall's a better album.
I think that's the consensus.
All right, a couple things on this.
That was the convo.
So I often troll people.
I'm like, I love Thriller.
The real troll in that for me this is for me is we were conditioned to love thriller and fight for it.
People act like I spit on they mama. by even talking about skipping three songs on throat.
Considering the voice of where the idea or logic is coming from, you can understand why people might be a little emotional.
But, by the way, even with all my friends that called me this weekend I mean, a lot of people was like You struck a chord.
Eddie, just like that was like yo bro.
I know they're saying AI you, my dog, like I need to make sure you okay.
They thought you was A.I.?
Where's this coming from?
Like, I heard all types of shit.
Like, it was all types of shit.
And I was like yo.
I was like yo.
The marketing really worked on this man, because Thriller was visually, the first time we had seen something that magnificent.
So groundbreaking.
Right?
Like the music video for Thriller was literally the revolutionizing of music television.
Innovative.
Right?
You know what I mean?
However, you only listen to Thriller on probably Halloween.
Okay, stop.
I got a question for you.
Now, granted, when the video comes on, do we watch it?
Probably so.
Anytime I see a group of kids or anybody breaking into the Thriller dance break, we stopping to watch.
But if you're chilling and you're listening to music.
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
Y'all, you can lie to me if you want.
I got to ask you a question, though.
I got to ask you a question, though.
Let me ask you this.
You're not putting on Beat It and Thriller.
That's a different kind of skit, though.
Let me ask you this.
Chillax.
This is where I'm going.
Let me get this.
You not, yo.
Windows down on a summer day.
You are not riding around with Thriller.
Blaring out your wagon.
Let me ask you something.
Let me ask you something.
That's all I'm saying.
So for me, right?
If Usher's Yeah comes on, I couldn't skip it quick enough.
Not because it's a terrible song, because I've heard it a million fucking times.
I'm someone that worked in traditional radio.
So I've heard Yeah more than anybody on the planet.
But yeah, for like the first three, four months, every time it come on.
Yeah yeah, I'm right there with you.
I've heard it too many times now.
Now, when you say you're skipping Thriller and Beat It, you're not.
I'm asking are you skipping it because they're bad songs?
Or are you skipping it because you heard them a million times?
I'm skipping them.
Not cause they're bad songs.
I'm skipping beat it because it's like, what are we doing, bro?
I'm not doing that with you right now, bro.
I'm moving.
Um, Thriller, so we listening to hardcore R&B now?
That's what we doing?
I'm mobbing out to the hardcore R&B song real quick.
No, we're not.
No, we're not.
Let me tell you something.
We're arguing about the greatest or debating, whatever you want to call it, the greatest performer.
The way Mike recorded songs and the fact that you can hear the emotion and what he poured into a recording like he's the greatest.
I'm not comparing Mike to anybody. this is mike's quality versus mike's quality and so that's all i'm saying those records come on and i skip them now is it a troll that i said it was the mcdonald's of albums absolutely did it get people going one thousand percent but it also yo bro and i want everybody to stop and think and if you was a lot look when thriller came out i'm nine bro Like I'm nine years old when Thriller came out.
I lived the mic thing.
I was just born.
No, I remember when Off the Wall came out, my cousins, all the girls, they was like, damn, crazy.
Crazy, bro.
Yeah, crazy.
Yeah, damn, I've been here for a minute.
Oh, I just caught the reference.
I just caught the reference.
Yo.
Motherfucking the work they put in the marketing thriller bro, is I never seen nothing like it bro?
Out of this world.
Have you ever seen anything like it?
And by the way, they executed on the marketing.
It wasn't just, I mean, it's all the things.
The mystique of it all. the music video, I mean, all of it.
They nailed all of it.
And to this day, as y'all can see, you are not allowed to have a public opinion that might slight thriller in any way, shape or form.
And everyone in my world agrees that off the wall is better.
But if I would've said off the wall, eh, I don't know, I don't think I would've got the blow back.
It's Thriller, bro.
Thriller means that much.
It's a combination of everything you just said, and you just leaned a little too hard.
He leaned hella hard.
You leaned hella hard.
I think that just kind of rubs.
No, listen.
And you stood on the table, and you stood.
And by the way, I stand on it.
See?
All right, so what did we miss?
I'm not backing down.
What did we miss, man?
We're not asking you to back down.
Bro, y'all not listening to them records.
You're just not.
You're not listening to 345.
I'm definitely skipping Baby Momma.
I'm definitely skipping that shit.
Baby Momma.
I'm skipping that shit.
Thriller, Embraer.
