B-Sides vs Mainstream | Steve Stoute Interview | Chris Brown Vs MJ | KD1 Anniversary

My guys .

Good , good , how y'all man glad to be back home . Blessing , blessing .

yeah , you were sounding tired in the airport this morning , bro , I was hurting pause . I woke up like three this morning to catch a um early flight . I was , you know , when you called me , I was in at . I was going through Atlanta , about to board and you got caught that's how early it was .

Yeah , I know about those early Atlanta . Yeah , 5.30 caught me good too . Ag , what's up you and your family done kayaking up the Mississippi ? No , I heard the jokes the last five . Those were pretty good . Ag , what's up you and your family done kayaking up to Mississippi ? No , still on vacation .

I heard the jokes , the last five . Those were pretty good . Yeah , I'm still not on the home front . I'm off vacation , though I'm taking care of some family business out of town now .

What's up ?

Boog the vacation was good . Sun water relaxation it was good , that water relaxation , it was good .

That always helps , that helps .

On an actual beach , not up in Mississippi , Before you were over there on Myrtle Beach , South Cat . Yes , sir .

How was it ? How was the weather ?

It was perfect , man ? Yeah , because Debbie had just came through the hurricane . So you know not . You know another Debbie .

I was about to say , is Debbie the connector , or something Like what the hell is this ?

Debbie had just came through the week before and you know that you know kind of blew over . And then you know the weather was perfect after that man , it rained the first day we was down there and then the day we left , so everything in between was perfect . It was good , no doubt . No doubt .

I was in Charleston when you was out there . I was in Charleston for like a day and a half and it was hot . It was hot . We was on the other side of Charleston just to do a quick turnaround , family reunion stuff . Quick turnaround , yeah man , good times . There's people that claim you . Nah , I'm not a celebrity man .

Why you just saw a fan in New Yorkork shan is crazy man .

I don't want to hear this story .

I don't think shan is crazy , I have a feeling especially like knowing you and your lifestyle , like I know we're like this . I don't want to go he's like a like .

He's like like a third or fourth cousin . It's a crazy story man . It's crazy . Queens get the money right , queens get the money , man , queens get the money . Yeah , he got his teeth fixed too , man , so that's a good thing . Okay , first pop it . I was already ready . No , no , no I was already ready .

Now I'm really ready .

So what are we talking about today , fellas ? What are we talking ?

about .

We got . Mad Max .

Yo Mad Max . Steve's thought was correct Nobody cares about Mad Max . Hold tight , Hold tight , Hold tight , Yo Mad Max . Again , lyrics only matter if the beat , if the beat , voice and flow is fire . Hold tight , Mad Max . We're going to get to that . We're going to talk about that . I see you , Jack , we're going to talk about that too .

They do Shout out to him for the super chats .

Shout out Mad Max .

What up player ?

Another chance for Mad Max to get educated by me . It's always time . It's always time for you to learn Class in session .

He's already out there going crazy . We got 007 in the chat . Queens get the money . Have a good show , gentlemen . Appreciate you , man . Cj 38 Special Mother and Sonny my top 5 album of the year . It is a dope album . Appreciate you , man .

I enjoyed it . I don't know if it's top 5 . Bj 38 , special mother and son my top five album of the year .

It is a dope album , dope album . Appreciate you , man . I enjoyed it . I don't know if it's top five .

I don't think it's that good . We've seen that top 15-ish Top 15-ish . I can see it making our top 20 so far this year .

Yeah , it's up there , it's up there . So , fellas , let's get into

Well , I was about to say . Do you have the comment available for us to read ?

I do not . I know what he said , though he said about two weeks ago I know what he was talking about . It was more around just the rappers really black rappers , always going at each other like black on black crime . He's talking about there should be more unity in the African-American rap community and he said he's already seen all of that .

May I Absolutely . This is a classic scenario of why a lot of Blacks don't trust white people and don't like to let white people get comfortable with them .

Oh , they're still going Coop yeah , they're still going . That's the crazy thing about it they're still going to go . They don't see this as as a threat to them , because it's all about right right now . It's all about access . He gives them access . He gives them cloud Access to what they look at it as a level up .

That would be my problem . I don't know how safe that room is . That would be my problem . I don't know how safe that room is .

That's my thing , I took it as face value .

so that goes back to the co-sign that a lot of um black people give certain white people and let them know that it's like cool and the reality of the matter is is just , it's never really that cool .

As much as you . Just stay away from it , don't speak .

Yeah , it's a code , it's a code to certain things . Well , you know , it's for some code , but also decorum .

Right .

Right , you know , and things like this make me uncomfortable . When it's happening in a year like this , where a man who's who stereotypes and biases are very , very blatant and obvious is running for office and in the lead to winning office , you know . So timing is also everything , too , it's not happening at a good time .

Right , but , like you said , that decorum it goes beyond , like race , because you know . Just say , for instance , like I said , I'm out of town handling some family business and you know we all got you know families , but if you have some inner workings of your families , that's not you know where it should be .

But we make it comfortable for them to feel that way , but we make it comfortable for them to feel that way , right ?

Nobody black feels comfortable saying like well , you know all country singers be beating their wives . You know what I'm saying ? Like , like what . Walk around saying stuff like that . We don't be like the rock stars be sharing the same broads , we don't . We don't do that Like culturally to them , that's .

Yeah , right , and then you've got to know the genesis of that too . You can't just throw that out there as a blanket statement , not knowing the genesis of where that came from .

It's not an arbitrary thing or a generational thing . It's not , it's a historical thing when you speak in this manner , absolutely .

They're at the helm at it more than we are ourselves . You know what I mean .

That was programming . Next year at the white party . Sensitivity and diversity . Training you ignorant , motherfucker , that's training . You don't care . You don't care because at the end of the and you ignorant motherfucker , that's the train .

You don't care . You don't care Because you know , at the end of the day , they're still going to show up , still ask for favors , still want the clout , they still want to say yo , I've been to the white party .

I still don't know . I'm not joking when I say I still don't know what he does and how this became a thing .

Is this a thing ? He's the owner of Fanatics .

Yeah , he's a billionaire , right , AJ ? Isn't he a billionaire ? He's a billionaire . He got status . And what rappers want ? A lot of these young rappers want status . They want to be attached to something like that , just to say they're attached to it .

Go hang around LeBron or Magic or Mike or KD . Those guys are either billionaire or approach a billionaire status . Go kick it with plenty of people .

They're hanging around them too . Lebron hangs around these guys . You know what I'm saying ? It's a nasty well .

I don't know if it's a nasty well , I just don't know how safe we are in the room . It's not a safe place . We need a panic room for that place . In case of emergency , my black ass can go down here and I'm safe from these crazy white people that think they know what they're talking about . Panic room Panic room for the safe place .

That's right , 88 Spoonz . He was the Sixers owner as well .

Right , yeah , and I'm going to address the elephant in the room . You know and I hate to bring this back up , but you know Drake was at that party , right , and you know I online that um , they wasn't allowed to play . You know , the kendrick , not like us , record um at the party , you know with him in attendance .

what I'm wondering . I think , ag , I think he still does this in spite of that , but that might have been the tipping point that made him finally comfortable enough to say something Like this happens at some other point in time . I feel like Even if it doesn't happen today , he's going to do this at some point . Oh man , it was going so well .

Oh yeah , that's a whole other conversation in itself .

Larry Bird and DrJ would bust Ant for like 50 .

If they were playing in modern times , he was like a rookie .

What did he say ? He said what Okay , fit type . Isaiah would have dropped like 40 and 15 on him .

Y'all can't stand his era , man , I really can't .

I keep trying to tell y'all these punk ass kids , every last one I keep trying to tell y'all .

It's nasty out here , it's ugly outside and it's getting worse . It's getting worse the further we get away . We're going to talk about this later . But the further we get away from like the essence , the worse it gets , because everything's getting lost in translation . The media is creating new narratives that doesn't really exist .

I'll tell you why they're going crazy ?

in a minute , can't wait . They're going like all in the cap right now . Let's get to the big shot . Big shot just dropped that single . We thought it was going to be an EP . When we had our show last Thursday night , we thought it was going to be an EP . It was going to be more than just a single .

It was kind of blah to me , to be quite honest I like the record , but I think it might be one of those that sounds better in the context of the album . I'm just waiting to hear the whole project . You know what I mean .

Cool , you made a comment to me earlier today , man , on the phone . You were saying something about Big Sean and timing . I want you to talk about that real quick , if you don't mind , man , because I had a chance to think about that . It hit me pretty hard when you said it because I didn't think about it that way , but you were talking about timing .

Yeah , he might have missed his time and his opportunity to seize the day because if you look at the last five years , well , j Cole , drake and Kendrick none of them have great albums to speak of in this time . Right , j Cole's got some solid ones , drake's got some solid ones , drake's got some solid ones , kendrick's got Not Like Us and Not Much Else .

Y'all talk about me .

Hey , since how long you been holding on to that one .

That was a buddy move . That's what Joe did . I can tell the way you said it .

That was a funny move . That's what Joe did , I can tell the way you said it .

That was a joke . Hold water for a minute .

I can tell the way he said it . That's like when you practice a new move and you go to the basketball court and use it for the first time .

Right .

And you're going to stop on the cross over .

Definitely going to cross over .

