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No Rza No Primo NO LIST · Hip-Hop Now Podcast

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Coming up. On this week's episode of hip Hop Now podcast, DJ Clark
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Kent says the Chronic isn't a classic. My thoughts on the latest project by
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Mickey Diamond, Nobody Bleeds like Flair and rap Cavia releases their Greatest Beats of
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All Time list and it contains no beats by Risen, no beats by DJ
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Premier. This ain't no lists. Let's do it. Welcome to hip Hop
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Now Podcasts from the future. You know what to do? Your assiut of
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so disrespect the leg hip hop said this dadum. Let's get right into the
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business. What up, y'all? I am host Vegas and this is hip
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Hop Now Podcasts, a podcast specifically designed to keep you caught up on all
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things hip hop, music and culture that happened throughout the week fifty years of
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hip hop. Big shout out to my Patreon supporters over at patreon dot com
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slash hip Hop Now and if you would like to learn how you can support
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the show and become a producer of this show, click the link in the
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description of this episode. We're not gonna waste time. We're gonna get right
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to A big shout out to hip Hop dx dot com. All hip Hop
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dot Com, Double XL magazine and in this case Rap Caviar. Let's get
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right into the business. So DJ Clark Kent appeared on this series that you
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can find on the YouTube channel of the Notorious vig. It's all about the
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making of our believe life after death, but in general is about biggie and
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music and strings of that nature. I hate saying things of that nature because
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I always said it, but I said, it's so who cares? But
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we maybe a week or sold, maybe even last week. I can't remember.
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Actually it was last week. From the future. You don't have to
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get your outside of here. He already knew what I was gonna say.
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But Yo, last week they had a little headline, a little controversy because
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of the whole you know, no flowers for easymobi and people kind of claiming
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production that's actually his or just not mentioning him, which seemed where Well.
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Now this series that is not really concentrated on these outside takes has another hot
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take, and this time is from DJ Clark Kent. Now, if you
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don't know who that is, I would say google DJ clark Kent. No,
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google DJ Clark Kent's production credits and then come back because they're people who
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will write an opinion off because they don't know the person who's talking. Once
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you know him, you should know that he knows what he's talking about when
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it comes to hip hop, because he has contributed to hip hop in so
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many different ways, Biggie being one, jay Z being another, and so
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on and so forth. But during his interview with Angie Martinez, he has
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some controversial things to say about Doctor Dre's classic album, The Chronic, And
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here's what he said essentially, and I quote, if you look at every
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album that you think is a classic album, like the real classics, Nway's
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Ice Cube Snoop doggs first album, A trip called Quest joints like Rick's album
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Chronic. I can't even put the Chronic before I put Snoop Dogg's album Snoop
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doggs album is better than the Chronic. It definitely is. That's not even
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a question. What I'm saying is, if you take a second and listen
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to all those albums, Reasonable Doubt, Life After Death, Ready to Die,
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They're all the same album. All these albums do the same thing.
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They begin, they hold you in the middle, they hug you, and
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then they end that's what classic albums do. But you gotta have great songs
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that make things happen. If you don't, you'll get one song that doesn't
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hit properly. You done took yourself out of the classic thing. Because if
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you can skip, you ain't got a classic. That's why I won't say
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not me. DJ Clark say the Chronic is a classic because I can skip
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RBX Wow coming for RBX. So he said a number of things. He
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made a number of great points, but I gotta counterpoint. I believe a
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classic album can have skips. Now you can't skip half the album. You
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can't even skip a quarter of the album. Now we're talking about classics obviously
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staying the test of time. They don't get whack over time. They shouldn't
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if you understand the context in which it was releasing, why it was so
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big at the time. But to his point, and the Snoop thing is
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not the first time I heard somebody say that, just to be honest,
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that Snoop's debut is better, And in some ways maybe it is, but
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I disagree with him. The Chronic is, without a doubt a classic.
