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Each performance was varied and unique—from matching JID's lyrical savvy on "Surround Sound, " to complementing Tyler, the Creator's bombastic energy on "Cash In Cash Out, " and anchoring several tracks on Metro Boomin's album Heroes & Villains. But his bars aren't as luxurious as those guys'—Benny comes from a different place. By then, he had become a mainstream fixture—an icon larger than rap—and it was evident in the album's reception. Solo Fingerstyle Guitar arrangement of the song Can't Be Broken by Lil Wayne. Even if it hadn't become one of the best-selling rap records ever, the record was still a conceptual masterpiece—with Eminem mixing autobiographical detail and absurdist fantasy to chilling results. And he did it while remaining his own goofy, good-hearted, Christian self—an archetype we haven't seen in hip-hop before, and an innovation in and of itself. His voice resonated with the public as much as it did with those on the block, a fact of which he was fully aware: "My lyrics motivate the planet/It's similar to Rhythm Nation, but thugged out, forgive me Janet. As the critical praise poured in and K-Dot fans supported their artist—a music-biz mantra that's more often said than followed—a mainstream audience slowly started to appreciate this West Coast rapper with left-field sensibilities to the point where hip-hop as a whole started looking at him differently. He also appeared on Usher's "Love in This Club, " which would also find the top spot. As soon as 2013 songs "Danny Glover" and "Stoner" cemented themselves as early 2014 anthems, complicated label issues threatened Thug's ascent. It takes a special kind of rapper to delay an album for years, build up an impossibly high level of anticipation, and then actually deliver on the hype.
He also dished out over 20 guest verses, jumping on songs with everyone from Pop Smoke ("For the Night") to Lil Wayne ("I Do It") to Future and Drake ("Life Is Good (Remix)"). "Sucker MCs (Krush Groove 1)" was a stylistic broadside against all forms of wackness. On cuts like "Smooth Operator, " the tall, dapper, dark-skinned MC, sometimes known as Count Macula, made the ladies melt like Hershey's kisses in a microwave. To top it all off, he signed a deal with HBO to air a documentary about his momentous tour. When LL said "I'm the leader of the show, keeping you on the go" you'd best believe it, because in 1985 no rap fan could live without LL on their radio. "Somebody's Gotta Die" was a storytelling track with the complexities of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. I see you're not satisfied. The Virginia-by-way-of-the-Bronx MC has been an elite lyricist for decades, never losing a step or forgetting the rules of the game. After the banner year that was 1998, Jay Z entered 1999 with his confidence at an all-time high. Scott was so sufficiently impressed that he would slide the 20-year-old passes that allowed him to go out and catch live rap shows from time to time.
He came right back with a self-titled debut album the following year, powered by "The Breaks, " which became the first gold single in rap history. Never had he gone at another rapper the way he did Push on "Duppy. " Young Thug may never be the best rapper alive for as long as he raps, but that's in keeping with his artistic mission. However you want to look at it, Lil Baby was the best rapper of the year. 1 singles, "Nice for What" and "God's Plan, " he seemed well on his way to a career year. It literally has something for everyone.
For years, we've known J. Cole could rap with the best artists on the planet, but in 2018 he finally shed some lingering stigmas that were holding him back. The record received 5 mics from The Source, an XXL rating from XXL, and went double platinum, with the lead single "Izzo (H. V. )" reaching the top 10. I shit you not, I felt like I was in church, and the weed began to smell like the incense in a thurible. He's carved a sound—major chords and warm keyboards and stuttering drums—that's entirely and recognizably his own. The year is still young. Pusha clarified his tweeted warning ("You tried, you failed... 5 mics in The Source and an XXL rating from XXL. Much was made of this being Jay's apology album—it was, but it was much more than that. "Now it's me in my time, it's just me in my prime. " —Noah Callahan-Bever. By 2000, white boy or no white boy, you had to give him the mic and let him recite.
