¶ NFL Super Bowl and MVP Predictions
Outro Music .
Welcome to the Winter .
Circle . You're now tuned in to Hip Hop Talks .
Got my people with me . Sean ripping Corona Queens in the house . Ag from the't mentioned how you know . My state , you know , came about after the Civil War . You know what I'm saying . I wasn't on that show , I just had to watch it as a spectator . But I thought you at least give us a shout out since you did the history lesson .
We can talk about the succession and separation of Virginia and West Virginia some other time . Sir , I'd like you to welcome you all to Hip Hop Talks . Make sure you click like , share and subscribe to our tribe . We actually have a wonderful show today . For those of you that are used to seeing us on Thursday , we're confident , but we're not foolish .
The Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs are playing tomorrow right around our slot time , so we just moved our slot time up a little bit today Before we're getting anything quick . Sports picks . We got any picks we want to make about potential Super Bowl matchups . Who wins this Baltimore-Kansas City game ?
Going to give you , fellas , the opportunity to let me know some of your NFL thoughts . Mvp choices Go ahead . Sean Set it off .
It's going to be a tough year . I think that you cannot count out Kansas City Defending champs . You got Pat Mahone boy out there . You can't go wrong with Pat right . So he's always going to be the staple right now , until somebody take him off , it's going to be a toss-up . Yeah , straight up , it's going to be a toss-up .
Yeah , straight up , it's going to be a toss-up . Yeah , pittsburgh is going to be dead last . The Raiders are going to be trash , as usual . Green Bay is going to be trash again . Getting all of that out the system right now . Hopefully , lose every single game and go Cowboys . That's how I look at it .
Oh wow you one of them .
Damn , that's crazy .
I'm just saying throwing it out there , hold on , hold on , hold on . Before I slide to you , ag Sean , who's your MVP this year and who wins the .
Kansas City-Baltimore game . I think Lamar's going to get it this year and I think Baltimore's going to beat Kansas City this first game . I really do . I think Lamar has to prove this year again , If you stay healthy he's MVP .
Okay , ag , your turn . Super Bowl predictions MVP . Who wins Kansas City versus Baltimore tomorrow ? First ?
of all , I'd like to see my team make it to the Super Bowl . The Raiders got the Bo Jackson on , one of the greatest athletes ever . But I'm a realist though , so I know we're not going to be there , but I can't really say who's going to be in the Super Bowl . But I give you my top teams to watch this year .
That , I think , could make it in no particular order . I think we got Baltimore , I think we got Philly Could end up getting back there . I'm going to say the Niners , I'll say Cincinnati and I'll say Miami . To round out my top five , I think Baltimore is going to win the game against the Chiefs and for MVP I got what I think is a dark horse candidate .
I think if Joe Burrows can stay healthy and on the field , I think he's going to get the MVP .
Hmm , I don't see it but okay .
First of all , I'd like to say , before we slide to our actual hip-hop talks , that I'm a Carolina Panthers fan , so I have the worst . Are you serious ? I have the worst . No , no , no , not a joke , stop laughing . I have the worst owner in professional football .
Um , it's a very foolish man , it's a very petty man and he has pretty much ruined uh , this franchise since he has owned it . He is comparable to James Dolan and Donald Sterling in his ability to wreck an entire atmosphere and culture . He sucks . So my team's not going anywhere , so I have no right to judge . I was heavy on Lamar last year .
His offensive coordinator burned me bad in the AFC Championship game . What I would like to submit to people is that there's never been a quarterback that can run and throw at the same time the way Lamar can to tat a running back like .
Derrick Henry behind them .
Yeah , that's never happened before . Like , think about Randall Cunningham's best running back , michael vick , steve young , think about whoever their best running back was like whoever , whoever your best , you know combo of running and throwing . Oh , they never had a derrick henry , right , right .
And I expect them to lead the league in russian again , but this time I expect them to actually put up maybe some historical type like russian numbers , and I expect them to run over people this year . Last year they aired everybody . I think this year they're going to run everybody over .
I think the only way and I think they found this out the hard way , like we already knew , which is why it was such a foolish game plan the only way that you beat Patrick Mahomes is to keep the ball out of his hands . Yeah , stole him out .
Derrick Henry is there specifically to keep the ball out of Patrick Mahomes' hands , not Lamar Jackson's , and so they need to win this game , and I believe they need to beat them again , this time in the AFC championship , but I think this time it's going to be in Kansas City . I do expect the Chiefs to be one of the one or two seeds .
I think Baltimore does not end up with the number one seed , but I do pick them to go to the Super Bowl again this year . As far as MVP , I'm actually going to pick Josh Allen this year , because I think this is going to be the year where he has to do the most . I think he will keep them credible enough to garner the MVP .
He'll keep them in the borderline playoff contention , so I'm going to pick Josh Allen .
Josh is tough , josh is tough and the way Interception is too .
I think he's better than Dak . We'll say that he's better than Dak .
Where's the ?
evidence Stop it . No , this lady up the street at the church is better than Dak . That's a whole other conversation .
You're a Canada fan . What are you talking ?
about . I'm going to slide to the next topic .
Gentlemen , oh , real quick . I need to say this real quick , Sorry , Coop Taylor Swift . I know she watches Hip Hop Talks . I do need her to break up with Kelsey mid-season . It would help us out . Greatly Appreciate it , Taylor . Thank you Moving on .
¶ Big Sean's Album Sales Analysis
This is why I have the closing arguments . Ag , no more closing arguments for you . This is exactly why I'm giving closing arguments . Please , ag , no more closing arguments for you . That was terrible . Like your team Speaking of terrible . We better defend this . Speaking of terrible , not by much , which is sad , terrible , speaking of terrible .
Big Sean's album sales numbers have come in , guys , and it's 24K , which is by far the lowest of his career . Yeah , ag , what are your thoughts on why his album sales are so low from a project that you claim that is really good and that you , that you like and that you enjoy ? Why are the numbers so low ?
I still stand by that . I still think the project is really good . Um , you know , the easiest answer would be that the leak affected him , right , but I mean , let's , let's be real , I'm gonna be realistic . I don't think , if that leak happens , that he even does double the numbers that he actually did .
If I'm being honest , I just don't think the anticipation was there . Like you know , sean is like , in the grand scheme of , you know , the crop of MCs he came into the game with . You know you got the big three and it's almost like , you know , he's invisible .
You know what I mean , because you know people don't really check for him the way they should , based on his talent , and you know to your all's points , on the last show he had the opportunity to do something spectacular and he didn't deliver on that . He delivered a good album , you know , but that wasn't what the situation was calling for .
You know I still mess with the album , but the stakes that were up against the album he didn't live up to that . You know , and I commit that , even though I enjoy the album and the numbers reflect that because I do think he has enough popularity that if he would have dropped , you know , a stellar , borderline classic piece of work , or truly his best work .
Today the numbers probably would have reflected that because he's did . He's did everything you could possibly do in terms of a rollout . We had the Charlemagne interview . We've had multiple singles . He did the tiny desk joint but that got stepped on by the beef and you know he's done everything in his hands that he can do .
But you know , with him being out of the game so long and not being present enough in people's faces , okay , then it's like , you know , everybody kind of forgot about him you were kind of answering my question , but you weren't answering the question until the end .
He took time off .
People forgot about , yeah , but I think the truth is up until then yeah , I think the truth is somewhere in the middle , because you know we chastise people that are away from the game too long and then at the same time we say somebody like Drake is doing too much and needs to fall back . I think the truth is somewhere in the middle .
You've got to find that happy medium to still keep yourself relevant . And you know he had stuff going on personally , had the birth of his son and this and that , but it's still ways that you can keep yourself engaged in what's going on in the hip-hop space . And he really didn't do that and he said as much as self in the Charlamagne interview .
So I think the numbers reflect , you know basically what the work that was put into it .
Sean , what do you have to say about your namesake , albeit spelled differently ?
Shouldn't have spelled my way . He probably would have said about 50K more , but as AG was doing his violin , oh , Sean had a baby . Sean stayed out too long . Oh man , stop that , bro . I still like the album . You win $23,999 people like the album .
Don't attempt to do math on camera , Sean . You know that's not your strong suit . Don't do that .
That was very personal , but anyhow , like I was saying , this was his chance . We talked about this way before the album dropped . When we first got with the album dropping , what did we say ? We said this got to be the one , this has to be the one that he makes a stamp for himself . Let's not talk about the big three or being that four .
Just make a name for you , just make a stamp for yourself , because you're saying how great you are , you're saying that you're lazy , you're saying that you can do better , that you can be more active . Those are not excuses to me , because a lot of these other artists are not as active , but they still come back and do what they do .
