July 3, 2025 • 33 mins
On this week's episode, slept on albums in your favorite artists catalog! Let's talk about it!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Coming up on this week's episode of Hip Hop Now Podcast,
it is slept on albums in some of my favorite
artists catalogs. That wasn't difficult to understand, was it? Let
us do it? Welcome to hip Hop Now Pop Fast.
(00:26):
If you from the future, you know what to do.
Get your ass out of so disrespect the leg hip
hop is say this today. Let's get right into the business.
What up, y'all? I am your host Vegas and this
is hip Hop Now Podcasts, a bonus episode of Hip
(00:46):
Hop Now Podcast, brought to you by the subscribers the
supporters of this podcast first and foremost in audio form
on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast listening.
Thank you for subscribing, and also right here on YouTube
if you're watching. We are on the road to about
(01:08):
fifteen thousand subscribers, which sounds crazy saying it considering last
year the goal was one thousand, But here we are.
Regardless of how you got here, whether it's shorts, the
weekly podcasts, bonus episodes, whatever it may be, we appreciate
you being here and coming through. Share with your friends.
(01:29):
Hit that notification button if you want to know when
there's a new episode. Coming out. It's pretty easy I
do it. Put it this way, man, I watch YouTube
like it's television. I'm not lying. I'm subscribed to all
kinds of sports channels, hip hop, video games, film, and
all I do is see what everybody dropped hit that
(01:53):
watch later and when I'm in a gym or like
at some point in the house or whatever it may be.
I just watched it videos I was interested in. So
if you subscribe to a ton of channels, including this one,
do the same here, and don't be afraid to go
back and watch older content. Because I have a series
called Tale of the Tapes. Well, I'll tell stories about
(02:14):
cassette tapes that I purchased back in the day that
I still have originals, not this new stuff, original original
illmatic right behind me, from back then ninety four, sitting
back there. You know what I'm saying, stuff like that,
if you enjoy content like that, whether it's from a
(02:35):
learning perspective, right, Yo, I wasn't even born in ninety four.
I was born in two thousands. But you know, I'm
going back to the nineties to watch it. You know,
if you were around and you were like yo, I
just like nostalgia stuff like this, like the shirt I
got it right now. Everybody who knows me knows Ice
(02:55):
Cubes Death Certificate is my favorite hip hop album of
all time. Do I rank it as the best? I
don't know. I don't think so. You know what I'm saying.
I did a top five before, But for me, things
like that change. You go back and listen to albums again.
You realize an album that maybe wasn't your favorite but
(03:17):
you liked it. You realize it's age like fine Wine,
and you're like, yo, this might low key be the
greatest hip hop album of all time. That's not illmatic.
You know, for some people it's illmatic. But to me,
if I'm a guest right here on the spot, you
put me on the spot, I would say, don't hold
me to it. But I really feel like public enemies.
(03:40):
It takes a nation of millions to hold his back.
Could be the best hip hop album of all time.
I wouldn't argue you down if you said it wasn't
and you said something like Illmatic or Run deem Ceased,
Raising Hell or give rich a Die Trine or whatever
the albums that people hold up to being like the
(04:03):
best of all time. But today we're here to do
something a little bit different. I don't necessarily see lists
like this, or at least this variation of a list,
but today we're doing slept on catalog albums. So I
went ahead and I thought of like five MC's who
(04:27):
catalog I have most of the music, and now they
have these, you know, they have longer catalogs of music right,
and their albums in their catalog that over time people
forget how dope the album was, so they essentially become
slept on. So it's not to say that when the
album dropped it was slept On or that or anything
(04:51):
like that. It's to say that when you go back
and you take into account someone's catalog, especially if they're
a dope artists, it was made you know, classics and
multiple good albums. There are really good albums that people
just forget about. They just don't get mentioned. Because when
you've done like fifteen albums, you know, there's the ones
(05:14):
that people know like that's the classic, and then there's
those that they don't always name that we forget how
dope it was. So I only have five, no particular order,
and I'm gonna share my screen on the video sign.
So you could just watch me work. Okay, let me
just make sure we're gonna do some switch rules real
(05:35):
quick with the sharing of the screen. I wanted to
have this available or ready beforehand. But nah, that's not
what we're doing. Y'all see that. Maybe I need to
move my logo. Nah, not necessarily. That is good enough.
(05:58):
Let's just move over o bit that's all. Boom, there
we have it. So what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna
just go through and my first one, my first album
is Eric B and Rock eems Don't Sweat the Technique. Now,
if you're looking at the screen, let me see if
(06:19):
I can go to the page. Apple Music has it
down as one of their essential albums. Now, if you
go to social media and lists and stuff like that,
you almost never see that album listed as one of
the essentials. But I think it's incredibly slept on. What
(06:43):
did you say? Real quick? The fourth and final Eric
B and Rock album, nineteen ninety two's Don't Sweat the
Technique arrived just six years after the duo transformed the
sound of hip hop thanks to Rockiem's Incomparable or Incomparable
I guess Ron Kraft and Eric Bee's Clatterie James Brown loops.
(07:07):
I thought that was like Marley Maul and Lunch Professor whatever.
If don't sweat the technique, the musicians closed out their
game change and run with jazz samples, head cracking snares,
soulful horns, and manic tempos. Like we're not going to
read all of that. But I think this has slept
(07:28):
on because I remember back when It's dropping ninety two,
that's when I was giving my little money to go
buy albums and stuff like that. And I remember with
this album in particular, it was the first time I
had the opportunity to buy a brand new Eric Being
Rock cam with my own money. Right. All those other
(07:50):
albums that dropped, I wound up having them sometimes secondhand,
you know, like somebody gave me a copy or whatever.
