Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Coming up on this week's episode of Hip Hop Now podcast,
Jay Z's Imaginary Players, streaming is up because of Cardi B.
Favi Ofarign tries to help Jim Jones's NOADS narrative and
it fails. And my reviews of the new albums from
Chance to Rapper and Ghost Face Killer Straight Up and Down.
(00:22):
Let's get it started, wil Welcome to Jipop Now. Hoot
fat Mass. If you from the future, you know what
to do. Get your ass out of so disrespect the
leg hip hop is here to today. Let's get rightful
(00:45):
too the business. What up, y'all? I am your host Vegas.
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big shout out to hip HOPDX, dot com, X Twitter,
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where I'm getting some of my stories from. Let's get
(04:52):
right to the business stuff. Jay Z's Imagine every Players
saw a resurgence in Billboard as well as streaming up
to three hundred percent higher than previously. Imaginary Players is
one of the standout records on jay z sophomore album
(05:14):
that to me, is very divisive. It's not a classic,
it's a relax but as some people say it was
his wackiest album, that's not true because some of jay
Z's greatest songs are on this album. And it's not
like one or two. It's a couple of them. You
know of at least a couple that I like, but
(05:34):
Imaginary Players is one of them. And recently Cardi B,
who is getting a new album ready, released her version
of Imaginary players, basically using the same beat, same concept
as jay Z, where in jay Z's original record he
was talking about you know guys who were saying, you know,
(05:57):
they got money, but they really don't pretend, and you know,
naming all these things like where's the humma at that
you talked about in your rats? But it's not around
those ain't rolex diamonds? What you've done to that? Right,
saying I got diamonds in my rolex, but when jay
Z sees it, it's not up to snuff. So it was.
It was a flex type song. It also was a
(06:18):
diss to Mace. He did he dismays twice on two albums,
right he this some more hard knocked life. But this
was also like a lot of subliminals towards Mace. So
it was it was a lot of you know, it
was a very dope record back then. What Cardi B
did was her version of that, and it's pretty dope
(06:40):
now what she says, she had a line, uh she Now,
this is a family podcast. I know some may have
seen me on other podcast cursing, but not here. Okay,
not this one. We cussed on the last one. Not again, okay,
but she said a line like, y'all, glory glory holes.
(07:01):
You don't know who you fing with, that's a bar, okay.
And if you don't know what a glory hole is,
I'm not really going to tell you. I'll just say this.
If you go to google it, put it on private
because you don't know what's going to come up on
your screen. Do not do it at work, do it
(07:21):
on your phone, and you can't get rid of it.
Don't do any of that. If anything, the safest way
is just to ask somebody you know. Okay, the best
thing you can do is ask somebody you know. But
it's still a bar, and you know. Obviously, the streams
went up because there are a number of fans of
(07:43):
Cardi B who probably never heard the original, and then
when they heard it was a jay Z record who
they do know, and they, for some reason they think
Beyonce made them famous, which is crazy. They went and
looked it up and to listen to the original, maybe
to compare them. For those of us who heard it,
(08:05):
we might have went back and said, y'all, I want
to run this back and listen to it again. I
haven't heard that song in a while. I haven't heard
that album in a while. So nevertheless, jay Z benefited
from Cardi b doing this over, but more importantly, she
did an excellent job, Like that was just one bar gave.
But again, if you think of the essence of the
(08:26):
original and what jay Z was saying and who he
was talking about in that original, I mean, what do
you want? You know what I'm saying? What more do
you want? Maam? Like, at the end of the day,
it is what it is, So I enjoyed it. I
(08:47):
don't think this will be any indication of what her
album will be. So if you're feeling like, WHOA, that
record was crazy, I think I'm gonna go check out
what Cardi has to offer. It's not going to be
all that, right, not going to be a bunch of
bars and stuff like that. Maybe a couple of other
records will be, but that one in particular, that's just
(09:08):
what it is, So enjoy it for what it is. Next,
So the dude Fabio Faran appeared on Jim Jones's new podcast.
Maybe that's why he kept saying all the nonsense he
was saying, but he essentially said that he couldn't really
(09:28):
spit a nas bar. The only I think he said
the only record he knew was one mic or that
he was familiar with. Now, keep in mind, Faiofarhan was
on NAS's album that came out not that long ago,
five years ago to be exact, King's Disease Won, which
(09:50):
is crazy because it seemed now he now, I watched
him say this, right, so I didn't take quotes based
off of what he said, even though I think I
have a quote here. Yeah, he says, all right, let's
just get the quote. This is on hip Hop d
x dot com. You can find an interview on or
(10:12):
the clip of the interview on Jim Jos's Instagram page.
I know somebody's saying, right now, why would I follow
Jim Jones. Hey, he dropped a new album this year.