Take Kendrick , for example . He wasn't active after that bullshit ass album that he dropped and he came back . Now he's doing millions with a couple of singles . Right , I'll be it , drake is attached to it , but you still . The point is , you still have other artists out there with a fan base misses you . When you come back , they're clamoring to get to you .
So sometimes when someone miss you and if they want to get more of you and you come back , and now everybody coming to the table to say yo , I gotta get piece of that , because now he's back , he didn't get that effect because now , because he stayed away , no one missed him .
And that's a hard thing to excel , because if I don't miss you , that'll mean I don't care what you drop . I'm going to rock with you , I'm going to say it's dope because I think you are dope . But let's be honest Are we giving Sean this credit because we like Sean ? You know what I mean .
Are we giving Sean that credit because you feel like yo , he's a nice guy ? These interviews show a lot of vulnerability and we want to be sensitive to that . Right , but this is a blood sport . Hip-hop is a contact sport . You got to make contact with your fan base .
If you can't make contact with your fan base , then they're not going to show up for you when you need them the most . And I don't think the fan base showed up for him when they needed him the most .
¶ LL Cool J and Q-Tip Album
That was the question I was going to ask you , and this is a legitimate question , because I can't tell and I don't know . Do you think Sean has a substantial core fan base built in , because we know what Cole's fan base look like they show up and show out , we know Kendrick got a base , drake got all the casuals in a base .
Do you think Sean actually has a legit fan base that show up and show out and just drop the ball this time , or his fan base is kind of like you know nothing that he can hang his hat on as an artist ?
They're there . They just abandoned him and it's okay .
What do you think Coop ?
Yeah , okay . So when this happens , you have to understand beyond the music is just a simple fact . He grew up and his fan base didn't , and so Sean is right . They abandoned him because they essentially are telling him we didn't ask you to make this grown up shit . That's really what they're saying .
At the end of the day , it's a grown man's album and his fan base isn't with it , and this is the response to that . It's not even that complicated to me , in all honesty . It's literally like that , simple and plain . That's why I was bringing up the ludicrous comparison .
It's like , you know , his fan base kind of told him at the end no , no , no , we don't want that from you , though , like we get it . We didn't ask you to do that , and that's what Sean's fan base is telling him now , today , and you know , if he's listening , he's going to find that fine line and learn how to .
Um , you know , do like the person that we're about to transition to , which is ll and his upcoming project with q-tip , uh fellas . A lot of uh barbershop debates has been that well , is ll and q-tips project more exciting and creating more excitement and more buzz than the peat rock and common auditorium album volume one . What say you , sean , is it ?
Is it generating more excitement for , like , the , the fan base , and for the hip-hop fan base and just for hip-hop in general ? Because we're talking about four legends that are , you know , working on , you know , in duos right now , like separately , like , like , what is ? What is the buzz behind L Cause ?
I'll tell you real quick and then I'll let you jump in . I've just found L to be the most entertaining person of the four for these rollouts , but I kind of figured that was going to happen . But go ahead , yeah .
Yeah , queens , get the money . I mean the personality . I mean you've got personality like L and you have the legacy that L has . He has a draw , he knows how to sell it . He knows how to go into these interviews and sell everything . And I think just the idea of him on his promo run , l has given you different layers . He's giving you that legacy layer .
He's giving you that I'm the one layer . He's also giving you that I'm re-energized layer as well . He's educating you along the way , whereas someone like Common and Pete Rock dope album , dope album we're not talking about the album anymore .
Honestly , if that album would have came out , probably mid 2000s , I think it would have been a different vibration , because right now we want to be entertained , you know . I mean I think that LL is going to give us that entertainment when he releases this album , because you're going to get different layers .
You can look at the features and , like yo , we got Nas on this joint called Pre Yo , I'm bought , I'm sold , you got me . You know what I mean . And we didn't get that from Common . I think the rollout that they did was a phenomenal rollout . I think they played too many songs off the rollout before the actual album .
So I think it diluted the experience once you get in there . And once you got diluted of the experience , now when you hear it you're like I already heard that one , let me go to this one . I already heard that We'll go to this one , and I think that's where it's at .
I'm looking forward to this album and I think it's more anticipated for me personally , for me , than it was for Common .
If I'm being honest , ag , before you go , you mind if I get to few super chats . Right quick , absolutely go ahead . 007 with the 199 super chat queens , get the money greetings from rio . Go jets and have a good show . Shout out to 007 , out in rio . 007 again with the 199 super chat . Drake took big sean's flow and ran with it . Fascinating topic .
We might have to circle back around on that if we have time . Tracy g , what up ? Tracy with the five dollar super chat ? Ag .
Very disappointed that you chose big sean album over cole no , I still think it's better than might delete later , you know but that's just me though , what you think . Coop , have you revisited ? Might delete later , anytime recently not recently .
In all honesty , I do when it comes to stuff like this . Here's how I feel about your sentiment , about your statement about Big Sean's album being better . I can't give you any quantifiable evidence right now to say otherwise , based on my memory .
Because if it was more , if it pulled me in like that , I'd just be able to tell you with a straight face like AJ , you're fucking tripping . You know what I'm saying .
What I will say to this is to answer the super chat . I have listened to Might Delete Later recently and I think that the Big Sean project is a more complete album . We know Cole is the better rapper , but he has a more complete album , whereas Might Delete Later is very mixtapish , if that makes sense .
It makes sense , it feels that way . I can give you that the Big Sean album , in terms of how it was put together , is put together better than the Cole album , but I don't know if it's necessarily better . But let's get your thoughts on who's creating more excitement between the L and you know I disagree with Sean a little bit .
It's kind of hard to compare the two albums because you know we've heard one and then one has yet to , you know , be released and um . But I will say this I love the rollouts of you know both um factions because you know LL has been , you know , very active on a bunch of different platforms and so was a common and Pete rock and um .
But here to me , here's the fundamental difference , right ? What I see is an LL has enough personality for everybody . We alluded to that L is , like you know , the biggest personality everybody . But to me the main difference is , on every pull up , tom and Pete Rock were together and L , you know , is by himself .
I want to hear what Q-Tip has to say about the product . I want him getting behind his product . Even when Nas and Hit were on their run everywhere , they pulled up , just about they pulled up together to sell their product , Not saying that Q-Tip doesn't believe in it , but it would be nice to see him beside L .
Like yo , we've been in the lab cooking together and this is what we putting out . Blah , blah , blah . Common and Pete Rock did that . So for me that built more excitement and anticipation from a producer , mc combo , versus just seeing LL talk about the album on his own .
And let me ask you something then . And uh well , hold on , let me ask you something then . If you feel that way , how would you feel If , let's say , once this album drops , it's dropping on the six , correct it's ?
About yeah , yeah , friday , let's say from Friday on , q-tip emerges from where they're submerged , and he actually emerges from where he is and is standing right next to L . Don't you think that that creates more of a moment , isn't that ?
moment bigger . If that happens , that's a different conversation . But you know , my concern with a lot of these projects is are they in the lab cooking together ? Not like . Oh , I'm sending him tracks , he's rapping over it , and when I see them pull up to all these spaces together , I know , you know they're cooking up together .
Like that's how I view it , you know .
I sincerely feel like Elle and Q-Tip have been cooking up together .
They may be , but from just an optics standpoint we don't know , because we're not seeing Q-Tip say anything about it . He's not with L . Maybe that's by design because , like I said , L is enough personality for everybody to go around . Q-tip's not really like that as far as interviews go .
Q-Tip's never been the type of guy to just walk around and bloviate about what it is that he's doing and how well he's doing . He's never been that way about it , neither has Pete .
Last time you seen Pete out here moving and shaking , doing interviews like this ?
Maybe not moving and shaking and doing interviews , but Pete , personality-wise , is more braggadocious in my opinion .
Yeah , that's fair . Yeah , q-tips more humble than Pete , I will say that . But you know , just from an optic standpoint , I think Common and Pete Rock did a better job of like hyping up their fan base versus , like , those who were going to tap into this album . Maybe more so for Q-tips production versus LL with the bars .
They don't really got nothing from Tip to go on . You know what I mean . And another thing I disagree with Sean is , you know I agree with him but disagree . He said that all the singles prior to the Common to P-Rock release kind of diluted the product a little bit .
I do agree with that aspect but at the same time LL has released the same amount of songs . Prior to his release we heard four songs off both projects prior to the release .
There's something about the L and Q-Tip project that just feels funkier to me at this point I'm not even necessarily saying that it's better , because I haven't heard it in full yet . Something about it feels like the auditorium kind of touches some of my fundamental hip hop sensibilities .
Even though it doesn't excite me , this feels more like something that's like touching my soul and the pieces of parts of me that's living and the part of me that's lived life . You know what I mean .