I agree with that coop . Um , I'm not disagreeing when I'm saying this . But jay cole , he really put himself in position to be at the top until the apology with based on features , not because we were singing his praises based off features . He didn't even have to come with a crazy dope project .

No , no , no , no . I said that he needed to conclude this epic feature run with a classic album . I've been saying that from the jump . Not just like what . It's like that shit , missy say on on Ladies Night . You ain't just going to be using . It's like that shit , missy say on Ladies Night . You ain't just going to be using me for singing hooks and shit .

Right .

And so , even though Cole , in a lot of people's eyes , has been the man since the apology in terms of what you hear from an MC and I totally understand why , because it's valid Sean missed his moment to put himself in the fray of all of this in the last five years , because I don't feel like what he's doing right now is getting the attention that it

and so you know he probably had to pivot and call some audibles with the um , with the leak of his album . So what we're seeing now is probably like a reaction to what happened versus his original plans . So I'm kind of giving them the benefit of the doubt on that one do you think the leak is going to hurt the album ?

I mean see , this is what I'm trying to express is that when you're talking about timing , you're talking about like in the last six months to a year , like I'm talking about like the last 60 months oh yeah , I got you .

He alluded to that , though , on his interview with Charlamagne , that his work ethic wasn't quite what it needed to be to be considered with those other guys In so many words .

that's what he said , but the impact of his output is not there as well . Even when he put in work , the impact is not as impactful as it does .

Well , I think now we have a connective tissue , sean , because I think maybe it hasn't been producing to the prime results , because the work ethic hasn't been prime and he's and he's nice with it , but he's not one of those supremely gifted guys that can get away with that necessarily .

Right .

AG . Where are you at ? Are you in Korea ? Are you in North Korea getting spring rolls ?

What is ? Going on , they're looking for a recoup . West Virginia has a Chambitong . They're crazy .

AG is doing the podcast from the project .

I wasn't going to say this what is going on right now ?

It's the project with the dogs parking in the back .

Her wolves howling . I don't even know what's going on .

AG is probably like the Wayne Brady skit on the Dave Chappelle show , like when the show was on .

Sean will tell you that I really am low-key . Oh man , that's funny . Yeah , I was actually talking to one of my homies about this and he said Big Sean's problem is that he's just not interesting to people . It's nothing that outside of his skill , there's nothing in his artistry that really draws the fan in . You know what I mean ?

We said it before Lyrics are there Voice in Tone there , voice in Tone in Cadence , in All those things .

Yeah , I mean it's a good production .

Good production , but that's all we can say . Production lyrics . Everything else is in , in , in . There's a wild .

You know what he is . He don't stand out .

He's an A-level talent with B-level results . His talent is A-level . Talent is definitely there .

Okay , I'm going to make a comparison and I really want to preface this by this is not me being disrespectful at all , because this is one of my favorite rappers of all time , so this is no disrespect . But I feel like it's comparable to az , because we look at az and the skill set and we question like yo , why did az never like blow up ?

I don't necessarily agree with that because I think Sean is somebody that likes his personal space , but I don't find him to be introverted the way AZ is introverted . Az is introverted .

Okay .

Like , if you're asking why AZ wasn't bigger , well , a lot of that's on AZ , because AZ didn't do , didn't make the rounds like you know , in his prime , in his heyday , you know , like he didn't really make the rounds , make the rounds like he should Like .

Right .

Oh , put me on that . Yeah , yeah , that's part of the game . I mean , sean and I were having a conversation today about us , location-wise , picking some places and going fucking with some independent artists because , well , we can't just rely on our followings in our hometowns and people that know us to get us where we need to go .

You it's like A never really went to where the people went . You know what I'm saying ?

Yeah , like when things left the tri-state area of New York he really didn't go with it , like that .

But with the back of the firm and when he was in those certain positions by default , like when you're standing next to Nas or standing next to Foxy or whatever he could rap with him . But it was just something that he was lacking and I think that's the situation with Sean .

I don't know if he was lacking anything other than making the rounds . I mean , he's the best rapper on the Pharma album , absolutely . He's the best MC on the firm album . It's not even a question , he's the best MC on the firm album and let's keep it funky .

Az AZ always been a fly dude , fly dude , very charismatic being a fly and having star power are two totally different things maybe not star power , but I during that time it fit the bill because you didn't have to have that super , that superstar status during that time you just had to be fly and good at what you do .

Coop said it on a couple shows ago . We really don't know who he is through his music .

Yeah , we don't , he doesn't have an identity .

There's nothing we can say . Well , he's Damn , he's that , and I think he's tried those things , but for some reason it doesn't land . He never sticks to landing . For whatever reason , he doesn't stick to landing .

Because most rappers usually have some sort of lane that you can . You know you hate to pigeonhole people , but you know everybody fits in a certain lane . You know to a degree , and he doesn't fit in any certain lane , that you can say , okay , this is what Nishan is about .

I think for Sean , he's one of those people that I think that it's inside of him , but I don't know what's going to that album .

I was waiting on a pause .

I was thinking about the pause . I was just going to keep it going .

I'm trying to do good . Now I'm changing .

No , no , no . I'm glad that you're taking the steps that you need to do to rectify all of your issues .

I'm getting different now . I'm breathing different , I'm eating different .

Not based on that box that you showed us , Sean . You're not doing anything differently .

I'm going to film .

Pathologically lying to the people . That's another conversation for another day . That's another one because I'm going to go crazy , we know . Please keep that to yourself . Moving forward about what ?

you're going to do when the show is over ? Yeah , keep that to yourself . I'm saying great on his beard .

I'm going to go crazy , but Sean is one of those people , I think . I think , Sean , there is some disappointment factor that plays in , because when you hear him rap , sometimes you hear somebody that can give you like that piece of work and you never really get it and it leaves you wondering .

It's just something . It's just something missing , though , because , like you know , I mess with Sean . I'm a Sean fan , but we was talking about , you know , the Hoopers quote unquote in the 80s and 90s . They didn't have no skill .

Right Limited skill tree Got one or two moves and that's his one or two moves . That's all he has .

Richmond's one or two moves got him about 22 to 26 points a game for like seven , eight years in a row .

And that was still nobody talked about it .

No one talks about it . Michael Jordan talked about him .

Michael Jordan talked about him .

Because , game recognizes game and people who are spinners recognize Sean . Like I said , he's right beside him . He's right beside Nas Jay-Z , kanye Pusha T game recognizes game , but it's just not translating to the fans .

He's not getting washed , he's doing his thing , he's holding his own he's done numbers before , so it's not like there's not a fan base there a legitimate one . Yeah , he's done numbers , but so it's not like there's not a fan base there , a legitimate one .

Yeah , he's done numbers , but I think he's also segregated his fan base after that too , because out the gate he was attached to Kanye . They came off that big run Right .

His identity was with Kanye , so do you feel like some of his fame and notoriety is attached to Kanye and since the Kanye has been attached to Kanye .

Yes , yeah , because I was just about to say , doing numbers and fanfare are two totally different things . Because you can do numbers and your fans don't go to bat for you like they do to Coles and the Kendricks and the Drakes of the world . You know what I'm saying ? Their fanfare that they have .

As Kanye and Good Records and Good Friday and all that stuff dissipated , so did Sean . He took the major hit out of that entire camp . Everyone else was able to thrive even afterwards , because you still had 2 Chainz smoking on feet .

Hold on .

That's not fair to Sean , because all of those guys existed and thrived before Good Fridays and Good News .

It did , but Good Fridays also , kind of elevated them as well because 2 Chainz's run during that time was epic , it was crazy . His feature run during that time epic , it was crazy , his feature run during that time . He was all over the place . He was killing everything . It was a different 2 Chainz . It wasn't Titty Boy , no more .

Saha is the only exception , because he never really got to take off .

When you say take off . I look at Sy High in a lot of the way and I don't mean this in a bad way because I think he's a better MC but I look at him in a lot of the same way as I look at consequence .

Look at Party Next Door and Drake .

That's exactly what happened to Kahn's Queens get the money . That's exactly what happened to Kahn's . He did the same thing , he went through the same situation and he's nice , but some of his best stuff , best concepts , everything went to that big push that Jay had during that era .

Yeah , it is what it is that big push that .

Jay had during that era .

Yeah , yeah , it's hard to come back . Yeah , it is what it is , absolutely , absolutely . So we'll see . Man , the album should be coming out really soon , I think .

I think what next month , but I expect , but I expect the album to be one of his better projects . Like for me , I think the only thing left for him to do is to make a great album I'm looking forward to . Even if this album isn't great , I think he's about to make his best project .

I don't think so . I don't think it would allow him to get in that conversation .

If he made a top five album of the year this year , do you think that could do it ?

No , he needs more than that .

What if it was album of the year ? Would that be enough for you ? I don't think so .

So it's too . So it's too late .

That's what I mean about the time . That's exactly what I'm talking about when . I'm talking about the time is paying .

That's crazy . Even when Cole stopped plummeting that he still can't get in .

If Cole drops a great album , it doesn't have to be an album with a year . It can just be a really good album .

Cole's back in that conversation . No , stop telling people that it's okay .

No , I'm with Sean because all he got to do is secure that bronze medal . That's all he got to do .

