Latest / Hip-Hop Now Podcast / Don't Call It A Classic?
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Coming up on this week's episode of Hip Hop Now Podcasts.
- 0:04Speaker 1: Don't call it a classic. A couple of albums that
- 0:08Speaker 1: I feel comfortably calling classics. Let's do it. Welcome to
- 0:16Speaker 1: jip Hop Now, Pop Fat Mask, did you from the future?
- 0:21Speaker 1: You know what to do? Show as out of my
- 0:24Speaker 1: padfe so disrespect the leg hip hop can say this today.
- 0:33Speaker 1: Let's get right the business. What up, y'all? I am
- 0:36Speaker 1: your host Vegas and this is hip Hop Now Podcast.
- 0:39Speaker 1: Hey podcast specifically designed to keep you caught up on
- 0:42Speaker 1: all things hip hop music and culture that happened throughout
- 0:46Speaker 1: the week. Big shout out to those listening in audio
- 0:50Speaker 1: form on iHeart iHeart Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify podcast. We
- 0:56Speaker 1: appreciate you. You know what I'm saying. Definitely subscribe if
- 1:00Speaker 1: you haven't. But also a big shout out to those
- 1:03Speaker 1: watching right here on YouTube. The channel was hip Hop
- 1:06Speaker 1: Now Pod. We are on the road to twenty five
- 1:11Speaker 1: thousand subscribers by the end of twenty twenty five, and
- 1:15Speaker 1: we are at twenty three thousand, fastly approaching twenty four.
- 1:22Speaker 1: Maybe by the time this drops we're already be at
- 1:25Speaker 1: twenty four. But let's get right into the business and
- 1:29Speaker 1: do what we came here to do now. In September,
- 1:33Speaker 1: I wrote an article on my substack called don't Call
- 1:37Speaker 1: It a Classic. It was a topic I was going
- 1:41Speaker 1: to do as a bonus episode, which I'm doing right
- 1:43Speaker 1: now on the YouTube channel and on audio podcasting, but
- 1:48Speaker 1: I kind of let it sit for a minute because
- 1:50Speaker 1: I wrote about it and I wanted you to read
- 1:53Speaker 1: about it. Now. I get it, some people read all
- 1:57Speaker 1: they want to read is the title and that's it,
- 2:00Speaker 1: and I get it. But in general, as a hip
- 2:04Speaker 1: hop fan, and I know you're a hip hop fan
- 2:06Speaker 1: because you're watching, we like to talk a lot about
- 2:10Speaker 1: classic albums. What's the classic, what isn't? But more importantly,
- 2:16Speaker 1: is it too soon to call an album a classic? Now?
- 2:20Speaker 1: Old heads will tell you, you know, some of them
- 2:24Speaker 1: will say something crazy like you got to give it
- 2:26Speaker 1: ten years, though we don't even know if we'll be
- 2:29Speaker 1: here in ten years. Okay, so let's not wait to
- 2:33Speaker 1: have that discussion. Some people will tell you the minute
- 2:36Speaker 1: they press play on one song to destroy it as
- 2:39Speaker 1: a classic. You're wrong on s. But if we want
- 2:44Speaker 1: to think about this organically as music fans, as hip
- 2:48Speaker 1: hop heads, typically, you know when an album is special.
- 2:54Speaker 1: Sometimes you know based off of press and play, and
- 2:59Speaker 1: here they're in the first couple of songs and saying,
- 3:02Speaker 1: there's no way this gets whack with the next couple
- 3:06Speaker 1: of songs. Sometimes you know what's going to happen right now.
- 3:11Speaker 1: You don't run on social media and call it a classic.
- 3:13Speaker 1: But you're listening you like, this might be special, right.
- 3:18Speaker 1: And then most of the time you know, when you're
- 3:20Speaker 1: done listening to one of these albums, you tell yourself,
- 3:26Speaker 1: this is special, this is one of the best of
- 3:28Speaker 1: the year. This could be an all time album. But
- 3:31Speaker 1: I think in a lot of ways, when people talk
- 3:33Speaker 1: about classics, they really just like an album a lot, right.