Like that's about the L joints and I think that for me is more exciting because of the people creating that feeling , because L's not really known for creating that feeling .
It's been a while you know , you know to rewind .
The fact that it feels funky , that it feels soulful , that like . It feels like it's something different coming from him , it's having more effect and it's more exciting because it's Elle and I wasn't expecting this . You know , even Saturday Night Special it's like oh no , I wasn't expecting that . Yeah .
I'm glad you said that , coop , because you know we missed this last segment because I was talking about it's been a while since Elle's been out and you're talking about how excited you are .
Say what you said behind the scenes about , like , if you come back out off a long hiatus , what do you got to be to move the needle Because I thought that was a bar .
Oh yeah , well , I was just when you me and Sean were pregame and I was saying you know , the reason that the Sean project also didn't work is just because , well , in order for you to take the break in hip hop , people have to know who you are and you have to be all time great , like you have to be both of them , like you can't be one of them and
it'd be OK . You have , the people have to know who you are and you have to be all time great , and so you can go to the breaks and be like who's rocking well , that's the greatest in c of all time . Well , that's who he is at the time when he stepped away . You get what I'm saying . It's like who he was was actually one in the same thing .
It's like , well , who he is , he's well , he's the all-time greatest of all .
All-time greatest and that that statement is so accurate because , to ll's point , like , like you said , the excitement , you said people got to know who you are and then you got to be all time Great .
We all know that L is all time Great , but as far as the know who you are factor , he said in the interview I believe it was with Shannon that people are going to check this album out just off the strength . They know who he is from his actor career , like , oh yeah , that's homie from CSsi . Like you know , I'm gonna check them out .
You know what I mean . And then you end up garnering new fans that didn't even get to see you , like you know , pave this whole career throughout these , you know , 30 plus , going on 40 years what do you think the chances are that l outsells sean ? wow , um , I mean I think it's a good possibility .
I don't think In today's climate for LL I don't think that maybe 25k Is a hard task . And plus you got some Nice features in the album . Anytime you have Notable features On your album that sometimes Bring in those artists fan base as well to check out , if nothing else , those songs , and then it might lead them into the rest of the album .
So I don't think that'll be that tough to do . And plus , you know , if we're talking about all-time great scale , ll's ranks much higher than Sean on the all-time great list , you know . So he has to be the outsell of Sean . You know he's just an emcee of . You know old school era versus Sean is more current . But that didn't help Sean in this matter .
¶ Nas and AZ
Real quick , ag . We got Dante Jedi with the $10 Super Chat . Appreciate you , dante . Y'all put me on the Dolce project . Good , look that John Tuff . Yeah , it is . Ag was talking about the Dolce project behind the scenes too . He said it was a top five rap album this year , maybe top three Best hip hop pop . Appreciate you , Dante .
Love how y'all are in different regions . Heard Ransom and Conway is dropping on Friday . Can't wait . Yeah , excited for the Ransom and Conway too . Let's slide from one legend to the next AG . So Nas was just in Vegas and I guess the big talk about the show outside of the high performance level was the fact that AZ was with him for all three shows .
That was beautiful . That was beautiful to see man .
I'm just going to go ahead and let you go on that one .
That was just Huh , go ahead . I was just going to say , man , that was so beautiful to see man Like them rocking the stage together , full orchestra behind them , you know , dressed to the nines , in the suits and stuff , like you know . I just try to put myself in their shoes like when they're , you know , 19 , 20 years old .
You know , um nas is forming the automatic . Life's a bitch . You know they're working on that project . They probably probably would thought you was bugging if you said like yo , 30 years down the road , you know you're going to be performing this in front of a live orchestra at Vegas . They probably would have thought that was the most bugged out thing ever .
You know what I mean . But look how life works and it's dope to see these two guys that pretty much came in the industry together still clicking up , still doing shows together . There's no bad blood between them , they're still homies still doing shows together .
You know there's no bad blood between them , they're still homies , still do records together on occasion and you know it was good luck .
I was glad to see AZ on the stage with them , because Nas has done this before at the Kennedy Center one time , I think it was for the 25th anniversary it was either the 20th or 25th anniversary of Illmatic and AZ , you know , wasn't at that show to perform Life's a Bitch , and I don't know why he wasn't , or you know what played into that .
But I always said and I have the album of that , the live album on vinyl and I always thought to myself , man , this couldn't be any more perfect . Unless , you know , az got to come do the hook and the verse you know for that particular song . So you know , it was just dope to see . And they rock other joints too . I saw footage .
You know Taj posted it on Twitter . They did Bone Tap , mo Money , mo Murder , mo Homicide , a did Sugar Hill hill , I believe , like it was .
It was dope to see , man , it was really dope more money , more murder , more homicide behind a live orchestra is crazy motion picture shit . The strings oh my god , that's what I mean . The strings , like you actually got a whole orchestra , like you have a band of string players , like yeah , that's special stuff .
So I guess I try to always look at the macro of things and then I go to the micro of things and for me this is the micro .
The Vegas show is the micro because I say to myself well , nas has been making a lot of trips to Europe and overseas and different places performing these last few years , since I've been covering the Hit-Boy and Nas Run and just like you know his material and career in general , never went overseas with Nas , and so , although I'm not surprised to see A pop up
in Vegas , it occurred to me today when Sean and I were having a conversation earlier this afternoon , that you know , a really hasn't moved around and spread himself around like he should . Like more people should know who A is , and I think a lot of that is on like choices that he made to literally be low-key , az , quiet , money , az , absolutely .
And I look at it now and it's like , well , you know , there are people in belgium that probably would like to hear naz and az do life's a bitch and phones have live , you know , yeah . And so when I look at a moment like this , as special as it is , it's like , damn , I wish a would have .
You know , I'm saying like , spread his portfolio around a little bit more or got with the right people that would have spread it around a little bit more , because he might be , you know what he is . In a lot of ways , he's our most underrated scene-stealing MC Absolutely 1,000% .
If Nas is our greatest MC of all times , how many times has this guy jumped on a record with this guy ? And it's just no drop-off Zero In terms of his A-game . His A-game is pretty special . His A-game is pretty special , like his A game is pretty special . The consistency of the A game can be questioned , but it's there .
We've been hearing it since life's a bitch .
Why do you think that is ? Do you think that's a pride thing that he hangs his hat on ? Like you know , well , I don't need all the like major looks and whatever I did it my way , I made my money . All the like major looks and whatever I did it my way , I made my money . Like , do you think it's a pride thing ?
And I say that in all respect , that's , you know , no disrespect .
I don't think it's a pride thing , I think it's a mentality thing .
I think the way that he approaches stuff like when he did the Hoffa interview like I was really watching , like I don't really listen to what a dude say , like I literally watch , like the body language , like how you do , how you move , and it's like I'm not even sure how cool he was sitting in the room with all them and that was like on some like New
York barbershop shit . It's like if A not going to be to be super comfortable and relaxed they're not saying he was jittery or anything , but it was almost like he was making it a point to be like that's not my thing , that's not how I get down , and so I think it's not . I think it's more stubborn .
That's a valid point . That's a valid point , yeah , and we use these terms with all due respect , but it has to be something underlying that caused him to move that way , and I , you know , I want to find the right word . I said you know too too much pride , Maybe you said stubborn , and I don't .
At the essence of it , I don't think it's either one of those . I think it might just be nonchalant , Might be the word when it comes to asserting himself as one of the that we know him to be .
Okay . You got somebody like I don't believe I'm making this reference . You got somebody like Andre 3000 , who's nonchalant as well , ag , but when it's time for him to kind of get his flowers and take the stage , he takes the stage appropriately . You know what I mean . He's a low-key dude too . He's a quiet dude too .
He's away from the limelight type of dude , type of dude too . He too is a scene stealer . Of scene stealers , yeah but it's funny .
it's funny how life work out , because I look at Nas the same way as I look at AZ . I've always thought that they were A-likes , but Nas was pushed forward into superstardom and he's been a superstar ever since .
Some of that is voice .
Okay .
Like when you said that , I thought to myself to myself early on . The difference is the voice . Because if you were even to tell me that bar for bar az was lyrically more tenacious than oz , I would tell you , yes , especially early on . But our az is az the storyteller than oz is az the dope storyteller . Is AZ the storyteller of the Nas's ?
Az's a dope storyteller . He's not the storyteller of Nas's . Is his vocally as good as Nas ? It's like he's got an interesting voice . He's got a quality voice . It's a dope rap voice . Is it a Nas rap voice ? It's like no , it's not . You know .
I'm glad you brought that up because this kind of circles back to you know the whole theme of this conversation I saw on the interview . Az said , when Nas hit him up , like yo , I finished the album , I turned it in , you know , for master and it's going to come out and I said I put the joint with you on there .