I kind of like it. I'm just saying, but this
is what fabio'faran said. I'm not saying that the man
is whack. He's he's he's a legend. Wait. I was
(10:34):
confused because it looked like he said he's not a legend. Okay,
I'm not saying that the man is whack. He's not
a legend. I got a song with the N word.
I got a song on the album, and the album
got a Grammy, but I can't sit there and say
a NAS bar to you or a song I like
(10:55):
one mic. So that's what he said. Now, part of
me is not upset about it from the standpoint of,
you know, him being younger than some of us. Right, You,
certain things weren't on the radio. Even if NAS was
(11:16):
dropping albums. That didn't mean like because Fabio Farns from
New York, that didn't mean like NAS was being played
all over the radio. And why like that? Honestly, it
wasn't that culture of catching the latest bars and hip
hop on New York radio. You sometimes you don't even
get that on Funk Master Flex show anymore at night.
(11:38):
So I get it if the attention was on other
artists for him, right, but at some point as a
guy because he's an artist, also as a guy who
does this verything in hip hop and NAS is still active,
it's just irresponsible to say again, he's saying he's whack.
(12:00):
He's not saying that he's not a legend. He's just
saying that, you know, he couldn't spit a bar. Now,
let me just say this, he's there to say that
in Jim Jones's case, to support Jim Jose's case of
the kids know my music, but they don't know NAS.
(12:21):
To Jim Jones, that makes them relevant. Jim Jones, I
like your album, but you will never be You've never made,
never spit one bar, You've never had any impact close
to NAS. And the fact that the kids know your
music is a little bit more disturbing, not because your
music is better or more popular, but because you dressed
(12:44):
like them and you kind of act like them. I
say all that to say, you're kind of immature. So
there's a way now. Again, Dipsett had their impact later,
so that plays a role, and Jim Jimmy was a
part of that, and he wasn't a whack part of that.
Like I'm not even going to try to pretend that either.
(13:05):
He wasn't. But at the same time, we know why
this is circulating because it got him some attention, and
here's somebody who can prove his point. Now here's the
other thing. Fafio Farren is whacked in me. He is like,
he's not a good rapper to me. Now, he was
(13:26):
kind of a good actor. When I saw him on
what was it? Canaan? I thought he was good like
and even though he was playing the rapper, he had personality,
And I'm not saying you should quit rapping. There are people
obviously like him, but I felt like when I heard
every time I heard him, he wasn't good and I
(13:48):
like pop smoke better. Like pop smoke to me, had
the voice, the cadence, the allure, like he kind of
just pop smoke. Felt like he was Now I know,
Pause God's but he was touching Pause other generations with
his music because I know a lot of people from
my era who kind of liked pop smoke also. But
(14:12):
Faviofarign is just too basic. Jim is better than him.
Jimmy's way better than him to me, you know what
I'm saying. So that's the other thing. Your taste in
hip hop is probably tied to your ability in hip hop. Right.
I can't do what NASA is doing, so my interest
(14:33):
is kind of But Jimmy talks the stuff that I like,
and I grew up on dipset, so maybe it's that.
So I'm not trying to make excuses for him. I'm
not trying to kill him for it. I'm just giving
my opinion. I don't think he's that good of a rapper.
I don't think he's lying about what he's saying about
(14:54):
Nas as far as him not knowing, but the fact
that a hit boy run just happened and it wasn't
just us, It wasn't just the old heads that was
going crazy. I saw it. You can go to YouTube
now you see cats younger than five or foreign listening
to Elmatic and loving it. So stop even putting that
(15:15):
information out there, like, oh, he's a legend, but I
don't really listen to it, because that says to the
kids who don't even know who Nas is, he's not
worth my time because the guy I liked him, it
seems stupid. And lastly, so because I did a special
bonus episode of this podcast, I was almost not going
(15:39):
to do an episode and I probably won't have one
next week. If you're from the future, what are you
talking about, Get your ass out of head? This already
is probably already October, okay, But I wasn't going to
do an episode this week, but I had to because
I felt like two albums went by that I least
(15:59):
needed to put my review out there. And the first
one we're going to talk about is Chance to Rapper's
brand new album entitled star Line. This is the third
album for Chance to Rapper. Obviously he wanted Grammy for
excuse me. His debut which used to be talked about
(16:21):
as a mixtape. But just like Section eighty now they're
trying to say it's an album. Dog. They were saying
mixtape when it dropped. Okay, but Coloring Book, which to me,
I'm not gonna hold you, that's a classic. To me,
that's a classic album. No bar king, relax, it's not
(16:41):
barred up and nobody's getting shot and drinking and standing
on the block. It's just a really good album musically,
his rapping and all that. It's great. If you never
checked it out, check it out. Good variety in hip hop.