It's there for him . That bronze medal is there for him . Honestly , no one else is going to leapfrog . No one else can leapfrog .

I like to quote Pusha T when I say when you used to platinum , that gold looked like bronze .

Yeah .

Anybody trying to hear that bronze metal shit from J Cole ? All right , not trying to hear that . Not trying to hear that .

That's the best he can get .

That's the best he can get right now , Cole .

He ain't going to get no silver or gold at this point .

And don't let Drake drop something else in between time .

That's the difference between where Sean is and where J Cole is . I feel like if J Cole were to make the best album of his career , he can still get in that conversation . Big Sean can make the album of his career and we're still not . I mean at best , at best , is he what ? The fifth of his era After Drake , cole and Future ? That's ?

being generous .

I said at best yeah .

If you throw Nicky in there , it might be six . Okay , he's out .

He's out of there , he's out of there , he's honestly probably missed his time .

So really he's the one that should have . And when I thought about that today , when we got off the phone , sean , I thought to myself I was like damn . I was like I know I'm usually right , but I'm really right about this one . This nigga should have been making material the last three , four , five years .

It's like I'm used to being right all the time .

I'm used to being right all the time , but there are those times when you are extra right and I said today is the day where I'm extra right . I was like this nigga should have been making material and mixtapes and albums over the last three , four , five years . His career could be looked at totally differently because of it .

Right , it's funny you say that because I was might be finally right , I should have said it Next segment .

Great way to end the segment .

Like and subscribe please .

If you see Sean isolate himself on the screen , please put thumbs down so we can get back to the page . Like and subscribe , please . If you see Sean isolate himself on the screen , please put thumbs down so we can get back on the screen .

no one is saying anything about AG being in a hotel that Scarface killed a dude in a bathtub at , because sometimes it don't look right in the background it definitely looks like he's about to shoot somebody in a machine . It's a bathtub man . It just don't look right in the bathtub . Something is off , man . I don't want to .

you gotta watch that yeah , I can't do it . I can't deal with y'all man cj the kid .

Um , just got here , side boy . I just had . I just did my second toast master speech and they said I did even better than my first . I made them feel something that's guys Shout out to CJ the Kid man that's some good stuff , bro , keep it selling . Tracy . Did he really say God not like us and not much else . The whole quotable Tracy I still got bars .

I read down his notes for like three weeks .

He still got bars in me .

He was older than me Still got bars . Cj the Kid , again Big Sean , the Comment of His Era Albums that don't have the moments of that , of the top five of his era .

No , I'm not going to do that to Common . Common got classics .

Common had a moment . Common had a moment with B . B was his one . He has a moment with .

B . B was his one . He has more than just B .

He was the one that kind of brought him back . That was the one .

I'm with Sean AG . I feel like without B , you can't even talk about him in those conversations , even though he has other stuff . Without B , I don't feel like you can have those conversations that you have about him .

We brought him to a new audience .

He brought him to a new audience , but I felt like it brought him to a new stature of MC and emceeing . Quite frankly , he did . Mc and emceeing quite frankly , he's ascended to that Ghostface , Ice Cube , Scarface type of level of an MC . I consider that to be a top 10 caliber MC .

That's a lot .

Yeah , like he's got a lot up against him . He's around Ice Cube's prime too . He's coming out there on Ice Cube's prime Star against him . He's around Ice Cube's prime too . He's coming out there at Ice Cube's prime . Starface he's around a lot of the guys Saying that he's not top five for his era . Isn't the type of slight that it is to Sean .

You feel what I'm saying it was way heavier back then . Way heavier .

Heavy metal jacket .

Right . But B is the perfect storm of his own talent ascending plus the Kanye effect .

It was the perfect storm because we can't discount the fact that the Kanye effect he was at his peak , I think , of his powers absolutely but we'll see what Sean has in store . We'll see . Let's get to what the chat is talking about .

He's saying Chris Brown is the evolution of all of that , which I still think— Stuff can evolve , but that don't necessarily always mean that it's better once it evolves . So— Do you mind if I go Coop ? I'm not going to be long , I'm just going to leave it right here like this Go ahead , Coop .

Because I am going to go wild , go ahead , yeah .

So you know . For the dancing aspect , you know , mike , we don't get Chris if we don't have Mike . Mike's smoother with it . Chris took it to a whole other level when crump dancing , wasump dancing , was popular and he added stuff into the mix or whatever , the acrobatics , the athleticism and stuff . Give me the original article .

Yeah , you got Whitney up there .

Whitney's up there .

But if I'm separating the male and female . Prime Whitney to me vocally . There's nobody touching .

Yeah , that's Whitney . I'm more so talking about , like you know , from male genre you know what I mean versus female Whitney's Whitney , she in the class 5 , so but I think vocally when he was a kid that was his prime .

But that's just my opinion . I disagree vehemently . I disagree too .

Who do ? Y'all got vocally better as a male .

There's many Before we even get

I think you can hear us on the dance tip , but not vocally . Yeah , I mean Not on songs .

Dancing , yes , but songs you're talking about hits . You're talking about albums , my classic albums I'm not talking about a bunch of . I'm not talking about quantity . I think people confuse , chris Brown , quantity with quality . Look , I don't want this to be like let's bash Chris to elevate Mike or elevate others that we may feel that's a little bit better .

Real quick to your point . We had an evolution of Michael Jordan with Kobe , but that don't mean Kobe was better , he was an evolution and , chris Barnett , even an evolution of Michael Jackson .

So , coop , I'm going to throw it to you because I want us to have a discussion about this , because we're missing , we're leapfrogging too many greats , we're getting him to the great , to the great , and we need to have a conversation about that .

I think the first conversation that we need to have is about Tank's apparent drug problem . We need to get Tank some help . Very obvious to me . You been hanging out with Genuine Look here , I don't care what he say . Tank sniffed the whole eight ball by himself before he went on the lab . Yeah , the whole eight ball .

I'm going to tell you something .

Here's how I look at it . Let's take it down to a street level . If I were to give you a pack and the pack was called Michael Jackson , and if I was to give you another pack and the pack was called Chris Brown , who really going to move weight out here ? Somebody got a pack called Mike Jack . It's not even close .

What are we talking about Sean Mitchell's scar-faced big coops . Top gets crazy .

Yeah , what are we talking about ? What's the name of the dope ? What's the name of the dope ? That's that , mike ? Jack , give me that . That's what all the fiends are going to be smoking tonight .

Oh , Andrew put in the chat that Stevie's better as a vocalist .

That's crazy . To AG's point , right quick , I do want to say I think Mike actually had one of the longest vocal primes that anybody ever had , because I feel like his prime literally goes .

It matured a little bit . My favorite is , like I said , the Jackson 5 era . But when it matured he could do more things with it . He could do more when it matured .

That's what I mean . So it might not be that classic voice that he had before , but the levels that he could do on a run . He could do the runs and be like go to bass , Go to soprano , Go to alto , Hit your falsetto . He could do all of that and do it seamlessly . That guy is one of the best singers ever . This is really not fair to Chris Brown .

He's not asking for this , he's not going to say it himself you could , you could you could play .

I think , he would tell you otherwise you could play Chris Brown's 30 best songs and every song that he has would lose to every song going off the wall and Thriller alone , like all of his best stuff , like his best stuff and Mike's best stuff . It's not the same level .

Tank is older than us , he's a musician .

We're going to call a hotline when we're done and get Tank's help . I don't think you understand .

We're in an era where people say salacious stuff just to get a headline .

You know what this is really doing . This is taking away from Chris Brown's run , because this is Chris Brown's time , right now . It is Instead of letting him have his time . We're trying to compare him to a person , even though I think Prince is the greatest artist of all time .

Around the world he would win Around the world .

he would win Around the world . He would win that poll .

He could have just said Chris is one of the greatest dancers , singer whatever all time , and just left Mike out of it . You know what I mean .

Well , why can't he just be the greatest for this generation first , and then we can have a conversation about it later , Like let it actually unfold . Now what he has against him is I don't see no off-the-wall or thriller or bad anywhere on his horizon . So , to think that that's about to happen is absurd . It's not happening .

What is his best album ?

His best album is at dangerous level . His best albums at dangerous level His best albums are dangerous level , and that's why this is the conversation .

I'm with Coop because this talk where you leapfrog Usher is similar to the goat talk , where everybody want to put Braum or Jordan and then leave Kobe out of the conversation . I think it's disrespectful to Usher too to leapfrog Usher and then just put him of the conversation .

Hold on , we didn't have these conversations when Usher had his run and Usher was on stage dancing with Michael Jackson . Michael Jackson was alive .

Right .

Yeah , no hologram nigga .

Just like when Kobe was on the court playing against MJ .

You know what I mean ? They were dancing next to Mike , Like it was really like that for Usher in Usher's prime , and so Chris Brown didn't get that . But even though we got that , nobody , none of us were walking around here talking about man , you know Usher , Usher got Mike . None of us thought that , and Usher's albums are better than Chris Brown's albums .

Yeah , chris doesn't have an 87-01 , or Professions , or my Way or my Way .

He just doesn't have those Usher's three best albums are crushing Chris Brown's three best albums , crushing Yep , and Usher's not operating on mic level . So what does that tell you about the level ?

He's not vocally or anything Very high level . He's not . He's not Very high level .

