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I Got a Story to Tell · Hip-Hop Now Podcast

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Coming up on this week's episode of hip Hop Now Podcast, there's a new
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documentary about mixtapes on the way, an update on the new TUPOC album yep,
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New TUPAC album, and is ice Que a better storyteller than Biggie?
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This is personal? Let's leave Welcome to hip Hop Now. Podcasts get you
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from the future. You know what to do show outside of so disrespect the
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leap hip hop and say this dallium, Let's get right into the business.
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What up y'all? I Ami host Vegas and this is hip Hop Now Podcast,
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a podcast design specifically to keep you caught up on all things hip hop,
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music and culture that happened throughout the week. Big shout out to the
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Patreon supporters over at patreon dot com slash hip hop Now and if you would
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description of this episode. Support content creators. All right, big shout out
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to hip Hop dx dot com, All hip Hop dot com, Double x
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Cell Magazine dot com, and a couple of places where I'm getting some of
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these stories from. Let's get ready to the business. Though. There's a
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new documentary on the way, y'all, and it is entitled well, first
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of all, you know why fifty years of hip hop, but it's entitled
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Mixtape the movie. This is I'm pulling this from hip Hop dx dot com
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and it states mixtape documentary star in Loewayne, Jada Kiss and Fabulous gets premiere
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date. So let's see who is this? Okay? Here I quote about
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the story of this is about the story of mixtape culture and its role in
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spreading hip hop around the world, About the outlaw DJs who, for the
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love of the music, turned a criminal enterprise into a creative and commercial backbone
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of the business. Now, before I say what the release state is and
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you from the future you alas saw it, get your ways out of him.
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But that description as someone who grew up in the mixtage age, right,
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like the mixtape not stage, the mixtape age from beginning to end for
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the most part, right, I've been there when it was DJ's just mixing
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and blending hits and songs that were hot, to the stage of or the
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time when it was about exclusive music and freestyles, to the time when it
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was about original content as far as lyrics and whole songs, sometimes wrapping over
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beats, but also sometimes wrapping over original beats. Mixtapes have become different things
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over the years, and all were kind of dope when you think about it.
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So this documentary is interesting when they say that it's illegal, right,
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because well it is. You can't sell a tape featuring the music or the
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work of an artist, even if it's one song. But it happened,
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so let's find out. Just in time for hip Hop's fiftieth birthday. The
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documentary will arrive on Paramount Plus, which no one has on August first in
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the US and Canada and August second in the UK, Australia, Latin America
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and Brasilia as Brazil for some of m and there's an official trailer out now,
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so I'm gonna watch the trailer. Maybe I could play the trailer for
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y'all now y'all go watch it wherever y'all, wherever y'all be. But it's
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called mixtape, the movie Paramount Plus. Now I am on a thirty day
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Paramount Plus trial version that I think will run out by the time this is
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available. I hope I'm wrong about that, but if not, I'll watch
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it at some point and maybe I will also review it, or maybe I'll
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see if I could get an early copy for review. That's one way to
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do it. But it's interesting and I think, you know, fifty years
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of hip hop. I do appreciate the fact that there's a lot of coverage
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to commemorate fifty years of hip hop, and I enjoyed the diversity in coverage.
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If you're a person who's always been interested in hip hop in some way,
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shape or form, right, not interested in as I like it,
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I mean, you can hate it, but you might want to know,
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well, why do people like it? This year? So far as it
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relates to documentaries and even TV shows like the Wu Tang Joints, it's been
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a nice wide range of content for you to absorb to kind of, you
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know, get a full sense of what hip hop has meant to culture in
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general. Wow, it's really raining outside, y'all. I don't even think
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y'all can hear that. But this is just another one. I never expected
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a maybe from Netflix, but I never expected a mixtape documentary and saying that
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it features Jada Kiss and Fabulous and Low Wayne, I think it's pretty dope
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considering all three of those individuals have like mixtape series that matter right in the
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history of it. Lord Wayne, Fabulous and Jays also come from that era
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of mixtapes where they have freestyles on joints UM. And then they also come
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from the era of putting out mixtapes were like either freestyles or original content probably
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liel Wayne and which everybody knows, you know, the drought dedicated um and
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Fabulous too with the soul tape UM what's the Cold Summer or whatever it's called
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series. You know, they got some histories, so it should be pretty
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dope. I'm hoping. I'm hoping. I'm gonna tell y'all like this are
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there are a couple of people, especially early on DJs, then cannot be
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left out. This will not be legitimate if you don't at least say their
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names. Because the mixtape game was even more serious back in the days when
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it was just DJ's. So you're gonna hear about DJ Clue. Obviously you
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should hear about Case Slay, You should even Funk Flex mister C. But
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the names I'm talking about that Neat Kick Capri has to be mentioned or featured,
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ron G has to has to be featured or mentioned. And there's a
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whole list of DJs who contributed during that time, right even DJ Envy.
