t/s: "36 chambers" vs "the infamous"

although i love the mess of 36 Chambers as well.

Where's my Killah tape at?

The Infamous for the reallness, the toughness, the badness

I want to say draw, but The Infamous is just too hard.....

Uh..i dunno. Hmm. Well, "36 chambers" is purely Wu but "the infamous" is not only Mobb Deep but Nas giving birth to the Escobar persona, Raekwon + Ghostface killin' it and the last great beats Q-Tip made (before getting down with Jaydee for that Ummah partnership) so.."the infamous" i guess.

36 Chambers all the way.

infamous put mobb deep out there and got them respect but come on-36 Chambers was the birth of the WU and I could care less about Escobar Nas-give me illmatic Nas all day everyday.

RZAs production is killer and all MCS killing it.

The Infamous is so screwface hard I can't take it seriously. I find more depth of vision in "Da Mysteries of Chessboxin'" than in the entire length of The Infamous. Yeah, "The Shook Ones Pt 2" is a classic, no argument there. But I can't listen to that spoken word intro without laughing.

There's more to life than "I'm so hard I shit rounds of ammunition" and the Wu have a boundless, limitless imagination that both captures the gangsta/street outlook AND transcends it.

"rock you in your face stab your brain with your nosebone" --- ouch!

The nose is made up of cartilage. One more reason to go with 36 Chambers.

I guess I need to read up on my Mobb Deep.

the best hip-hop album ever.

36 Chambers is the clear answer here. No hip-hop album ever recorded can compare.

http://www.csuchico.edu/anth/Module/nasal.html

I don't know. Seems pretty vivid to me.

definitely a lot easier for me to picture Prodigy stabbing my brain with my nosebone than method man sewing my asshole up.

Uhhh you mean the 1st and 3rd Outkast albums, right?

That's absurd, though this would be a tough sell to anyone as "greatest hip hop album".....

I'm understand Vahid on his Jay Z picks and the 2nd Tribe album.

But Business As Usual has about as many strong tracks as Long Live The Kane, and Strictly Business is the best of the EPMD releases, even if BAU has the best tracks they've done.

3 Feet High and Rising, It Takes A Nation, and Straight Outta Compton are all better than any of the above, though, however obvious they may be.

I go with BDP's By All Means Necessary- brilliant construction, explosive content, brewed in the South Bronx- the original hip hop ground zero.

Actually, at this point so do I, though I am older and was definitely in high school when all those other albums I mentioned came out, so I take other things into consideration, like how long the anthems on all these albums resonated after their release, and what degree of impact they had at the time. Both It Takes A Nation and Straight Outta Compton are near impossible to argue against when you look at the entire history of hip hop (which was has to take into consideration when deciding "best ever"). I personally don't like either as a top choice, and there's no question that Jay Z's (for example) production skills, beats, and flow are far superior to Chuck D. and the whole NWA posse (same for the RZA in terms of production). But Chuck D. was a smarter and more hard-lined rapper (to this day no one says "fuck whitey" smarter or harder than he did). And I can tell you from experience there isn't a single Wu track that EVER moved a house party like Fuck Tha Police when that shit first came out. EVER. You just have to consider these things.

But I don't really listen to any of those albums anymore anyway. And 36 Chambers on its own just isn't better than those old school releases. Collectively, I think the Wu is the greatest hip hop dynasty of them all, hands down. And Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx is a top three hip hop album for me, no question, but I was listing those other records based more on objectivity....

Freshman.

Flow obviously, But production skill (whatever that means) and beats? I mean, i know it's popular to to knock "nation of millions.." because it's become so canonized and we're all crunk loving futurists here but, uh, "night of the living baseheads", "don't believe the hype", "black steel in the hour of chaos", "prophets of rage", "rebel without a pause", "bring the noise", "cold lampin' with flav" and the interlude beats. Ya know.

But word to "only built 4 cuban linx" ! And "the great adventures of.." ! and "life after death" ! and "love rap"/new rap language" 12" ! and "doggy style" !

Run DMC
Schoolly D - Saturday Night
LL Cool J - Radio
Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation of Millions
Eric B & Rakim - Follow The Leader
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
NWA - Straight Out of Compton
De La Soul - Three Feet High and Rising
A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory

Are some of these albums dated, or been trumped by other rapper's accomplishments? Sure, but these are the building blocks. Did some other jams rock more parties or sell more records? Shit, in '88 you couldn't get away from "It Takes Two", but that doesn't mean it was a better song than "Follow the Leader". I would definitely put 36 Chambers in that tradition - a revelation, and historically important. That record had impact.

And if you want my vote, BDP's Criminal Minded is the best rap album ever.

Love,
yr grandpa

I was real happy when I heard that track interpolated on Pretty Toney, "last night changed it all I really had a ball" ----

I got trumped, though- I said nothing ever really rocked the house like "Fuck Tha Police", which I would still kind of stand by, but then Ed mentioned "It Takes Two". Doh!

(And because you really couldn't get away from that song for a whole year, I still can't listen to it today....)

Another huge single not yet mentioned: Doug E. Fresh's "The Show". When that dropped, it was MASSIVE....

Stay off the crack!

(NB, I am 36 - years, not chambers)

But you're right about one thing- beats better than Terminator X? Nope. Had to do a double take on that when it got quoted. That's just wrong. It was late when I wrote some of that stuff, and I'm on some doctor perscribed serious cough medicine lately, so bear with me.

Also, Jay Z's flow is not better than Chuck's, and nowhere near the likes of Rakim.

Jay Z does outgun everyone in at least one category, though- number of strong albums. None of the foundation could take past three records (EPMD, Eric B./Rakim, PE, BDP)....

I'm pretty sure this is the correct answer.

yessssss

You are, of course, refering to the bomb squad?

Jay Z does outgun everyone in at least one category, though- number of strong albums. None of the foundation could take past three records (EPMD, Eric B./Rakim, PE, BDP)....

the greatest four-record run in hip-hop history

From my posting in the four-record run thread: I said Wu if you allow hip-hop families, and I stand by that, though if we're talking solo releases, Jay Z is tough to argue against. He's not my favorite, but EPMD, PE, and Eric B. & Rakim all fizzled a bit after three.

I also respect votes for Schoolly D (not valid, but I have a soft spot), PE, and Outkast.

I'm going to start another thread putting Jay Z up against my personal pick: BDP

i wanted to know WHICH ALBUM YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO TONIGHT.

Throwing rocks from glass houses, etc.

And no, that doesn't mean you're a Rap PHD professor by association.

That one where Prodigy + Havoc tag team yr mom.

I don't think it went for a similar sound at all. 36 Chambers is all Gritty and done on SP1200 and some even more gritty sounding samplers, while the Infamous was all MPC60s and S950s. 36 Chambers drew on Stax records for the most part while the Infamous mined some quiet storm shit and used more drum programming as opposed to breaks.

BUT Havoc's weak rhymes outnumber U God's, so 36 Chambers takes it.

sometimes I wonder: do I deserve to live
or am I going to burn in hell for all the things I did...

"rock you in your face stab your brain with your nosebone" --- ouch!

-- reacher, Monday, 5 December 2005 17:01 (2 years ago) Link

hey ringtone cru + vahid, have you heard 'infamous archives'?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infamous_Archives