Az was like , oh , you know , okay , he said I ain't gonna lie . I felt some kind of way about it because I didn't like my own voice and I didn't want the people hearing me like that . But the average person would have been like yo , you got me on your record . That's bugged out , like you know , we out of here , like you know what I mean .
But he was saying like I ain't gonna lie , I felt a little kind of way because I didn't want people to hear me , because I didn't like my voice . But little did he know would take off like it did .
That's the way artists talk , though , like , like all of us and any artist on any level who's ever recorded music is always super conscious of their voice , more than anything , because if you record music , no matter , no matter what genre , it is , your voice and andrew , and I talk about this on mirror music all the time your voice , your voice is just as
important as the concept , the content , the track , beat , live instrumentation , whatever ambient background music , noise is going on Like your voice is just as important as all of those other things , like Ambitions .
As a Rider by Tupac sounds the way it sounds because Tupac is singing , right , it don't hit you the same because people don't have that voice to do that . That's him in his zone . You know what I'm saying .
I ain't going to hold you . When I recorded , I didn't like my voice . I don't even like listening to it on the playback of our pods to keep it running . I feel what you're saying , though .
All right , where are we going next ? Ag , because it looks like Sean has abandoned us , but that's not uncommon , because Sean is the unreliable one of the three of us and this is just him being true to who he is . He's player hating .
Because I'm moderating , you're supposed to be on the sideline commentating , yeah , he's on the sideline commentating yeah , he's on the sideline like that , so let's go ahead . Um , you want to go to the travis topic ?
I do . I do want to talk about travis . I want to talk about a 10 year old mixtape almost becoming the number one album in the nation and literally missing it by under 1 000 units . Units . Streams , slash , fuckery of like . I don't know what they're doing , but I know he was . I know he was less than a G short .
I don't know what the fuck it is that they do , how they do the arithmetic on this . It's like well , this stream . I'd like to thank Taj for this bullshit , for ruining my life forever . She's like no , no , no , no , no . If you play it on this platform , it counts as this many . I'm like it counts differently on different platforms .
In certain amount of times you got to play so much of the track for it to count as a stream .
on this platform versus this platform , it's really crazy , the weight be all the same over here . You know what I'm saying Everything weigh what it's supposed to weigh , yeah , when you put it on the scale .
So I think I mean what do you think culturally this represents him doing that , like , not musically , like we can get to the music aspect of it in a minute but culturally what does it represent ? And what does it say about Travis , that something that he made a decade ago shot to the charts , and what's the tipping point behind this moment ?
uh , it's two things . Uh , I think it's twofold . I think that they helped create some excitement , like it was between um him and sabrina , uh claudio or whatever . Um , because she said she was doing it for nikki you know where , travis also nikki before and you know , and they kind of got .
I don't think it was any real problems there , but it was kind of the competition like , oh , my fan base is going to win , we're going to push these numbers . We haven't really seen nothing like that , I don't think since 50 , and uh kanye did it with graduation and uh curtis . So I think that was a motivator for fans to get behind .
You know , we talked about built-in fan bases to get behind their artists and really push those numbers and for it to only be less than a thousand streams then
¶ Travis Scott's Influence and Stardom
. Or was that streams or true record sales ?
I don't know . I want to say sales . I want to say sales .
Either way it was .
Hold on AG . This is what I'm talking about . About the suckery . Isn't the streams included in the units moved ? In terms of how it generates sales ? Doesn't X amount of streams equal a unit move ?
Yes , it's supposed to be .
This all sells to me , even though we're being lied to daily .
Either way it was hella close , but I think it created some excitement . But this think it , you know , created some excitement . But this was my main takeaway and you know and I want to let you speak on what it means , for you know Travis' stardom and who he is . But my main takeaway was this I think in the streaming era there is a place to bring back .
This is a 10-year year old mixtape . If you can get certain samples cleared . There's classic mixtapes that we can bring back on dsps and it really moved the needle . I think this shows that previous examples are uh , drake was so far gone . You know he cleared the samples and got it put on dsps .
I personally would like to see Friday Night Lights do the same . I'm sure Cole got the money to get the samples cleared to get it on DSPs . So I think this shows that there is a market for that . It's a place for that , as long as the stuff can get cleared and it can get put out .
Because if you have a 10-year-old mixtape of old material that's doing numbers , if you got that built-in fan base they've been clamoring for that Because these things are only made available through certain other mediums and now it's on a streaming readily accessible . I think it's a market for that . So that was my main takeaway .
Man AG . Look here , man , you know what this is . At the end of the day , for me , what's that ? Trav is everything we want Sean to be . That's my takeaway for this .
Yeah , I can see that everything that we talk about that we need from Sean Trav , and so maybe we've had this conversation wrong the whole time , or maybe the pecking order of it is kind of like , like and I would still throw future in this mix because , like , he existed during all of their primes and like they all , yeah so , but when I think of it as a
whole and think about what I'm about to say , so for what we would call the modern era of MC , we have Kendrick Drake , cole , trav ASAP and Sean . Right , when you say that's the modern era , I got to put Nicky ahead of Sean . Okay , we can put Nicky in there too , nicky's fair . So those seven Sean Okay , we can put Nicky in there too , nicky's fair .
So those seven , sean is seventh right , correct . But Trav might be fourth or fifth Correct . And with what's happened ?
And think about what I'm about to say , well , with what's happened to Cole , people love Trav albums from this era more than they love Cole's albums , because Trav's more of a vibe , like I said , and like I said in our thread yesterday , he's this generation's Kanye .
Yeah , I mean Drake even alluded to it in the Push Ups record . He said Travis got you wiped down . I mean Travis is selling more records than Kendrick .
Well , hold on . Well , that's what I'm saying . So when you actually look at it , if you really want to look at this era in totality , he could I mean numbers wise he's in Drake and Future level . In terms of his numbers , in terms of his influence , he's on Drake and Kendrick's level .
He hits all the levels , actually higher than everybody does consistently , except for at the actual craft of emceeing . But you could even have an argument , especially what happened with Cole this year .
The trap might have some like number three or number four placement that he deserves , because think about this which one of these dudes got a 10 year old mixtape going number one ? That's some Kanye shit .
I'm glad you brought up Kanye , because if we're talking about just influence in a vacuum , I got Travis over everybody and that was over Drake .
Okay . So my problem with that is the same thing that I have with Nicki . When you say that , which is well , when you're talking about his influence , there's somebody before him that influenced him directly and you can hear it like I hear when travis scott , when trav makes beats , I hear 808s and yeezus in graduation like oh , yeah and so .
So when I see nikki , it's like no , I understand everything you're saying . It's just that I've seen Lil' Kim .
We're talking two separate influences .
I'm only going to give you so much credit for influence . When I can see your direct line of influence so apparent and I'm not talking early stages of career , I'm talking like middle to later stages of career I can see the influence that exists still . We're talking two separate influences .
I didn't know middle to later stages of career . I can see the influence that exists .
Still it's not like yeah , we're talking two separate influences .
I didn't know . Nice of you to pop back up . I'm sorry , fellas , I had some .
Yeah , I'm sorry , sean's an important guy , but hold up , Like me and you were talking two different influences , coop , I hear what you're saying about the music . I'm meaning that Travis touches other markets that those other people don't touch .
As far as , like you know , cole , kendrick Drake , you know Nicky Future , travis is like just a hair , you know , behind Kanye Pause , that sounded crazy . He's just a shade behind Kanye .
As far as , like , overall influence I mean the sneaker market , you know just like you got the music aspect , he's just , I mean , bro was selling a collab of a McDonald's line in clothes , like he did a McDonald's collab and like they was just selling out of that stuff , like you know what I mean . That's the influence I'm speaking of .
He's touching different markets that these other artists are not touching . So in that , as far as the era , the seven people that we talked about I think Trav would be number one out of all that you might have a point .
so , sean , we're going to give you a little rapid fire right quick , since you don't know how to show up for work on time and then actually stay at work . Black man's break . You took a black man's break right now . You said I'll be right back . You smoked a cigarette . Then you realized it was your last cigarette , so you went to the store , got cigarettes .
While you were there , realized that your gas tank was almost empty . You ended up having a conversation with somebody at the other gas tank , smoked another cigarette , then bought your ass back to Hip Hop Talks .
I can't relate . I'm sorry .
¶ Travis Scott's Catalog Ranking Debate
Sean , what did you think about Nas in Vegas with AZ and why do you think that AZ hasn't performed with Nas overseas ?
I love it , man . There's not an appetite for AZ overseas . Honestly , az is Brooklyn bound , he's East Coast bound . There's not an appetite for AZ outside of that . And I love AZ . Shout out to AZ , man , anthony Cruz , az the legend , one of those . But there's not an appetite for him out there .
