Hey Young World,
(actually, half the rap games name is "Yung" nowadays. lol)
What up everybody! Happy New Years, I hope your 2009 (and especially mine) is better than 2008!! God willing...
Well, with the year winding down we get to the inevitable list of lists: you know, from NewsWeek to Entertainment Weekly, the lists of top this, and top that... countdowns; all of the lists -essentially opinions- but for the most of them given some degree of legitimacy becuz they were compiled by "experts" in their perspective medium/field. And now, with the culmination of the Entertainment Industries "Top" list; the Academy Awards, I'm reminded of the age old debate (argument really) held in barbershops around the world; Raps search for the elusive and exclusive GOAT!
Now when I mention GOAT, the fact is that its arguably impossible to pick just one, single MC but just the process people use to the Top 20 names on a list of of prospective GOATS is what..pun intended, gets my goat. lol
For starters, rappers are one of the only groups in the Entertainment Industry (American job force really) who have no Union or Guild. Thus, they are easily pit against one another by labels, lawyers, etc... and have no unified voice. Which means, unlike the movie Industry (Actors/Actresses) we have no way to gauge who our "peers" and contemporaries regard as doing exemplary work. The result is Validation by Soundscan which is actually a contradiction in terms; compared to an Academy Awards who merits "greatness" and is peer driven, a Grammy is based on consumers, not "experts" and more akin to a Peoples Choice Award. Hardly as exclusive and of aesthetic value. (No Disrespect)
Academy award (best actor, best actress, best movie) winners actually tend to be under-performers at the box office. The same way alot of the more avante garde/creative/lyrical hip hop albums tend to be relegated to the "underground." Whic was fine apparently in the beginning..remeber Q-Tip, "rap is not pop, if you call it that stop"? Everybody from NWA to De La Soul stressed not "selling out."
Unfortunately, once some of our more outstanding (lyrical) MC's also achieved commercial success they became a little hypocritical,and set the bar ridiculously high saying " You're not great if you dont sell 5 million albums like I did" But these same people were given "great" status before they hadplatinum albums based soley on thier talent. But we all fell for it, and somewhere down the line weve found out that weve lost our way..
There are many awards shows in rap. Each with its own agenda, politics, and bias: Source Awards (remember Benzino?) XXL (remember the Eminem beef), Ozone (southern-centric) BET (ditto) Grammy's (RIAA) etc... but no one, true quintessential show that fairly covers the full spectrum and diversity of hip hop. Id love to be at the award show where JayZ gives a rookie of the year award to Elzhi or Nelly giving out a "Lifetime Achievment Award" to the family of Marlon Brando (RIP) of the Sporty Thievez (who in my opinion is the greatest true hero of hip hop, every major rap magazine dropped the ball and continue to drop it with his pa**ing. Sorry, he wasnt "HOT", shameful)
So what is the criteria for judging the GOAT? I mean, at some point you do have to a**imilate commercial success based on the social impact and relevance a rapper has. But is it long term or fleeting? Kwame had gang members rockin polka dots! Deada**.. But that was so ephemeral. (Again, no disrespect) Wheras, the impact of Tupac Shakur can still be registered today; you saw Pac in his contemporaries from DMX, Ja Rule to newer artists like Plies. JayZ has a legitimate claim, " Jigga held it down for six summers....damn" He garnered the respect of his peers lyrically, polarized the streets and move the units to become a mogul. Eminem has the legs to stand on too in sheer units sold per album - the boy did diamond (10 million) 3 out of 4 albums! He who coined the term of course, LL: 13 Albums! He made Def Jam. "Im Bad!"
And again, thats where record sales being the premise to judge relevance or importance is a crock of shit. If we calim for GOAThood based strictly on that, then you have to automatically put these rappers in your top 20 List:
Young MC
Vanilla Ice
Souljah Boy
MC Hammer
again no disrespect but it underscores how outlandish records sales are for induction into HIP HOP HALL OF FLAME. Not discounting sales totally, you do have to get in the league to play in the ALL STAR GAME.lol
So Id go as far as to try to name judging criteria for the HALL OF FLAME to eventually determining the GOAT.
Musical Factors:
1. Orginality
2. Volume of Work (or lack of it)
3. Song/Album Concepts
4. WordPlay
5. Consistency/Growth
6. Live Performance
7. Style/ Delivery
8. Freestyle Ability
9. Guest Appearances (Murk Outs)
10. Peer Impact/ Relevance
11. Club/Street "Bangers"
Personal Factors:
1. Charisma (Swagger)
2. Mogul Moves (upward mobility)
3. Consumer (social impact)
4. "Ghostwriterless-ness"
( I encourage you to add or amend these criteria in your comments as you see fit.)
I think 10 is very important – you cant be the greatest if you get bodied on your own songs.
I hope I have created a dialogue with a sensible foundation. Have a Happy New Year!
One Mic,
-Ras
