How come A.Z. never blew up.

[Samoan Enforcer]

i thought AZ was pretty big. if by blow up you mean shitty watered down club banger, i guess he neverhad the right producer, plus he doesnt put himself out there like jimmy or 50. he needs to start taking steroids

[big mat]

u gotta look good for the bitchez 2, i dont comment on anything but bitchez buy artits the think are fine

[jeromechickenbone]

And in today's climate, he really stands no chance on a mainstream level because he's refusing to follow the trends of A) Dumbing down his shit and B) Flavor of the week production which has at least kept many mainstream rappers relevent.

Have you heard "Doing That" off The Format? I bet you have.

It's a bit unfair to disarm your whole reasoning because of one song, but it's not like AZ hasn't been trying throughout his career! And in trying so hard, I believe he hasn't been the rapper that he could have been. He has always tried to stay real, yet he was always looking for more than what he had. That's to a degree where I feel like none of his albums have ever been optimized. Each and every one of them has been decent at best, yet never weak. It just doesn't live up to the skill that goes behind it.

I believe he simply lacks the charisma for a serious breakthrough, and that's a hard thing to compensate for. As long as the charisma ain't there, it's hard to grab the attention.

Do you know where the beat came for "Doing That"?  It's from Jimmy Spicer's 1983 track "Money (Dollar Bill Y'all).  So even when he does make songs that people perceive as being mainstream, he still does it while at the same time paying homage to the old school.  And he's still lyrical on that song, it's not like he's singing love songs with cheesy ass hooks.  I mean his flow is still tight as hell, still droppin multis.  He's the consumate MC regardless of the joint he's on.  That's the difference to me - he can and has made tracks that I don't bump, but he's not cutting his nuts in the process.  So I've never lost respect for him as an MC.

And of course, charisma is huge if you're gonna blow up.  To me, he has TONS of charisma.  I check all his interviews, and listen to every rap he spits when I'm bumpin his shit.  But the things that attract me to him aren't what the kiddies watching BET / MTV are looking for, and it's not what BET / MTV is looking to push.  

I mean hell, fuckin 50 cent dissed him.  That's the greatest promotion half of these clowns in the industry can get nowadays.  And most of them thrive off of it, drop 5 mixtapes in response, speak his name in every interview, talk about killing him and shit.  I've never once heard AZ bring it up.  He dropped a few bars about it on Royal Salute, but it was so subtle that I've never even heard anybody on these boards even mention it.  Just another reason how he proves he's not following all the wackness going on in the game.

[MontrealCity's Most]

What was so bad about the firm realy, i cant remember?

And dnt u guys think  az= eastcoast version of ras kass

[jeromechickenbone]

He was def on his way up.  The Firm album could have REALLY set him off but we know how that turned out.  That pretty much ended Foxy's career, damn near ended Nas career.- I hear people say this but never explain it: 'but we know how that turned out' do you mean it flopped? do you mean it was critically bashed? I heard that shit went platinum, so what went wrong exactly?
nothing az does that nas don't do better. voice makes him sound like an asshole. gotta have a likable mic persona to be succesful, which is why i lose faith in humanity for Jay z's popularity. hes not the worst rapper or anything but his voice and mic persona are among the most assholish ever and i detest his presence yet the world loves him, i cry inside at that shit.

-T

When I say that, I mean considering the star power that album had at the time - Dr. Dre & Nas , Foxy Brown, AZ?  Shit this was gonna be the album to completely shut shit down.  And I don't know if it went plat, it prolly did but it still flopped relative to how much that was anticipated when it dropped.  It was critically and commercially a letdown.

[herpes]

What was so bad about the firm realy, i cant remember?

people were expecting one of the greatest albums ever and it only turned out to be a good album, so people look at that like a flop.

[ABN]

Scarface as well to some degree as well....I live in Ireland so the internet is my only real souce of "real" music and hip-hop...I said scarface cause im only basing it really on true mainstream success....ie. blowing up over here as well as the US.....

Scarface has sold close to 20 million albums WW. in hip hop there´s not a whole lot of people that can top that.

[Tanjential]

yeah most of the dre tracks on firm were fire. just like i always say, if he produced the whole record woulda been classic.

-T

[eazye]

Some tracks that were left off the cut would;ve fitted nice too, in my opinion

[AZ§o§a]

whoever said nas is lyrically better than AZ is an idiot. for 1, for 2 AZ enjoys layin low. he isnt all about the fuckin bling bling (BALLLLIN) shit that mostly consists on mainstream (blown up) rappers HENCE the name quiet money. He considers himself "a bad boy that moves silently" Jus cuz his shit aint flashy doenst mean shit for true hip hop fans.
he's still #1 in my book and is lyrically #1 in the game

[Oklin]

This is a nice thread.. I never really gotten in to his music myself.. But i don't remember hearing a straight wack track by him..

[AZ§o§a]

This is a nice thread.. I never really gotten in to his music myself.. But i don't remember hearing a straight wack track by him..

i got a few favorite tracks u should peep.. just a few of my 200+

city of gods
Cant stop
wanna be there
the essence ft. nas
Hey AZ
Ho Happy Jackie
Rather Unique
Sugar Hill
Life goes on ft. common
betcha dont know
gimme yours ft. nas

[1nce was blind]

He's to intelligent and lyrical for the masses.

thats how I've always thought about AZ not blowin up..............true lyricists suffer salewise and some rappers "dumb down" their lyrics 2 hit more people and move units...................a lot of people that I know can't get with AZ because he's 2 deep for them, he has a diverse vocab, and they just want 2 hear music that makes them feel good not think

[jeromechickenbone]

Just in case anybody wants them, here's some of AZ's singles that he's released that I could track down on YouTube.  Every one of these joints is SICK.  TURN UP YOUR SPEAKERS.

"Sugar Hill" from Doe or Die (Lead single produced by L.E.S. of "Life's a Bitch" fame)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/9T6e6-B4DdA" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/9T6e6-B4DdA</a>

"The Come Up" from AWOL (Lead single from 2005 album.  Produced by DJ Premier)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/YIhxgeki3BQ" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/YIhxgeki3BQ</a>

"Problems" from 9 Livez  (AZ's first joint after a hiatus following The Firm fiasco)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/oMNfxJsSO4U" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/oMNfxJsSO4U</a>

"The Format" from The Format  (Lead single off his latest album, produced by legendary DJ Premier)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/BKA8BSyxeWI" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/BKA8BSyxeWI</a>

"Mo Murda, Mo Homicide" featuring Nas (who outshines who?  Also taken from AZ's debut)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/znACSdVZItE" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/znACSdVZItE</a>

"I'm Back" from Aziatic  (Lead single from 2002 album)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/0UvjbeSxYM8" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/0UvjbeSxYM8</a>


Last But Not Least...

Affirmative Action from Nas' It Was Written (This features in this order:  AZ, Cormega, Nas, Foxy Brown.  The worlds first exposure to "The Firm".  Yall asked why The Firm album was considered a flop?  Crank your fuckin speakers and hear AZ completely destroy this beat.  I bet they heard this shit and didn't even want to try to follow his verse, lol.  No but for real, everybody comes hard as hell on here, even Foxy although Nas wrote her wraps on this.  After this song, anticipation was SKY HIGH for this album and nothing on that album went as hard as this)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/rylBmkHOEKw" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/rylBmkHOEKw</a>

[Narrator]

u gotta look good for the bitchez 2, i dont comment on anything but bitchez buy artits the think are fine

Hey, lots of bitches loved Biggie, and he was one of the ugliest cats in the game.