Can we name three or four songs that has crossed over into a different genre that AZ is attached to outside of Nas ? I'm talking about just solo dolo . If you don't have that , then they're not going to gravitate to you . And overseas they love hip hop , they love hip hop to the core .
But he just doesn't have that on that extra boost , if you will , to entice an overseas crowd where there's an appetite for him to be over there . Whereas Nas has crossed over in different ways , which is very interesting because he said it himself . You know he's underground and overground . Right , he's in a .
He's very unique in that aspect because Nas is from that boom bap Rakim cloth where what he's doing right now is like an anomaly , because I don't think that someone you know , respect the Rob , respect the Kane , respect to all of those guys , even respect to Rafe , respect the ghosts , all of them they won't be able to do what Nas is doing selling out these
venues and having a residency . It came respect to all of those guys , even respect to Rafe , respect to Ghost , all of them . They won't be able to do what Nas is doing selling out these venues and having a residency , solo dolo , in Vegas , or even going overseas .
Selling out as well , selling out the garden All of those things play a huge factor that I don't think we talk about enough , because he's the rapper that probably shouldn't even have that kind of gravitas it comes to selling out those venues in that manner because his peers are not doing it .
His peers can't do it and his peers are dope some of the dopest , but they can't do it . That's not disgusting enough . Queens get the money .
I knew that was coming . I was going to let you finish . I was going to let you finish and say Queens get the money , go ahead . I was about to say go ahead and let it out . I was waiting for him to say it . I was like man , you want to know what I was thinking the whole time you were talking . I was like this motherfucker is from Corona Queens .
I asked him a question about Nas . He's like go ahead , I'm just going to wait until I hear Queens get the money , then I'm going to jump back in .
And I didn't cut you off , sean , but saying AZ's full government name , anthony Cruz , doesn't make what you were saying any less disrespectful . I'm just saying Wow , that was strike two .
Strike two . So to get you caught up because of your negligent behavior , sean , talking about draft , we've been talking about draft and draft .
We've been talking about Trav and Trav's placement and the fact and I made a statement and I just want to hear your comment about my statement and hear what your rebuttal or your commentary may be I said that who Trav actually is is who we want Sean to be . What are your thoughts on that ?
That's a good thing . You said that cool . I know AG didn't say that . You said that Coop . I did say that . You know AG . That did not come from AG .
AG don't have bars like that man . He don't have bars like that who works that way . He taps out .
Yeah , he caps out . Yeah , no , that's a good one .
We're on live , we're on live . So hopefully , like you know , like , people who are behind the scenes .
I'm not going to call out their names .
Can we get a chopper Can ? We get a chopper to catch up on our bars .
That's a damn good one . Because , damn that's a good one . I had to pause on that one Because it's been a while since he had one . Coop got one . It's been a while . It's been a while you did .
The bar wasn't like that Y'all like the dudes at the smack battles they be like , and the bar wasn't even that fly .
This guy is crazy .
No man , that's a very good statement , because I do think that with Travis I'm going to say it like this I don't think Travis is in that rapper echelon anymore , and I don't even know if he ever was in that rapper echelon , and I think it's hard to pause to put him in that bucket of hip hop when his audience , man , his audience , is probably not even
hip-hop anymore well , what you're saying makes him more like kanye than even any statement that I can express .
If that's the case , absolutely he's saying that makes him more like kanye than anything else .
What you're saying he is , he's , he's an experience , he's stating him because I think about him .
I think about him . I told you it's graduation . Like every time he make a beat , I'm like this is graduation .
But let's just call a spade a spade . Travis did this just being Travis . A lot of times it just boils down to some people are more interesting than others . Travis is just more interesting than Sean Point blank period , regardless if the music is better or not .
Well , let me ask you both something . Ag and you can take the lead on this . Travis , we really don't talk about his catalog , but does Travis have a better catalog than Drake , j Cole , future , Sean ? Where does his catalog actually rank ? Because I think , if we're still ranking catalogs , kendrick is still coming in first , correct ? Yes ?
Yeah .
It's not better than who's number two , Like is it Future ? Is it Trav ? Is it Cole ? Is it Sean ? Is it Nicky ? Like who's , tell me two , three , four , five after Kendrick , because we know Kendrick is one for this generation in catalog . Who's second ? Who's third ?
Who's fourth . Here's what's crazy Poop . Here's what's crazy Poop .
¶ Travis Scott's Impact and Hybrid Style
I would say Drake . But the volume that he has in his catalog actually hurts him more than helps him , because some of those joints are forgettable . And even though Cole has less volume , I would say that I will put Cole's catalog second over Drake's , just because Drake has released so much and all of it has not been quality . But you wouldn't try to 2016, .
But keep going , yeah , yeah yeah , it is .
It is a point where the dip occurs , but after that it's just like hit miss , hit miss , hit , miss , but um , I don't still . With that said , I don't think travis's catalog is better than um futures nickies or drakes . I would just put him over sean . As far as catalog goes , he's the only one out of that whole group that I will put .
Uh , so Sean ended up in last place with catalog , as far as just the best , though you know out of those seven so you're not big on Rodeo Astroworld , like no no , I love both of those , but I don't think it's enough to surpass Future's catalog . Nicki might be a conversation , but I think Nicki's a conversation .
Yeah , that might be a conversation , but Future man , future got too much .
I got IamAJ with the 199 Super Chat . The new Juicy J album , raven Knight Social Club , is fire . I didn't even know Juicy J had a project . Juicy J still works . Y'all , I didn't either . He done put out a few joints over the last few years . He stay working . I love that . Juicy J stay working . So , overall , what is our synopsis of Trav ?
Some people feel like Trav took ASAP style and ran with it . Yeah , some people feel like he's the Kanye for this era . Where are we officially ranking Trav for this era ? Because I can't state this enough . None of these other dudes have a 10-year-old mixtape that's about to almost take the number one spot on the charts .
They're not even going to take number two , as a matter of fact . I'm telling you , none of these other dudes or ladies shout out to Nikki Cardi . None of them have a 10-year-old mixtape that's about to be in contention for a top five spot on Billboard . 10 years later , not a mixtape . So Travis is different . And so where are we really really ranking him ?
Because if it's a marathon and not a sprint , and we give Nas so much credit for how he has performed like it's literally like watching somebody like birdie and eagle 15 , 16 , 17 , and 18 on the green .
If Nas is doing that and we're giving him so many bonus points for that , what does it say about somebody like Travis when , quite frankly , it's been a long time since Kendrick Cole , drake , future Nicki have dropped anything that resembles really great album of the year material , that he has a 10-year-old mixtape that is almost going number one on the charts .
I hate to say this .
That's saying something , because in a lot of ways , that's saying it's like well , I'm standing the test of time in a way that my contemporaries are not , which is the same thing we say about Nas .
I hate to say this , but Sean is 100% right . Mark this day down on the calendar .
Never say that in public again .
But real talk . I think you know what Sean talked about . I think Travis is at a point where he's transcended hip-hop and most of his fan base is not even of hip-hop culture . Like you know , travis Travis show is an experience . Dude is a rock star Right , and when you go and see you know this always blew my mind about Wu-Tang Clan .
You go to a Wu-Tang show , it'd be more white way more white people in the audience than you know black people in hip hop culture , because they were rock stars , man . It was just like they were a whole movement and not comparing Travis to Wu-Tang . But it's just like once you transcend beyond , like the hip hop boundaries and you tap into that other fan base .
I don't think they even look at Travis like a rapper himself . I think they look at him like , honestly , a rock star . You know what I mean and I think you know that gives him an edge in today's climate versus the you know , quote unquote average hip hop artists that may be a big Sean or what have you . You know what I mean .
I think Travis is able to transcend in ways that you know somebody like that can't like that , can't ?
he's a hybrid . He's a hybrid because we say he comes from the kanye tree , but he doesn't have the kanye lineage when it comes to hip-hop at his core , because his lineage at his core is hip-hop . You know , beat wise , affiliation wise , all of those things . But travis didn't do that .
Travis actually kind of started off on second , third base , as opposed to kanye started off on first base . So now you got opposed to Kanye starting off on first base . So now you've got Trav with a head start . He's learned from Kanye , he's learned from Drake , he's using both models and he's combining those models because again he got dope merch .
I love the Travis Scott shoes . Everything is 100% .
He's got ASAP in there too . There's some ASAP in there too . There's some ASAP in there too , there's some ASAP in there .
Swagwise , he took it to a whole different level , coop , because if you think about it , his demo is not the hip-hop demo If you look at the crowd that he caters to or that he actually performs in front . Of . That's a rock hip-hop pop . It's a melting pot of an actual audience . They're sticking by him the entire way through .
