B.I.G. is considered by many to be the Greatest Rapper of All Time, with two classic albums under his belt. Big L dropped a classic album in 1995 and had a cult like following on the underground scene. B.I.G. and Bad Boy Records had Hip-Hop and the radio/clubs on lock from 1994-1997. Rumors had Big L on the verge of signing with Roc-A-Fella Records before his death. Both were gunned down at the young age of 24. Both murders are still unsolved. B.I.G. and Big L had many things in common except sharing a track together. I’m puzzled why these two lyrical giants never collaborated with each other as it would have made for a good discussion on who spit it better.
Since that collaboration doesn’t exist this Who Spit It Better drop will have to do! Both Big L and B.I.G. spit over DeBarge’s “Stay With Me” in 1995. Big L’s use of the sample appeared on his debut album, Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous. B.I.G. used the sample for the remix of “One More Chance.” Big L rides the smooth groove to let everyone know he is one of the best in the game. B.I.G. dropped the ultimate players anthem, with his remix. Both songs are dope in their own right, but B.I.G. is the clear winner for me. Big Poppa created a party starter with that record along with loads of quotables.
Who you got? Stream of songs and poll underneath.
*Side Note: check out these dope drops from Daily Math on Big L and B.I.G..*
[read full article…]
291 views | Posted in Who Spit It Better?
This unreleased gem from Common titled “Strange Fruit” was unleashed to the internet sometime this week as a track from the Finding Forever sessions. Obviously this song wasn’t on the album, but seems to fit in with the overall sound, subject matter, and vibe of Finding Forever [review]. When you hear the song the powerful vocals of Nina Simone hit you in the face. As we know Finding Forever sampled “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” by Nina Simone.
When the track leaked the production credit was attributed to Kanye West, however I noticed a few comments around the web stating Ye didn’t produce it, but Devo Springsteen did. Also, pointed out in those comments is Cassidy’s “Celebrate” from his 2007 album B.A.R.S. (The Barry Adrian Reese Story) uses the same beat. And it is produced by Devo Springsteen. On further investigation there were numerous sources that confirmed Devo Springsteen produced the track. Not sure why Common didn’t keep the song because this dope beat has been lost on Cassidy’s album as I listened to that album once.
Now with all of the backstory out the way Who Spit It Better? Common or Cassidy. Don’t hate me, but I like Cassidy’s version better. He has had one of these “introspective” type tracks on his album (Split Personality & I’m A Hustla) it seems. Enough from me…who ya got?
Hit the cut for the streams of the songs, the poll, and link to the songs.
[read full article…]
669 views | Posted in Who Spit It Better?
No this is not a contender for Freestyle Friday… I would never put these two emcees in the same league. However DJ TrackStar at TSS did! I’ll let him explain below:
“Since Jay-Z stopped worrying about being the best and declared himself the greatest, many people have claimed the title of Best Rapper Alive, but few as often as Lil Wayne and Royce Da 5′9″.
While Wayne is a global superstar and Royce owns the underground, they seem to share similar taste in beats — “D.O.A.,” “I’m Me” and “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” as notable examples. I went ahead and put together twelve rounds of Nickel and Weezy facing off over the same beat, threw in a boxing motif, and now I’ll let the people decide.”
Interesting concept… hit the jump to check it out and sound off!
[read full article…]
467 views | Posted in Mixtapes, Who Spit It Better?
Our last Who Spit for Jay week.
“Eminem killed you on your own sh*t.” Nas spit that famous line on “Ether” as an answer record to Jay’s “Takeover.” So the question is did Eminem kill Jay on his on ish? Was Royce’s original verse better than Jay’s?
Ok…we decide today. From my understand “Renegade” was originally a track Em and Royce record under the name of Bad Meets Evil. No sure why Eminem kept the track and gave it to Jay. If I remember correctly around this time Em/D-12 and Royce were “beefin” so this may have contributed to Em giving the song to Jay.
This was originally an Em track and he owned it from day one. Royce wasn’t able to keep up with Em neither was Jay. Jay’ wasn’t “killed” on this song…his verse is super dope. Any other emcee he wins. On this track with Em…no so.