What did we miss, Nick?
Speaking of staying on Michael, Kalen Tuferell dropped a new song called Slide City.
Kalen Tuferell played a crip in Michael, so that was really cool.
He was in the Michael movie, so he just dropped Slide City, which is a remix to Justin Bieber's UConn, so make sure y'all listen to that.
Kalen, for real, for real.
Two for real.
Kalen, for real, for LA's very own.
Lucky dropped Days Before Bad, which is a small 12-minute EP he dropped ahead of his album Drugs Are Bad coming out, which I thought was really dope.
If y'all want to hear some New York-style bars, you know what I mean some DJ Clue-type freestyles.
He's got a bad influence freestyle I suggest everybody go listen to.
Shout out to Lucky.
He used to be my neighbor.
He used to live in the same apartment.
Shout out to him.
Shoreline Mafia is back with a project, man.
And they did something really cool when they're starting to lean into more of that freestyle.
They're kind of flipping some of those freestyle beats like Kendrick did on Squabble Up.
So I thought that was really cool.
Shout out to Shoreline Mafia.
By the way, that's a strong move for them too.
It's a great move.
Real strong LA move.
Yeah.
Skrilla dropped the album Z. We know him from 6-7, the song that went super viral, man.
He's back with a full body of work that I thought was really dope.
If you want to lean into some of that.
Yo, man, shout out to Skrilla, bro.
He's hard.
Man.
The way that Duke sent things into the stratosphere.
Bro, I hope he gets to reap the benefits of that.
Yeah, for sure.
I hope people, I hope all these little 12-year-old kids, no, I'm kidding.
They ain't got no business listening to a Skrilla album.
I'ma keep it 100.
But since they off to 6'7", they still off to 6'7", Juice.
Still off it heavy.
Yeah, go listen to Z, man.
He's a great lyricist.
He's got a great flow.
His story is dope.
He's from Kensington, which is one of the roughest parts of Philadelphia, man.
He's kind of bringing some of that story to the forefront.
I think it's incredible what he's doing right now.
Also, Nick, speaking of Philly, shout out to Young Chris and Freeway.
They got a new record with Made in T.O.
Here we go.
I'm going to see everybody talk about that.
Yeah, young Chris has been on a run with me.
No, a run.
A run.
So I just wanted to, speaking of failure, I just wanted to put that in there.
Yeah, for sure.
Going, Big Sad is back.
Did you say AZ while we was talking about?
Oh, yeah.
I didn't say AZ, but.
Oh.
Why y'all didn't say AZ?
No, we actually, when we were talking about the elder statesman, we spoke about AZ.
You got it.
Uniqueness, man.
Y'all not rocking with AZ?
No, I am.
We mentioned AZ, though.
I used to love AZ.
Probably not.
I used to love AZ, for real.
Nick said probably not.
Probably not.
Melancholy.
But why not, Nick?
You like bars.
I do like bars.
I just, there's so much music coming out.
It just wouldn't be at the top of my list, right?
You don't like how he let sincere almost get shot in belly.
So that's why it's a whole resentment.
Why don't you just tell him he was right there?
Like you could have, he just peace out.
That was, that was messed up.
Wow.
We saved that take for a different episode.
I liked it at the time.
The intro was fire.
The intro was fire.
I enjoyed it.
It looks cool.
Yeah, it looks great.
It's incredibly stylized.
Oh, it was shot beautifully.
Shot beautifully.
Yeah, shot beautifully.
Anyway, Big Sad is back with a song, Gold On My Body.
He's been having a great year.
He dropped projects until then, too, in personal, not business.
So more of that LA feel.
The guy can rap really well.
Lil Reezy is back.
Reezy.
Yo, Lil Reezy.
Melanated.
That's the homie.
Yeah.
He's back, man.
And this is perfect as we get into these cookout eras.
But he never left, though, Nick.
Where'd he go?
He never left.
Well, I mean, I don't think this is his first single in a little bit, though.
Like, I don't think he's been constantly dropping.
Yeah.
So I think, but as we kind of get.
He on my timeline heavy.
Is he?
What?
Yeah, all the time.
I see him all the time.
I see him occasionally when he drops.
Fresh off that J. Cole rollout.
J. Cole wrote it.
He was on J.Covid.
When J. Cole pulled up in New Orleans, he was there.
But yeah, Melanated is dope, man.
Put that on the Juneteenth playlist.
And going back to Isaiah Rashad, as we talked about the album before Eddie and Glo threw me under the bus here on the show, I wanted to talk about the song Man on a Mission.