- 3:39Speaker 1: Whoever else likes it doesn't factor into their enjoyment of
- 3:43Speaker 1: the album. But I feel like certain albums, when you
- 3:48Speaker 1: call them a classic, they are without a doubt good right,
- 3:54Speaker 1: But also their moment in time, you know, musically, and
- 3:58Speaker 1: this goes beyond hip hop, but their moment in time musically,
- 4:02Speaker 1: like when you press play after a year or two years,
- 4:06Speaker 1: you remember the time when you first heard it. You
- 4:09Speaker 1: remember what was going on, what the climate was, what
- 4:13Speaker 1: everybody else was saying about the album. So to me,
- 4:17Speaker 1: it's sometimes it's really easy to just look at an
- 4:20Speaker 1: album and call it a classic. Now, granted, everybody doesn't
- 4:24Speaker 1: have to like it, but if there's a general consensus
- 4:28Speaker 1: among hip hop heads, and because we have the benefit
- 4:32Speaker 1: of thinking, well sometimes benefit of social media, then we
- 4:38Speaker 1: can kind of get an idea of the really special
- 4:42Speaker 1: projects based off of from our timeline and people who
- 4:47Speaker 1: we see talk about albums and how they talk about
- 4:49Speaker 1: this one versus that one. So, with all of that
- 4:53Speaker 1: being said, I decided to basically say, okay, since twenty twenty,
- 5:03Speaker 1: what albums I feel, without a doubt comfortably calling classics.
- 5:11Speaker 1: And that's what we're gonna do here today. So if
- 5:13Speaker 1: you read the article, good looking, share it with people.
- 5:17Speaker 1: If you want to read the article is below in
- 5:21Speaker 1: a comment section. Please know that it's not along drawing
- 5:26Speaker 1: out I'm not writing a book about these things. I'm
- 5:29Speaker 1: just stating the facts. But for the benefit of people
- 5:33Speaker 1: who enjoy video, I'm going to share that with you
- 5:36Speaker 1: right now. So let's get right to the business of things.
- 5:43Speaker 1: Don't call it a classic classic album since twenty twenty.
- 5:47Speaker 1: I hope you can see that as I scrolled through it.
- 5:52Speaker 1: And I'm just gonna read my introduction. You see the
- 5:54Speaker 1: first one up there, call me old school, not unk,
- 5:59Speaker 1: but considering it hip hop album for classic status takes time.
- 6:03Speaker 1: There are albums that prove they are special the minute
- 6:06Speaker 1: press play. It's rare, but it's possible. Since twenty twenty,
- 6:11Speaker 1: we've seen a lot of dope music, but there are
- 6:13Speaker 1: albums that go far beyond such common praise. Shout out
- 6:18Speaker 1: to all the content creators who've covered this topic previously.
- 6:23Speaker 1: Here are a few albums between twenty twenty and twenty
- 6:26Speaker 1: twenty five I feel comfortable calling classics. First up twenty
- 6:32Speaker 1: twenty Stove God Cooks, Reasonable Drought. I mean, some of
- 6:40Speaker 1: y'all just discovered Stove God, and that's fine. I'm not
- 6:45Speaker 1: trying to be elitist. Some of y'all just discovered them,
- 6:49Speaker 1: but I wasn't necessarily one of those to run to it. Also, right,
- 6:56Speaker 1: shout out to the homie Kill. He's like, YO, listen
- 6:58Speaker 1: to this new album of God Cooks. I said, what
- 7:01Speaker 1: kind of name is that? Like? What kind of name
- 7:06Speaker 1: is that? It's called reasonable Drought? Hmm, wow, you evoking
- 7:12Speaker 1: the the essence of another classic and jay Z's Reasonable Doubt.
- 7:18Speaker 1: And then it also said produced by Rock Marciano. Now,
- 7:21Speaker 1: those who know me, I'm not the biggest Rock Marciano fan.