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You know what I'm saying. We were getting them clues and them mvs and
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them we were There's a couple of people who have to they put them work
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over the years. They have to. I want to say DJ EFN or
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FN or however you say his name. I think I remember a couple of
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tapes. Y'all really want to dig deep. I'm gonna need y'all to name
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drop S and S. If you don't know who DJ s and says,
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let me tell you something about that man. Some DJ's talk on a mixtape
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and it says distraction. And I'm talking about DJ Kalett. But yeah,
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he's an example. But they are DJ's that talk that enhance what they're doing.
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Right, s Ands was that dude. It didn't matter if he was
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playing exclusives. It didn't matter if he was mixing and blending records. You
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want to talk about. This separates my listening experience from listening to an album
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to listening to a mixtape. S ands on there, I'll be, I'll
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be, I'll be excited. I ain't gonna front. But Clue needs a
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lot of love because Clue had Clue has some series. He has a couple
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of part ones. Part two is there's some joints on there. There's some
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records that are still kind of exclusive to this day. And then there's so
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many stories behind it. It's especially when the DJs were beefing, especially that
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different beefs and hip hop played out on mixtapes first before you got dis records
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on the albums, right Jady Kiss and Beanie seagull Man, you had to
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tune in the Case Slay to get that. You know, eventually it found
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this way to everybody else, but somebody hit with it first as nas he
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don't want it will hold. I remember that I heard that on Case Slay.
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First Takeover wasn't even out, Blueprint wasn't even out. It was on
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Case Slay. I don't know, I don't know who had it first or
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whatever, but that's where I heard it first. So the mixtape game is
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instrumental in the progression and excitement at times of hip hop. I mean,
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I want to go listen to mixtapes now. Don't forget duo Tony Touch,
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don't forget him. Make sure they're all in there. That's all I got
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to say. We have an update on the latest postumist album from Tupac by
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the producer who of the song, not that the whole I don't think he
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does the whole album, but he's the one given the update, the one,
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the guy who produced keep your Head Up. DJ Darrel. He got
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to be old school DJAP listening to DJ Darrel Cool DJ Darrel. All right,
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let's see what you got to say, play Boy. So yes,
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TUPOC has a new album coming out, and here's an Instagram post that says
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I've had unreleased Tupoc vocals in my vote for some time. Who's ready to
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hear a new Tupac album or EP produced by me? Now? Keep your
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Head Up is the joint. I love the record. I think the beat
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is perfect with lyrics. But I never said now once in fifty years of
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hip hop, Yo, who did that never. So when he says who
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wants to hear songs produced by me, I'm on the fence. I don't
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even know you. I don't really know his catalog of beats. Maybe if
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I knew some other songs, then I can say, oh yeah, okay,
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cool. But I will say this, I wouldn't mind hearing them if
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it's like, these are the original beats from the early nineties, so it's
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gonna have that vibe. I'm kind of with that, because, you know
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what, I don't think everything released now, especially when you're talking about classic
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vocals, has to be polished up to appeal to people or to appeal to
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hip hop as it stands today. And I'm not saying they would put trap
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beats to Tupac joint, but I kind of feel like, if you gave
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me the context that his records that are produced by me with Tupac back in
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ninety three, let's just say, I don't know, I forget when Tupac
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was in jail, but ninety three is probably safe. That's exactly how I
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enter my listening experience is this is older. Let me listen with that in
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mind, right, Pete Rock like a beat compilation from beat from its NPC,
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you know, basically back in the days. So when I listened to
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it, I already knew all these beats was like beats from back then,
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and I loved it, partly because I was around back then, but also
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because it gave me the context next of what I was going to hear before
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I heard it. So with this, I kind of feel like it's the
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same thing. Just do that. Let me see. Let's see what wins
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I've had. Well, no, that's the same thing. Okay, hold
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on, bear with me, y'all, bear with me, Okay, just
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one second. The statement, which came via tupoc's only official fan page or
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Instagram, shared that the album will consist of previously released Oh Boy released recordings
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from the Tupocalypse Now period to TUPOCS Thug Life period with four previously un released
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pre Death Row tracks. Okay, let me. I don't know how to
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feel about. Okay, so what I'd rather have? Give me the four
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attract EP and tell me that this is unreleased material from this period in time,
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or don't do that at all, because I don't want to skip past
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seven songs I heard before with new beats that I will not care about because
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I like the originals just to hear the unreleased material. Don't do that.