It doesn't matter what he drops , they're sticking by him .
I used to feel the same way about the Roots , but they never did numbers like this .
Well , let's address the elephant in the room . It's not as much of a factor now , but on his ascension to fame , the Kardashian effect is real .
It is , it is , it is no . I mean , when you put a Kardashian in your algorithm , your numbers gonna go up .
All your numbers . It just is what it is . Like I said , it's not as much of a factor now because they're not together , I don't believe . But during his most pivotal part of his career , his rise to the top , that was his shorty . You know what I'm saying . So all those fan base , that whole fan base , is built in now . They're locked in with him .
But AG , don't forget about the bundles , because the bundles play a big role in these . He has , I mean , as a comedian , no , no , no .
I mean as a comedian .
As someone who loves fashion and you know shoes and merch , I'm looking at like yo he about to drop another Cactus Jack shoe or another Cactus Jack hoodie .
You and me both done played top dollar for some Cactus Jack . Travis Scott I got three pair of Travis Scott J's Nike Air Maxes .
And if you think about not just even that , but just a bundle that comes with the consumption of his music , just to say I got it , it's the exclusive part of it , because everybody doesn't have it . If it was for general , what do you call it General release ? If it was general release , it'd be different , because everybody doesn't have it .
If it was for general , what do you call it general release ? If it was general release , it'd be different because everybody has access to it . But because it's exclusive and it's like by headcount , you're going to rush to get it and it's going to spike up the numbers because everybody can't get it .
Well , hold on , how fair . So J Cole plays a straight up and down game where there is no bundles . Not be bundled , First of all . Bundle sounds like nasty work . Let's just call it what it is you bundle something . It sounds like nasty work is going on it's marketing baby from but forget the bundle . Hold on , hold on , let me finish .
Okay , go ahead , go ahead . Draft need bundles or does he choose to do bundles , like like who's out here doing bundles and are the numbers skewed because of the bundles ? This goes back to push a t on infrared when he said those numbers aren't real without inflation .
Who's doing merch because it really benefits them financially , a la Kanye , and who's really doing it just to put their numbers up to snuff ? There's a difference .
Great point , but everybody can't do it . No , they can't .
Can Trav exist without the merch options that come with the bundles ?
Yeah , because his merch sells out the stuff not associated with the bundles and then he has something marketable that's intangible , that we can't quite put our finger on . Put it this way , we all know the controversy that surrounded Travis Scott years ago . Look at his star . How bright it shines today , even after that .
Well , AG , I think 50 Cent said it best there's no such thing as bad publicity .
I mean , that was pretty bad publicity .
But when you get to live and tell about it , not the equivalency of , but let's not get it twisted Tupac's biggest selling record happened after he got shot five times . That put him in a sphere of people who had no idea really who he was , because he was making national news .
Now , because he was making national news , now like you know , like dan , rather fucking ted coppel , like you know , I'm saying when old white men are talking about you in america on the national news , you know that's that . That's different , that's transitioning the borders of hip-hop . So so I look at , I look at travis has the evolution of a transitional figure .
He's the evolution of a transitional figure in hip-hop . He's what the modern-day Wayne Kanye ? He is off that tree in terms of the star power of it , like that natural gravitas that you're talking about . Sean Trav has that Yep .
I think he's a combination of those two what you just said , Coop .
People just fuck with Trav . You get what I'm saying , like just everybody in general . I think that's how something like this happens , because this is one of those tipping point moments that , like , adds to his legend in this era .
And something to point out I think next week he's trending at 25 000 , where sabrina is selling 155 , so that means the merch has ran its course . So once the merch and the bundles ran , run its course . Now you're talking about his pure sales . So it's all material , though Say that again .
It's all material . If it's up against Utopia , then we're having a different conversation .
Yes and no , because you think about it like the bundle package was the selling point . You get this , you get this , aj , you'll sneak ahead . We're saying , if I have to purchase this with an opportunity to get with the Legend Blues early before December , what you doing ?
You entering every single round , no question .
Yeah , absolutely , because it's attached to it . But once all the merch is soaked up or consumed , next , week's sales is going to show me my pure sales . It's going to show me there's no bundle attached to it .
There's that audience who didn't pick it up on his first round , or they're coming back for that second round , that second go around there's no incentives If you're dipping 150 basis points in sales week over week . You got to have a conversation now . Yeah , Change things .
Yeah , there's no incentives attached to it , but I still think it looks different if it's brand new material versus 10 year old material yeah , but that's his brand , that's who he is .
Everybody can do it .
He can do it but coop said something real , without even realizing that . He said , you know , um was talking about wayne and um kan , you know , was talking about Wayne and Kanye . You know people use the phrase like if Wayne and Kanye had a baby , I think we get . You know Travis Scott , like who he is , as an artist , like rock star type individual .
You know , got the merch , the crazy following attached with it . You know what I'm saying Heavy influence . I think that's what Travis is as an artist . Artist but not as good a rapper as either one of those guys on that level , but just from an artist standpoint . You take kage and little wayne .
I think you get travis if you're talking about the artist , I do understand , uh , what you're saying . Hey guys , we're doing great on time , so I want to throw you a little curve right quick and get your thoughts . While we're here , ransom and Conway dropping a project , can we have ourselves an album of the year , contender ? I think so .
Who's doing the production , gentlemen ? That's my question .
I love Lavish Misery . So if Ransom's still rapping like he was rapping on that , and then Conway coming to the table with what he can do , I think they got Banks on a feature . I think this joint's going to be dope .
Here's what I'm going to tell you all . I think it's going to be too much boom-bap for people for it to be album of the year . That's my point it's too much boom-bap .
¶ Boys Reunion and Rap Legends
What's beautiful about Pray for Paris is that it's not just boom-bap . It feels orchestrated . It feels like you're walking through a cathedral of a ghetto museum . West Side Gun is the curator explaining to you all the artwork on the wall like it's got a feel to it , it's got a vibe to it .
Yeah , so , even though it's rooted in like that slowed down buffalo boom bap tendency , it sounds beautiful , it sounds glorious . Yeah , like it sounds that way . Like when I'm using those avid adjectives those , those are adjectives to describe something that's like enchanting to the eyes and to the ears and to all your sensory organs , you know what I'm saying .
Is this project going to give us that ? Because if it's not going to give us that , I'm not as excited as I should be . I know what the bar work is about to be like . Gentlemen , I'm weighing ransom . I know what the bars are about to be like . We're not having a bar seminar conversation .
What's the level of mastery of the songs , sequencing , structure , production , type of beat selected ? Not worried about the bars ?
Yes , yeah , to that point , Coop , I think on this last project that Ransom did at Lavish Misery , I think that he got better at crafting songs , you know , song making ability , and I think that's somewhere that Conway actually kind of already was . Now it's a matter of if they can kind of mesh that together Would it come off as mixtape-ish ?
That would be my only thing . Would it come off as that kind of thing ?
There's a very high chance of that .
I don't want that for either one of them , because they deserve better than that , but maybe that's who they are .
That's a tandem . You're talking about two lyrical monsoons coming together right Mixtape , written all over it , yeah . You're talking about two lyrical monsoons coming together right Mm-hmm . It's written all over it , yeah .
But I'm looking forward to the lyrical sparring on every track . Oh for sure , you know that's going to be there .
For sure , for sure . Now , sean , earlier this week you sent us a thread . What is it called ? The Wheezy Fest , the Wheezy Fest , the Wheezy Mania .
Yes , wheezy , louisiana , louisiana .
Yeah , okay , louisiana .
Yeah so .
Louisiana is back , and how many years was it on hiatus , sean ? I'm just asking you because you got inside scoop .
He actually . It was off like two years . He was supposed to do it last year , something came through . But he does it every single year . He does it in some capacity every year . This is the first time , I think , he's doing it at the Smoothie King Arena because he's planning on something real huge .
He typically does it in the park over in , I think , the Magnolia Park , if I'm not mistaken , but he's doing it at the Smoothie King Arena this year .
Now my eyes are special . They go to the shit that they like , sean , and all I saw when you sent it was Hot Boys reunion on there . I didn't see anything else , so you're going to have to tell me everything else that was going on All I saw was Hot Boys reunion .
Yes , yes , and Juvie actually Tell Wasaw was hot but West .
Virginia , yes , yes . And Juvie , actually Tell your man's hip-hop talks need tickets .
Yo , we're going to pull up More to come on that we're going to pull up at the Louisiana Fest because this is going to be huge . Juvie already retweeted and said I told you guys , I told you so Because he was saying they were going to get the hot boys back all together , Including Turk .