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I skip one time for your mind on Illmatic. Sometimes I skip halftime mainly
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because I felt like halftime just out like it was so different, like it
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was a much I don't know, like I won't say a hungry and now
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as a whack, but it was just this different level of production compared to
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everything else. So it sounds it almost sounds like a demo right in comparison,
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like, Yo, this is when he was trying to get on,
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but this is when you know New York state of minds, when he's established.
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I skip songs on most classics there. It's it's probably really rare for
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me to find an album that I like that has every song that I like
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so much that I never skipped. Reasonable doubt I skipped Doggy Style. There's
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a number of records I skipped even back then I did, So he's wrong
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on that. Now. To make the point for the Chronic, well,
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the Chronic has some timeless music and we're not just talking about nothing but a
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g thing right. Let me ride is crazy stranding on Death Row. It's
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crazy, you know what I'm saying. Like, there are records on there
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that are quote unquote perfect. There are a number of them, and there's
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no way that a record led by RBX will make me say, well,
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it's not a classic because there's so much what's on there that's great. It's
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so great that you can have one, one or two duds on this album
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and it won't put a dead in what I think about it as a classic.
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So DJ Clarkhead obviously is entitled to his opinion, but he's wrong.
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He's just wrong. Even my favorite album of all time, Death Certificate,
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I think it's back here, it's away, but I don't feel like looking
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for even with that album album that I know, this is my favorite album
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of all time. There is one record that I always say, just get
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to the next record that I like, ready to die, Let's get a
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friend of mine, let's just get past this. Back then I kind of
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liked it. Now it's like whatever. So again I don't feel like he
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is right. I feel like he's entirely to his opinion. But I think
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we shouldn't look at classics in that way as well. If I can't skip
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anything, or if I could, if I have to skip, then it's
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not a classic. That's not true. That's just not true. Like I
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don't believe you you need more people, Okay, DJ clark Kent again,
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he's certified in the game. Don't try to come from him. It's just
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his opinion. Whatever. I wonder what other classic albums he doesn't think is
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a classic. I'd be interested to see a list. He might as well
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just set the world on fire and just keep going, right, here's my
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top ten classic albums. Are not a classic album? At number one?
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Paid in for? Why not? And I'm sure they don't mentioned Rocket,
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weren't he was talking about all those classic albums, So it makes me wonder.
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So recently I solicited opinions of those on the Internet or internets. Shout
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out to you you know, you know, but as you know, if
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you've been following this podcast, and if you don't know, I tend to
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listen to a lot of hip hop throughout the year, not only albums that
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I'm anticipating on a personal level, but albums that may have a little conversation
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around them on social media. Albums of guys I see names pop up,
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hearing a news story, reason you know best so far and stuff like that,
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because you have to keep your ears to the street, right And I
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remember hearing about this dude, Mickey Diamond a while bag and no shade towards
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anybody who was posting this a while ago. But there are particular hip hop
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heads that I follow that tend to have a specific type of taste. And
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again, this is not no shade to one person, because I don't look
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at one person, didn't make a whole story about it. This is the
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totality totality of did I say that right whatever? Of most of the hip
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hop heads who post a lot about the music they like on my timelines,
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so I've seen more than once people talk about Mickey facts now or Mickey Facts
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Mickey Diamond. So I was it's kind of been like a little bit of
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a dry spelling between albums. Obviously I have albums i'm listening to on heavy
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rotation, but I always try to check to see what's new. And so
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I saw this album first of all, a big shout out to speak your
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Cloud podcast checked him out. So I decided to ask a couple of people,
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and they were one of them about, you know, Mickey Diamond.
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You know, I've seeing a lot of stuff said about him. What should
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I listen to? Right? So I was giving a list and as I
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was looking at that list and I went into Apple Music, I noticed he
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had a new project outum called Nobody Bleeds Like Flair and it's pink and it
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has like an illustration of Rick Flair on a cover when he was giving one
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of his classic promos on wrestling I think wc W at the time, and
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or a one of them joints. I don't know, but I was like,
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well, you know what, before I go back, let me just
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hear what he has now, because I'm thinking, you know, sometimes you
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go back to somebody's first project and maybe they're not as polished as they are
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now with their new music. Right, maybe they've been able to get better
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production, or they're better what they flow, or maybe the sound qualities better.