Something that sounded very familiar.
It might have sounded very familiar to you is because he flips the bombs over Baghdad, drums and names the song MOM instead of BOB.
I didn't know that.
I didn't catch that.
Y'all didn't hear that?
I didn't catch it, nah.
Some layers on the album.
Like the song Boy in Red is inspiration to the artist Girl in Red.
I knew these dudes missed the whole thing.
I shouldn't have let y'all talk about that Isaiah Rashad album.
Our fault.
We gave our thoughts.
We gave our honest thoughts.
Our fault.
But pardon so.
I still like Thriller.
I don't dislike Thriller.
I like Thriller a lot.
Stop bringing him back to that moment because he's not going to stop.
Yo, you want to hear something crazy?
Uh-oh.
Who called you?
So many people.
So many people.
I can't even name names, because some people agreed they would never say it in public.
OK.
And these are like songwriters, like real musicians and songwriters.
That got hits.
Yo, one person was like yo.
Did you know that Thriller is a Rick James ripoff?
But Rick James was too high to sue Michael Jackson at the time.
I was like, oh, this is it.
Oh, come on.
Is that true?
Get off the internet.
That's what this person was saying.
Get off the internet.
This wasn't on the internet.
This was on a private phone call.
This is somebody who worked.
This is somebody who's old enough to have worked and was a working musician in the 80s.
And around that time, so they would know.
I've watched too many old artists' podcasts and old athletes' podcasts to this point where I don't believe no.
You could have been there, and I still don't believe you.
Nah, see, that's a little different.
I'd be like, nah, man, you making shit up.
Them niggas are big.
I think that's different.
This person was just giving me a tidbit.
Like, it wasn't even a hate.
It wasn't like they disliked one or the other.
They was just like, you know, thrillers of ripoff.
Yeah, we didn't see a couple niggas hating this weekend, but we'll save that for next.
But also, too, I think that marketing works, man.
I think that, like...
We need to like.
I would always tell people they would you know yelling at me about Thriller or whatever.
I'll be like, look, man, we've all been conditioned, man, to believe things.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, it happens.
But also, sometimes it's true, too, Ebro.
Like, it's a great album, man.
What?
Man, it depends.
It's a great album.
All right, cool.
I love the album.
It's phenomenal.
It's fucking Thriller, guys.
Like, it's Thriller.
OK, it has skips.
You're right.
No one's dying.
No one's, like, no one's dying.
It has skips.
What are we doing?
Thriller.
It has skips.
It's fucking Thriller.
And he said, what are we doing?
It's Thriller.
Whatever that marketing was, whatever got that done.
That bug right there is still in it.
Whatever they did in the conditioning of people, that was.
That's right.
It jumped out.
It's the greatest album fucking all time.
It's Thriller.
It's nine songs, one of which we can skip, of fucking heat.
Nah, I can skip three.
I'm skipping too.
Even Girl Is Mine is a good song, guys.
It's just corny.
That's a skip.
Yo, but it's six bangers.
It's six of the greatest.
It's six of the greatest songs that we've ever heard.
So Thriller's not one of the greatest songs you've ever heard.
I went through these songs off the wall in Thriller so many times over the last few days, since this thing kept going.
Yo, I didn't even pick up on right now that off the wall, the song off the wall is when Mike starts his little like scary, like he does the little he goes, it's like he does like a little scary thing in off the wall.
And that's almost like the precursor to, like, him going full R&B, horrorcore, and thriller.
Like, listen to Off the Wall again.
Yeah.
There's, like, some scary elements in it.
It was creepy at the beginning, yeah.
Listen, man.
I didn't like that.
The Seattle homie had to bring it out of him.
I didn't like how you did that.
Rest in peace.
I didn't like how you did that.
And on the 40th anniversary thriller, listen to Carousel, and you can hear it's the more, Carousel's the more like soulful, blacker girl is mine, which is dope.
You guys familiar with Carousel?
I love Blame It On The Boogie for just naming random Michael Jackson songs.
Yeah, Girl Is Mine still a skip.
We can wrap it up.
You skipping Beat It, too?
Nah, I'm playing Beat It.
You like Beat It?
I like Beat It.
Really?
I like Beat It, yeah.
I like Beat It.
Your buddy, yeah.
I fuck with Beat It.
Yeah, top down, I'll throw Beat It on.
Really?
West Side Highway, yeah.
Okay.
All right.
Get me to my destination.
Let's do it.
I respect you.
Yo, Nick, thank you very much.
Eddie, Lo, I'm Ebro, Rap Life Review.
We'll see y'all next week.