Em>Jay>Royce.
Who you got?
[read full article…]
774 views | Posted in Eleven Days of Jay, Who Spit It Better?
Jay and B.I.G. recorded three songs together (Biggie Duets and “A Dream” don’t count). On “Brooklyn’s Finest” B.I.G. shined bright. On “I Love the Dough” B.I.G. was masterful again with Jay keeping pace. On “Young G’s,” Jay’s verse that included lines such as: “Some say I been here before because of the way I zone/Some said, Jigga zone is like the fallin of Rome/Reoccuring, that he thinks like that cause he’s observing/Won’t be known until I’m gone and niggaz study my bones” was a notch above B.I.G.’s drugs and guns verse.
B.I.G. still leads 2 to 1 tho… Who you got?
Hit the cut for the stream/download and poll.
[read full article…]
489 views | Posted in Eleven Days of Jay, Who Spit It Better?
Rumor has it that Jay-Z turned down this track from Just Blaze prior to Joe Budden grabbing it for his lead off single from his self titled debut album [download set].
The track sounds like something that could have fit on disc one of The Blueprint²: The Gift & The Curse.
Jay jumped on the instrumental of “Pump It Up” at the end of 2003 for his S. Carter Collection Mixtape mixtape]. I’m taking that Joe Budden noticed that Jay killed the track and wanted to go in over it again. Now youtube has a video up that says Joe Budden’s freestyle to “Pump It Up” is a diss towards Jay-Z (video) but I don’t buy that. We all know that Joe Budden is a competitive person and probably wanted to grab his track back from Jay (assuming I am). Nothing more nothing less to me.
Jay’s verse is 10x’s better than the O.G. “Pump It Up.” Now the two freestyles is something different. Jay weaves in and out on the track with such comfort and confidence with lines like:
“Hovi baby you Kobe, maybe Tracy McGrady/Matter fact you Harold Miner, Jr Rider/Washed up on marijuana/Even worse you a Pervis Ellis/You worthless fella/You ain’t no athlete you Shawn Bradley/I ain’t talkin to nobody in particular.”
Jump off Joe isn’t a slouch on the track either (word to DJTommyIIGunz):
“You can give it back now/All these rappers is cookin crack now/Took the realness out the game its time to put it back in/The fans finally got it understood they just yappin, while Joeys in the hood like madden”
In 2003/2004 Jay was on the top of his game. Jay > Joey (by a hair).
Who Spit It Better? Hit the cut for the poll….
[read full article…]
442 views | Posted in Who Spit It Better?
When I became aware of Angelous in late 2002/early 2003 and heard his song “A.N.G.E.L.” I thought Jay-Z was dissing himself. After a couple listens I figured out it wasn’t Jay-Z. Now there have been some Jay-Z clones before Angelous (Bathgate, Sam Sarcfo) that seem to take Jay-Z’s flow, ad-libs, and style to the 10th power. But, Angelous is different….he has some skills. His voice and style screams Jay, but he has that good ole Brooklyn Swagger like all Brooklyn rhyme stars do.
“Blueprint 2″ was Jay’s mature response to Nas during the thick of their lyrical battle. I still stand by my thought that there was a lot of truth in this song and Jay understood that regardless of what he did he wouldn’t win the popular vote in his feud with Nas. Anyhoo…off topic. Jay is the overwhelming winner.
Hit the cut to sound off!
[read full article…]
391 views | Posted in Eleven Days of Jay, Who Spit It Better?
Jay-Z and Cormega both rhyme over Stanley Clarke’s “I Got To Find My Own Place.” Cormega has always been on of my favorite artist. I’ve praised his lyrical skills before on this site (here & here). Everyone should know my thought’s on Jay!?!
Cormega and Jay-Z go in different directions as far as subject matter for their respective tracks. Cormega’s song is extremely violent in nature with him detailing a murder (song was banned and was probably the reason he was dropped by Def Jam in 1998). “Lyrical Exercise” is classic Jay with his witty word play and cockiness/arrogance.