His last album dropped and I forget the name is
the one where he's holding like a clear CD. Understand that,
but I don't care about that part. Most people didn't
(17:03):
like it. They felt like it was lackluster. I liked it.
I thought it was cool. I like Chance to Rap.
I like him, you know what I'm saying. I don't
know him personally, but I like his voice. I like
his style of rapping. He's out of Chicago. If you
didn't know, I like this song choices most of the time,
(17:26):
I like the beats. So going into a third album
where I feel like one is a classic and this
one was good. What does this new album, star Line
sound like? So before we get into that, I just
need to let the new people know. So people who
been here just chill. You already know what I'm gonna say.
But this is my review scale. I basically give the
(17:51):
album three listens, right, three listens off the rip to
basically one get my first impressions. Just listen to the
album whatever, whatever's there, just listen. My second listen is
typically to listen intently, listen to the lyrics, beats, the concept,
(18:13):
all that good stuff. And the third listen is just
to confirm my thoughts. So star Line Chance to Rapers
third album. They're about seventeen songs. Total runtime is an
hour and eight minutes. Total features include Gough or Die,
(18:35):
bj the Chicago Kid, and Vic Minster, Joey Badass, Young
Thug is on here, Lil Wayne's on here, Jay Electronicas
on here, Jasmine Sullivan. It's a roster of people. And
for those who need to quick review. When I was
done with my three listens, it's another good album. Now,
(18:57):
I feel like it starts off really and then somewhere
in the middle. I kind of got to the point,
especially on the third list and where it was like
one or two tracks, I was like, I'll probably skip
those because even though again songs are meaningful, whatever's there
(19:17):
is meaningful. I felt like some of the sonic ground
had already been covered in the first couple of records,
or also it didn't feel like it matched the tone
of what was set, because the tone of what was
set went on for so long that I felt like,
this is the vibe of the album. Oh wait a minute,
(19:39):
there's a whole other vibe happened in that. So it
was one of those, and I noticed that happened with
a couple of rappers recently that I listened to. Where
it's somewhere in the middle, things start to switch up
and we don't know if it's going to go downhill
from there or be a roller coaster or stayed the course.
(20:00):
With this album, I feel like it's more of a
roller coaster towards that middle park to the end. But
there's way more songs on here I like than not.
I think it's I think it's a great album. I
think it's the comeback that I assume so most of
his fans would want based off of his second album. Again,
(20:23):
I liked it, but I know a lot of people
who didn't like. That was a common saying about his
second album. Yeah, we don't like it. Let me just
say the name, because that's driving me crazy that I'm
not saying the name of the album when I could
just look it up right here. The Big Day that
was the name of it. And I think that was
(20:43):
a double album. Yeah, basically twenty two songs. So his
last album was in twenty nineteen. So if you like
Chance to Rapper and you were kind of so so
on the last album from him, check this one out.
I think it's good. I think it's one of the
better albums of the year. But again, when it comes
(21:04):
to that list, it's going things are going to shift
because it's getting crazy now. There's so many albums on
the way. We don't know if some things will stay
that Clip's album staying in my top five, know what
I'm saying. Next up, Highly Anticipated. We waited, waited and
(21:25):
waited when we heard about it. We heard different things
about the album. It's been in the works for a
long time. Supreme Clientele two by ghost Face just dropped.
It is the third release in Mass Appeals seven Icons
seven albums. I think Mob Deep is up next, either
Mob Deep or Big L but I think it's Mob Deep.
(21:49):
But now Well, first we got Slick Ray, then we
got Ray Kwan, and now we get his partner in
Ryn ghost Face Killer. On this album. There are twenty
two tracks including skits, but the album is only fifty minutes.
(22:09):
Features include Method Man, Nim Sun God, Jizza's on here, obviously,
Ray Kwan's on his styles, p Conway, the Machine, Mop
and Nas is on this album. And for those who
need to quick review, it is a good album. It
(22:33):
is not Supreme Clientele too. I only say that because
the tone of this album feels less like Supreme, feels
less like a Supreme Clientele sequel, and it feels more
like a sequel to Fish Scare, like the types of
(22:54):
records you know what I'm saying, Like I don't know.
It feels in that lane Bulletproof, while it's felt more
like a Seek the original, not what Sony released with
all songs missing in tracks out of order and all
that garbage that they messed up talk about the original
track listing that felt like a sequel to Supreme Clientele.
(23:15):
He could have called that Supreme Clientele too, and I
would have been like, yeah it is, whereas this one
feels like it's fish scale too or pretty tony, like
you know what I'm saying. Or he could have just
gave it a different name, a new name. This could
have been Set the Tone. His last album called Set
(23:36):
the Tone had some records on it, but then there
was some experiments towards the end and it just wasn't good.
