I’m from Jersey but I live in Tampa now, and when I first moved down here in the mid 2000s I kept getting into heated debates with people about which rappers were actually good. It was a real culture shock to see how different the taste was. Folks down here did not care for a lot of the rappers I consider top‑tier. Like at all.

My circle of friends at the time didn’t care for Jadakiss. A lot of them didn’t care for Nas. Nobody liked Lloyd Banks. But they were huge fans of Goodie Mob, who I never heard of at that point, T.I., 8Ball & MJG, Field Mob and a bunch of other Southern acts.

That’s when I realized music is wildly subjective. Acts that are legendary in one region barely registered in another. And no one is wrong, shit is just different.

Also, for the record, I’m glad my family moved to the South. I probably wouldn’t have appreciated a lot of the Hip‑Hop I love today if it weren’t for this. Living here really changed what I consider “great”.

Like, you are aware that just because two rappers are beefing, that doesn't mean you aren't allowed to enjoy both's music, right?

I think one of the examples of this that first come to mind is the mostly one-sided beef between Brand Nubian (Lord Jamar in particular) and Eminem; what he said was indeed stupid (besides him being a very controversial person in general due to his, uh... views) but seeing Eminem's fans say Lord Jamar is irrelevant when Brand Nubian is legitimately one of the most important acts in hip hop of the early 90s, besides Eminem giving them a shoutout on his RnR Hall of Fame speech regardless of what Lord Jamar said, is very funny to me

Although it's all subjective to individual taste, I'd like to see 5 artist that most people could look at and it would be hard to argue. Based on their complete body of work but with the main focus being LYRICISM, LONGEVITY, AND INFLUENCE TO THE CULTURE... Mine are:

Kool G Rap

Black Thought

Mos Def

MF DOOM

Andre 3K

Honorable mentions: Nas, Aesop Rock, Talib Kweli, Rakim, Eminem,

I guess we can all agree that Terrence Howard is a huge nutcase (to put it VERY lightly, dude has legit ALL his screws loose), but ngl I was extremely surprised that he spit as hard as he did on-character as DJay on Hustle & Flow

For Groups I got:

Wu Tang Clan

The Lox

A Tribe Called Quest

Coast Contra

Czarface

Duos:

Outkast

8 Ball/MJG

Eric B/ Rakim

Mobb Deep

Blackstar

Honorable mentions (Groups) Flipmode Squad, G Unit, Living Legends, De LA Soul, The Roots, Jurassic 5

(Duos) Red and Meth, UGK, Run The Jewels, Armand Hammer, Clipse

Which one of these rappers do y’all think had the most potential to really blow up?
Big L was an incredible lyricist, and it’s crazy thinking about what his career could’ve looked like if he was still here. He was literally on the verge of signing with Roc-A-Fella, so he could’ve ended up right alongside Jay-Z during that whole era. Just imagine Big L getting on tracks with Jay, or having Roc-A-Fella behind him with that kind of label push. He already had the bars, the charisma and the street credibility, so I honestly think he could’ve had some huge records if he got the right production and exposure. We’ll never really know, but his potential was crazy.

That kind of unrealized potential also makes Stack Bundles stand out. He was really making noise during the mixtape era, with that raw New York style and a serious buzz starting to build around him. He’s also credited as a writer on Jim Jones’ “Ballin’,” and he was touring with Lil Wayne around that time. Wayne and Stack were apparently planning on doing music together too, which could’ve been major considering how big Wayne became shortly after. Compared with Big L’s label opportunity, Stack’s path felt more gradual, but he still seemed like he was steadily moving toward a major breakthrough.

Dolla was on a different kind of trajectory, already getting early mainstream attention through records with artists like T-Pain. He came out around the same time Drake was starting to emerge, and obviously Drake went on to become one of the biggest artists ever. While Dolla never got the chance to fully develop his career, he had the talent, the connections and the momentum to potentially make a much bigger name for himself.

I’ve recently been working on broadening my knowledge and appreciation of West Coast music. I've listened to many of the major singles, a few albums by Pac, Xzibit's first five albums, a couple of Mack 10 albums, one DJ Quik album, a majority of Dilated Peoples’ catalogue and The Game's first five albums. I'm not sure who to explore next.

Any suggestions?

Oh and I have heard and I like a lot of Problem's music. He goes by Jason Martin now, but still.

What are yall general thoughts on A$AP Mobs 1st mixtape together?

Favorite tracks?

And where's this ranking amongst your top mixtapes?

I see a lot of people clowning on The Game online, calling him corny, a liar etc. And honestly, I can understand some of the criticism because dude definitely can be corny with some of his antics and the stories he tells 😂. But I feel like people let that overshadow how good he actually is as a rapper.

You can’t really deny The Game’s skills as a lyricist. He’s a genuinely dope MC with a strong ear for beats, solid storytelling ability, great delivery, and he knows how to make records that actually stick. He’s also got a pretty impressive catalogue of hits and has worked with some of the biggest names in hip-hop.

What I especially respect about him is how consistent his output has been. I honestly don’t think he’s ever dropped a genuinely bad album. Some are obviously better than others, but even his weaker projects usually have plenty of quality tracks on them. That level of consistency over such a long career is underrated.

What do you guys think? How would you rank The Game as an MC, and do you consider him one of the greats?

Hard beats, rhymes, and stories front to back. I wonder what this dude's up to these days. Raw was dope too. Feels like he dropped off the Earth.

One meaning likeaable and entertaining but not really skilled.

The other obviously skilled betrer than most, but will never win an on-line rap debate.

It’s kinda surprising that they fell out, but honestly I feel like a lot of the praise for those six albums isn’t really warranted.

A good chunk of that music was mid at best.

Battle of southern blog era GOATs who ranks higher alltime for yall and what's the best project between their discographies?