Right , you so because he was saying they were going to get the hot boys back all together and including turk right , including turk , including everybody's free everybody's home , everybody's home , um , and the fact that they're doing it at this fest , which you get more eyes on it because you know they did the essence joint , um , and that's the joint , is Essence ,
essence Festival , is Essence Festival ? Right , but Louisiana , that's more of the elk and the cloth of what they do . It's a home team thing , right , and I think that they were all waiting for this to try to get everyone on the same page , get everyone locked in . I'm looking forward to it . I think it's going to be dope .
I think it's going to be dope Real talk . But we definitely need to talk about that because that's definitely a pull-up . My people already hit me up and said , yo , we got it , we got you . So , yeah , we got to hit that .
AG thoughts on . Louisiana AG . How was it .
Yo , if it goes down and they're all there , including Turk , I think it'll be a beautiful moment . You know , they put everything to the side and they're all on stage together .
Hold on . You said that with trepidation . You said if it's on the tagline .
It's on the tagline man AJ do you Do ?
you think something may still happen that may prevent us from getting our hot boys reunion ?
I don't want , I don't want to jinx anything , but it's been a lot of stuff that's in taglines that never happened . So , um , you know , and I don't want to be a contrarian , but I just hope it goes down and I hope you know , uh , you know it'll be a beautiful thing , man , it , it'll be dope to see them all together . It really will .
So I'm looking forward to that .
John is as excited as I am . I hate to side with AG . I believe it when I see it . Can't trust these rappers . Tracy G with the $2 Super Chat says games catalog better than all the rappers you just named . I would agree with that . Would agree with that .
But catalog alone all the time doesn't get the job done . It has to be more than just a catalog .
No , the cultural impact has to be there . You know , sometimes you know timing really is everything . Sometimes you just got to be at the right place at the right time with this rap shit , you know .
That's true , that's true .
Sometimes it's just it ain't you ? It's the time in which you came Like I was listening to a commentator talk about , like you know he's like . Imagine if lebron james doesn't exist , how we would talk about kevin durant you know that's crazy time that you exist . Like like kevin durant has finished second in mvp , vote in second or third .
Like I think it's like five or six times yep . Like if lebron doesn't exist , it's like well , that guy got five or six MVPs .
It all comes out in the wash , though , because you know he got two championships over LeBron , you know it's like it's like their whole career . They're throwing in each other's you know , and each other's sides of pebble in each other's shoe , you know what I'm saying .
He kept KV from the personal accolades , but KD kept him from Eclipse and Mike , because he kept them two rings out of his hands . Yeah , because LeBron got six rings , like Mike , and he's an all-time scoring leader and top five in assists . You know what ?
I'm saying yeah , then we're having a conversation for real , not a manufactured conversation , a real conversation . You're still not having a conversation . I still would think Mike was the GOAT , but that would probably be biased if LeBron got two more and all the accolades he has .
But Mike , just For me , it's just fundamentally , it's like well , who's better on offense , mike , who's better on defense , mike ? End of the conversation .
Break it down . You broke it down , simple .
You broke it down simple . You broke it down simple . I mean , there's more nuances to the game with that , and I don't want to be disrespectful to LeBron , but at the end of the day , it's like well , who would you rather have shooting a three , a two or a free throw ? With the game on the line , Okay , who's the better scorer ?
Who's the better free throw shooter ? Who's the better two-pointer shooter ? You know ?
to me . To me , you always recoup . You always referenced that nba uh 75 meeting with the guys . I heard um duane wade talking about it . Like when mike showed up , all 70 plus other legends was like . You know , it's like everything stopped in the room when he show up , when lebron pull up in the room , that don't happen . So I've been in the room with mike .
It's different when everything stop in the room when he show up , when LeBron pull up in the room , that don't happen .
So I've been in the room with Mike . It's different . When Mike walks in the room , I'm not even gonna front . It's different it's different . It's like he's the . He's the only motherfucker I've ever been around where it's like no , I felt him and in how mad his presence was . His presence , literally , is big enough to take up any room that it walks in .
It's like that when he walks in the room . So it's , it's . It's one of those intangible things that it's just like God gave him , that that ain't something that he just created . Like God gave him that type of like when he walk in a room it is .
You went crazy for a second . I ain't gonna lie Like you . Just like you hydroplane and start watching yourself . Say this from above . It's different .
I remember when I was watching them all go . I was like , oh , that nigga , like big guy . I was with him . I don't think you understand . I was in a room where there were probably about 30 or other 40 professional athletes in the room and they were like high school juniors like yo , that's , it's the goat , it's mike . Like yo , that's mike , it's mike .
Like professional athletes with millions of that's mike , it's mike , it's mike , it's mike . Dude , it's mike . He really here . Yeah , he really here . Fam , like they talking like these . You know what I'm saying . Yeah , it's different with mike in the room . I ain't never like .
I've been in the room with lebron too , so it's different , yeah I'm saying not Get your goosebumps . I mean , he remembered my name and so , like what I'll tell you about this , every famous athlete that I've taken care of has like a memory , like the best ones .
The best ones have the best memories Like they remember who you are , how they dealt with you , like , and all that .
And then you start realizing it's's like this is part of why they are so great , like that sequence where LeBron where they're asking LeBron if he remember what happened and LeBron , like ran down like the last eight sequences of the game in succession . I remember that and like literally broke down every piece .
Yeah , and I passed the ball like this , but I should have been , and he broke it all down . It's like no , that's a skill .
A savant is what they call it . Yeah .
But usually when you're skilled like that at one thing , transitions to like other things . And so no , no , no , they remember . Like what you did , what you said to them , how you behaved , and so then you start seeing like Mike works , like mike works . Like , oh no , now I can see why he remembered being cut from the jv team . Because it's like he remembered .
You know , he remembered my name . I hadn't seen him in a week . You know what I'm saying . Like he's like that . You know what I mean . Like when you're maniacal like that and you're addicted to your craft , it's like , oh no , this is the motherfucker that remembered to do my drink . Like what's up , armand , how are you ? They process different .
It's another level . And Mike , yeah , mike , the coldest motherfucker I ever met , yeah . So we're going to close out this show talking about Pusha T , talking about the new Clips album . This appears to be a year where some of our OGs have been extending the process of telling us about their projects . I mean , outside of the Paris Fashion Week .
We really haven't heard any music from the clips . But Pusha said the album is done and they're just waiting on one more feature .
¶ Speculating on Clips' Album Feature
And so I don't want to talk about the project fellas , because I think the project is going to be great , but what I do want to speculate on is what feature is it that we're waiting ?
on . He looked dead in the camera when he said it .
So we're going to play like a little prognostication Nostradamus , not Nostradamus , not that Nostradamus . We're going to play like a little prognostication Nostradamus , not Nostradamus , not that Nostradamus . We're going to play a little Nostradamus on Hip Hop Talks before we slide .
And I want you gentlemen to tell me who do you think that they're waiting on , because this is kind of like a big deal , like the record from Till the Casket Drops . So if the album is done and they're just waiting on a feature , who is it that they're waiting on ?
I got two guesses . You care if I go from yeah , please , please all right . My first guess I don't think is the likely choice , but they already announced that nas was on the album and a lot of people may not know that nas was supposed to be on it's almost dry .
He was supposed supposed to be on Hear Me Clearly but never turned in his verse for it , you know , and Pusha's on record saying he , you know , asked for it multiple times . Nas never sent the verse back to him , but Nas was , you know , doing a lot during that time , Touring , you know , Hip Boy Run .
So , whatever , I do think they got the Nas verse , though , but I think the way he said it in the camera I'm gonna speculate that as Kanye , because the way he looked and how he said it was come on , dog , Like we're going to do we really doing this , Like turning your verse , Like I feel like whoever he was talking to , is a certain level of familiarity
there where he's like come on , man , you don't only hold up like sitting the verse in . So I actually do think it's Kanye . A lot of people think that they're like on the outs right now , but I do think that you know they communicate some and Kanye will be on the album . I think that's the last feature they're waiting on .
I can't say Kanye , I can't agree with that . I can't agree with that . I don't think Kanye is even in that space to hop on the Clips joint . Not like that , not like that .
Who do you got ?
Mike D or Mickey Fats , my bad , I'm drinking beet juice , my bad . Shout out to Mike D , mickey Fats , my bad , my bad , I was holding out my bad . Fellas , that was in poor taste . I apologize , but just imagine though , for real , mike D or Mickey Fats , this is what he does . Coop fast . This is what he does . This is what he does .
No , I think I got a wild card for y'all man . What if it's on ? What if it's Drake ?
ain't no way in hell . Ain't no way in hell what if it's Drizzy ?
what if it's Drizzy ? What if it's Drizzy ? I'm just wild card , wild card no way . Process of elimination . I can't see it being Ye . After all of that stuff , why would he do that to Ye ? Him , looking to the camera , is telling everybody this is a shocker . Ye , is not a shocker . I'm going to be honest with you .