When you're talking about Michael Jackson , that's okay , because they're great in their own right .

Michael Jackson only gets . When you're talking Michael Jackson , it's like no , you're talking Stevie Wonder , Prince yeah , it's a different class .

It's a different room .

Yeah , you know how they're . Like there should be a hall in the Hall of Fame and the Hall of Fame . If it's the NFL Hall of Fame , it's like , well , there's the room that , like Tom Brady and Jim Brown and Walter Payton and Barry Sanders and Deion Sanders and Reggie White , like the hall that they're on is different than the other halls .

I mean , he got that high because he did what he did , but he didn't get that high , you don't have to elaborate .

He's the man .

We got it , we get it , no , we got you His problem is that he was given the cocaine . What was his problem ?

He believed he could fly . I bet he did . I bet he believed he could do anything .

Listen , he turned it up in prison . Listen , he throwing some concerts Like crazy . What's the next topic ?

He had to stay alive . He had to stay alive Of course man .

they said Kelsing had destroyed it he's singing songs that we never heard before , that we would never get released . Just imagine . I don't want to imagine .

You probably sung him the fourth time . Y'all think he's doing the best of both worlds intro in there .

Yo , the best of both worlds intro was crazy man . I love the best of both worlds intro .

I know that would be my lead-off choice .

Best of Both Worlds .

Does he close out his prison ?

shows with feeling on your booty or seems like you're ready .

Feeling Beautiful is crazy , though you can't sing that either . Though Imagine R Kelly pulling out in the prison . Imagine that dropping man . That's wild . That jumped the crazy in West Virginia , though Matt Max CB is an usher for . Get MJ Facts the Raisin in the Head , I'm sorry . Facts the Raising Head , I'm sorry . Prom KC sings better than Mike . I love KC .

That's a wild .

Take . Kc is a bad man Prom .

KC is a better singer than Usher and Chris Brown Prom .

KC , absolutely Not a better performer but singer .

KC is a talking about KC absolutely Not a better performer , but a singer KC is a lot of KC left Earth all my life .

Mad Max Say Chris Tito , he made Jackson 5 . I don't know if he made Jackson 5 . He was the least on that guitar man . Hey , don't sleep on Jermaine Jackson . Do what you do what you do . Jermaine was a beast on that guitar man . Hey , don't sleep on Jermaine Jackson . Do what you do what you do .

Jermaine left earth on that joint .

I ain't going to listen to that today . Matter of fact , you did , you did , I promise you , it's him , yo .

What you need not do is come on Hip Hop Talks and talking about how you just listened to Jermaine Jackson's album , yo .

Look , all that , jermaine Jackson . Can y'all see it ?

I don't want to see it .

I want to listen to the best of Jermaine Jackson .

Look .

Between the box and you listening to 1983 , Jermaine Jackson . I'm not comfortable anymore . This is an uncomfortable place , Yo Jermaine .

Jackson , I'm not comfortable anymore .

This is an uncomfortable place . Yo , jermaine Jackson is a . I want sponsorship and with my sponsorship , I'm going to give us an HR , a human resources , and I'm going to call on Sean every week Listen to Jermaine Jackson , so they fire him .

Yo y'all remember , Can you Feel it ? That was the joint . You know what I'm saying . That's where we used to go crazy , can you ? I remember , can you feel it , that ?

was the joint . You know what I'm saying . That's when we used to go crazy . Can you feel it's different ? That's different . That's the thing .

It was different . That video was about 30 minutes long , man .

Just throwing out that dust .

I used to get my grandmother's on that dust .

I tried to tell you .

Blame it on the boogie . That's another classic .

You know what my joint is .

Let me show you the way to go .

There you go .

Yeah , I don't even know Chris Brown to get into that Like straight up , you can't clear , jermaine Jackson man .

when you're talking Mike , you're talking about like you just have to be a bigger icon . There's no other way around it . So like , let's see if he ascends to that stature . Yeah , yeah , let's let him .

He's killing the guitar on like can you feel it ? Though ? That guitar riff was crazy , I didn't even hold it , so .

Kobe got five rings , lebron got four rings . In a lot of people's minds , that puts them close to Mike . A lot of us feel like , no , that don't put you close to Mike . I saw Mike , I saw you . There's a gap that exists . Saw Mike , I saw you . You're not as close to Mike . You're not as close to Mike .

There's a huge gap . Here's all you need to know . Lebron and Kobe combined got nine championships to Jordan's six . But if you take all the other accolades , Jordan got more than both of them combined . That if you take all the other accolades , Jordan got more than both of them combined .

That's all you need to know In a short span of time . Mad Max , if he wasn't evolution , he was a great value version of MJ . Evolution means you're a better model , like Nas to Rakim or Pun to G-Rap or J to B to Big Daddy Kane . They're the 2.0 of the artists before Kobe is Diet MJ , you're not going to talk about the deceased .

I disagree . To evolve doesn't necessarily mean to be better , it's just different .

Yeah , because the stuff I took was evolution to me . Matt Marks and , being my favorite player , grew , I grew up on him . Magic , have y'all listened to Logic's album ? Still haven't listened to it , man . I'm struggling with that . Yo , magic , I'm not going front .

No , I'm going to check the Logic project out .

I need to . I keep saying I'm going to do it . Listen to other stuff . I'm not going to lie . Listen to Jermaine Jackson on the front .

The fact that you're listening to Jermaine Jackson instead of Logic , while we're doing an hip-hop podcast .

I know man , I know , I know I feel like you're judging right now , I know .

Did you have a little jerry curl ? Jermaine had too .

I wanted like a jerry curl , was like nah . I want the X-Girl . Remember the X-Girl came out when Special Ed had the X-Girl I had one .

I'm having Andrew edit all of this out . The show I wanted the .

Special Ed X-Girl with the red dye . I wanted all of that .

I was like , nah , I'm just going to be like just letting you know now , calling Andrew , I'm going to be like Andrew when the Jericho conversation starts , cut out those 45 seconds please .

Cool , you didn't want to ask for it . You didn't want to ask for it . No , never , never . It was like you , better get in the shack and sit down somewhere . Get in the shack with this rat tail and sit down .

And then with the taper you know what I'm saying the little superman joint coming to the front .

I used to have the crazy parts going on .

I used to have the crazy parts going in my head .

My thing was the crazy parts . I used to have crazy parts in my head . It looked like 75 , 285 . It looked like I had the whole freeway system for it .

I can see you with the parts in your head .

You had the Gumby .

You know what I'm saying that was six older brother Vici . We looked at him and we were like , yeah , we're not doing that . I had a box over a little bit when the box was in , and when the box was in , I had a design in the back .

I had the Nike check , Jumpman , Batman symbol , Chicago Bulls .

I had all kinds of stuff . Fake-ass Nike chain yeah .

Oh weird .

African medallion .

The Lion of Judah . It was a nasty time . Oh man , looking like X-Clan , that's right Looking like .

Professor X .

Fake four-finger rings gold-plated . Gold-plated . It was a nasty time , nasty time , yo .

So let's talk about this . Steve Stout stuff . Guys , steve Stout went on Joe Budden's show I think it's a Patreon because the actual full-fledged show hasn't really released , but Queens get the money again . I've always enjoyed listening to Steve Stout Very bright guy man , hyper-intelligent guy and he was really dropping some jewels .

The legend had to grow yeah , nobody has two classic albums that have grown the way Nas' first two classic albums have grown in terms of their stature and the culture .

Right , absolutely .

Yeah , I think a lot of it came to . I'm sorry , let me get this Mad Max real quick .

No , no , you don't have to do that . It's Mad Max . Just skip over him . We'll keep going .

Mad Max looking us up . Mad Max Lyrics lyrics set the longevity of your song , but they don't matter when making a great song . That's why Illmatic lasted . It had great beats . Nas has a great voice , had a great flow , so his lyrics kept him thriving . Kept it thriving .

I'm glad that I have raised Mad Max to this point where he is making coherent and intelligent thoughts .

You raised Mad Max as well .

I'm glad it's gone on this journey . Mad Max has learned so much from me that it's ridiculous . I'm glad that he has taken this knowledge and started to apply it .

We appreciate the super chance Max , you can be somebody .

Mad Max , I believe in you .

We appreciate you , bro . Mad Max said again this is why people like Dot is whack , rhapsody is whack . This is for the trio Cool . They pick wack beats , have boring or wack voices , weak flow . No one can care about the lyrics . And just like that , Just like that , I feel like a proud teacher . We're done here .

F for the class Mad Max , the lawyers of cool , just like that .

That's wild .

Definitely Putting you up for adoption . Maybe another podcast can adopt you , letting you go .

I think what happened and Steve Stout is . Look , when Steve Stout talks , I listen . I do , because he's one of those . Right , I do think that some context needs to be put in perspective as well , though , because you guys think about it . When Ready to Die first released dark album , lyrically dense , very clever album , the remixes is what carry that album over .

I mean , I think the Big Papa remix is kind of like their formula for what ended up being the One More Chance remix Absolutely . Like something with a softer groove to it .

Absolutely . That's when it went out of here . Because the fans , people want to dance . These songs got to be played in the club and if you hear a lot of people from the South , cool , no disrespect , but a lot of them talk about nah , that's my saying . Well , you don't play me in the clubs now you got no club music Because they want to dance .