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Whatever. So I figured, well, let me just hear the latest
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project it's right here before I go back. And I will say this,
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even before I started asking about him, I was a little hesitant because I'm
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the type of person I can't listen to projects from multiple rappers who typically rap
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about the same things, pick the same kind of beats, had the same
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things. At some point, I'm just going to pick the best of that
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group, and I'm going to stick to that person. So when you hear
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and if you don't know about Mickey Diamond when you hear me talking about him,
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Well, what category does he fall under? While he falls right under
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that Griselda wing right of the Griselda's and Benny the Butcher, Conway to Machine
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West Side Gun. It's even in that rock Marcy Lane and Stove Guards Lane
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and El Camino and all these like just all those cats from that same boom
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Bat you know, crime Lord Rapping typically Bars Lane. So I'm thinking,
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Okay, I might, I may think it's cool, or I may dislike
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it and just move on and not really even check out the catalog. So
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a press play and the album or the project is eleven songs thirty five minutes
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in total. Now y'all know me, keep that album short and if you
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keep the time at a sweet spot, you got my attention. And I
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will say, because I did all of that to build up to this,
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I will say, I think this is one of the best projects of the
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year. Now when I say that, I don't mean top five, No,
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not at all, because what's being done on this project isn't that unique.
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Right, wrestling themes that's Griselda all day. We've already heard that,
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they've already milked that whole subject. In theme, and they continue to do
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so. But what I liked about it was the production and how this project
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was put together. And I feel like Mickey Diamond is not somebody who I
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can't put them lyrically on the same level as Benny or Conway, but I
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think he's pretty dope for what he does right, and what he does is
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not draw or color outside the lines. This project is perfectly crafted, in
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my opinion, if you are looking for boom Bat, if you are looking
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for somebody maybe new, somebody you've never heard of, and he's a person
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you've never heard of. If you like the nostalgia like myself of hearing you
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know, wrestling promos, and and if you like Rick Flair right, if
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that brings you nostalgia, I think this project does a perfect job of sticking
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to its theme, and not in a superficial way, because I'll tell you
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like this, all those rappers are named in all those groups. Sometimes they'll
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name their songs something and you can't find the connection, right. They'll say,
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like, yo, just records called mister Fuji, and you listen and
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all your heres coke raps and shotgun blasts, and you know who they killed
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and who they about to kill and all that, and by the end you're
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like, well, why why did you call it mister Fuji? And he
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just did and it doesn't make any sense. Whereas this sticks to the theme
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pretty much, and I think that's what I enjoyed about it. It's sort
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of a concept album without being so dedicated to the concept that everything has to
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be overly attached to said concept. It's just a concept, a theme that
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they keep going throughout the project production wise, somewhat lyrically, and it just
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goes. His voice is perfect, you know, it sounds like a rapper
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right. If you were in a cipher with him, you wouldn't think he
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was whack. You wouldn't think he's the greatest ever, but you would respect
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him. And that's what I like about it. I think the music is
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respectable in a lot of ways. For me, not having heard any of
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his projects, it wasn't as predictable as I thought it would be. If
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you want an example of of what it is. If I'm obviously not everybody
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watching or listening has heard everything, so maybe I'm putting me onto something you
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didn't know. But if you think about Ransom and producer Nicholas Craven when they
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did their Director's Cut series and they did all these themes just like that,
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right, just like that. Oh, this joint is called Halloween. It's
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tied into the movies. A lot of a lot of samples from the movie,
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right, a lot of references from Ransom that you can take, or
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you can go and watch Halloween movies and get it, or just horror in
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general. Now, I will say Mickey diamond doesn't go that far, but
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he does enough. And if you're talking about eleven songs at thirty five minutes
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per listen and the beats a dope and the concept is dope. I mean
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all I could do is recommended to those who like boom Bat if you are
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like me how it was before our press play and you're like, hey,
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I like Manny and I like Kanway, and Kanway just released two projects this
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year, and Bennie got stuff on the way. I'm just gonna stick to
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them. I'm not mad at you, but if you got the time,
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I think you should check out Mickey Diamonds project what is it, Nosebleed Like
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Nobody bleeds, Nosebleed, Nobody Bleeds like Flair Pretty Dope project and Lastly,
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now this this is something that we know. Fifty years of hip hop,
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right, fifty years of hip hop. We didn't need fifty years of hip
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hop because for us to debate lists, because it's been happening for a while,
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okay, but fifty years of hip hop. We know the list will
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not end until this year is over, or maybe at least till hip hop's
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actual birthday hits, which is in August. But we already know the list
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are coming. I'm actually starting to think about doing a list myself, but
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we'll see. But rap Caviare, which I believe is a music streaming service,
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website and all that good stuff, decided to put out fifty Greatest hip
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Hop beats of all time, a list to commemorate fifty years of hip hop,
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and it is the talk of the week or the day, depending on
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if you're a grown person who's like, man, I got no time to
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be argument. And it's not a bad list, but it kind of is.
