The 37th Chamber 06.11.08: Destroying My Hip-Hop Cred

Posted by Patrick Robinson on 06.11.2008

This week is a wonderfully disjointed rant on everything ranging from "Lollipop", to trees that look like body parts. No need to tell me I'm crazy.

I'll admit that I'm only now discovering the wonders of eBay, but truly, you can buy some awesome, awesome stuff there. For example, I had a desire to buy a katana and figured, "who in their right mind would sell something so ridiculously sharp to anybody on the Internet?" Well, here was my answer. If you did happen to click that link, do check out the cutting test videos they show and notice how the thing slices DIRECTLY THROUGH A DAMN PAINT CAN in a single motion. I really don't know why I particularly wanted one, maybe to terrorize the dog a little but alas, my memory ain't what it used to be so the idea will most likely fizzle out.

Oh yes, my sister came back home and had zero sympathy for the fact that she had made me sick, and laughed at the fact that I sound like Lil Wayne with a cold. Speaking of Lil Wayne, by the time this column goes live, my review should also be up.

Reader Feedback
(May be edited for spelling, grammar etc.)

"I'm not a big fan of hip-hop/rap, but I assume Stan-dom is a reference to Eminem's Stan?" - Registered

The word entered the hip-hop lexicon after the song of the same name began gaining popularity and was even referenced by Nas in "Ether" where he calls Jay-Z:

You a fan, a phony, a fake, a p**sy, a Stan….

Since then, it's been used to describe fans of any particular artist that see that artist as being unable to do wrong or having no shortcomings. In other words, they'll proclaim them as being the best ever, without actually backing up the statement in any way.

"King of the East is Nas. There's no contest in my opinion. Okay granted he stumbled a bit after Illmatic and It Was Written, but he got back on his game with Stillmatic and Lost Tapes and has pretty much kept the quality of his music the same since.

Jay-Z dumbs himself down far too much and far too often.

Biggie and Big Pun each only released two albums before they died, which is no where near enough to prove anything.

LL Cool J? Yeah, right. We all know 95% of his fans wear high heels.

Rakim has had major influences on many MCs, but has not had much success himself in the last 10-15 years.

50 Cent? Ha! He doesn't even deserve a response." - MattL

You wouldn't pick it at the time, but the Jay-Z – Nas beef was actually the best thing that could have happened to both their careers. From "Takeover" on Blueprint to "Ether" on Stillmatic, both not only made highly regarded albums (some going so far as to call them classics), but have made some great music since. I've got the same problem with Jay-Z in that the times he really lets himself shine, it's head and shoulders above everything else he does that it makes the rest of the album look pre-school in comparison. I really liked Hip-Hop Is Dead a lot more than a lot of people I know, but then again, I loved the production on that album especially when you consider a lot of the dodgy stuff Nas has used in the past.

LL Cool J…close, it's actually 99% hahaha.

I wonder what would happen if Ra and Eric B. hooked up for a reunion album? I think the main problem is that it's hard to produce for a guy like Rakim. With his monotone voice and flow, modern day production, which often relies on bouncy synths etc. doesn't really match up well. Maybe a DJ Premier – Rakim collaboration? What do you guys think?

"Albums get leaked by the record label. Albums are MEANT to be leaked.

East Coast King
Ghostface Killah
Rakim
Nas
Black Thought
Mos Def
Big Pun
Biggie Smalls
Method Man
Redman
Jay-Z
Canibus" - SYC

I probably should have specified a bit more last week, but leaks in terms of an album leaking ridiculously early. Gnarls Barkley's The Odd Couple leaked a month before it's release date. Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor leaked TWICE before it had a concrete release date before it finally made it to the shelves. Good to see some Pun love, he's one of my favorite artists, along with Ghost, Ra and Canibus. ‘Bis though, is kind of hard to regionalize, as he was born in Jamaica, lived in Washington, The Bronx, Atlanta, Miami and Montreal whilst growing up but eventually moved to Atlanta to study.

"No love for or House Party or Carlito's Way?

Jay is the King of the East. Nas had to fall off and only regained his fire BECAUSE of Jay-Z... Jay (yes, with some help from Kanye) reinvented himself and makes consistent quality music" - Joe

I'll be honest, I haven't seen those two movies, which is a bit embarrassing since I'm a big Pacino fan but given in a few weeks I'll be free from study for half a year, I'll have plenty of free time to catch up on my movie watching.

I can never hate Kanye no matter how hard I may want to try (though I don't at all) because he pretty much single handedly also brought Common's career to the forefront of rap again. Jay in my opinion is the most successful hip-hop artist of all time, seemingly balancing a good combination of label management, entrepreneurial ventures as well as a rap career without ever really losing steam in any department (except in terms of critical content in his raps).

"Patrick I stumbled across your column (I normally come to 411 for wrestling and games) but now it will include the 37th chamber.

Thank you and keep up the astounding work.

signed a new fan for life" - paul

Thanks Paul!

"What about DJ Clue? He's definitely one the first mixtape DJs. Growing up in NYC and heading over to Jamaica Ave. to pick up his mixtapes before he got real big and all over the radio.

Artists were doing exclusives for him." - J-Bone

I actually forgot about Clue! He's been pretty quiet over the last few years, and was one of the first DJs I could actually stand given his very infrequent adlibs on tracks. I remember for years when the mixtape game was actually very individual, in that every DJ got their own exclusive tracks, and had their own style, that Clue would usually get the best exclusives. These days, exclusives aren't always that exclusive. If you look at one of the hundreds of Lil Wayne mixtapes, you'll find that the majority of the tracks could be found on other mixtapes released before or after that one.