- 7:25Speaker 1: When it comes to him as an MC, I don't
- 7:28Speaker 1: hate him, but I'm not the biggest fan. Or when
- 7:31Speaker 1: it comes to the production. I think that dude. I
- 7:36Speaker 1: think that dude holds the essence of boom back in
- 7:39Speaker 1: his soul. And this is exhibit A through z this album.
- 7:46Speaker 1: From the time you press play, especially if you know
- 7:49Speaker 1: Stove God, it's everything you anticipated. The first track, what
- 7:57Speaker 1: is it? Let me see what my right up says,
- 8:00Speaker 1: because I know I wrote it here the break Lights joint.
- 8:04Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, I can't remember. But nevertheless, no,
- 8:09Speaker 1: we're not gonna do that. We're gonna find it. Okay,
- 8:11Speaker 1: give me one second, Rose Royce, break Lights right. I
- 8:16Speaker 1: don't know why I kept forgetting that. I was mixing
- 8:18Speaker 1: it up with something else. But again, the minute you
- 8:22Speaker 1: hear that beat drop and Stoveguards start flowing over that joint,
- 8:29Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, I could see why people like this,
- 8:35Speaker 1: And yes, I know the cover's kind of crazy, but
- 8:40Speaker 1: forget that. When I tell you you press play if
- 8:44Speaker 1: you already like Stove God, if you're waiting for the
- 8:47Speaker 1: new album This would be Worth your time. Next up
- 8:52Speaker 1: two thy and twenty one Nas and Hip Boys Magic.
- 8:57Speaker 1: This joint dropped on Christmas Eve when we didn't know
- 9:02Speaker 1: we were even getting another project, let alone within the
- 9:06Speaker 1: same year from NAS and hit Boy, and as you
- 9:09Speaker 1: can see the cover throwback NAS with the fronts and
- 9:13Speaker 1: the Queensbridge Hallway, the album just captured that asseence right
- 9:20Speaker 1: like from songs like Speechless where the beat you just like, wow,
- 9:26Speaker 1: this is what we're doing now. The reason why I
- 9:30Speaker 1: call this a classic, and I chose this particular NAS
- 9:35Speaker 1: and Hit Boy album versus Kings's East III, which I
- 9:42Speaker 1: kind of also feels like a classic, I think because
- 9:45Speaker 1: this one was so I don't know, it wasn't anticipated, right,
- 9:52Speaker 1: We didn't know it was dropping, We didn't know what
- 9:55Speaker 1: it would be. We didn't understand whether that cover meant
- 10:00Speaker 1: something or not. But for anybody who wanted not see it,
- 10:06Speaker 1: Jones to get as close to an illmatic vibe in
- 10:10Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, this was it. Dope, concepts, beats everything everything.
- 10:21Speaker 1: It's basically damned and flawless. And for those who may see,
- 10:25Speaker 1: oh well, if it's damn Nick, it can't be Classic. Look,
- 10:29Speaker 1: there songs I skip on Illmatic. I'm not even gonna lie. Now,
- 10:33Speaker 1: there's songs I used to listen to back in the days,
- 10:38Speaker 1: but there's a song or two I would just be like, eh, skip,
- 10:42Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So if I could skip
- 10:45Speaker 1: songs are Illmatic, I could skip a song on Magic,
- 10:48Speaker 1: But most of the time I don't. And I feel
- 10:53Speaker 1: like this was almost just as impactful as King's Disease
- 10:59Speaker 1: three that were be followed up the next year, I believe,
- 11:03Speaker 1: but in its own if you if you was around
- 11:10Speaker 1: during like early nins, like let's just say Illmatic dropped
- 11:14Speaker 1: and then the aliens came and got you and put
- 11:16Speaker 1: you in a time machine, put you in twenty twenty one,
- 11:19Speaker 1: and this is what you heard, Like yo, this is
