MORE UNPOPULAR RAP OPINIONS: THE BEEF EDITION
Being that this summer hasn’t been Do The Right Thing hot, I started growin the fro back. Don‘t laugh, but I was thinking of throwin some activator up in it and trying the only hairstyle I‘ve never worn, the jheri curl. Light skinned brothers never wore curls back in the day, but I’m lookin to set trends. I see all these retro dudes walkin around here in these Mohawks and hi top fades and showing up at NYC parties to do the House Party dance routine. The curl was always more grown folk style, and nobody brought it back yet, so I may break that bitch back in. My cousin Joe used to dance on Soul Train in the mid 80’s and he won the scramble board competition once and got a few free bottles of Care Free Curl activator, one of which is still in my Grandmother’s medicine cabinet (seriously). Anyway, speaking of jheri curls, the only artist to sport one to his death was the late great Eazy-E (RIP). He never sold out to a ceaser, a taper or a fade. The gangsta drip stayed moist for the last 10 years of his life. The jheri curl and Jerry Heller…the 2 Jerrys that put this man at the butt of many jokes late in his career. When Ice Cube and Dr. Dre left NWA…everybody was takin shots at this man. On top of that, Eazy’s post-NWA albums were Ruthlessly (no pun intended) panned by the press and the public. But lets re-examine this long gone and oft misunderstood beef. I can be honest in saying Cube won by going solo, but despite the massive sales of The Chronic, Dre lost this battle. I will once again take the unpopular stance and say that the poor reception of Eazy’s post-NWA solo records was unwarranted. Short dudes always win when it comes to rap beef, it’s in their DNA. The mock Dre photo from his World Class Wreckin Cru days on the back of the It’s On 187um EP album cover is priceless. The oBITCHuary used to have me ROLLIN!
I’ll stand by the music too. Although much of it adopted Dre’s production style, it was much less slick and polished. Dre is one of the greatest producers in history and Doggystyle is his post-NWA masterpiece, but I’ll take 5150, It’s On and Straight Off The Streetz Of Muthafuckin Compton over The Chronic on sheer entertainment value alone. Eazy was sneering, mean-spirited and heartless on those albums. The intro to the It’s On EP is in heart attack seriousness the greatest album introduction in contemporary music history. Even The Beatles never made anything this engaging…
Both Dre and Eazy were purveyors of senseless on-wax violence, but if that’s a barometer for points, Eazy wins there by a landslide. It’s easy (no pun intended) to spew tired gun talk for 55+ minutes, but how many artists in history have a song in their catalog solely dedicated to splattering men, women and children with a Louisville Slugger baseball bat? Eazy did. “Sorry Louie” takes an alternate route to Joe Pesci-esque senseless violence and deals with mayhem up close and personal…
Three people that were unfortunate enough to annoy Eazy on that particular day went out like Radio Raheem’s boom box on a hot Brooklyn night. Eazy was the pre-requisite to Carlos Zambrano on the Gatorade machine. To Dre’s credit, he went on to be rap’s premier super producer and he introduced us to Daz, Kurupt and Snoop Dogg, so he gets points there. Eazy never sold what Dre did, but he signed Bone Thugs before his death and they sold 50 kajillion albums, putting Ruthless Records back on the map. He also gave us BG Knocc Out & Gangsta Dresta, who were fuckin incredible (sorry, I have a subjective weakness for music from run of the mill rappers that rock jheri curls and locs). But here comes the deathblow…Check this Arsenio Hall clip at about 2:05 in…
For those that never knew, you heard and saw right. Eazy was cashing checks off of an album that was dedicated to belittling him. KRS-One was silent the whole time. This is classic. And the grand finale? The fact that this man combined a bathrobe and a jheri curl on national TV. There’s just no comeback from that…the defense rests.
Their beef is old news and Eazy and Dre fortunately patched things up before Eazy passed (or so it’s stated), so this is all moot in 2009. But in listening to an old radio debate I had with Bobbito, I said Eazy’s post-NWA career was brilliant. He said I was on crack. So did everybody else in the studio. They’re buggin. I’ll leave you with “Gimme That Nutt”, which contains the greatest (and only) rap interpolation of the Green Acres theme song I’ve ever heard. RIP Eazy…
July 2nd, 2009 at 9:22 am
Back in the 80’s KDAY used to have a call in show about requests.
Every time they played boys n the hood, EVERYONE called and put the whole damn group on blast.