I think that would be a shocker , ye is not a shocker .
I'm going to be honest with you . I think that would be a shocker because of the fallout .
Thank you , coop . Somebody is talking rationally .
I don't know what Sean is on thinking it's going to be Drake I mean Sean definitely hit the bottle when he was on hiatus from doing the show . I don't mean like a hiatus from doing the show , I mean the hiatus from where he just like disappeared from the show .
I'm just saying y'all really think that Ye would be a shocker . I think it would be more of a eh . They've collaborated too many times for me to feel like that's here looking at camera and said come on , man , we're waiting for you . I just I can't . I don't get that vibe from that . I get that for me , for the hip-hop fans .
This is who y'all want us to collaborate with .
I'm so disappointed .
Nobody asked for that , asked for what A Pusha T and a Drake collab .
No one asked for Kanye .
Nobody asked for Kanye either , no one asked for Kanye , but they're collaborators in general , yeah .
Fellas , I have to tell you , both of y'all disappoint me . I think you're missing obvious choice . Because I said obvious choice , you gonna say Jay .
Yes , sir , I can see that I can definitely see that more than Drake .
Let's take a step back . Let's take a step back . What would make this reunion album larger than life ? Well , if you can come back from a hiatus as a group , what do we talk about ? You have to be Well , people have to know who you are , and you have to be awesome . Well , the clips are both of those things , in my opinion .
But being able to secure a Nas feature and a Jay feature on the same album is still a big deal . It is still a big deal and , to the best knowledge of how it's been shared to me , the last couple of times , pusha T has gotten verses from Jay .
He's had to send Jay the stuff completed outside of Jay's verse , and so , because this process has happened before , I will tell you there is a track that is finished by the clips and it's just waiting on a j verse to sew it up , and j , probably being j and still being hyper and ultra competitive , has probably heard how quality that record is and wants to
do it justice , and has probably heard the naz joint that is done and and and you know I've known taj long enough , ag that it's like she took a tone with me on a text message to let me know that Nas wasn't the person whose verse wasn't done . I did ask .
So his verse has been done and has been turned in because I did ask and it's done and it's turned in . And that makes me speculate and say , well , jay's probably heard the Nas verse , he probably really likes this song that they sent him and he wants to take his time and make sure that he does it justice . And he's Jay , so he has word of the day .
Robbie Toss pulled up a Clips album for his verse . Sean's word .
It's our word now .
Sean doesn't have words . It's the first nice word since we started this podcast . You know what ? You know what Cool , I'm rolling , I'm rolling .
Sean doesn't have words . It's the first nice word since we started this podcast . You know what ? You know what ? Kool I'm rolling .
I'm rolling Like I didn't consider , jay , you couldn't hold this up . But he also said it wasn't .
Jay Push said it wasn't Jay . I don't believe that .
Sean just be making stuff up . No , he did , I'm good talking .
He said it wasn't Jay . He said it wasn't Jay . He said it wasn't Jay .
Well , let's just pretend it is Like if he does get Jay and Nas on the same album . That's only been not talking about a DJ Khaled album . That's only been done what twice Before ? Scarface on the Fix and Kanye on Late Registration .
Correct Both classics Timbaland .
Timbaland .
The Timbaland album . It's got Lobson , Scrimps and Timah .
Yeah .
We won't bring up that one . And the Neptunes album has Fronten and Popular Thug . I forgot about .
Popular Thug . Okay , so it's not as much of a Unicorn type situation as I was trying To make it out to be , but at any rate , no before , but think about the artists that I just named .
I can't say it word to everything . I cannot stand that dude think about the style of music . See why I say jay is that ? Think about the style of music that the clips make . Usually when nas and jay are the same project , a large mass production type of project it's a Khaled , it's a Pharrell , it's a Timbaland , it's a Kanye . This is the clips .
Yeah , I just can't see the music . It's more in the mud .
To be honest , I don't care who it is , and you know , nas is my favorite rapper rapper , so I'm looking forward to that , but the song that I really want to hear is the clips and the confirmed verse from Stove . That's going to be the one . Give me that .
Give me Benny , it could be .
Benny ? I don't think so . I think it'd be done if it was Benny . Yeah , I believe that . I think it has to be somebody important enough or legendary enough , or just notoriously late enough to put it on hold . Andre 3000 comes to mind now that I'm thinking about it .
How about Wayne ? Would that be ?
shock value . I think Wayne is more likely than Drake , but I don't think Wayne does it out of respect for Drake .
I can see that too .
But , but I'm rolling . I'm rolling with you , though , because you have a point , because this almost happened on the Ross album , and then the push a T verse got removed , so push a T wanted to , and people were anticipating hearing them both together .
So if push a T , we wanted to make good on that and say you know what , we'll ask Wayne to get on the song , then I think that's a possibility . I think Wayne is the Dark Horse candidate . Yeah , I'm rolling . Everything Coop said . I'm rolling , sean . Sorry , I ain't rolling with your takes .
I just said , Wayne , what are you talking about ?
I thought Coop said that . I thought Coop said that I'm just programmed to hate on what you say , sean , my fault .
There's nothing wrong with that , aj . You stick with your mission . Mad Max with the $199 Super Chat , says Luda had them on a song too . Mad Max is right , fellas . Luda had Nas in it .
Yeah , same song .
He got the Bass Toss joint with X . You know what I mean .
I was meaning it featured on two separate joints Versus , you know , on the same song , but yeah .
No , so any closing thoughts , arguments , gentlemen .
No Phenomenal .
I mean I think you know , I mean most of it was phenomenal because he left Um , that is Wow . I mean I think you know , I mean most of it was phenomenal because he left Wow , that is lit Wow . That was .
Mike D-ish . That was some Mike D stuff right there . Cool . This is Sean Sean J .
Not Sean J , this fool just say it's Sean J . Mad Max with the 199 Super Chat . It's just it just better , not super chat . It just better not dot . It just better , not dot .
I think he's saying the feature better not be dot , which that's Kendrick's best feature he's ever done , in my opinion Nostalgia .
I don't know , because that joint with him in the game the city Angels in the city , I think .
Nostalgia is better . I think Nostalgia is better . I think Nostalgia is better than the city .
He went crazy . Angels in the city .
He did , but Nostalgia is better .
Some said Sean Sean .
Sean , you got to leave . Some people said a cucumber , better pickle All right pause .
All right , let's wrap up the show we was at pause and that .
But when Coop was saying I saw Michael Jordan get chills up my spine .
Next time you take a break , you stay out of the stage .
But y'all saying pause . But Coop literally gave us a soliloquy about Michael Jordan , saying he had chills up his spine when he saw Michael Jordan First of all , and y'all didn't say pause , no one said pause to that .
That's Michael Jordan . That's different . That's what I'm trying to explain . If you would have been listening and paying attention to the goddamn story , you would have .
If you want to play that way , you play that way you struggling .
Break .
If you want to play that way , hold on , hold on , hold on , hold break if you don't play that way , hold on , hold on , hold on , hold on , because somebody just posted this in the chat . Did Dr Dre and Snoop turn in that album by September 1st to drop in November ? Sean ?
I don't think so .
I don't think so didn't he say September 1st ?
yeah he did have you seen or heard any news since the month of September started ?
No .
Nothing at all . Okay , I'm just checking . You was all with the coup they dropping . I'm like , yeah , okay . Let me know on September 1st . Let me know on September 1st . If it's dropping , it's September 4th . Where are they now ?
You're cool . I'm sorry I might be wrong on that one . I saw a picture of Dre in the studio . Not sure what that means Yo , we're doing another show tomorrow , right , but it's going to be like a special treat for the fans .
¶ NFL Pre-Game Entertainment Announcement
We actually about to hop and do that right now and post it for you guys tomorrow . We got a special show for y'all tomorrow . I think y'all will love this . This is an original idea that we're doing in light of the NFL kicking off tomorrow night . We plan to drop it right before the games . You guys have some entertainment before the game kick off .
I just want to throw that out there , because we're actually about to do that here real soon , no doubt and release it tomorrow . Anyone who want to hop in the backstage with us , can we do that ? Can we invite someone on the backstage and see how we create or curate ?
It depends on who it is .
If it's Mad Max , then it definitely depends on who it is .
If it's Tracy G . The answer is yes . It all depends upon the person .
Absolutely no freak show stuff . No freak and swords . No freak and swords , no freak and swords .
Yes , very easy . Make sure y'all click , like and subscribe to the page , be looking out for our show that we're having tomorrow . Kind of get the NFL kicked off . Three of us are about to take a brief break and then get back to recording . Salute . This is Hip Hop Talks y'all .
We out Peace .