But the following year, Jeezy took off, beginning with the growing buzz around his Trap or Die mixtape. But those wicked raps only scratched the surface of what was to come. By 2007, the stars had aligned and Yeezy became the epicenter of hip-hop, both sonically and artistically. Joseph "Run" Simmons got his start in hip-hop DJing for Kurtis Blow. The favorite rapper discussion is cool and all, but the coveted distinction in hip-hop is still being named the GOAT (Greatest of All Time).
For those really in the know, this might have been expected. Around the same time, a copy of 50's Guess Who's Back? Common, meanwhile, released one of the best records of his career in Be, a major creative and unexpected commercial success. Who knows what's next, but let 2014 be remembered as the year Roman retired, the wigs stayed in the box, and everyone learned that "mixtape Nicki" wasn't back—she had never left.
It sold modestly at first, but in time it has become recognized as a Southern hip-hop classic. "OK no problem, I'll show up on everyone album/You know what the outcome will be, " he rapped alongside 21 Savage on "a lot, " before flipping the script on everyone: "It's got to the point that these rappers don't even like rappin' with me. " The rhymes on AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted went beyond gangster life and dug into the underbelly of American apartheid. —Christine Werthman. If he'd stopped with just one project, DaBaby would have likely ended 2019 as rap's Rookie of the Year, but he wanted more. Light it up, that's smoke and mirrors. As such, his lyrics were tools of war, which he kept sharpened to a lethal edge. The best way to describe it in a word?
And instead of accomplishing that with fake voices and other gimmicks, she did it with varied flows, ranging from sing-song to pummeling, and lines as personal as they were provocative. The Off-Season proved, once again, that Jermaine Cole is one of the best rappers alive. He fired back at Push on his release day with "Duppy Freestyle, " effectively shifting the conversation during DAYTONA's rollout. The 6ix God ascended to Mount Olympus. HONORABLE MENTIONS: Method Man, Treach, Q-Tip. Delivering gritty, autobiographical raps with his usual braggadocio over a collection of hard-hitting Hit-Boy beats peppered with soulful flourishes, Benny made one of the best top-to-bottom rap albums of the year. Twenty-five years later, at 46, Q-Tip brought the members of A Tribe Called Quest together to record a new album. So Far Gone put Drake on the map in '09, and his 2010 debut album, Thank Me Later, was released in a stacked hip-hop year. Biggie was the most entertaining rapper to listen to in 1997, from an everyman standpoint—think about how fun it is to spell out B-I-G-P-O-P-P-A at the beginning of his verse on "Mo Money Mo Problems"—and he was also the best, from a purist's perch.
The Nicki Minaj who showed up to 2014 was battle-ready. Explaining the story behind the title of his 2020 album, Burden of Proof, Benny the Butcher told Complex, "I'm telling people, 'I'm a legend now. ' A year after the phenomenal impact of It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back Public Enemy kept the pressure on with "Fight the Power. " We all know the story, whether we've read the Bible or not.
2, he hit the pop charts, becoming one of the most commercially successful artists in hip-hop and helping to make Def Jam one of 1998's biggest success stories. Run dispensed with all sucker MCs remorselessly: "So take that and move back catch a heart attack. " He's trying to evoke exactly what his particular brand of happiness—one colored by empathy and nostalgia as much as pure moment-to-moment joy—feels like musically. We may never know the specifics of Drake's writing process, but if one thing out of the summer's controversy was crystal clear, it was confirmation that Drake's final touch is intangible.
A debate that considers both the short-term and long-term implications of an artist's impact. There is also a lot of talk about "selling out" and a tension between mainstream pop culture and hip-hop that now feels anachronistic but was obviously a very real concern at the time. With KIRK, DaBaby proved he was able to repeat his first taste of success, blowing past any concerns of a sophomore slump, as he established himself among rap's elite. On March 1, he dropped a bomb with Baby on Baby, a 13-track project full of hard-hitting rap songs that knifed through a sea of sing-song rappers.
His stories were rich, oscillating between cartoons with morals, like "Children's Story, " and ridiculous slices of life, like "The Moment I Feared. " He was a movie star (Hype Williams' feature-length debut, Belly, released in 1998), but his way of rhyming made everyone feel like a close friend. 2005 marked the moment he crossed over completely, becoming one of the genre's biggest stars.