But I was never able to like, Oh, Eric Being
Rock Caim got new album Let Me Go By. This
was my first time, so there was a little bit
more of an attachment to this album for me, and
the album was very different. I mean, you see the
(08:11):
album cover, right, that's like in living color, you know,
back then this is the nineties. All the colors, you know,
kind of like Black Pride, and all of that also,
But when I started playing it, one of the things
that drew me to even wanting this album was because
it sounded different from what I was used to from them.
(08:33):
And the lead single was What's on Your Mind Right,
which is a sample curious by I can't remember the
name of the group from the eighties, which you know,
some people didn't like, some people did. But to me,
the way rock Hem is flowing over that beat like this,
(08:55):
that's one of rock Him's best songs ever, to be honest, right,
we know paid and for a follow like we know
all them joints, but the way he's rapping and this
is this is like a rockins version of a love
record and it's still like boom backed out. I like
the drums on it, like it's really dope and rock
(09:15):
Him saying some dope stuff, you know, a master on
the mike. But what I liked about this album a
lot was the infusion of the jazz samples. And this
was around the time ninety two, ninety three or whatever,
ninety one, you know, between Tribe, Gangstar and all of that.
This was like sound There were a lot of jazz samples, like,
(09:36):
for example, don't sweat. The technique got a lot of
horns in it. This album has a lot of joints
man like I like teach the children, and a lot
of that had to do with just bars. There are
a lot of bars on here if you read or
listen to the audio version of rock Him's what you
(09:57):
call it biography. What I liked what he did in
the book was he talked a lot about songs and
song like lyrically, like in depth, right, like breaking down
his own verses and where he was when he wrote it,
what was his mind thinking about why he put the
(10:17):
worst together in the way he did. And he did
like a song or two off of each album. And
when he got to this, I don't think it was
Teached the children. I think it was the other record,
Casual TV the War. I like that joint that had
some good horns on it. Rest a sure relaxed the
pep keep the beat, oh my god, keep the beat fire.
(10:41):
You know what I'm saying, and like we all know
if you can see it. No, the ledges on this
album wasn't just on the Juice soundtrack. It was also
on this album. So I think just to start this off,
Eric B and Rock ems don't sweat. The technique needs
to be mentioned more when you're talking about every beat
(11:04):
and rock Him's run because in a lot of ways
it's not better than Paid in Full, that's like bulletproof,
but in a lot of ways it's more complete than
the other albums he dropped prior to this. It just
is like, you know, it's just better songs, not necessarily
just beat wise, right, because that's that's a debate, right,
(11:28):
and I'm not saying it is, but that's a debate
whether you prefer the beats on those albums versus this.
But as far as like a complete album where rock
Hem is just in a pocket that's comfortable, and we
know he's comfortable because the brother has a jazz background,
so he knew what he was doing, he knew how
(11:49):
to rap to him. There you have it. The next
one I have up on my list is Out of
Commons catalog and that being and if you know me,
if you watched or listen to my podcast, you probably
know what I'm going to say. It's not listened as
(12:10):
an essential, so relaxed, but it's here and it's called
Finding Forever. Now, there's some people who are just like me,
they feel like, well, yeah, everybody thought this was dope,
this was the follow up to Be. But I swear
it's only a few people who ever mention it. When
(12:31):
they're talking about Common, it's like they it's rightfully, so
they only mentioned one day. It all makes sense if
they do, and then like water for chocolate, and then
they go right to be. And that's like the three
app Common albums that always get mentioned. And he has
more than that in this catalog, but this one, this
(12:54):
one was special. Let's read a little bit of a description.
When Common and Kanye West link up, they bring out
each other's soulful sides. The eight tracks Kanye produced on
Finding Forever are full of ventage samples, crooning gospel choirs,
and fresh R and B hooks, all of which beautifully
(13:14):
underpin commons thoughtful rhymes. Now that description sounds whack because
because it feels like, well, what do you mean crooning
in and gospel and R and B? Like is this
a hip hop album? In a lot of ways, I
listened to this more than I listened to B because
(13:36):
B was almost like a statement, right, like let's just
get in the studio, get you back in pocket. Common
after Electric circus and take what's the best of what
we've done and put it on the album, and you know,
you back out right, you out here. This was more refined.
(13:58):
This was taking b in saying Okay, now we're gonna
make an album. You back in pocket. You had to
come back. Now it's time to make an album album.
And in two thousand and seven, that version of Kanye
to Kanye that everybody say they went back right, we
ain't coming back, did his thing on this project, along
(14:21):
with having a Dila joint on him. But when you
go through, it's only thirteen songs, it's under an album
an hour. This album just sounds so great, the mixture
of Kanye's beats and his contributions. Like on south Side,
which is a dope record, it feels a lot like
(14:47):
b on some songs, But then it also feels a
lot like the five of One Day. It all makes
sense along It just kind of felt like those three
albums I mentioned right, One Day It all makes sense,
like Water for Chocolate and Beat Finding Forever sounds like
if you just took a combination of all of those
(15:08):
and put it on one album. Right, That's how it
sounds and feels again, so far to go with Common
and D'Angelo, which also appeared on Jay Dillar because he
did the beat. Jay Diller's album The Shining Break My
Heart reminds me of something that would have been on B.
Maybe it was planned to be on B. It's just
(15:30):
a lot the people right kind of reminds you of
the corner. But the people I love the people that
beat listen again. When this album dropped, most heads thought
it was dope, like I said, But as time has
gone on and we've gotten other projects good or bad
(15:53):
from Common, the consensus and most people minds when they
say his dopest projects, they usually go to those other three.
I said. For somebody who's never heard comments catalog, they
would be missing out if they never heard Finding Forever.
Like me personally, when this album dropped, it was in
(16:16):
heavy rotation like be was in heavy rotation for me.
But there was like a song or two I would
skip because it always felt disjoined after a while, because
it didn't feel like an album, just felt like a
collection of songs that were just happy to have Common
back and form that we weren't graded on a scale.
