gotta late pass ya ari, bigtime

this is something like 2 years old

jay-z's nods to Big, UGK, Ice-T, so on & so forth are tributes. they're like little flavor crystals for the very hiphop-literate- i think when a clever mc(and few are more so than hov)slips in references to past greats it's awesome.

I'm always about two years too late on hiphop.

I disagree with dude, just giving Jay-Z a break cuz u think he's the greatest ever. He's straight up jacking Biggies swagger, sometimes it is a tribute like when he makes it the hook, but when he just takes verses, that ain't a tribute. Jay-Z is not that great, if you be real about it and actually listen to him. Besides, Jay-Z probably killed Biggie himself cuz otherwise Jay would be nobody today.

I ain't defending Cam though cuz he sucks too, I'm just saying.

boilerplate jay hate. come original

and no, i dont think jay is best ever, either. (big & ice cube are my g.o.a.t.s)

but if i be real about it and actually listen(and believe that i do, playboy), jay is without a doubt an incredible mc, absolutely one of the best to do it. dont fool yourself.

indeed, massive late pass warranted

lol @ flavor crystals

brian: jay and cam are excellent rappers and you don't have to be very smart to understand that

Some of it seems like tributes but a lot of the Biggie ones are in the verses and are so subtle it's hard to believe he put it there for people to recognize. To me sounds like he couldn't think of a line and went back to what he knows works.

But honestly I don't think this should be a big deal considering Hip-Hop is a genre invented from sampling other artists music. Jay-Z's not that great but he's a great deal better than Cam'ron. He's a joke.

WHOAH

morgan, you are stupid. don't underestimate others cause you listen slow.

jay z is too *what* to be subtle?

dumb? hiphop?

if you don't get it you aren't supposed to.

and cam sucks at rap? thanks for not mattering, morgan.

anyone who's followed jay's career, style, and evolution knows that he puts more of a premium on subtlety than 95% of anybody, so i don't think he's trying to dupe anybody. he's slick, that's always been his whole thing.

see, i'm a hiphop fucking nerd. i identify jay as one too, the same way i'd identify any other- by the reference points. not to compare myself- but i do a similar thing in my column all the time- it's informative for everybody but there's more info encoded in the word. the reader/listener's depth of knowledge determines the amount of enjoyment.

Seriously? Hmmmmkay...

2 years ago I would've said that Jay's use of the bars are only theft to idiots who dont know hip hop, to us, its a nice lil tip of the cap to the ones before him. Jay is the dopest because the other 95 percent of his original rhymes shit all over the crappy ass Anticon poop The Stranger worships

i love when npha makes it over to line out.

however, you need to late pass yourself: anticon is not really a rap thing anymore.

step your bed-wetter bedroom indie rock game up.

Oh you mean those bands that go by (B-List Celebrity) + (Body Part)? Yeah eff that crap too.

Anticon/Sage Francis/Immortal Technique, same crap different toilet.

Don't I remember Suge trying to donate his Anticon crap to you??

Your love for WGIFC exempts you

liking the clipse = not exactly the cred-maker anymore

Only true Re-Uppers can tell the difference between Mal & Pusha on wax with no hesitation.

shits easy, one is way better

...um isn't the whole art form based on appropriating other peoples work?

yes- taking scraps, and reinventng them. like taking massa's scraps and making soul food. c'mon people it's black history month.

When hip hop nerds argue over cred, the whole world suffers.

wow!! zing!

Hey Larry, lets start a indie rock group called "Ronald Regan's Crack Babies" and scream our angst in sweaty dive clubs while heroin chic girls scream our names in between vomit sessions

oops my bad Reagan, same shit

it'd be more contempo to call the band Reagan Reagan or N*gger Wolf and angst is out, keyboard scarves and casio beats IN. mtsn will consult.

Perfect. You could tour with AIDS Wolf. Or Black Kids.