Crooked I on Choosing Death Row Over Aftermath

[Fraxxx]

I think it's something where it's just hard to sell well if you're both gangsta and really lyrical...

Gangsta stuff often suits a simpler style, like Snoop when he was doing gangsta stuff or Mack 10, etc. it's more about the attitude and sounding
laidback and dope, not really about going crazy with the rhymes.
Even Ice Cube, he gets into complex content on his classics, but he's not doing like lyrical acrobatics with the flow.

Fans who are like, "I like songs about people shooting other people and fucking bitches and starting beefs"
are usually quite different to the fans who are like, "I like complex references and rhyme schemes and intricate rhythms"...

If you mix the two together, I think it can turn off both audiences sometimes... the gangsta fans don't get the
complexity and the complex fans don't like the violence, etc.

On point. The Horse Shoe Gang is THE prime example for that. They're killing 99.9 percent of all rappers but lyrically they don't have much appeal to most fans of Gangsta Rap. Otherwise Julius Luciano would be recognized as one of the best out today.

[Okka]

Interesting that he was featured on King T's Aftermath LP - that means there are still some unleaked tracks left off those sessions

of course.....dre does at least 50-100 tracks per album, if not more, and picks the best ones. theres probably TONS of King-T material sitting in Dre's vault (along with Rakim, Hittman, Slim the Mobster, and every1 else he's ever worked with)

There isn't a lot of Rakim material in the vaults. He wasn't even really workin' with Dre that much.

not true

According to Big Chuck, Dre would put Rakim in the studio with other producers and not even work with him. I believe that's one of the real reasons Rakim left.

You can believe what you want though, like you always do even if you heard it from the mouth of a credible source.

[Triple OG Rapsodie]

I think it's something where it's just hard to sell well if you're both gangsta and really lyrical...

Gangsta stuff often suits a simpler style, like Snoop when he was doing gangsta stuff or Mack 10, etc. it's more about the attitude and sounding
laidback and dope, not really about going crazy with the rhymes.
Even Ice Cube, he gets into complex content on his classics, but he's not doing like lyrical acrobatics with the flow.

Fans who are like, "I like songs about people shooting other people and fucking bitches and starting beefs"
are usually quite different to the fans who are like, "I like complex references and rhyme schemes and intricate rhythms"...

If you mix the two together, I think it can turn off both audiences sometimes... the gangsta fans don't get the
complexity and the complex fans don't like the violence, etc.

Gangsta rap isn't popular anymore, lyrical or not.

[Hack Wilson - real]

I think it's something where it's just hard to sell well if you're both gangsta and really lyrical...

Gangsta stuff often suits a simpler style, like Snoop when he was doing gangsta stuff or Mack 10, etc. it's more about the attitude and sounding
laidback and dope, not really about going crazy with the rhymes.
Even Ice Cube, he gets into complex content on his classics, but he's not doing like lyrical acrobatics with the flow.

Fans who are like, "I like songs about people shooting other people and fucking bitches and starting beefs"
are usually quite different to the fans who are like, "I like complex references and rhyme schemes and intricate rhythms"...

If you mix the two together, I think it can turn off both audiences sometimes... the gangsta fans don't get the
complexity and the complex fans don't like the violence, etc.

Gangsta rap isn't popular anymore, lyrical or not.

it can be, easily

real rap fans just need to stop supporting the fake and/or trending toward the fake shit out there.  similar to fight club, the first rule of being a real rap fan is to not talk about the fake shit


so forget any lil wayne, birdman, 2 chainz, kanye or drake shit


and for any real rapper you like, just have patience.


that's all.

[Sccit]

Interesting that he was featured on King T's Aftermath LP - that means there are still some unleaked tracks left off those sessions

of course.....dre does at least 50-100 tracks per album, if not more, and picks the best ones. theres probably TONS of King-T material sitting in Dre's vault (along with Rakim, Hittman, Slim the Mobster, and every1 else he's ever worked with)

There isn't a lot of Rakim material in the vaults. He wasn't even really workin' with Dre that much.

not true

According to Big Chuck, Dre would put Rakim in the studio with other producers and not even work with him. I believe that's one of the real reasons Rakim left.

You can believe what you want though, like you always do even if you heard it from the mouth of a credible source.

they still did their share of work, and dre still has a vault fulla rakim tracks, whether it be from work he did with rakim, or shit rakim did under aftermath without dre present, dre still was the one who ended up with the master once tracks were completed.

[EFFeX]

I think it's something where it's just hard to sell well if you're both gangsta and really lyrical...

Gangsta stuff often suits a simpler style, like Snoop when he was doing gangsta stuff or Mack 10, etc. it's more about the attitude and sounding
laidback and dope, not really about going crazy with the rhymes.
Even Ice Cube, he gets into complex content on his classics, but he's not doing like lyrical acrobatics with the flow.

Fans who are like, "I like songs about people shooting other people and fucking bitches and starting beefs"
are usually quite different to the fans who are like, "I like complex references and rhyme schemes and intricate rhythms"...

If you mix the two together, I think it can turn off both audiences sometimes... the gangsta fans don't get the
complexity and the complex fans don't like the violence, etc.

Gangsta rap isn't popular anymore, lyrical or not.

it can be, easily

real rap fans just need to stop supporting the fake and/or trending toward the fake shit out there.  similar to fight club, the first rule of being a real rap fan is to not talk about the fake shit


so forget any lil wayne, birdman, 2 chainz, kanye or drake shit


and for any real rapper you like, just have patience.


that's all.

I guess the question is though - "What is real?"

Does "real" mean rapping about a lot of the violent themes that SOME (not all) gangster rappers rhymed about in the 90s? If so, as you know, not all rappers were out there doing dirt. A lot of it was for entertainment purposes even back then. In some cases it was just rapping about stuff that may go on in their neighborhoods.

If not keeping it real is how people like Lil Wayne raps about taking Molly, popping bottles and driving sports cards... I'd have to disagree. That's what is real to him. He DOES do that.

I'm assuming you mean creating music with content. Meaningful topics, thought provoking songs.