- 11:20Speaker 1: what NAS is doing in the future. You'd be like, yo,
- 11:23Speaker 1: He's still added Classic next twenty twenty two. Freddy Gibbs
- 11:31Speaker 1: sol so separately. I feel like Freddy Gibbs probably doesn't
- 11:39Speaker 1: have a whack release. I mean you can literally go
- 11:43Speaker 1: through the majority of the albums he's put out mixtapes
- 11:47Speaker 1: and feel mostly albums, but and feel like he just
- 11:51Speaker 1: doesn't miss And I didn't think he could do anything
- 11:56Speaker 1: better than what he's done in the past, and I
- 11:58Speaker 1: felt like anything he did up until this point would
- 12:02Speaker 1: just be like more of the same, and not even
- 12:07Speaker 1: in a bad way, but so so separately was special,
- 12:11Speaker 1: especially the deluxe because I know some people don't like
- 12:15Speaker 1: deluxe albums, But what I liked about the deluxe version
- 12:18Speaker 1: of this album is a lot of the deluxe songs
- 12:22Speaker 1: were released prior to this album, So when this was released,
- 12:27Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie, I was a little annoyed that
- 12:29Speaker 1: those songs weren't on the album, and then they put
- 12:33Speaker 1: them on the album in the form of a deluxe version.
- 12:35Speaker 1: Now this isn't the deluxe cover that you're looking at.
- 12:38Speaker 1: This is the original. But when I tell you samples, beats, bars, fast, slow, concepts, humor,
- 12:49Speaker 1: pocket in and out of pocket, well he's always in pocket,
- 12:52Speaker 1: but you know what I mean, Like his flow is
- 12:54Speaker 1: just effortless over anything. I just felt like, not above all,
- 13:01Speaker 1: but for twenty twenty two, if there was an album
- 13:04Speaker 1: I had to call a classic, it's this one. And
- 13:07Speaker 1: if maybe you you know, always hear about Freddy Gibbs,
- 13:11Speaker 1: but I don't know, I haven't really gotten into them.
- 13:15Speaker 1: You know, I haven't listened to anything. What should I
- 13:17Speaker 1: listen to? Start? Heead fan. There's plenty of places where
- 13:20Speaker 1: you can start. Start here. You like this a lot,
- 13:23Speaker 1: absorb it, go back and listen to other music. But
- 13:26Speaker 1: I feel like this album is a classic. Next twenty
- 13:32Speaker 1: twenty three Killer Mike Michael. Now we know this one
- 13:38Speaker 1: of Grammy and all that good stuff. It was in
- 13:42Speaker 1: my top five of the year, obviously with the most
- 13:45Speaker 1: of these projects I'm talking about, and some people like
- 13:50Speaker 1: to do this thing on the internet that says, when's
- 13:54Speaker 1: the last time you listen to it? It's their way
- 13:58Speaker 1: of proving it wasn't as good as you thought it was.
- 14:01Speaker 1: You were just caught up in the hype. I really
- 14:04Speaker 1: hate that, because when's the last time I listened to
- 14:06Speaker 1: mcaveelly All eyes on me? I don't listen to classics
- 14:12Speaker 1: every day all day, even if they knew old or whatever.
- 14:16Speaker 1: I go. I got extensive music collection, especially with hip hop,
- 14:20Speaker 1: and I go back to joints and you can go
- 14:23Speaker 1: if you haven't heard Killer Mike's Michael since twenty twenty three,
- 14:28Speaker 1: when you go back and listen, you're not gonna be like,
- 14:31Speaker 1: it's not as good as I thought it's great. It
- 14:34Speaker 1: is great. It is as good as you thought. And
- 14:39Speaker 1: for those who heard the New Daylight album and Killer
- 14:43Speaker 1: Mike getting Busy on there, you can go to this album,
- 14:46Speaker 1: you can go to Run the Jewels. This guy can rap.