(16:38):
From a brother who's released some really complete albums, and
this was him returning back to something that to me
felt like. Now, this is the comment. I know this
is complete. He's in the pocket the beats. This is perfect.
Leave your comment in a comment section below, not only
about the two albums I mentioned, but with Common. Do
(17:01):
you feel like he was best with No Ide Dilla
or Kanye West. I'm not answering that question, but y'all
can in the comment section. All right, let's get into
the next one, because we don't need this to be
a long episode. Next up, I'm gonna go to somebody
(17:24):
more on the newer side of things, Conway the Machine,
and you'll be surprised because I know sometimes people think,
oh yo, it is this is that, But for me,
it's this album from twenty twenty one, right, that's kind
(17:46):
of pandemic, is kind of lockdown ish. Lob Makina, I
think that's how you said, love Makina. I hope so
correct me in the common section below. But I remember
when this dropped and I gave it my you know,
I gave it the quick listen, and I believe he
(18:07):
dropped a couple of projects. Let's see, real quick. I
believe he dropped a couple of projects that year. Now
he only really dropped two If It Bleeds It Can
Be Killed. I didn't really like that one as much,
and that was coming off of loving from King to
a God, Like I love that album. But when this
(18:30):
joint dropped first in twenty twenty one, If It Bleeds
it Can Be Killed, I was just kind of like, eh,
not as good as I thought. But when Lamkina dropped,
I was like, yo, this is kind of return to
form of that Griselda sound. I think it was more
so the bars. Let me not say to Gazelda sound.
(18:52):
I think just the bars Conways bars on this album
are crazy. Like he has so many instances on his
own projects where it almost feel wasteful that he got
so many moments of dope songs, dope versus dope bars
all together, and sometimes they land on projects that most
(19:15):
people aren't really checking for. And I feel like this
particular project didn't get talked about as much in twenty
twenty one. Don't get me wrong, some people did, but
as time went on again, like I said, when people
think about their favorite Conway to Machine projects, I just
(19:37):
don't hear about this one that much. And I think
its slept on for a number of reasons, and it
had a couple This is when he was introducing his
drum work Squad, so they had a couple of tracks.
This is when I first heard the Well. First of all,
this song is crazy since the Abagat. I wish I
could play it, but I don't want no strikes. But
(19:58):
it was the first time I heard Love the Genius,
and I was like, yo, I like her because she
got a voice like Hurricane G. But rest in peace
Hurricane G. But I think she's just nicer with it.
And obviously at the end there's the Griselda you know,
Posse couple, Westside Gun and Benny the Butcher. But even
(20:19):
like Bruise of Brody was crazy clarity. Two hundred pods
with two chains, don't sleep on two chains. When two
chains know it's about bars, he brings the bars. When
it's about trap, he'll go do the trap thing. But
he's shown on a number of occasions. If y'all want bars,
(20:40):
I could be there on any track with anybody. But again,
this isn't a this wasn't a long album. Well actually
it's eleven songs forty minutes, still under an hour. But
if you've never heard this Conway the Machine Project. I'm
not saying it's doper than like Rejects two or whatever,
(21:01):
but I think it deserves to get mentioned as some
of his better projects. Because I wore it out in
twenty twenty one. I might listen to it today because
it's been a while. I'm just saying, all right, two
more next up. This one is from a legend in
the game, from the legendary routine Klan the Jizz like
(21:27):
most people, and I wasn't on strike or anything like
that when it happened. But Liquid Swords Drop, which is
a classic, and Beneath the Surface, which is actually a
pretty good album, but it was a little underwhelming coming
off of Liquid Swords, and then I kind of checked
(21:47):
out after that, and then somebody put me on to
pro Tubes, which released in twenty thirteen. Now you're talking
about really being into jizz a heavy in the mid nineties,
and in the late nineties, he drops an album and
I'm a little underwhelmed, and I never really come back
(22:09):
to anything he's doing. I don't know what he's dropped, like,
I don't know anything. And somebody says, Yo, just a
got an album called pro Tools and I'm like, oh,
that's a dope title. It's just a what can we expect?
Those face gets a lot of credit for maintaining and
(22:30):
carrying on the Wu Tang sound, which I agree, and
I think in a lot of ways that brought Raykon
back to that sound eventually. And trust me, Raykon has
more albums that are dope than not, and Mobilarity is
his worst. But besides that, everything else is either good
or great. But there is one that's made that came later,
(22:55):
But this to me was more in line with that
wou sound Jizzus pro Tools too bad. That is not
a write up for it. But with that being said,
you know some of the usual suspects Ahead Master killing Rizza.
Check this out. Twenty thirteen short race featuring Rock Marciano.
(23:18):
Y'all know, y'all love him. True Master was on here.
Who else from the ru Rizz is on here again.
He even had a song like labels, remember like how
he was doing that or whatever called alphabets, which was crazy.
This album is an album that sounds like the wool.
(23:41):
So for those when I say slept on, for those
who like man I checked out after Liquid Swords, I
see all those other albums. I feel like this. Some
people even talk about the Jizza and Mugs joint more
than they'll talk about anything else. It's liquid swords and
maybe you get them talking about the album he has
(24:02):
with DJ Muggs. But Pro Tools to me, which was
his last out solo album, was really good and a
lot of people haven't heard it, which is crazy. So
if you find a time, check out Jesus pro Tools.
It's a very dope album. I like it. I go
(24:23):
back to it frequently, you know, every now and again. Again,
everything is there, the bars, the production, and when you're talking,
just the intelligence because he's like one of the intelligent rappers.
You feel like you get smarter when you hear him talk.