You want to know . What's crazy is that most of rap's greatest records really aren't necessarily the type of records that you dance to . Even for rap songs yeah , think about it , is my mom playing tricks on me ? Some shit people dance to . Yeah , nothing but a G thing . Great rap song , dear Mama .

Great rap song .

Yeah , I'll be there for you . Method man , great rap song . These aren't dance songs these are not dance songs , so something like One More Chance is actually more an anomaly than the norm in terms of what you get out of an all time great rap song . I mean Rosie Perez can dance to it , but the rest of us can't . The rest of us can't .

They might call you a jigaboo . Yeah , you look crazy dancing . You look crazy dancing to fight the power .

Let me tap dance while I fight . The power is playing . Think about that .

Rosie did it . Thank you for that dog .

I ain't gonna lie , she did .

That's Rosie though that's Rosie Right , it ain't so , rosie . For the rest of us , that's for dance doing . We look crazy trying to dance because we're going to fight for power . Children's Story by Slick Rick . I think is one of the few records that people can dance to . That's an all-time great rap record there that people could dance to .

It's the beat . It's the beat that pushes it . The beat is what pushes it . The lyrics I understand where he's coming from when he's saying lyrics didn't really matter to the masses . It mattered to the hip-hop heads . It mattered to those who value hip-hop in its purest form .

I think hip-hop was more created in a musical form for people on the go , not for people to dance to .

It's not one of the best lyrical performance classics To me personally , I think it's one .

It's not as lyrically dense as you know , those that came out during that same time , but it's not a . Cuban lyrical Right , but the charisma and the delivery was there .

At a high level . So what he's really talking about is that super lyrical shit , right .

It wasn't there . And you know why ? Because you couldn't recite it .

Correct .

There you go .

This is more about the same thing that works in country music and blues and pop and rock . The simple stupid works more . You know Absolutely .

You can listen Right , you can't do that with Illmatic .

No more endogen and juice , yeah , very easy , very easy to follow . But it's a great mic performance because of the ease at which you can follow it , but you don't feel like you're losing anything lyrically because of it . No , not at all . You don't feel like you're losing anything .

You don't walk away from doggy style , saying that no .

And so there is a balance between what you can consider lyrics , I think , is what it may mean . Yeah , it's not that lyrics don't matter , it's not that they never mattered . It's like well , what would you define high level lyricism ?

South .

It was Chance . Krs is Supreme Lyricist right .

Yep , that's what he called himself .

Knowledge reigns supreme over nearly everybody . Let's look at Rock M Peyton Fools sold 700,000 copies in 1988 . That's like going triple . Now you know what I mean . 700,000 copies in 1988-89 . That's a big deal .

That's a huge deal . Rebel's trying to go gold . I'll just get 500k . Now you're talking about 700k . Pushing a Platinum in 88 . You have to be MC Hammer to get something like that in the first week . Isn't Peyton Fuller a miracle ?

Yeah , I think the truth is somewhere in the middle week , isn't Peyton Fuller miracle , yeah . I think the truth is somewhere in the middle , although I understand what he's saying . He's saying y'all don't love bars as much as y'all say , and I think that does go back to the comment I think Mad Max might have made this . I hate admitting that it's terrible .

That's your little one , that's crazy . That's the little one , that's crazy .

Voice and flow matter , guys ? Yeah , it does . What he really should have said , what the real statement maybe should have been , is that the lyrics don't hit the same if the voice and the flow ain't there .

No .

Like the lyrics are different because Big is saying the lyrics , because Meth is saying the lyrics , because Nas is saying the lyrics . I punched to it Because 3000 is saying the lyrics , because Meth is saying the lyrics , because Nas is saying the lyrics . I punched to it Because 3000 is saying the lyrics . It's the voice , guys . Right , it's the voice .

You're sold on the voice before anything else .

You gotta be sold on the voice . You gotta hear the voice and it's gotta be a voice that you wanna hear over and over again . Every rapper's not blessed with that . I actually think that that's Big Sean's biggest problem .

Yeah , one of them .

That's one of them .

I mean , and I think the main rapper that overcame that is Jay , because I never thought Jay had a great rap voice , but it never mattered because when he came out and this is what I mean about the buy-in and being super great , super early when I listen to Reasonable Doubt in volume one , I don't give a damn how his voice sounds .

To your point to in the evils Out the gate , it changed everything Out the gate . I'll let you get that super chat real quick .

Sean , I had something to add to what Cooper said LP , appreciate you , bro . The dance records and pandering sounds of the time is why they can't sell shows now and why the new cats shelf life is shorter than it's ever been . Absolutely . Mad Max again . Appreciate you , bro . Hip-hop started as party music .

Absolutely , he was , he was , yeah , I just wanted to add to that Wow .

Go ahead , Go ahead AJ .

No go ahead Go ahead Finish , because I'm pooped .

Well , that's what Steve Stout is saying about lyrics . And that's what Steve Stout is saying about lyrics . And that's where Steve Stout is right , right , best lyricist on Doggystyle , tell me how many people care how many times ? Do we talk about ? How many times do we talk about Doggystyle ?

that when they talk about Niles on Ilmatic it don't matter , that's what Stout's talking about .

Stout's talking about something like that , right there .

He's talking about corrupt on Doggy style .

He's not talking about Niles on Ilmatic .

Right . And then the monetary aspect about it people actually going out to cop it that say that they love it . I agree wholeheartedly with what he was saying , um , but I will just fact check him on a few things . It didn't take real bad five years ago gold . It went gold in 96 two years later and then it went platinum in 01 , you know .

You know what it is . I still believe this wholeheartedly to this day . Outside of if you take If I Rule the World and Street Dreams off of it was written . It was written as actually more aggressive than Illmatic .

Absolutely yeah , you can leave those on there . Black Girl Lost too , and it's still more aggressive .

No , I would keep Black Girl Lost on there . I say that to say obviously , street Dreams was the take on the Annie Lennox joint and If I Rule the World and Curtis Bull joint , more commercially viable records that were taken and flipped by Nas .

It was written not only just the lyrics but the the vibrant of the beats . The beats are more vibrant on it was written than they are on illmatic , the automatic beats are you say vibrant ?

what do you mean when you say vibrant ? Can you clarify that ?

you think about the melody of the melody of how you bring in . If I Ruled the World where you took Friends and you take the joint from , Damn , it escapes me right now . But you're talking about just the level of production that goes into . It Was Written versus Illmatic . Illmatic is boom bap at its best , at its core . Yeah , it's boom bap . It's boom bap .

Beats . I'm going to say something and people are going to think this crazy . It's easier to slide on the it Was Written Beats than the Illmatic Beats . Yes , it's easier for you to slide as a rapper , it's more palatable . I agree as a rapper it's easier for you to slide to the it Was Written Beats than the . Illmatic . Beats Not saying that they're better .

Right , because it's more palatable for the average consumer or the average listener or the average hip-hop fan , even a casual .

How about this ? It Was Written has melodies Like when the message is coming in , that guitar Boom , boom , boom boom boom boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom . No , it's easy to rap to that , it's like you can catch as a rapper . You can catch that melody and be like , oh , oh , shit , hold on . Oh , I'm in , You're ready . You know what ?

beats are great . How ?

am I going to rap over these beats ? They're great . What the fuck am I going to do about this ? It's heavy . The degree of difficulty is harder on thematic it is .

It's a heavy production-based album , no different than AG said , with Wu-Tang Forever . Wu-tang Forever is more vibrant . You got Spells of vibrant , you got spells of war . You got different instrumentation .

This is what people don't understand . New York State of Mind that beat's not easy to rap to . Y'all know that , right ? Oh , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom . No , as a rapper , you sit up there hearing all that .

What is my cue ? To jump on the bar .

That's why he's saying when you hear the record , I don't even know how to start this shit . I feel like we've rapped before .

It's not simple four-bar loops , it's not . Yes , and as a writer , what's the hardest thing to do To start a rhyme ?

or start writing as a writer .

The first sentence is the hardest thing to get out .

It's the first sentence . Oh yeah , the coming is the hardest part , that's why with J's ? All-nines with Black Republican . These little niggas just usually start rapping after four bars , nigga Go in Because you're taught as a rapper . It's almost like playing double dutch , it's like one , two three four go Right , metronome , you know .

Because the contemporary listener , or just the average listener or just , you know , just a listener in general , will find that more appealing , or more , I guess , aesthetically appealing , if you will , because now they can gravitate to it more , just like most people gravitate to blueprint . I think blueprint is jay's best mic performance because you can follow jay .

It's his most quotable album .

It's his most quotable album . Yes , because the quotable shit on Reasonable Doubt isn't the type of things that unless like , unless you're like a certain type of dude , like nobody's running around talking about you draw better , be Picasso , you know the best . Because if this is not so good , god bless .

He knew what he was doing with that one .

Hey G , is that the woman from Scarface getting ?

shot .

You got to go pick up the .

Ayo .

You got to go pick up the Ayo . You got to go pick up the .

Ayo , it's okay .

Yo yo , let me ask both of y'all this , though I was talking about it being commercially viable . So with Illmatic I've always had the thought process that that commercially viable record was . It ain't hard to tell .

If was the fifth .