- 14:50Speaker 1: This guy is thoughtful in his raps. Right, it's not
- 14:54Speaker 1: just somebody who's nice. Him being nice on the mic
- 14:58Speaker 1: goes without saying it takes a little bit more energy
- 15:03Speaker 1: to tell your story. This deep into the game, right,
- 15:09Speaker 1: Like he's been in the game for a long time.
- 15:11Speaker 1: He's kind of told his story, but he told his story.
- 15:13Speaker 1: It's such a fantastic way that made it interesting for
- 15:18Speaker 1: you to listen without feeling like, all right, man, where
- 15:23Speaker 1: the joints at? You know, where the boom back? Like
- 15:25Speaker 1: he kind of gave you everything you know, from hip
- 15:28Speaker 1: hop to gospel, all types of vibes. And what I
- 15:31Speaker 1: like about it is he's completely transparent and you believe him. Right.
- 15:37Speaker 1: Some people are going to tell you they came up
- 15:40Speaker 1: through hard times and when they was locked up for
- 15:42Speaker 1: two seconds, or when they was on a corner corner
- 15:46Speaker 1: not really selling anything but sneak of money. You know,
- 15:50Speaker 1: some people will embellish that. But the guys who make
- 15:54Speaker 1: the special music are those who are vulnerable in their raps,
- 15:59Speaker 1: who tell you about things that may not be the
- 16:01Speaker 1: easiest to talk about. And I feel like Michael is
- 16:04Speaker 1: just one example in hip hop of that, and in
- 16:08Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, I feel comfortable calling it a classic
- 16:12Speaker 1: back then and right now. Next in twenty twenty four,
- 16:16Speaker 1: Common and Pete Rock teamed up for an album called
- 16:19Speaker 1: The Auditorium Volume One, and I'm not even gonna lie.
- 16:25Speaker 1: I wasn't expecting anything monumental. I didn't know what bad
- 16:30Speaker 1: Common was gonna be in whether he was gonna be
- 16:32Speaker 1: really basic with the bars, and he was. He was, definitely.
- 16:37Speaker 1: He definitely showed up on this album. But Pete Rock
- 16:41Speaker 1: is the all star on this project. What he was
- 16:47Speaker 1: able to do to capture the essence of hip hop
- 16:50Speaker 1: history without being predictable, without its sounding like oh that's
- 16:56Speaker 1: just another version of that song. No, everything was perfect special.
- 17:03Speaker 1: I mean again, some people will say, when the last
- 17:07Speaker 1: time you listened to this album yesterday? Okay, it's great.
- 17:12Speaker 1: I feel like Colmon got another classic on his hand,
- 17:15Speaker 1: and so does Pete Rock. Auditorium Volume One is very dope.
- 17:21Speaker 1: I'm assuming in twenty twenty six, will get volume two.
- 17:25Speaker 1: Will it be a classic, will it be as good?
- 17:27Speaker 1: Who knows? But this one was special, so check it out.
- 17:32Speaker 1: And lastly brand new. I thought to myself, I even
- 17:40Speaker 1: put an asterisk on the side of it. Maybe I'm
- 17:44Speaker 1: just caught up in the hype. Maybe that's what it is.
- 17:49Speaker 1: Maybe after this year, when we get other artists and
- 17:52Speaker 1: other albums, maybe even this year, when we get other albums,
- 17:57Speaker 1: I won't be as I'll like it and it will
- 17:59Speaker 1: probably be in my top five, but I won't feel
- 18:03Speaker 1: as bold to call it a classic. It's a classic, y'all.
- 18:09Speaker 1: This is a classic from the first record that lotch
- 18:18Speaker 1: you in from a relatable standpoint, whether your parents are
- 18:23Speaker 1: still here or they passed, everybody is something that everybody
- 18:27Speaker 1: will be able to relate to because at some point
- 18:31Speaker 1: in time, everybody is going to have to deal with that,
- 18:34Speaker 1: right So, even if your parents are here, you probably
- 18:36Speaker 1: think about it, you know, And that song. Initially, I've
- 18:42Speaker 1: always I felt like, damn, why they start with that song?