So that's that. And lastly, and this one may be controversial,
(24:48):
but I'm gonna tell you how I feel the way
I feel. This is jay Z. And you see these
essential albums here. Now, they probably got every jay Z
album day and then listit as essential. But this one,
most hip hop heads think it's garbage, but it's not
(25:10):
Blueprint three. Well, the Blueprint series isn't what it probably
should have been, right. I think the first Blueprint is
a classic, the second Blueprint was a little bit of
a disappointment. It was a double album, and honestly, if
he paired it down to the best songs, I think
(25:32):
it would have been pushing that classic status. Also, he
eventually did it with some like Blueprint two point one,
but that don't count. You don't get to do a duover.
But he was doing what we said. Blueprint three was
a very different time. It's two thousand and nine and
jay Z's out here, and in two thousand and nine
was when the Big Three were around, and the Willets
(25:55):
and the Meek Mill. It was like a new generation.
So read a little bit about it. By the time
the Blueprint three arrived in two thousand and nine, jay
Z's relationship to rap had gotten complicated. He'd headlined rock
oriented festivals like Glastonbury I think that's how you say that,
and materialized at shows by Brooklyn bands like Grizzly Bed,
(26:18):
saying he hoped indie rock might help shake up what
he saw as the stagnancy of hip hop, which is
crazy to say that. I didn't even know he said that.
Maybe that's why the head taped this album. The Blueprint
three positions him as an elder statesman of rap, one
who condemns trends death of alter tune y'all remember that,
(26:41):
but who isn't afraid of the crossover moves that made
him famous in the first place. See Rihanna featuring Kanye West,
Run This Town, Alicia Key's Empire state of Mind. At
one point on the Blueprint three, Jay claims he's sold tomorrow.
His watch says yesterday, but on the precipice of forty,
(27:04):
he wasn't forty. He knows better than to worry about time.
After all, plenty of rappers have excelled at the game.
Jay Z wrote the rules. We don know about that.
But a lot of people don't like this album in
particular because it had a very commercial feel. It had
(27:26):
a ton of features and big features like big artists,
new present. I don't think anybody from the past was
on here, like Rihanna, Kanye West, Alisia Keys, Young Jeezy,
Swiss Beats is on here, Drake is on here, j
Cole Kid, Cuddy on here, Pharrell and mister Hudson right.
(27:48):
Fifteen songs, one hour exactly. But what I liked about
this album is the way jay Z was talking to y'all.
That's the best parted this album. So you may not
like some of the beats. I know some people hate
Swiss beats, so they don't like some of that. But
jay Z was talking on this album, and that's what
(28:11):
I liked about it a lot. What we're talking about.
That beat was crazy too on there. But when you
hear what jay Z's saying, he being real, Like, you know,
we like to debate the state of hip hop, so
this was like a state of the Union address for
jay Z. Thank you. I don't really remember that much.
(28:32):
I think I liked it. I don't know. Death of
Altitune got everybody's attention, which was dope Run this Town
was a big hit. I still like this to this day.
Empire State of Mind is probably more hated now than
it was when it first dropped. I was so so
(28:53):
on it. Now I'm kind of more on the hate train,
like I'd rather not hear it. I think they just
wore it out real as it gets. That's adult record.
Jeezy got busy on there by the way, onto the
next one. Hey, I like the two step. I know
some of y'all onto the next onto some of y'all
don't like that. Some of y'all want to be head
(29:15):
nod to death or just death stand people when you
listen to hip hop, and that's cool too, But I
thought this was a nice little bot with Swiss beat
off that with Drake to me was disappointing. Drake was
hot at this point in time. They eventually did it
had a better collaboration on the song pound Cake with
(29:38):
What's the album? Nothing was the same I think it
was on there, so that was a little disappointing. A
Star Is Born with j Cole was also disappointing. I
expected more to be honest. Venus versus Mars was kind
of cool, you know, men and women and relationships. I
love already Homeward Kid cutting I'm already home, like you
(30:03):
don't worry about me, I'm already there. One of them
songs I mentioned onto the next one to me. These
bars got me into it. When jay Z said, hove on,
it summarizes this album and anything you may feel about
this album and this version of jay Z not being
(30:24):
the one you love from the past. Hove on the
news people like, how come people want my old ish
by my old album? I'm saying, what what? What? What
(30:44):
more do you want? Right? To me, that's pack them up,
clean them up, ship them out. Right. Jay Z gave
you a ton of albums to make you a fan.
And if you don't want if you want him to
regurgitate what he did or be exactly what the Blueprint
was before, or reasonable doubt or whatever by my old
(31:08):
album and it's okay. You can listen to the joints
you like only but A thought that was a hot
bar and I always quote it to this day. Hate
featuring Kanye. I don't really remember that. I think the
only thing with this album, I think after that joint
Already Home, it kind of goes downhill a little bit,
right because some of that crossover stuff isn't working towards
(31:32):
the end of the album, especially Young Forever. I hate
that record. I hate it. Unnecessary, didn't sound dope. I
get jay Z likes that record. A lot of people
like that Forever Young record, but just wasn't good, very forgettable.
Maybe it plays at certain stadiums with certain crowds cool.
(31:56):
I don't care. But at the end of the day,
this is a very slept on album in his catalog,
the Blueprint three, especially slept On album cover. It's pretty dope.
I remember back then when this drop. I think when
I bought the Blueprint three, it came with a T shirt,
a black t shirt but had those three red lines
(32:18):
across it. Very dope album, refreshing album. So there you
have it. Those are five only five albums and some
of my favorite artists catalog that I think are slept on.
They just don't get mentioned in a lot of conversations
when talking about artist's catalogs. Obviously, he has albums that
(32:42):
are way better, but he has a lot of albums,
and I think this is one of the better ones.
So what do you think? What are some of yours?
Leave your comments in a comment section below. I'm a
hip hop fan. If there's an album I feel like
you mentioned that, I have to go back to and
listening because I don't feel that way or I didn't
(33:02):
feel that way. I love doing stuff like that, so
even comments of the comments section below. Follow me on
social media at biggos World. I n c subscribe wherever
you get this podcast, but most importantly share with people
you know enjoy this kind of content until next time, y'all.