The Rant

There's been a horrible change in my schedule this week and I actually have virtually no time to bang this out, so this week it's another signature "bang out anything as fast as possible" column that probably won't make a lot of sense. Apologies, but I can't cancel this appointment unfortunately. It doesn't help when they call you up 3 hours before it's time to have the appointment either with the ultimatum that it's "In 3 hours, or in 3 weeks".

There's a remix to "Lollipop" with Kanye and it's possibly weirder than the original given Kanye's using the auto tune effect as well. Since Kanye has a fairly deep voice, it sort of sounds like what would happen if Kanye and Daft Punk had a baby and taught it how to rap.

Heaven forbid, I think you could call me a fan of Lil Wayne. Please, don't stop reading as I do know what I'm talking about in this case. You see, to me, he's a guy that raps in such a disjointed way on occasions and seems to have the ‘Snoop Dogg in real life' syndrome* where he just strings together words that rap for no apparent reason at all.

He's also got an extremely excitable kind of style where it's hard not to laugh at the thought of him bouncing around the studio doing a Tom Cruise on Oprah impression at the same time.

(* If you have ever seen Snoop in a documentary or on a non-performance related piece [such as on the Chappelle Show or on Katt Williams' show DVD] he rhymes words together when he talks even when they don't really make any sense at all. It's kind of glorious that he feels the need to keep rhyming even when he's not in the studio to ensure we know that he was originally a rapper)

I kind of like "Lollipop" too. It's funny in it's own absurd way which is the best way to describe my like of Lil Wayne's music actually.

The art of the double disc is a lost one I feel. But for the love of all things right in the world, don't tell 50 Cent. Can you imagine a whole disc of "Amusement Park" style tracks, backed by a whole disc of "Piggy Bank" style tracks? Oh the horror…the horror.

I think I managed to make an ass out of myself yesterday at work. You see, we have a new girl starting called Cassie, who looks EXACTLY like this Cassie. So, when she introduced herself, I kind of stood there with a puzzled look on my face, trying to work out if it was a joke, or if I was not listening properly, or if it was some kind of bizarre alternate universe I was in. Maybe I've been listening to the trippy Wayne music too much. No, I definitely have been.

Ok, quick question for my readers out there, what's your favorite album that you don't actually own? My favorite album of all time…that's extremely hard to pick, but the album that I love the most, but haven't actually bought would have to be Masters Of The Universe by Binary Star. Of course, that could well be out of print and I don't know, so that could be an issue. There's also Internal Affairs by Pharoahe Monch, but I KNOW that one's out of print.

Why is it that some of the best albums are out of print? It actually comes back to the sampling issue in some cases. Monch's album, Biggies Ready To Die 1994 print and Breaking Atoms by Main Source are out of print due to sampling issues. It really sucks because if you got into rap at a later stage like I did, it makes it hard to get a lot of these albums. I think that's been a motivating factor in my unnatural CD buying habit I've developed in recent years. You never know what's going to go out of print for some reason.

Paid In Full by Rakim and Eric B. too. Though, I lost my copy that I JUST bought which was really annoying as it's my mom's fault. I love my mom, I do, but really, there is an order to the complete chaos in my room, and once in a blue moon, she randomly decides to tidy it when I'm not home and throws out the whole process. It's like an archaeological dig. You can see everything in layers. Just like my assignments and notes appear in layers, so do CDs I've bought or need to upload onto iTunes. Once the layers are disturbed, I have no idea what I'm meant to be doing. Procrastinate, and get even more behind.

I was listening to Bun B's "I Luv This" the other day, and he's running through a list of drinks and I realized…it's been almost 5 months since I last had an alcoholic drink. I think that's a testament to how HORRIBLE these two subjects have been at Uni and how much work has gone into the damn things. Seriously, if I don't pass them, I'm going to take my katana and start cutting down the big-ass tree on campus that looks strangely like a penis. No joke, I was looking out the window one day last year and started laughing aloud (disrupting the class in the process…oops) cause it really DOES look like a penis. Sorry, this column is pretty terrible I know.

You know who needs to make a random comeback? Warren G. I loved Regulate…G Funk Era, and I think I may be the only person that still does, but dammit, it was a good G Funk album. Whereas Snoop and Dre used G Funk for more gangsta rap style work, Warren G's was even more laidback if possible, and didn't stress the gangsta-ish nature as much.

Obie Trice too! What the hell happened to him? One minute he's singing about Jamaican Girls, the next he's…not there. I think I may be the only person again, that likes Cheers and Second Round On Me but Obie I've always felt, had a good mic presence and charisma that managed to carry his lyrical shortcomings (although he's significantly better than Mr. 5-0).

Maybe I should call this column "Single-handedly destroying my proverbial hip-hop card".

Taking It Underground
(Albums are coming from the suggestions of a longtime reader CJ)

…was meant to feature Buckshot and 9th Wonder's collaboration album, The Formula, but will instead return next week.

I'm The KING!

…will also return next week. The four candidates for King Of The East would have to be, Jay-Z, Nas, Biggie and Pun based on feedback and my personal preference. Leave your nominations for next week!

10 Things…
(Each week, I'll be making a list of 10 Hip-Hop related things. These won't be the conventional Top 10 lists either!)

As I mentioned week before last, I'll be making this a bi-weekly piece to spend more time on the lists.

Before We Go…

Alright! I'm actually late, so catch you tomorrow!