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What I'd rather you do is put out a new remastered Best of POT because
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that Best of Pot when it came out. Boy, even to this day,
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I'm both CDs still get played to death. Remaster that and then add
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these four songs on it. Now you're talking, don't do no, you
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know? Best of that? Now I got a critique and say, this
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is not better than the other one, and it's ta four unreleased songs.
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And I don't even know if the four unreleased songs are going to be good,
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you know what I mean? I don't know. So And lastly,
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so recently, Tony Yeyo of g unit Than appeared on Drink Champs with Nori
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of Component Noriega Fan or Noriega or whatever you may know him from. Some
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people don't know that, y'all relax, And there was I didn't watch it,
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Nope, But there was a portion of that interview slash conversation slash argument
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where they debated, it's really raining, so this video is probably gonna be
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jacked up. Yeah, But they started to debate storytelling and hip hop,
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namely ice Cube and Biggie. Tony Yayo said, Biggie is the greatest storyteller
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and hip hop of all time, hands down. Anything else said is bugging,
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or anyone else says anything different, it's bugging. DJ f or efn
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right said is that a Poles thing? But says that NA get out of
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here? Not better than ice Cube. Now they kind of got into back
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and forth. That kind of was like who's the better rapper kind of thing.
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But at the end of the day, I don't even think they can
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be compared as rappers, but they could damn sure be compared as storytellers.
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Now, I'm going to give you my take. You can leave your take
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in the comments section below because I'd like to know what other people think as
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well. All Right, disclaimer, Biggie is my favorite MC of all time,
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hands down. Is there somebody's in there a little bit? Because it
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was relatable? Right? Yeah? Sure, he's from Brooklyn, Okay cool?
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Right? Shure he's from New York, Okay cool? But I like
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Biggie since I heard them on Heavy D's album Blue Funk on a song called
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Bunch of and words Family podcasts like. I was interested since then, Party
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and bold Ish came out, I bought the single. I bought the single.
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I think I still have it on cassette, Who's the Man soundtrack because
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he was on in and a couple of other joints bought it. Best to
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Biggie by Mister c came out, got it, couldn't wait for the album
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Day one, Ready to Die Game. I was in the store, picked
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up the cassette later the CD. Been a Biggie fan forever. He just
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he just checked all the boxes for me. As far as my entertainment value
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when it comes to an MC, maybe I enjoy conscious hip hop. Maybe
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wasn't that conscious, but I think he was getting there with songs like Missing
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You, right and in any ways every day struggle, right because he may
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not be juices in berries wrapping, but when you tell a story that's a
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cautionary tale, that's a conscious thing, right, And I like this perspective.
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Ice Cube's Death Certificate is my favorite album of all time. There's no
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competition for me, including Biggie. Death Certificate came to my life at a
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time where I got I had money in my pocket for the first time to
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just buy music at well. No longer needing to coppy oh, can you
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dub this for me? Now I could go and buy what I want.
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And that was the second album I spent my money on. And I was
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already an NWA fan and an ice Que fan. And when I tell you,
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he had my attention from the A side to the B side because it
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was a cassette, but he had my attention from beginning to end. It
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is extremely to me. It's his best in his catalog because it's the most
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polished and the best executed as far as skits album flow topics like Unmatched.
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It also contains beyond all of that, it also contains one of the greatest
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disc records all time. It's one. It's in the top three for sure,
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if it's not number one. So I know both artists very well as
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a fan very well. The dope stuff and the wax stuff, I have
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all of it. Well, I don't have the don Mega stuff I kind
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of tapped down, but I do have Laugh Now Cry Later, which was
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later ice Cube, and I thought it was good. But let's talk about
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the storyteller. Let's get right to it. And I'm gonna just tell you
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what I think. I think it's a little unfair to compare the two.
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But ice Cube is the bettert storyteller, and that's not to say and now
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Biggie is not that great as storytelling because he is. But I you gotta
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believe that a lot of what ice Cube did in the game is what Biggie
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grew up off of. They weren't mcs at the same time, at the
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same peak, ice Cube bent out doing storytelling enough time for someone like a
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Biggie to absorb what he does with his stories and what works now he is
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uniquely him. But I think the thing with big and storytelling and not just
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songs, like I got a story to tell where he just rap and tell
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the story, but I'm talking about somebody got to die or what's beef?