I'm not a critic, I'm a fan base
Coming up on this week's episode of Hip Hop Now Podcast,
it is slept on albums in some of my favorite
artists catalogs. That wasn't difficult to understand, was it? Let
us do it? Welcome to hip Hop Now Pop Fast.
(00:26):
If you from the future, you know what to do.
Get your ass out of so disrespect the leg hip
hop is say this today. Let's get right into the business.
What up, y'all? I am your host Vegas and this
is hip Hop Now Podcasts, a bonus episode of Hip
(00:46):
Hop Now Podcast, brought to you by the subscribers the
supporters of this podcast first and foremost in audio form
on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast listening.
Thank you for subscribing, and also right here on YouTube
if you're watching. We are on the road to about
(01:08):
fifteen thousand subscribers, which sounds crazy saying it considering last
year the goal was one thousand, But here we are.
Regardless of how you got here, whether it's shorts, the
weekly podcasts, bonus episodes, whatever it may be, we appreciate
you being here and coming through. Share with your friends.
(01:29):
Hit that notification button if you want to know when
there's a new episode. Coming out. It's pretty easy I
do it. Put it this way, man, I watch YouTube
like it's television. I'm not lying. I'm subscribed to all
kinds of sports channels, hip hop, video games, film, and
all I do is see what everybody dropped hit that
(01:53):
watch later and when I'm in a gym or like
at some point in the house or whatever it may be.
I just watched it videos I was interested in. So
if you subscribe to a ton of channels, including this one,
do the same here, and don't be afraid to go
back and watch older content. Because I have a series
called Tale of the Tapes. Well, I'll tell stories about
(02:14):
cassette tapes that I purchased back in the day that
I still have originals, not this new stuff, original original
illmatic right behind me, from back then ninety four, sitting
back there. You know what I'm saying, stuff like that,
if you enjoy content like that, whether it's from a
(02:35):
learning perspective, right, Yo, I wasn't even born in ninety four.
I was born in two thousands. But you know, I'm
going back to the nineties to watch it. You know,
if you were around and you were like yo, I
just like nostalgia stuff like this, like the shirt I
got it right now. Everybody who knows me knows Ice
(02:55):
Cubes Death Certificate is my favorite hip hop album of
all time. Do I rank it as the best? I
don't know. I don't think so. You know what I'm saying.
I did a top five before, But for me, things
like that change. You go back and listen to albums again.
You realize an album that maybe wasn't your favorite but
(03:17):
you liked it. You realize it's age like fine Wine,
and you're like, yo, this might low key be the
greatest hip hop album of all time. That's not illmatic.
You know, for some people it's illmatic. But to me,
if I'm a guest right here on the spot, you
put me on the spot, I would say, don't hold
me to it. But I really feel like public enemies.
(03:40):
It takes a nation of millions to hold his back.
Could be the best hip hop album of all time.
I wouldn't argue you down if you said it wasn't
and you said something like Illmatic or Run deem Ceased,
Raising Hell or give rich a Die Trine or whatever
the albums that people hold up to being like the
(04:03):
best of all time. But today we're here to do
something a little bit different. I don't necessarily see lists
like this, or at least this variation of a list,
but today we're doing slept on catalog albums. So I
went ahead and I thought of like five MC's who
(04:27):
catalog I have most of the music, and now they
have these, you know, they have longer catalogs of music right,
and their albums in their catalog that over time people
forget how dope the album was, so they essentially become
slept on. So it's not to say that when the
album dropped it was slept On or that or anything
(04:51):
like that. It's to say that when you go back
and you take into account someone's catalog, especially if they're
a dope artists, it was made you know, classics and
multiple good albums. There are really good albums that people
just forget about. They just don't get mentioned. Because when
you've done like fifteen albums, you know, there's the ones
(05:14):
that people know like that's the classic, and then there's
those that they don't always name that we forget how
dope it was. So I only have five, no particular order,
and I'm gonna share my screen on the video sign.
So you could just watch me work. Okay, let me
just make sure we're gonna do some switch rules real
(05:35):
quick with the sharing of the screen. I wanted to
have this available or ready beforehand. But nah, that's not
what we're doing. Y'all see that. Maybe I need to
move my logo. Nah, not necessarily. That is good enough.
(05:58):
Let's just move over o bit that's all. Boom, there
we have it. So what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna
just go through and my first one, my first album
is Eric B and Rock eems Don't Sweat the Technique. Now,
if you're looking at the screen, let me see if
(06:19):
I can go to the page. Apple Music has it
down as one of their essential albums. Now, if you
go to social media and lists and stuff like that,
you almost never see that album listed as one of
the essentials. But I think it's incredibly slept on. What
(06:43):
did you say? Real quick? The fourth and final Eric
B and Rock album, nineteen ninety two's Don't Sweat the
Technique arrived just six years after the duo transformed the
sound of hip hop thanks to Rockiem's Incomparable or Incomparable
I guess Ron Kraft and Eric Bee's Clatterie James Brown loops.
(07:07):
I thought that was like Marley Maul and Lunch Professor whatever.
If don't sweat the technique, the musicians closed out their
game change and run with jazz samples, head cracking snares,
soulful horns, and manic tempos. Like we're not going to
read all of that. But I think this has slept
(07:28):
on because I remember back when It's dropping ninety two,
that's when I was giving my little money to go
buy albums and stuff like that. And I remember with
this album in particular, it was the first time I
had the opportunity to buy a brand new Eric Being
Rock cam with my own money. Right. All those other
(07:50):
albums that dropped, I wound up having them sometimes secondhand,
you know, like somebody gave me a copy or whatever.
But I was never able to like, Oh, Eric Being
Rock Caim got new album Let Me Go By. This
was my first time, so there was a little bit
more of an attachment to this album for me, and
the album was very different. I mean, you see the
(08:11):
album cover, right, that's like in living color, you know,
back then this is the nineties. All the colors, you know,
kind of like Black Pride, and all of that also,
But when I started playing it, one of the things
that drew me to even wanting this album was because
it sounded different from what I was used to from them.
