The Firm - Phone Tap

[Lazar]

God damn, that song is too good. I never get tired of this crazy instrumental. One of the best beats Dre ever did. Too bad The Firm flops 

The vid is also a straight classic 
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HM9zpTTZirk

[Oklin]

Hell yeah! Dope track and a dope video!

[EastsideLBC]

That was the shit back in the day.......that track never gets old........classic shit........

[Elevz]

Too bad The Firm flops 

Reached #1 in the Billboard album charts. Went platinum without having a huge single.

...

[MontrealCity's Most]

I think people werent ready for this album, it was ahead of its time.

[OG Hack Wilson]

yeah its sadd to say but the firm did indeed flop

if Dre can be man enoguh to say "all you niggas say i turned pop when the firm flopped" on his own single then i'd say it wasn't nearly what it was expected to be lol

but anything Nas and Dre have to do with is gold to me usually, phone tap's beat is indeed a fuckin classick

[Elevz]

yeah its sadd to say but the firm did indeed flop

if Dre can be man enoguh to say "all you niggas say i turned pop when the firm flopped" on his own single then i'd say it wasn't nearly what it was expected to be lol

Are there two different versions of Forgot About Dre out or something? I just popped 2001 it in my stereo, I checked several times, but I swear Dre says
"All you niggaz that said that I turned pop, or The Firm flopped, y'all are the reason that Dre' been getting no sleep, so fuck y'all."
That's like the opposite!

And please get real. How did The Firm flop? It's been the best charting success in the careers of Foxy as well as AZ and Nature! It had the potential to become something totally unique and at that it failed, but it was still in no way a flop. What premise makes you say it is?

[d-nice]

I just remember this group had crazy hype around it. It came out around the time the Fugees dropped. Foxy was coming off a big album, AZ had Do Or Die and Nas did big numbers with It Was Written. Affirmative Action got a great response and so did the Dre produced track on IWW. The combo of Dre/The Firm on paper looked like it was going to do 2-5mil in its sleep. But looking back at that album now, it had WAAAAY too many people involved with it. All the artists were on different labels, you add aftermath involved, just too many opinions I am sure involved in the direction of the album. The Dre cuts were dope, but some of the cuts were bland to me. 2nd- no Cormega. Nothing against Nature but I was looking forward to having Mega on there. 3rd- the guest appearances. Canibus and Nore showed up the Firm on they appearances on there. IMO I thought it could have been better but a good album nonetheless.

[Lazar]

I think people werent ready for this album, it was ahead of its time.

Yep, your absolutely right

[The Predator]

That beat was slammin, i used to have it repeat on my headphones while i stomped about.

Would of been doper if Dre had rapped on it solo.

The instrumental is 

[Lazar]

The instrumental is  Shocked

As I say. For me Dre did his best beats in that time (about 96-99)

[thisoneguy360]

Damn, I never even knew there was a video for this

[Lazar]

They also make a video for "Firm Biz"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6aWqxccthsM

[Shallow]

I think people werent ready for this album, it was ahead of its time.

I don't get what that means. It was 10 years ago and today people aren't making Goodfellas rip offs in the form of albums. Are you suggesting that one day a cheezy, kind of a story album, will be common in Hip Hop?


I don't have a problem with an album playing out like a movie and rappers playing parts in that movie. I just don't htink the Firm did a good job of that. It was more Chris Gaines than it was Sgt. Peppers or The Wall.

[jeromechickenbone]

yeah its sadd to say but the firm did indeed flop

if Dre can be man enoguh to say "all you niggas say i turned pop when the firm flopped" on his own single then i'd say it wasn't nearly what it was expected to be lol

Are there two different versions of Forgot About Dre out or something? I just popped 2001 it in my stereo, I checked several times, but I swear Dre says
"All you niggaz that said that I turned pop, or The Firm flopped, y'all are the reason that Dre' been getting no sleep, so fuck y'all."
That's like the opposite!

And please get real. How did The Firm flop? It's been the best charting success in the careers of Foxy as well as AZ and Nature! It had the potential to become something totally unique and at that it failed, but it was still in no way a flop. What premise makes you say it is?

I mean, take these names in 97 - Dre, Nas, Foxy Brown, AZ, Mega/Nature.  Those are some of the biggest names in the game at that time.  Even if it went platinum, most of those cats could have done those numbers in their sleep at that time - shit multi plat (Dre, Nas, Foxy).  So in that sense, it was a flop.  But it came at a time when Dre was kinda in a rut and trying to find his sound again.  I hated the shit Dre did w/ Nas on IWW, it's one of my least favorite joints on the album. 

And it wasn't just Dre, it was the Trackmasters as well.  And keep in mind that NY was really on some popped out, jack 80's joints,  mafioso shit, and it was pretty watered down at that time.  Remember "Affirmative Action"?  That shit was RETARDED.  The Firm album should have sounded like that from top to bottom, but these mutherfuckers dropped the ball.

But "Firm Biz" was a pretty damn large song at the time.  Peeps were bangin that shit when it dropped.  But this album came nowhere near it's potential.