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Let's go through the list first. Let's start with number one. At
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number one, the Dre Snoop Dogs still Dre remember, top fifty Greatest hip
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Hop Beats of all time? Number two Mob Deep Shook One's Part two,
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number three, The Clips Grinding, number four, The Notorious Big Who Shot
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You? Number five, Little Wayne Millie number six, Kanye West Power number
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seven, Puff Daddy in the Family. It's all about the Benjamin's Remix.
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That's the one that includes Biggie at the end. Number eight Mike Jones featured
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Paul Wall and Slim Thug Still Tipping. Number nine, Travis Scott featuring Drake
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Sicko Mode, and number ten Missy Elliott Get your freak going now. I'm
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not gonna go through and tell you who produced every track because some of myself
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explaining or right, like Doctor Dre and Kanye West, right, who are
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producers who are rapping? And then there are other people who did the beats
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for these other songs. All of these beats are dope, they are.
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But there's just one glaring omission for fifty Greatest Hip Hop Beats of All Time
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Top ten, saying that DJ, Premiere and Rizza were not good enough to
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make the top ten. I don't care about the other forty. Rizzer and
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Premiere were not good enough to make the top ten? Are you kidding me?
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Let's start with Premiere now and don't get me wrong. There are other
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producers where you're like, wow, ope, rock not in the top ten,
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but let's start war Premiere. Premiere not only has some of the greatest
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beats of all time that he's produced for his group Gang Star, but he's
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also produced some of the greatest beats of all times as it relates to nas
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jay Z, Biggy we Geld keep going. He's produced for a lot of
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people right now. Not every beat he's made is the greatest beat of all
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time. But what I gotta think about is when you look at the list
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of people, let me put my phone in my pocket, man, because
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I need to use both hands with the gestures. Okay, like I need
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to you know what I'm saying. If you're listening in audio form, I'm
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using my hand suggestion. But I just do it. I don't understand what
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when you look at all these beats that are on this top ten lists.
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Again, none of these beats a whack to me at all. They belong
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on the top fifty lists somewhere, but top ten. I don't know because
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when I look at this top ten, what it says to me is,
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oh, well, y'all think that beat is Drey's best beat. That beat
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is dope. But is that Drey's best beat? I don't think so.