(08:33):
And the lead single was What's on Your Mind Right,
which is a sample curious by I can't remember the
name of the group from the eighties, which you know,
some people didn't like, some people did. But to me,
the way rock Hem is flowing over that beat like this,
(08:55):
that's one of rock Him's best songs ever, to be honest, right,
we know paid and for a follow like we know
all them joints, but the way he's rapping and this
is this is like a rockins version of a love
record and it's still like boom backed out. I like
the drums on it, like it's really dope and rock
(09:15):
Him saying some dope stuff, you know, a master on
the mike. But what I liked about this album a
lot was the infusion of the jazz samples. And this
was around the time ninety two, ninety three or whatever,
ninety one, you know, between Tribe, Gangstar and all of that.
This was like sound There were a lot of jazz samples, like,
(09:36):
for example, don't sweat. The technique got a lot of
horns in it. This album has a lot of joints
man like I like teach the children, and a lot
of that had to do with just bars. There are
a lot of bars on here if you read or
listen to the audio version of rock Him's what you
(09:57):
call it biography. What I liked what he did in
the book was he talked a lot about songs and
song like lyrically, like in depth, right, like breaking down
his own verses and where he was when he wrote it,
what was his mind thinking about why he put the
(10:17):
worst together in the way he did. And he did
like a song or two off of each album. And
when he got to this, I don't think it was
Teached the children. I think it was the other record,
Casual TV the War. I like that joint that had
some good horns on it. Rest a sure relaxed the
pep keep the beat, oh my god, keep the beat fire.
(10:41):
You know what I'm saying, and like we all know
if you can see it. No, the ledges on this
album wasn't just on the Juice soundtrack. It was also
on this album. So I think just to start this off,
Eric B and Rock ems don't sweat. The technique needs
to be mentioned more when you're talking about every beat
(11:04):
and rock Him's run because in a lot of ways
it's not better than Paid in Full, that's like bulletproof,
but in a lot of ways it's more complete than
the other albums he dropped prior to this. It just
is like, you know, it's just better songs, not necessarily
just beat wise, right, because that's that's a debate, right,
(11:28):
and I'm not saying it is, but that's a debate
whether you prefer the beats on those albums versus this.
But as far as like a complete album where rock
Hem is just in a pocket that's comfortable, and we
know he's comfortable because the brother has a jazz background,
so he knew what he was doing, he knew how
(11:49):
to rap to him. There you have it. The next
one I have up on my list is Out of
Commons catalog and that being and if you know me,
if you watched or listen to my podcast, you probably
know what I'm going to say. It's not listened as
(12:10):
an essential, so relaxed, but it's here and it's called
Finding Forever. Now, there's some people who are just like me,
they feel like, well, yeah, everybody thought this was dope,
this was the follow up to Be. But I swear
it's only a few people who ever mention it. When
(12:31):
they're talking about Common, it's like they it's rightfully, so
they only mentioned one day. It all makes sense if
they do, and then like water for chocolate, and then
they go right to be. And that's like the three
app Common albums that always get mentioned. And he has
more than that in this catalog, but this one, this
(12:54):
one was special. Let's read a little bit of a description.
When Common and Kanye West link up, they bring out
each other's soulful sides. The eight tracks Kanye produced on
Finding Forever are full of ventage samples, crooning gospel choirs,
and fresh R and B hooks, all of which beautifully
(13:14):
underpin commons thoughtful rhymes. Now that description sounds whack because
because it feels like, well, what do you mean crooning
in and gospel and R and B? Like is this
a hip hop album? In a lot of ways, I
listened to this more than I listened to B because
(13:36):
B was almost like a statement, right, like let's just
get in the studio, get you back in pocket. Common
after Electric circus and take what's the best of what
we've done and put it on the album, and you know,
you back out right, you out here. This was more refined.
(13:58):
This was taking b in saying Okay, now we're gonna
make an album. You back in pocket. You had to
come back. Now it's time to make an album album.
And in two thousand and seven, that version of Kanye
to Kanye that everybody say they went back right, we
ain't coming back, did his thing on this project, along
(14:21):
with having a Dila joint on him. But when you
go through, it's only thirteen songs, it's under an album
an hour. This album just sounds so great, the mixture
of Kanye's beats and his contributions. Like on south Side,
which is a dope record, it feels a lot like
(14:47):
b on some songs, But then it also feels a
lot like the five of One Day. It all makes
sense along It just kind of felt like those three
albums I mentioned right, One Day It all makes sense,
like Water for Chocolate and Beat Finding Forever sounds like
if you just took a combination of all of those
(15:08):
and put it on one album. Right, That's how it
sounds and feels again, so far to go with Common
and D'Angelo, which also appeared on Jay Dillar because he
did the beat. Jay Diller's album The Shining Break My
Heart reminds me of something that would have been on B.
Maybe it was planned to be on B. It's just
(15:30):
a lot the people right kind of reminds you of
the corner. But the people I love the people that
beat listen again. When this album dropped, most heads thought
it was dope, like I said, But as time has
gone on and we've gotten other projects good or bad
(15:53):
from Common, the consensus and most people minds when they
say his dopest projects, they usually go to those other three.
I said. For somebody who's never heard comments catalog, they
would be missing out if they never heard Finding Forever.
Like me personally, when this album dropped, it was in
(16:16):
heavy rotation like be was in heavy rotation for me.
But there was like a song or two I would
skip because it always felt disjoined after a while, because
it didn't feel like an album, just felt like a
collection of songs that were just happy to have Common
back and form that we weren't graded on a scale.
(16:38):
From a brother who's released some really complete albums, and
this was him returning back to something that to me
felt like. Now, this is the comment. I know this
is complete. He's in the pocket the beats. This is perfect.
