While I was trolling Jadakiss apologists today for calling his new album Top Five Dead or Alive, lamenting his complete inability to ever make an official album with more than three good songs, a thought struck me – maybe you don’t actually need a certified classic album to be considered one of the best of all time. While Rakim, KRS-One, LL Cool J, Biggie and Kool G Rap all have revered LP’s under their belts, many of the best to ever rap into an amplified vocal device never actually delivered amazing albums.
For rappers from the early days, such as Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee and Grandmaster Caz, this can be attributed to the music being a singles medium during when they were recording. It wasn’t until the time of Radio, Raising Hell and Criminal Minded that long players outgrew the pattern of simply being a padded-out collection of singles and were capable of a focused concept. As rap got bigger and the costs of releasing a major label project skyrocketed by the end of the nineties, we saw the emergence of the ‘street album’ aka ‘mixtape,’ which allowed rappers stuck in a shitty deal to still keep their name buzzing as they flipped popular instrumentals and uncleared samples without fear of reprisal.
This phase spawned a number of ‘mixtape legends’ who forged their reputation via Funkmaster Flex radio freestyles and DJ Clue? CDs, thus establishing (or rebuilding) the careers of 50 Cent, The LOX, Max B, Fabolous, Lil Wayne and The Diplomats. This once again skewed the playing field, as it was now entirely possible that the majority of a rap fan’s personal top five may have consisted of MCs who didn’t have a classic retail release to their name. Clearly, that shouldn’t matter, but why then do I still take issue with Jadakiss declaring himself in the top five of all-time? There’s no denying that he’s great at rapping, and I’m as big a fan of ‘The Champ Is Here,’ ‘We Gonna Make It’ and that freestyle he did over that old Mobb Deep beat as the next man, but that hardly qualifies him as a G.O.A.T. contender.
Even though I’ve previously decreed that any G.O.A.T. discussions are essentially pointless, let’s suppose for a moment that it’s actually a valid talking point and break it down just as Professor Kool Moe Dee did his peers on the inner sleeve of How Ya Like Me Now (it’s also worth noting that KMD rated Lauryn Hill 97/100 and Biggie 95/100 when he revisited his report in 1998 for ego trip’s Big Book of Rap Lists):
Jadakiss:
Vocabulary: 8
Articulation: 8
Creativity: 7
Originality: 7
Versatility: 7
Voice: 9
Records: 7
Stage Presence: 7
Sticking To Themes: 8
Innovating Rhythms: 7
Total: 75/100
Grade: C+
Maybe Moe Dee had it all figured out after all!
There’s plenty of late 90’s emcees who can spit it great, that are considered legends without classic LP’s. It would be nice to have 1 or 2 in your catalog but like you said in the era of Mixtapes, freestyles and classic verses in posse cuts, it’s hard to deny the talent of a jadakiss whom I don’t feel when it comes to his solo joints because he’s never been able to kill one by HIMSELF like a Rakim, LL or Masta Ace, NAS. Top 5 DOA, is all opinion anyway. Kool Moe Dee’s Report Card stays on point when it comes to rating.
‘Testament’ is solid enough, but Cormega never made a stone cold CLASSIC album. That said, he’s still one of the greatest.
Jadakiss is a great MC. I don’t think anyone can question that. But when you name your ALBUM Top 5 DOA… I think you need to deliver something that justifies having your name in that conversation. This was an opportunity to make a statement and outside of a few really good tracks, I think this album fell short of it’s title. Now if you want to pay someone to have the quotable of the month, nobody is better than Jada..
Testament and The Realness are both classics imo. Now put each of Jadas 3 good songs from each project on one album n u got a stone cold classic…
Real Talk @357nyc
@357nyc: But just about every good rapper has three or four great songs per album. Take AZ for example – I could pick the best two songs from every one of his projects and it would make a great compilation (actually, I might do that next week), but that’s a different thing than the ability to construct a single, strong piece of work such as ‘Only Built 4 Cuban Linx’ or ‘Critical Beatdown.’
@Carlos The Realness and The True Meaning are def clasics they both aged well and hold up great today. Mega’s only misstep to me was Born and Raised because of how underhwelming it was even thought it took seven years to come out.
If you aint dropped at least 3 dope albums, you need to have made one monumentally huge impact on rap to qualify for GOAT consideration. An albumless rapper would need to have done something earth-shattering, paradigm-shifting or era-defining to be a credible contender. Some argue that battlers/freestylers (e.g. Super Natural or Percee P) deserve consideration as GOAT for their contributions to the live and competitive arena. Busta Rhymes has yet to drop a great album but many consider him a great.
You make some great points Robbie but it just doesn’t seem right that Jada only gets a C+, he’s murdered many of tracks consistently for almost 2 decades at least
I love Moe Dee shitting on The Beasties. He preferred the Boogie Boys.
@D.G. It does seem a little too low, maybe I’ll reevaluate him when I do the full report card next week.
@Daniel: Spare a thought for Too $hort and Master P, who only scored 76 in the 1998 version.
I definitely would accept several consistent albums, in lieu of a classic album to put someone in the “greatest” category.
I never got the Whole Jada Kiss thing or Lox.
I don’t know maybe being a tad older than most his fans I stuck to MCS with Classic albums and songs.
Jada Kiss is NOT WACK but he’s not in my top 50 rappers at all and I have heard most artists being my age and how long I been into Hip Hop Music.
Rakim, Tragedy,Kool G Rap, KRS 1, LL, Kane, Chuck D, Black Thought, NAS, Large Pro, Blaq Poet, EPMD, Black Moon,Smiff n Wessun, Heltah Skeltah, REDMAN, Killa Sha, Pace Won De La Soul , Del, Gangstarr, Native Tongues , Lord Finesse, AG , OC, Organized Konfusion , Tribe called Quest, Diamond D and So many many many Artists had classic albums and are a zillion times doper than Jada or Styles P.
I think Jada’s best song was the 50 cent diss.
You gotta have a classic Album to amongst the best in my book.
Making a classic album is an artform few have done.
Good topic. Also isn’t Jada doing trap bullshit now??
i remember this report card.
@DJ Davito Styles P is better than Jada on the strength of he can certainly rhyme and pick better beats.
Top 5 arguments are pointless cause its just your preference. I like Ghostface Nas Jadakiss Styles and 5th place could be sigel,cormega Eminem even snoop. Styles p is better than jada makes better albums mixtapes and his work rate bars n subject matter has improved so much over the years especially when he left interscope plus Gangster and A Gentleman is one the most slept on albums ever. If jada really wants the critical props he needs to get off the major labels that have made him do those awful tracks that fucked up his best albums Kiss the game goodbye and Kiss of Death. We Are The Streets is a classic tho. If jada wants to make a critical beast of an album I would say go independent n do a whole album with alchemist every track they have worked on has been a banger