- 18:45Speaker 1: Maybe they should have ended with that, But I think
- 18:48Speaker 1: that's what makes it so dope. Because they start with that,
- 18:51Speaker 1: they tell the story, you feel the pain you connect
- 18:54Speaker 1: with it. But man, when change in Whip starts, it
- 18:59Speaker 1: is a ride from beginning to end, the bars, the flows,
- 19:08Speaker 1: the precision in which they enunciate words so that lines
- 19:14Speaker 1: and metaphors and every punchlines or whatever connect in ways
- 19:21Speaker 1: that maybe on it take you a couple of listeners
- 19:24Speaker 1: to be like, Damn, I didn't even hear when he
- 19:25Speaker 1: said that, them telling their stories without blatantly telling every story.
- 19:33Speaker 1: And most importantly, Malice with the comeback of the Year.
- 19:37Speaker 1: This dude is come Back of the Year, MC of
- 19:40Speaker 1: the Year. I know what Nas was doing rapping on
- 19:43Speaker 1: every one of the seven Icons, seven Legends, and I
- 19:47Speaker 1: know people, especially if this DJ Premier joint its flames,
- 19:51Speaker 1: will want to give it up to him. But I
- 19:53Speaker 1: gotta stick with Malice, because when you've been out of
- 19:56Speaker 1: the game in this way for this long and everything
- 20:02Speaker 1: you touched from this album to your features on Jid's
- 20:06Speaker 1: album and Mob Deep, and you ain't missed a beat,
- 20:11Speaker 1: you sound better. This album is incredible, y'all. And last
- 20:18Speaker 1: but not least, the simple fact that it's all produced
- 20:22Speaker 1: by Pharrell. People love all the tracks, they love this album,
- 20:27Speaker 1: but they be real slow to say Pharrell did it.
- 20:30Speaker 1: Pharrell produced this old joint and I know people saying, yo,
- 20:35Speaker 1: producer of the year, you know Alchemist, But the only
- 20:38Speaker 1: reason why I wouldn't say Alchemist is only because he
- 20:41Speaker 1: put out a lot but everything ain't great. He just
- 20:46Speaker 1: put out a lot of music, so it's kind of
- 20:48Speaker 1: like he's overwhelming the category. But this is Pharrell's offering
- 20:54Speaker 1: this album, and I ain't. There may be one track
- 20:58Speaker 1: where people was like, I kind of like that one.
- 21:01Speaker 1: I think it's all things Considered, and I feel like
- 21:04Speaker 1: I like that one too. I thought it was going
- 21:08Speaker 1: to be the Skip, but I let it rock every time.
- 21:10Speaker 1: I let it rock every time. This album has extreme
- 21:16Speaker 1: replay value. That's what's most important about all of these albums.
- 21:20Speaker 1: I chose extreme replay value, excellent in almost every category, beats, concepts, flows, everything.
- 21:34Speaker 1: So there you have it. Those are five albums since
- 21:40Speaker 1: twenty twenty that I feel comfortably calling classics. In the
- 21:46Speaker 1: comments section below, I want you to put five albums
- 21:49Speaker 1: from twenty twenty only five chill, just five that you
- 21:54Speaker 1: if you know, maybe gun to your head you feel like, okay,
- 22:00Speaker 1: this is a classic, or maybe you feel comfortably calling
- 22:03Speaker 1: them a classic even if you don't have five, maybe
- 22:06Speaker 1: you have three since twenty twenty, let me know what
- 22:10Speaker 1: they are. You can follow me on social media at
- 22:12Speaker 1: Vegas World, I n C and check out this podcast
- 22:16Speaker 1: and audio form Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart and where you
- 22:21Speaker 1: get your audio podcast listening, and right here on YouTube.
- 22:26Speaker 1: Support the channel by subscribing. Come remember if you wanted
- 22:30Speaker 1: to see this early because this was available early to
- 22:33Speaker 1: members and content like this, Just know this about me.
- 22:40Speaker 1: If you don't. Not a critic, I'm a fan Pace