Leave your comment in a comment section below, not only
about the two albums I mentioned, but with Common. Do
(17:01):
you feel like he was best with No Ide Dilla
or Kanye West. I'm not answering that question, but y'all
can in the comment section. All right, let's get into
the next one, because we don't need this to be
a long episode. Next up, I'm gonna go to somebody
(17:24):
more on the newer side of things, Conway the Machine,
and you'll be surprised because I know sometimes people think,
oh yo, it is this is that, But for me,
it's this album from twenty twenty one, right, that's kind
(17:46):
of pandemic, is kind of lockdown ish. Lob Makina, I
think that's how you said, love Makina. I hope so
correct me in the common section below. But I remember
when this dropped and I gave it my you know,
I gave it the quick listen, and I believe he
(18:07):
dropped a couple of projects. Let's see, real quick. I
believe he dropped a couple of projects that year. Now
he only really dropped two If It Bleeds It Can
Be Killed. I didn't really like that one as much,
and that was coming off of loving from King to
a God, Like I love that album. But when this
(18:30):
joint dropped first in twenty twenty one, If It Bleeds
it Can Be Killed, I was just kind of like, eh,
not as good as I thought. But when Lamkina dropped,
I was like, yo, this is kind of return to
form of that Griselda sound. I think it was more
so the bars. Let me not say to Gazelda sound.
(18:52):
I think just the bars Conways bars on this album
are crazy. Like he has so many instances on his
own projects where it almost feel wasteful that he got
so many moments of dope songs, dope versus dope bars
all together, and sometimes they land on projects that most
(19:15):
people aren't really checking for. And I feel like this
particular project didn't get talked about as much in twenty
twenty one. Don't get me wrong, some people did, but
as time went on again, like I said, when people
think about their favorite Conway to Machine projects, I just
(19:37):
don't hear about this one that much. And I think
its slept on for a number of reasons, and it
had a couple This is when he was introducing his
drum work Squad, so they had a couple of tracks.
This is when I first heard the Well. First of all,
this song is crazy since the Abagat. I wish I
could play it, but I don't want no strikes. But
(19:58):
it was the first time I heard Love the Genius,
and I was like, yo, I like her because she
got a voice like Hurricane G. But rest in peace
Hurricane G. But I think she's just nicer with it.
And obviously at the end there's the Griselda you know,
Posse couple, Westside Gun and Benny the Butcher. But even
(20:19):
like Bruise of Brody was crazy clarity. Two hundred pods
with two chains, don't sleep on two chains. When two
chains know it's about bars, he brings the bars. When
it's about trap, he'll go do the trap thing. But
he's shown on a number of occasions. If y'all want bars,
(20:40):
I could be there on any track with anybody. But again,
this isn't a this wasn't a long album. Well actually
it's eleven songs forty minutes, still under an hour. But
if you've never heard this Conway the Machine Project. I'm
not saying it's doper than like Rejects two or whatever,
(21:01):
but I think it deserves to get mentioned as some
of his better projects. Because I wore it out in
twenty twenty one. I might listen to it today because
it's been a while. I'm just saying, all right, two
more next up. This one is from a legend in
the game, from the legendary routine Klan the Jizz like
(21:27):
most people, and I wasn't on strike or anything like
that when it happened. But Liquid Swords Drop, which is
a classic, and Beneath the Surface, which is actually a
pretty good album, but it was a little underwhelming coming
off of Liquid Swords, and then I kind of checked
(21:47):
out after that, and then somebody put me on to
pro Tubes, which released in twenty thirteen. Now you're talking
about really being into jizz a heavy in the mid nineties,
and in the late nineties, he drops an album and
I'm a little underwhelmed, and I never really come back
(22:09):
to anything he's doing. I don't know what he's dropped, like,
I don't know anything. And somebody says, Yo, just a
got an album called pro Tools and I'm like, oh,
that's a dope title. It's just a what can we expect?
Those face gets a lot of credit for maintaining and
(22:30):
carrying on the Wu Tang sound, which I agree, and
I think in a lot of ways that brought Raykon
back to that sound eventually. And trust me, Raykon has
more albums that are dope than not, and Mobilarity is
his worst. But besides that, everything else is either good
or great. But there is one that's made that came later,
(22:55):
But this to me was more in line with that
wou sound Jizzus pro Tools too bad. That is not
a write up for it. But with that being said,
you know some of the usual suspects Ahead Master killing Rizza.
Check this out. Twenty thirteen short race featuring Rock Marciano.
(23:18):
Y'all know, y'all love him. True Master was on here.
Who else from the ru Rizz is on here again.
He even had a song like labels, remember like how
he was doing that or whatever called alphabets, which was crazy.
This album is an album that sounds like the wool.
(23:41):
So for those when I say slept on, for those
who like man I checked out after Liquid Swords, I
see all those other albums. I feel like this. Some
people even talk about the Jizza and Mugs joint more
than they'll talk about anything else. It's liquid swords and
maybe you get them talking about the album he has
(24:02):
with DJ Muggs. But Pro Tools to me, which was
his last out solo album, was really good and a
lot of people haven't heard it, which is crazy. So
if you find a time, check out Jesus pro Tools.
It's a very dope album. I like it. I go
(24:23):
back to it frequently, you know, every now and again. Again,
everything is there, the bars, the production, and when you're talking,
just the intelligence because he's like one of the intelligent rappers.
You feel like you get smarter when you hear him talk.
So that's that. And lastly, and this one may be controversial,
(24:48):
but I'm gonna tell you how I feel the way
I feel. This is jay Z. And you see these
essential albums here. Now, they probably got every jay Z
album day and then listit as essential. But this one,
most hip hop heads think it's garbage, but it's not
(25:10):
Blueprint three. Well, the Blueprint series isn't what it probably
should have been, right. I think the first Blueprint is
a classic, the second Blueprint was a little bit of
a disappointment. It was a double album, and honestly, if
he paired it down to the best songs, I think
(25:32):
it would have been pushing that classic status. Also, he
eventually did it with some like Blueprint two point one,
but that don't count. You don't get to do a duover.