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When I look at these songs on this list, y'all think that's Kanye's best
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beat ever? Power Ever? Is that the best beat on the album Graduation
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is? It could be? When I look at this list, the top
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ten that is, it becomes pretty clear that this is more about popularity than
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everything. Now, when I say popularity, I'm not talking about sales because
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shook Ones is pretty high and if it was about sales and singles, that
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wouldn't be that. I think it's about popularity as far as iconic beats that
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have stood to test the time that you always hear, you know, shook
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Ones, shook Ones, that beat will not go away. That beat might
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as well be a mean. Prodigies lyrics are like a mean You can put
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in the gift search and find like Prodigy and a whip for shook Ones in
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the list, like the beat in the song is one of the greatest of
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all times on a whole other level, like on a popularity level. Right,
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and Travis Scott Sickomo Now that beat is crazy, right that switch Switch
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up and everything, but which I believe was produced by hit Boy. I
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think so. But regardless Sicko Mode, so you can't find a place for
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New York state of mind and put Massive Pill. Forget everything in Massive Pill,
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you know what else? Come clean? See that? To me,
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having Sicko Mode in the top ten, having Get Your Freaking in the top
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ten just says we have to cover all of hip hop East coast, West
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Coast, down south, underground, commercial, you know, or pop,
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or whatever way you want to characterize it. It can't just be nineties,
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It can't just be two thousands, right. That top ten covers checks all
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those boxes, and it makes me feel like that was the agenda. Now,
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if we're just looking at dope beat and that beats impact some of those,
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you could definitely argue they should be there. Right, Benjamin's isn't the
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best beat I've heard out of that Bad Boy camp, not by a long
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shot, But that song and it's popularity and it's infectious in a lot of
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ways. But so is Cream from Wu Tang Clan. Cream is How is
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Cream not on this list? How When I first heard Cream, I didn't
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understand that. At the time, I didn't know beats like this could be
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made. It almost was like it's like offbeat, It's weird, is dark,
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it's kind of eerie. I've never heard anything like this before. It's
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dope a beat like Come Clean. It's like it's that water drops. I
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don't understand this track. Something about it is the next level see to me,
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they have the same impact. It's just that maybe Cream is more popular
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and come Clean bars. I think it's more of an underground, so to
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speak, popularity thing. But at the time, at the time of release,
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just like Sickle Mode, how young cats feel about hearing that Sickle Moe
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beat and song and feel like it this beat is crazy at the time,
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That's what Come Clean was. All the hip hop was talking about it,
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all of hip hop. When when when cats heard Cream, everybody was talking
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about it. Massive Peal got that same uppeal that Shook Ones has. Right,
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that's another record that just like this is somehow standing out when it comes
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to Gang Star's catalog, considering all the dope beats Premier has produced for the
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group Triumph, that Triumph beat, you're telling me this don't belong in the
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top ten. I digress. What I'm saying is is when it comes to
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these lists, like I say, all the time obviously subjective, but also
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there's a motive also publications now, as you should know content creators that even
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if the attention is negative, you're gonna get a lot of hits on that
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list ours because people who agree with it probably want to see the rest of
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the fifty. People who disagree with it want to investigate how and why the
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hell did you do what you did. But everybody's clicking everybody's hashtag, everybody's
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talking about it. I'm talking about it, So in that way, they
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get more exposure, they get more audience. Some people will stick around,
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will become fans of the site, because you know what happens. They click
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on that, then they start to look at what else is there, and
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then they might see something they like, and then they may stick around and
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blah blah. Now you have new subscribers, new fans, new visitors,
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new followers, and all that kind of stuff. So I'm not discrediting the
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list if a committee of individuals who love hip hop came together and made this
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list. But there's certain consistencies in this list that aren't open to the human
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eye. But you just gotta look a little deeper without reading into it and
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making up something just to say, I see what they did there. That's
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going to do it for me. You can follow me on Instagram, Twitter,
30:11
and TikTok at Vegas World I n C. And please know that this
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podcast is available in audio form wherever you get your podcasts. And if you
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listen to this podcast or you've been listening for years and you wanted to see
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a video version, you want to see me say these words I'm saying.
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Visit YouTube in search hip Hop Now Podcasts. Hit subscribe If you like the
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content, hit the like button. If you have a comment, leave a
30:40
comment. Is the Chronic a classic album? Do you tell me? Do
30:45
you disagree with that top ten greatest beats of all time? Let me know
30:49
it in the comments section. I read all the comments. I typically respond
30:55
and I appreciate you sharing this with people who enjoy this kind of hip hop
31:00
content. Until next time, y'all. I'm not a critic, I'm a
31:03
fan. Peace m