Yeah , I think I could partnerize both of those . To be quite honest , bro , I really do , and I get what you're saying . I think it's two separate audiences , totally separate audiences . They're on a totally different spectrum of music .

I don't know , the hip-hop crowd messed with SWB . They was yeah , but you got to think that era with Johnny SWB and then all that stuff that bled over into the hip-hop crowd . You know what I mean .

A little , a little . It was some small connective tissue . How ?

about this . Here's how you need to look at that . Swv could have gotten Nas on the record , but they chose Method man and Old Dirty Bastard for a reason , right that's what I mean about the separate audiences .

What Method and .

ODB was saying was simpler than what . Totally simple , yeah .

You're feeding different people .

What Meth and ODB was saying was simpler than what . Totally simple , yeah , yeah .

You're feeding different people , but just from the production aspect and that sample and what it could have did commercially , because you know the shot value of that sample being used for a record was gone , you know , by the time any hard to tell came around . You know .

I realize where AG is . Ag is in a cafeteria . He's in the Piccadilly cafeteria .

He's got hot roast .

He's got hot roast Salisbury steak .

Hot roast salisbury steak Lemon herb chicken . Some cornbread Like a cornbread muffin and honey butter .

I'm in the hotel lobby bro .

They going crazy out there right now in West Virginia .

Remember the Cassidy joint , the hotel . Yeah , you got to be careful I wasn't going to break it up .

You got to check for ID . You got to check for ID before you take girls to the hotel with R Kelly .

I don't know why they made Cassidy make that record man that ain't in his wheelhouse .

Wake up , be piss stains on the wall .

Girl girl girl , come on . Cool , that's on . What's dope , that's on what's dope it ?

actually wasn't that good . It wasn't that good . That's not in .

Cassidy's wheelhouse . They tried to make them like fab . So guys like Cassidy is who Steve Stout is talking about , though and making records like Hotel to Garner , that's a very good point of doing it making songs outside of their wheelhouse because the lyrics that's what I mean .

I love the jizzer Without RZA , the jizzer is honestly , I mean high-level .

Think about this how much is the jizzer respected as an all-time great lyricist if he doesn't have liquid swords ?

That's what I'm saying .

That's what I'm saying , that's something I never thought about . He's literally told us . He's like I ain't hear liquid swords till . Rza was done with it , yeah . I didn't even put liquid swords together . It's like I just came in and did my takes .

All he gotta do is show up and rap All he gotta do is show up and rap .

All he got to do is show up and rap Must be glorious .

This is the GOAT man . He was making movies in the basement .

He was man he was . It's the best rap run a producer's ever had . Ever , Not even close . Yeah , nobody's even close .

No .

Not at all Best run ever , Not at all . Like second place would be Dre's . Like early , like late 80s to early 90s run yeah .

Yeah , with that , y'all want to take this smooth segue into a modern day dope run where it all started .

Let's do that .

It's been a lot of dope talk on this show today , taking that Mike Jack . Pack over that Breezy , though Imagine , dope Mike Jack . I got that Breezy , though Imagine , don't talk about . I got the Breezy and I got the Mike Jack . Everybody taking the Mike Jack . Whoever's selling that Mike Jack is going to be a billionaire .

Am I buying ?

that Pepsi nigga . It's a brand name .

Blue Magic is a brand name . I don't care if you call it Blue Dog shit , just don't call it .

Blue Magic . Now , if you're going to step on this product , you're going to step on it .

So let's talk about when it first started fellas KD1 . Let's wrap this thing up KD1 . Let's wrap this thing up KD1 anniversary . I'm going to let y'all smoke on this one . Go ahead , please .

You go ahead Coop , oh , you want me to no , no , no , you threw the glasses on .

Go ahead , coop , you got it .

I'm going to maintain this . I thought this was a swan song album . My first thoughts of hearing this album I thought it was a swan song and I thought it was a great swan song . I'm like he's about to retire . This is a great way to retire because I feel like he was an appropriate follow up to Life is Good .

You was doing so well . You was doing so well .

If you just go and look at the title of the album , the title of the album is actually reflective of where he was in his career .

Can I interject real quick ? Go ahead . I got a problem with you , coop , because you say that you don't count bonus tracks . But you reference Spicy a lot , but when it comes to Life is Good , you're like you all don't count the bonus tracks .

I'm talking about rating the album . We're talking about rating the album . We're talking about rating the album . We're not rating the album . We're talking about the impact of the album and I'm talking about . I still will maintain to you there are no top three records , there are no top five records to me on the bonus track . So on , life is Good .

I love spicy spicy's a banger .

Spicy is one of those records that was like oh shit , he can keep doing this if he wants to I'm glad he .

I'm glad he , um , you know , relented and put that on album .

You put that on the album because hit boy had to , you know , convince him of that this also started the trend of him doing a big guest appearance or a big feature on each album . The surprise big feature on this album was the firm reunion we got a firm reunion song on this album with dr dre talking on the end of the record uncredited .

That was a big surprise that's a big thing .

It's like no , it's the original firm too , like it's naz and az . Az had a verse of the year contender , in my opinion , on that verse . A great verse on there , uh , fox yeah mega did his thing , dre's , at the end it's a dope beat .

And today , I would still give it a 4.25 . Do you rank it fifth in the entire run ?

That's where I have it . Fifth , it's not better than Magic or KD3 . Go ahead and get that out the way . It's not better than Magic 3 . Or KD2 . It's not better than King's Disease 2 . Yeah , five .

I'll take a pause in at fifth . That's a lot .

This album is really good . There are a lot . This album is really good . There are a lot of really good records on here . I wouldn't say there's no greatest hits . There's no classic on here per se , but this is pretty remarkable if you look at where he was in his career at the time that this happened and how these records came out .

and the pairing with Hit-Boy black no ultra black still sounds good today and it's one of those that sound better in the context of the album , because as a single I was kind of like this is cool , you know , but in the context of the album pretty great , me too , but when you put it next to a 27 summers and blue bins and car 85 , like in sequence and

I did . I like it better than the song with Sean . That didn't make the cut actually .

I don't like it better than Replace Me , but I think it's actually a good song .

I think Replace Me is one of the weakest songs on KD1 , though All Bad with Anderson Pack to me , I love All Bad .

All Bad was the first song recorded for the run and I think the story of how this all came about is really interesting . On Stationhead , Taj interviewed Double how many months ago was that Sean ? It was probably about , I don't know about six , seven months ago how he linked up Hit-Boy and Nas .

Who is this this ?

is Double . This is Double .

It's more mellow For me . For me it's more mellow To me it's a more steady tone , but I don't know if it's a better easy listen though . Well , it's shorter too , I think the subject matter on Life Is Good hits closer to home for people . Oh , absolutely yeah about that hits closer to home for people . Oh , absolutely , absolutely . Yeah about that .

But I think it's more stark contrast on there , because you got the locomotives and the accident murders and then on the other side you got the stay and then the buying babies . Those are stark contrast throughout the course of the album .

See , but this is what I mean . Gangsters don't just dance they boogie , so you gotta have some that dance they boogie . That's what I mean .

Most of the time I had to do it Went up sitting around watching Boy . You grabbed his vacuum .

No , no , no . My mom used to let me watch her while I was watching Saturday morning cartoons . I feel sorry for you .

That explains a lot Coop . I don't see why .

It does . I was watching Monday twice .

Sorry for you niggas Not vacuuming . I clean the bathrooms , I clean the kitchen . I'm not vacuuming , I'm not doing that . But what I'm saying is is that mom didn't dance the same way you know that she did to the whispers just get better with time . And she did the princess hot thing off . Sound of the times .

Which joint do you like ? Better Do you like ? Life is Good and his discography ? Which one do you rank higher between Life is Good and Katie ? No , I have Life is Good .

higher I think Life is Good is better . Life is Good and Katie think Life Is Good is better .

Life Is Good and KD2 are closer comps . Yes , thank God , son , I think they all like . I think God's Son is what I think they're all on that same .

I don't think God's Son is as good as those albums , but it has made you look and get down and last real nigga alive and so it elevates it Because of those three songs specifically . It gets elevated Because in the end it's not as good as those albums . I'm not as big .

You don't like Revolutionary Warfare Heaven is crazy .

Warrior Song . I like Book of Rhymes .

Book of . Rhymes is crazy Alchemist .

Yeah , that's Alchemist . I like Book of Rhymes . Get Down Last . Real Nigga . Alive Made you Look , of course , is arguably his best single that he's ever released , in my opinion .

I was never a big fan of I Can . And you don't count the bonus tracks , but remember the bonus disc . The bonus disc was fire . No , I don't the bonus disc wasn't fire .

Oh yes it was the Pussy Kills . Is that the one ?

with Pussy Kills . Yeah yeah , that was pretty fire , you know what I like .

I like Heaven , the last track , heaven .

Yeah , heaven's crazy .

That's what I mean . The highs of God's Son are there . I just don't know if it's consistent in the end .

To me , that was the first time he mastered the double time flows on Heaven , because before that he could get it .

Yeah .

I love dance . I just can't listen to it . I can't listen to that , I can't listen to it , but I love it , I can't do it .

Revolutionary Warfare is cool . There's some suspect stuff on there like hey Nas is suspect , zone out .

I love hey Nas .

I love hey Nas .

That's typical .

That's not surprising coming from your ass .