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Right? Probably? No, probably somebody got to die more than anything and
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warning right, bad Boy and Puff they were excellent at not only having him
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tell a story, but doing soundscaping on the record, not playing skits,
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but soundscaping on the record to enhance the story. Ice Cue the majority of
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the time was just telling the story, so he didn't have inflections and beats
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to go with the drama and a whole background thing like for example, when
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Um before Life after Death came out Me and the homies. You know,
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we had the bootleg copy right in advance, and I remember my my stereo
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there was there was something up with the wiring, so sometimes it would play
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a track, but you would only hear the ad libs and it wouldn't you
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couldn't hear the verse, and you had I had to do something so you
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could hear a complete song, right, And one time when Somebody's got to
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die, we kind of let it go because we heard it was like a
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damn film in the background, so they took the time to act out everything
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Big was saying, right and this like this is without the lyrics in there,
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And that's what made that so dope, because it was just a film
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was happening while the narrator was telling it. And it's all in all deal
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for him, but ice cue for the most part, right, he got
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a couple of songs that do a little bit of that for the most part.
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When you think about it, he's kind of like the Great Adventures of
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right over here, the Great Adventures the slick Rick. That album by slick
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Rick was all storytelling for the most part. Even Mona Lisa, which feels
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like a flex kind of song, but it was it was a story.
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Also, I don't think people realize that ice cube songs tend to be stories
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all the time. Also because whereas and and dj EFN or whatever his name
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is, he wasn't doing a very good job of throwing I didn't watch all
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of it. I watched the piece, so maybe he did. Let me
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take that back, But to me, the piece I saw where at least
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Joe started naming stories from biggie dj e FN wasn't. He was just saying,
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no, BASSI lead yo, that's not a story, that's just a
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disc record, but today was a good day. It's a record. That's
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a story. That's what. That's a story you could put up against any
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biggie joint and you got to talk about it right once upon a time and
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the projects. Don't forget the other stories he wrote, which may not be
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that intricate, right, but for NWA right, he has death certificate alone,
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has so many joints. Okay, you talk about I got a story
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to tell, how about my summer vacation. See, this is a thing.
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I got a story to tell means I have a story to tell,
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and he tells the story and it's funny and it's even funnier that it's true,
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right, not for Biggie before the individuals evolved, but songs like you
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know I was gonna say, is it good to you? Today? Was
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a good day? Right? My summer vacation. That record in particular,
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already in the title plays off the fact that or off of real life where
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And I don't know because it's never really happened in my school, so maybe
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this was in suburbs or whatever. But kids would come back from the summer
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and they would have to write like an essay on what they did for the
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summer and then recite or read that essay in front of the class. Ice
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Q was doing that, but it was about drug dealer gang bang dudes going
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to another not them gang bang dudes like in the Gang. I'm not going
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to say Paul's even though I just said it, going out of town to
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take over another block. And some people would say, whoa, I mean,
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there's a drug deal story. But guess what, that's the thing that's
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some people's summer vacation. Right, You're in front of the class telling yourself
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vicage, Oh we went to the beach, Oh we went to disney Land.
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We did blah blah blah. This is what I did for the summer.
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You know what I'm saying, be in Seattle, shooting in snowhee weather.
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I mean, there's so many stories for Biggie two party and Bullish was
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a story. Also, I think they're kind of neck and neck and it's
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really close, so it's tough to say. Yo, you know, I
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picked Biggie over ice Cube, ice Cube over Biggie. I think Biggie is
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the better lyricist. I feel like ice Cube's the better storyteller, and the
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lyricists part is close, but not that close. Storytelling part is like that.
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He is definitely neck and neck and it's close, and at it's hard
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to say who's better. Even me saying I feel like ice Cube is better,
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it makes me think more about Biggie stories, and then I started to
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say, well, it was better than that. It's better than Warning.
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So nevertheless, it's debatable. It's subjective. Everybody has their opinions, everybody
28:36
has their favorites. I just chose one, but obviously these are two of
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my favorite rappers. Ice Cube is in my top five favorites. Biggie may
28:45
be number one. I guess who's number two ice Cube, So what do
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you think who's the better storyteller? Ice Cube or big notories be for those
29:00
who didn't arrive, you know, until Shiny Suit era. It's all good.
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We call them biggie though, Brooklyn, What up? What do you
29:11
think? Who's better? Who's the better storyteller? Also? Are you excited
29:17
for a new TUPOC new but old TUPOC songs? I don't know what about
29:22
the mixtape documentary? Are you going to check that out? Do you have
29:26
paramount plus or do you have a firestick land? Leave your comments in a
29:33
common section below. That's gonna do it for me. You can follow me
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on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, threads, and spreill spill not sprell at
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Vegas World I n C. And please know that the audio version of this
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