This probably should have been Set the Tone, because this
is the ghost we know and love. Yes, if you
heard me talk about it before, Gruff Voice ghost faces here,
But so is the other ghost because there's a lot
(23:57):
of these records were recorded a long time ago, and
his voice was different. It was what you remember. But
I'm also not mad at Gruff Voice Ghosts, and I
think that has to do a little bit with I
think there's more personality on this album, and you know
what else? Does it make this Supreme Clientele too? I
(24:20):
remember Ghost said he was in Africa or something like that,
and he watched the performance or saw a performance in
how like their patterns or whatever. I don't know if
somebody was singing or chanting or whatever, and he started
to do that, and that's where he came up with
those rhyms where he was just saying a bunch of
(24:40):
different words together. Fans think it means something. Ghosts Face
himself said it does not. I was just rhyming words
that's not on here. That to me is what doesn't
make it a sequel to Supreme Clientele too, because that
played such a huge role and why that album was
so dope. Again, this album isn't whack, but it's good
(25:06):
standouts for me. I like the Curtis made joint with
Styles P and Conway. The Machine Ghost does his thing,
Styles get busy, conwayed Conway get really busy on this joint.
I like the record Forth Disciple Windows Georgie Porgi. I
(25:27):
knew it was probably gonna have the beat that's been
used a million times, but I didn't expect Ghosts to
sing the hook. But I don't think I would have
liked it if they got an R and B person
to sing a hook, So I don't know. Maybe that
was one that could have stayed Break Beats. His Hot
(25:49):
beat Box might be my favorite I'm not even gonna lie.
I really liked that joint. And what else. I like
the single Meta Metaphysics Love Me More with NAS's School also,
but overall, and there's one joint I forget the name now, oh,
the Trial, which features Ray Kwon, Method Man and jizzb.
(26:14):
It's a concept type thing. But what I like a lot.
I really like forth disciple because it's almost like a sequel.
Remember on the into the thirty six Chambers, when you
know somebody got shot, like Ghosts is real good, unfortunately
at describing somebody being outside. In this case, I guess
it was his homie and he's, you know, he got
(26:36):
shot and he's dying, and ghost is describing the scenery.
But he's also telling you his thoughts and why, like
I need you not to die right now, you know,
for these reasons. He's really good at that, and he
does it again on his album. And I think this
album got the songs for the ladies. You know, he
(26:57):
got concepts, like I said, with the Trial, And also
there was one of the things, the skits. Now with
ray Kuon's album, he had a bunch of skits also,
but those Ray Kwon skits sometimes just be whatever, like
like what it was it long bid cop or something
like that, like Office a long Bid, Like they just
(27:20):
he just make them up and sometimes they're funny because
they're kind of ridiculous. Ghosts skits were definitely funny. And
remember Supreme Clientele had some classic skits on it, right.
I didn't mind the ghost skits as much, I think
because I thought they were funnier. Right, Like, he got
(27:43):
one that's talking about pause and he's making a statement
about it, and I think it's funny. You know, now,
what happens when I'm listening to this album again and
again and again, some of them might get skipped. I
don't know if I did that on Supreme Clientele. But again,
(28:04):
I feel like Supreme Clientele two it is not necessarily
a worthy successive, but it's not a whack album. It's
a good album. I think it's also one of the
better albums of the year. It's going to be tough,
like between Ray Kuon and Ghosts right now, being part
(28:25):
of the seven y'all know I felt about Slick Ray.
I'm sorry. I love Slick Ray, but Chat just didn't
do it for me. But Rey and Ghosts albums, it'll
be tough to bump them out of the top ten
for me because the top ten I have so far, right,
or the top fifteen that I have so far, some
(28:48):
of those things were there because they were just the
best albums that had dropped since the New year. But
I think we're starting to get more content that's pretty dope,
and the more that it drops, the more I'm inclined
to go back and listen to whatever record I'm about
to bump out for this record, and vice versa. By
the end of the year, I'll have my list and
(29:11):
it'll be definitive, and I have my reasons why. But
Supreme Clientele two, it's a good album. It's better than
Ghost's last album, set the Tone, hands down. But if
you are expecting a truer life one to one Supreme
Clientele two, no, I feel like Only Built for Cuban
(29:35):
Links Too was a better sequel to rate Kwan's debut
than Supreme client Tel two is to Supreme Clientele? But
what do you think? Did you hear ghost Faces brand
new album Supreme Clientele two? Did you hear a Chance
to Rappers new album star Line? Leave your review in
(29:57):
the common section below. You can follow me on social
media at Vegas World, I n C. And please know
that you can subscribe in oil form. If you don't
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(30:18):
have merch and all kinds of things that can support
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click the link on the screen. I think you can
try it, but if not, the link is in the
description of this episode. Until next time, y'all. I'm not
a critic, I'm a fan. Pace