I used to flip it like hey , sean . I used to flip it like he's flipping , that's crazy .

Sean is wild . What's your thoughts on KD1 ?

Sean , what's crazy about that is that when he said it , I totally believed what he was saying , because it sounded like some shit he would do .

I did like he's 100% 100% what's your thoughts on KD1 , though , sean , because this is your favorite out of the whole six out of nine , right come on , come on .

This is your favorite out of the whole six . I've run right . Come on , queens , get the money . Talk about KD1 .

I want y'all to smoke on it . Honestly , I just leave it like this man . I want y'all to smoke on it .

You want to know what .

That is crazy . My bad , we're going to get it .

I'm pretty certain that this is the type of show that gets you censored and indicted .

That was crazy . I said it with some velocity too .

Not with velocity , this nigga , get him , get him . I said it with velocity . Get him . I can't do this . I can't work under these conditions .

I can't either .

I said that all the time . I don't even know what's going on . I do that all the time . Kd1 does hold a special place in my heart . Coop said you thought it was going to be the end . It's the end , this is it , this is the end . And I think I have mixed emotions because I'm like him and Hit-Boy how is this going to turn out ?

That's the song for everything else . Was Jesse ass crying like that when Dr King got shot ? I'm just asking questions . Keep going , Sean .

Keep going .

It didn't look like he was crying when Dr King got shot in the picture . He was crying when Obama got in the office .

Jesse Jackson on the balcony when King got killed , yeah . But , that's wrong .

But thanks for hearing .

I got trapped in an elevator with Jesse Jackson once . Have I ever told you that story ? Being trapped in an elevator with Jesse Jackson once ? Have I ever told you that story ? Being trapped in the elevator with Jesse Jackson is crazy . There was about 11 of us on a service elevator but yeah , I got trapped .

The elevator went out . He was like now y'all keep hope alive .

You know what I was thinking the whole time . I'm not even going to lie . I was standing there . I was like yo . I was like this nigga tall as hell . Yeah , jesse's about 6'4" . Yeah , jesse's 6'4" . He is , he's about 6'4" . I was like , hold on . I was like why am I looking up to Jesse ?

Jackson . I've met him before , but I wasn't trapped in the elevator with him . I got stuck in the elevator .

Power in the hotel went out .

Me and Jesse Jackson were on the elevator

Sean .

Whatever , keith , don't nobody remember that Outside of the different world , we try to forget it .

I'm like yeah , when .

Obama got in office , that's how I felt I'm like , yeah , when Obama got in office , that's how I felt I'm not going to front . I just felt relief that son finally got the Grammy . That was my biggest takeaway from the album . I mean I love that .

But big thanks to Hit-Boy , though , for inspiring him .

AG , I was actually about to say this album is actually the most important moment in hip boys career . As a producer , Absolutely Change trajectory . It's changed . This is the album . So let's say you know you already have Nas , where you have Nas and you have him place prior to this album and nothing about this run has changed any of that .

But they both approached it with a tip on their shoulder , though .

Right , but just the fact that somebody the caliber of Nas as the MC sought this guy out again and again and again and again and again . This is the MC . Sought this guy out again and again and again , and again and again .

And this is the album .

So this album is important and it's the most important album of Hit's career , because something about these tracks , these records and these sessions and how things came along made Nas want to go back in with Hit and just Hit . And guess what ? For , whatever people want to say , we've never seen him do that with anybody .

I feel like they're A-likes , because I think they're both real humble dudes that , like you know what I mean appreciate each other , Because this is the first time I mean think about how much humbleness Nas had to have to let Hit-Boy produce him the way he did , you know what I'm saying Absolutely . Like you've got to check your ego at the door .

Well , you can hear that on KD1 , I think KD1's biggest problem is the fact that Hit isn't who Hit is as a hip hop producer until KD1 gets done . And so this is Nas rapping over beats that Hit-Boy gave him . The rest of the projects are Hit-Boy producing Nas , correct . Like the way Dre produces Snoop , the way Creamo produces Guru .

They had to find their footing .

He started producing Nas after that . That's why you got Soar Run and Nobody and Death Row East right after this and you got that young boy energy .

Where is it good ?

That's why you got those records afterwards , because Hit-Boy's like oh , I need to start producing this guy . He wants to work with me . I got to start producing him . Fuck , giving him a beat . I was giving him beats I'm producing for arguably the greatest MC of all time . Oh no , I gotta produce him .

I can't say it enough , if you haven't seen the master class that Nas did , it's a good watch because you see , you get a glimpse into the studio , cause it would be like , okay , you know , say this this way . You know you use too many words right there .

You know , on Rare , he actually rapped until the real went off . He rapped until the real went off .

He repped it until the real went off on rare yeah .

Yeah , so these records ?

Yeah , I appreciate Hit-Boy immensely .

Yeah , so this is really like the turning point in .

Hit-Boy's career .

This is the difference between being an adult producer for your era and becoming one of the greatest producers of the era and getting yourself into the all-time greatest producers conversation . This is the start of Hit's run . Actually it's a culmination for Nas , but it's a start for Hit .

Not only that , coop , but you say album producer , the craft of album . He was more of a placement producer prior to that . That's what I mean .

And that's how the industry and old heads looked at him . It's like , oh you , just , you know they call you for a track or two or three . Fam , you really can't put together a project like you want to do niggas , yeah , you can send it . You're going to send us a 10-pack of beats , we might pick one or two .

Yeah .

Look at the shit that he's doing for Nas . He got Nas rapping next to fucking A Boogie with the hoodie and ASAP Ferg .

That's a good point . The pairings are phenomenal .

But they were organic . They weren't forced . It was people coming through to holler at Hit Fucking with . Hit .

The people that was fucking with Hit . The younger dudes fucking with Hit is like you in here working with Nas . They like , oh , fuck you working with Nas . Can I get on a song ? Let's not forget John Sportage , let's not forget him . They like , oh , fuck you working with Nas .

Can I get on a song ? Yep , and let's not forget John Sport and Jay . Let's not forget him . Let's not forget David Kim , yeah .

Shout out to Jan Sport and David Kim , like the whole team process .

But this is all young energy that's surrounding you . Know , nas , you know what I mean .

It's reinvigorating . I'm not going to lie , greatest moment of my music career is when it's telling me it's like yeah , we in the studio watching you while we making the music and shit . I'm like , oh fuck .

That's dope you know what I'm saying . Let me ask both of y'all this If y'all can rewind back and remember back to when Nas was doing promo and press for KD1 .

Don't think this the wrong way . But when naz says that he's working on something special , I treat it the same way as when primo tells me is , when dr dre tells me , is , when rizza tells me , is when all these niggas tell me it's like nigga , please , but he delivered though no , he delivered all I'm saying a year later yeah , there's like there's .

There it is , that was 2005 . Yep Right , I got that . I still got mine Scratch .

There it is , that was 2005 . Right , I got that I still got mine . It's 2024 . So that's what I'm talking about . What I'm saying it's like oh you're working on something special . It's like , yeah , you told me in 2005 you guys were working on something special .

Whatever nigga , we still waiting for the cure for prison .

We still waiting for the Nas and Premod . This year we got a single . I'm like , yeah , I'm like sure we are Keep telling me I'm not getting no album . But to that point though since you work at this , do you have a release date for Drain Soup while we're here , November .

He said November .

Oh yeah , Is it in ?

the queue Okay .

It got to be mixed by September .

Get it out by November . It's August 22nd , isn't it ?

Yeah 23rd .

You keep telling me .

No , it's 20 seconds . Keep on buying .

Keep on buying .

Keep on buying your magic , said it says the trap , cooping ever been the best . Yeah , so fit it , your Michael Williams . Random hypothetical question If who shot you and the One More Chance remix were originally all ready to die , would you have it ranked above Life After Death ? Nope , it's still there .

Nope , I mean me personally . I like Ready to Die better than Life After Death , but I , objectively speaking , have Life After Death ahead . But I will tell you no having who shot you . And the One More Chance remix on Ready to Die no , that does change things .

It changes everything it really changes everything it changes things .

I mean for me . How about this ? Are we replacing records or are we just adding them on ? Because if we're taking two records out , and substituting them with One More Chance , and who shot you ?

Yeah .

That's different . It's a different album , like if we're taking Friend of Mine and Respect off and insert .

See , that's a cheat code , but I could easily say , like yo throw the Q , I could easily say , throw the Q-tip . This world is your remix on Illmatic . So that ups it up a level too .

No , I get that , but what I'm saying is that you got Gimme the Loop Machine Gun Funk Warning Everyday . Struggle Me and my Bitch Big Papa , the what the actual record Ready to Die . Things Don't Change , you're throwing . Who Shot you ? I gave one more chance .

Oh no , that things done changed . You're throwing . Who Shot you in ? I gave one more chance for you . Oh no , I would take off Respect and Friend of Mine .

Yeah , that's what I'm saying . That's a top 10 rap album if we're swapping those two songs out .

Well , some people think it's top 10 already . Yeah , some people have it as top 10 already .

It's not , but okay .

Real quick because this will go with that next super chat . Connor , do you think the freshman-sophomore combo of Ill Manic and it Was Written is better than Ready to Die in Life after this ? Oh yeah . To me it is Not by much .

Not by much .