But he was doing what we said. Blueprint three was
a very different time. It's two thousand and nine and
jay Z's out here, and in two thousand and nine
was when the Big Three were around, and the Willets
(25:55):
and the Meek Mill. It was like a new generation.
So read a little bit about it. By the time
the Blueprint three arrived in two thousand and nine, jay
Z's relationship to rap had gotten complicated. He'd headlined rock
oriented festivals like Glastonbury I think that's how you say that,
and materialized at shows by Brooklyn bands like Grizzly Bed,
(26:18):
saying he hoped indie rock might help shake up what
he saw as the stagnancy of hip hop, which is
crazy to say that. I didn't even know he said that.
Maybe that's why the head taped this album. The Blueprint
three positions him as an elder statesman of rap, one
who condemns trends death of alter tune y'all remember that,
(26:41):
but who isn't afraid of the crossover moves that made
him famous in the first place. See Rihanna featuring Kanye West,
Run This Town, Alicia Key's Empire state of Mind. At
one point on the Blueprint three, Jay claims he's sold tomorrow.
His watch says yesterday, but on the precipice of forty,
(27:04):
he wasn't forty. He knows better than to worry about time.
After all, plenty of rappers have excelled at the game.
Jay Z wrote the rules. We don know about that.
But a lot of people don't like this album in
particular because it had a very commercial feel. It had
(27:26):
a ton of features and big features like big artists,
new present. I don't think anybody from the past was
on here, like Rihanna, Kanye West, Alisia Keys, Young Jeezy,
Swiss Beats is on here, Drake is on here, j
Cole Kid, Cuddy on here, Pharrell and mister Hudson right.
(27:48):
Fifteen songs, one hour exactly. But what I liked about
this album is the way jay Z was talking to y'all.
That's the best parted this album. So you may not
like some of the beats. I know some people hate
Swiss beats, so they don't like some of that. But
jay Z was talking on this album, and that's what
(28:11):
I liked about it a lot. What we're talking about.
That beat was crazy too on there. But when you
hear what jay Z's saying, he being real, Like, you know,
we like to debate the state of hip hop, so
this was like a state of the Union address for
jay Z. Thank you. I don't really remember that much.
(28:32):
I think I liked it. I don't know. Death of
Altitune got everybody's attention, which was dope Run this Town
was a big hit. I still like this to this day.
Empire State of Mind is probably more hated now than
it was when it first dropped. I was so so
(28:53):
on it. Now I'm kind of more on the hate train,
like I'd rather not hear it. I think they just
wore it out real as it gets. That's adult record.
Jeezy got busy on there by the way, onto the
next one. Hey, I like the two step. I know
some of y'all onto the next onto some of y'all
don't like that. Some of y'all want to be head
(29:15):
nod to death or just death stand people when you
listen to hip hop, and that's cool too, But I
thought this was a nice little bot with Swiss beat
off that with Drake to me was disappointing. Drake was
hot at this point in time. They eventually did it
had a better collaboration on the song pound Cake with
(29:38):
What's the album? Nothing was the same I think it
was on there, so that was a little disappointing. A
Star Is Born with j Cole was also disappointing. I
expected more to be honest. Venus versus Mars was kind
of cool, you know, men and women and relationships. I
love already Homeward Kid cutting I'm already home, like you
(30:03):
don't worry about me, I'm already there. One of them
songs I mentioned onto the next one to me. These
bars got me into it. When jay Z said, hove on,
it summarizes this album and anything you may feel about
this album and this version of jay Z not being
(30:24):
the one you love from the past. Hove on the
news people like, how come people want my old ish
by my old album? I'm saying, what what? What? What
(30:44):
more do you want? Right? To me, that's pack them up,
clean them up, ship them out. Right. Jay Z gave
you a ton of albums to make you a fan.
And if you don't want if you want him to
regurgitate what he did or be exactly what the Blueprint
was before, or reasonable doubt or whatever by my old
(31:08):
album and it's okay. You can listen to the joints
you like only but A thought that was a hot
bar and I always quote it to this day. Hate
featuring Kanye. I don't really remember that. I think the
only thing with this album, I think after that joint
Already Home, it kind of goes downhill a little bit,
right because some of that crossover stuff isn't working towards
(31:32):
the end of the album, especially Young Forever. I hate
that record. I hate it. Unnecessary, didn't sound dope. I
get jay Z likes that record. A lot of people
like that Forever Young record, but just wasn't good, very forgettable.
Maybe it plays at certain stadiums with certain crowds cool.
(31:56):
I don't care. But at the end of the day,
this is a very slept on album in his catalog,
the Blueprint three, especially slept On album cover. It's pretty dope.
I remember back then when this drop. I think when
I bought the Blueprint three, it came with a T shirt,
a black t shirt but had those three red lines
(32:18):
across it. Very dope album, refreshing album. So there you
have it. Those are five only five albums and some
of my favorite artists catalog that I think are slept on.
They just don't get mentioned in a lot of conversations
when talking about artist's catalogs. Obviously, he has albums that
(32:42):
are way better, but he has a lot of albums,
and I think this is one of the better ones.
So what do you think? What are some of yours?
Leave your comments in a comment section below. I'm a
hip hop fan. If there's an album I feel like
you mentioned that, I have to go back to and
listening because I don't feel that way or I didn't
(33:02):
feel that way. I love doing stuff like that, so
even comments of the comments section below. Follow me on
social media at biggos World. I n c subscribe wherever
you get this podcast, but most importantly share with people
you know enjoy this kind of content until next time, y'all.
I'm not a critic, I'm a fan base
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The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.