Difficult choice, however, the vividness of Cormega’s lyrics along with “Deadman Walking” being the better produced song has my vote going to Mega. I know, I know…what a surprise coming from me!
Who you got?
[read full article…]
712 views | Posted in Eleven Days of Jay, Who Spit It Better?
Another Who Spit featuring The Chef. Another song featured on OB4CLII. Rae, Jada, Styles P, and other spit over Margie Joseph’s “Stop In The Name of Love” from her 1971 album.
Jada’s joint was from his debut album Kiss Tha Game Goodbye and featured a gang of people. I was only feeling Jada and Styles P.
Subject matter is the same from all emcee’s,but Styles P goes hard on this joint: “Kidnappin your kid, maimin your mom, and airin your girl/and like, you aint got a care in the world”
Who you got?
[read full article…]
219 views | Posted in Who Spit It Better?
In 1998 Jay-Z was just hitting his stride and finally reached that commercial success I believe he was looking for. From 1997-1998 Canibus was touted as the NEXT coming emcee. Everything he touched was gold from the features to his mixtape verses. Everyone was open. That was until Can-I-Bus [download set] dropped. The album was a disappointment to many. Many blamed the production handled by Wyclef and his crew to Canibus not sticking to his mixtape roots.
We got Jay and his “swan song” “What More Can I Say” vs “How We Roll.” Both rock over the MFSB sample. Two different styles…two different era’s. Jay is laid back and Canibus is probably his most animated as any on this track from the album.
With that said…easy one for me Jay>Canibus.
Who you got?
[read full article…]
538 views | Posted in Eleven Days of Jay, Who Spit It Better?
The Roc vs. Wu-Tang! “The heir to the Throne” up against the originator of the Purple Tape.
Easy one….Bleek is a lightweight going up against a heavy hitter. Rae>Bleek.
Who you got?
[read full article…]
200 views | Posted in Who Spit It Better?
From 2002-2004 Lloyd Banks aka The Boy Wonder was considered one New York’s and arguably Hip-Hop’s brightest star. He was killing every verse he touched from mixtapes to guest appearances.
Today Jay goes up against Lloyd Banks and his song “Southside Story” from his 2004 album Hunger For More.
As much as I like Bank’s song…you all know who I have today!
Who you got?
[read full article…]
297 views | Posted in Eleven Days of Jay, Who Spit It Better?
Fat Joe and Jim Jones are the challengers today in Day 3 of Who Spit It Better…Jay-Z edition? All three rhyme over Yvonne Fair’s “Let Your Hair Down” from her 1975 album The Bitch Is Black.
Each track uses the same part of the sample, but does that mean Fat Joe’s “Bad, Bad Man” or Jim Jones’ “Bright Lights, Big City” top Jay’s superior lyricism on “Where I’m From?”
I really don’t need to comment on this one today. Jay > Jim Jones > Fat Joe.
Hit the cut for the poll and comments!
[read full article…]
393 views | Posted in Eleven Days of Jay, Who Spit It Better?
Short break from Jay for a moment. Rae vs Blu? The vet against the newcomer? Blu’s track is on some personal/introspective ish. Rae is in the pit on his punch you in the face steez.
I got the Clansman on this one. Who you got?
[read full article…]
525 views | Posted in Who Spit It Better?
As much as I’m a Jay-Z fan I stan for the Wu as well. We have been planning Jay-Z week for over a year and lets be honest who really thought Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…Pt. II would see the light of day?
With that said we haven’t forgotten about Rae. We’ll have some goodies from The Chef this week. When the snippets leaked about a week ago the sample used in “Pyrex Vision” was noticeable as Lord Finesse freaked this joint back in 1997 for O.C..
We’re going to try something different with the Who Spit feature. Instead of streaming the audio we are going to try using YouTube videos instead. Nothing else will change tho.
Ok..who got who? I’m loving the new Rae joint (I said I was gonna wait to listen to it..hahaha), but O.C.’s flow, lyrics, and beat runs laps around Rae’s song.
Who you got?
[read full article…]
522 views | Posted in Who Spit It Better?