It's close , but I'm going to give it to not , I got to buy it .

I got to buy Carlin . Hold on , I got a better question . What do you think is better Ready to Die or Reasonable Doubt ?

Reasonable Doubt .

You think Reasonable Doubt is better than Ready to Die .

I do . I don't hold Ready to Die . I mean , I think it's a classic , but Life After Death is the pinnacle and I think reasonable doubt is better than ready to die . I think it was written is better than ready to die as well . Me and Sean did a whole station head on this .

Smoked the boots on that .

That wasn't even what we was . We didn't even do a versus .

I was , I don't know what you were talking about .

Should I just be lying for no reason ?

I don't know what you were talking about , should I just ?

be lying for no reason , I don't know what you were talking about how about this ?

I think reasonable doubt actually in a lot of ways might be more impactful than ready to die . But I don't know if song for song is better than ready to die . I bet I could beat you song for song with ready to die .

I could beat you song for song with ready to die . We can do it whenever .

I have unbelievable in the what .

You're not winning anything it don't matter it do I feel like Ready to Die is real top heavy . We spoke about the remixes and stuff that's not an original part of the album . I just think Reasonable Bounce is better Keep in mind because we did this whole thing before we used to do it versus matchups in track order . That's not how we do it .

I'm fine with that .

You good with that ? Because we did that with . It Was Written and Ready to Die and it was ugly , it was lopsided , it was bad . Why are you lying ?

We was on the same side . It was written smoked , ready to die .

It was bad , we wasn't even trying .

It was written smoked . It's not smoking ready to die , it's cool .

It wasn't close , bro . Listen to myself . I saw it . It wasn't close it wasn't close .

I don't know if I can give you guys that . I mean , how do you feel ? Okay , so maybe I'm a bigger fan of those Biggie records than y'all are . I love shit like Machine Gun , funk and the what and Unbelievable and Everyday Struggle those records are high , but it depends on what they matched up against .

I have to pull up the old Stationhead I probably still got the match-up saved in my phone somewhere . I'll send you the match-up .

He even posted on Twitter just to get other people to think about it . It was lopsided to the point where I think it caused a little bit of a stir . It started the AG and someone else war for a little while . Y'all know about the AG and bike rider war .

I don't .

It was like 9 to 5 or something crazy like that . I'll tell you how .

I feel I like a record like Ready to Die or Warning , more than I like an Affirmative Action . Okay , you get what I'm saying , so it's like I don't know how I gotta send you the matchup .

I don't remember off the top of my head .

I love shootouts , but I'm picking the what over shootouts . You know what I'm saying . I'm picking , I'm picking everyday struggle over suspect , like I can see the records that Nas is gonna win , but I don't know . I don't know about that .

I gotta send you the matchup . You send me what you pick , I'll find it in my phone . I got to say I smoke AG boots . I mean shit . We got the back catalog on Stationhead . Those of y'all who ain't subscribed to our Stationhead , all that stuff's on there . I mean we did that a year or so ago , but it's on there somewhere .

You can get it in the archives it's on there somewhere In the archives To get Bert to the AG wars . Ag wars Crazy . He was getting ridiculed , homie was like .

But people don't want to miss stuff like that because we programmed and built in to say certain things without thinking about it and not breaking it down and parsing it out . What's the better album ready to die ? That that's what I'm supposed to say . But when you put them side by side and break them down , then you might end up thinking differently .

And that you know what I'm saying . Joints like that , worse against the worst , and then let's put the best against the best and then see how it shakes out . So that's how we approached it . Yeah , it wasn't track for track .

Checklist of a track right . It's like we took the strongest songs , put them against the strongest songs and the weakest joints put them against the weakest . For instance , like people consider black girl Lost and Nas is Coming the weakest when it was written . But how would those fare up against respect and a friend of mine on Ready to Die ? You see what ?

I'm saying I get that I'm going to say something to you . Big's more exciting than Nas , though , as I grab the tech , put it to your head .

One don't argue with that at all . One of the chamber .

the safety is off . Release Straight at your dome . Holmes , I want to see Cabbage . Biggie Smalls , the Savage , doing your brain cells much damage . Teflon is the material for the Imperial . My girl stripper , the Henny Siffer . I drop lyrics off and on like a light switch Quick to grab the right bitch and make her drive the Q45 .

I don't want to speak that .

When you rap .

But then you got live rap . It's like not washing somebody's box office .

There's no washing somebody's box office . Big Big is box office .

There's no playing side by side .

Yeah , and it's not washing him as an emcee . That's where you're

We were surprised .

We matched it up .

I love .

It was written . No , I'm telling y'all , y'all bugging .

Listen . I put the matchups together and I was like yo , I'm being biased . I sent it to Sean . Sean was like nah , I pretty much got the same score . Sent it to the homie Tribe Like yo , I pretty much got the same score . We did a station head . Everybody in the station head was voting accordingly , like see , you're not bugging .

I think I even texted you during that time because I said your agent get me to a homie .

No , I feel like I remember it vaguely because I feel like Sean , you would hit me up . He's like yo , you really need to watch that . It's about to be a bloody war .

But I feel the same thing , but I feel like the same thing about Reasonable Doubt . I think that will win , but I think it would be a harder W than it was , for it Was Written Because I have .

It Was Written slightly ahead of Reasonable Doubt Slightly , but if I'm ranking them , I think Ready to Die it Was Written and Reasonable Doubt are all comparable and I can see it Was Written beating Reasonable Doubt and I could see it . I don't see it Was Written beating it . I don't know about beating Ready to Die . That's hard .

I'm going to send you the list For me Ready to Die .

That's hard , I'm going to send you the list For me . Ready to Die is the bottom of the three . We got Trife in the comment . We got Jadarian in the comment . I'm sorry .

Warning Unbelievable , it's too many big records . It's a lot of big records .

I'm going to send you the list . You send me the score back . But let me tell you this Objectively speaking , you think the setup is better than warning . Like , objectively speaking , no , I would vote warning on that , but I don't remember if that's how I had it matched up . But here's the thing though .

I think sometimes it's not about who you're playing AG , You're playing me .

Yeah , it's matchups . Yeah it's matchups .

I'm not going to let the setup win . I'm not going to let the setup we can go over there .

I'm not going to let these records win we can go in there anytime , but I say it like this the goal the goal the goal wasn't for to prove that it was wouldn't win . The goal was to like reshape people's way of thinking because , like I said , we've been programmed certain ways to be like oh , ready to die is , like you know , top five album , whatever .

That's . The difference between me and other people is that I would have both of those albums probably on my list somewhere between 10 to 20 together . Okay .

But I'm asking what the norm is . That's what I'm saying .

I'm just saying . What I'm trying to say is that when you're telling me it was written as Beaten Ready to Die 9 to 5 , what I'm telling you is that I'm going to take those same records and it is going to be like 7 to 6 , motherfucker , you're not beating me . No , 9 to 5 .

I don't care how you feel for real .

Listen to what I'm saying . No album , except for maybe the Purple Tape , is Beaten Ready to Die 9 to 5 .

Or it takes the Nations to Die , 9 to 5 . I'm going to send you the match .

It takes a nation or the purple tape to do that to the Ready to Die song . No other rap album has beaten no Ready to Die like 9 to 5 . No , it's not man .

I don't know if you can find it . We did that so long ago .

Do you think Ready to Die is better than Moment of Truth , or it's Dark and Hell is Hot ?

Both yes .

I don't think it's better .

It's better than both of them .

Is Dark and Hell is Hot .

Yes , I think it's better slightly , and I think it's better than Moment of Truth too .

I actually think the beats are better on this Dark and Hell is Hot .

Yeah , Moment of Truth's crazy .

Moment of Truth . Beat-wise is beating all these motherfuckers .

Oh , give me one second . I'm going to try to find him . Hold on one second .

Yeah , yeah , you do that all you want . So ready to die is better than it's dark and hell is hot and moment of truth Nine to five . Yeah , we running that back , we running that back .

I don't care if both of you are frozen .

I don't care if both of y'all are frozen . I don't care if AG disappears . Ag running from me , ag's ducking the battle already . Look at this . This is ridiculous .

It froze up

As soon as I issue a challenge , it got frozen . All right , we ending this song without AG .

He ran , he ran . Did he really ? I don't know where he at .

No , I want to thank y'all for coming out to Hip Hop Talk Ain't nobody think about AG .

AG . The challenge is out there . The challenge is out there . I'm the grand champ , so I let y'all scrubs battle it out . Damn AG .

Told you AG frozen , yeah AG , oh , the AG frozen .

Yeah , he did it on purpose . Lp , trust me , that's right . Try to tell you LP , Think y'all wild Yo . I don't know what's going on with AG .

Let's get out of here , man .

Yeah , let's get out of here . Appreciate y'all Like , subscribe , make sure that you share , tell a friend to tell a friend . Thank you all for pulling up tonight and yo trying to get AG back , but we're going to go .

No man AG is in an episode of Miami Vice , the Connect just showed up AG doing something wild out there , man Crocket and Tubbs is on the stakeout outside the hotel . We need to get out of there , ag , I didn't even know AG was living this way , yo .

I did Yo , it's right . You got to find that on that click it's in the coop . We out , fellas , like and subscribe to the page . Like and subscribe , appreciate y'all , we out .