“all he does is cuss, that aint rap music”
This is from a radio station that played “ladidadi” 42 times a day, that and “the LA dream team is in the house”
Anyways, Dr. Dre is weak sauce man, always has been, always will be. He can’t rap. He can’t write lyrics, He is just a dope producer. That’s all.
Eazy putting him up like that in photo way before Jay was just Ruthless. Plus he got paid. No question. Eazy won.
Snoop is fantastic, but had no business calling out eazy at that point in his career.
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:21 pm
My sisters friends put me onto 187um when i was like 13. Gimme that nut was fuckin hillarious to me as an early pubescent teen, and still is today asa grown man. And yes, that back album cover kills. The Dre Day video was the shit, and the Eazy imposter shtick was great too.
Real Muthaphuckkin G’z is such a banger, that beat is one of my favorite typical west coast gangster beats ever.
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Speaking of which.. you probly know about this Zone:
I was listening to sirius the other day, and backspin played an old Luke track that was his diss to Dre and them. It was funny as hell ESPECIALLY when he got on the Dre Day beat for a second then was like “cut that bullshit off..” LOL
I never ever heard that before, it was great tho. You know the name of that track J?
btw speaking of sirius they should give you a show!!!
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:29 pm
HAhaha yea that Luke shit is hilarious. That song was called “Cowards In Compton” (ft. JT Money and Clayvoise). Here is the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc9De5_lJDk
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:30 pm
nice, thanks.
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Who did the Real Motherfuckin G’s beat ?
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:09 pm
I would just like to say, that the east coast has a grip of battle rappers. The west has one maybe 2. Kurupt and Crooked I.
Kurupt will fuck up anyone. Yeah. Anyone. “callin out names” is a classic.
Crooked I is dope, but slaughta…well. Best of luck with that.
Hey Jzone, You heard the Dj Quik and Kurupt “blaqkout” album? Its good, quik came with some nice nice west coast beats.
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Real Mutafuckin G’s beat was done by Rhythm D. I didn’t hear Blaqout yet. Heard it wasn’t that good, but I don’t believe that til I hear it. Both Quik and Kurupt are faves of mine so I’m checkin for it. Cosign on “Callin Out Names”
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Thanks for the info, it’s one of my favorite beats, big influence for a lot of beatmakers I think.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
wit zone on this one….eazy shitted on dre…..dont forget the video where he hittin snoop wit a rolled up newspaper
July 14th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Once again I am with you, cause that “Real Mutha…” was hard. I remember back in that period, Switzerland, I would say all of Europe and definitely my friends were all about the Eastcoast. Having just returned from LA with a couple of Looney Tunes (W.C.´s DJ) mixtapes, a “Westcoast” t-shirt (as worn by WC in the Westside Connection album), I was rooting for the west. But having been there in LA, I also learned something. My girlfriend back then had a gay guy friend. And that gay guy friend said that Eazy (and magic) were regulars in gay clubs. Alright, the “who´s the gay rapper” discussion is as old as that Curl treatment in Jay´s grandmom´s cabinet, but I feel like spreading rumours today, so there you have it…
July 14th, 2009 at 10:12 am
as for the west not having battle rappers: Ras Kass was good at ripping others a new hole or two… I wouldn´t go against any of the Project Blowed MCs neither… and I am sure there´s more, but I´ve been out of the loop for too long…
July 14th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Hiero and Saafir would bust ass on that battle shit too, I wouldn’t fuck wit em. Rappin Ron (RIP) and Ant Diddly Dog was nice with it too, and slept on.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Casual was a beast and still is
July 16th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Dresta and Knocc’s “Real Brothas” was friggin awesome. I’m not surprised to hear you’re a fan though, you seem to be into a tons of a great fringe west coast goodness. For everyone else who wasn’t paying attention, check out these two “Real Brotha” cuts:
B.G. Knocc Out & Dresta - Everyday Allday
http://www.zshare.net/audio/627673157e0d75ad/
B.G. Knocc Out & Dresta - Down Goes Another Nigga
http://www.zshare.net/audio/627676082ee1be6c/
And since we’re talking about 90’s hip hop artists, here is another favorite group of mine:
415 - Snitches & Bitches (off 41Fivin’)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/62767699ffe025d5/
415 - Court in the Street
http://www.zshare.net/audio/6276781299d87ba4/
415 - Sideshow
http://www.zshare.net/audio/627677698b129345/
July 16th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! 415 was tha SHIT! 415in is one of the hardest early 90’s independent rap tapes around. The 2nd album was cool, but 415in is a classic when you talkin Bay Area rap. “Tic Tac (Nic Nac)” is my shit!
July 16th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Not surprising to hear. I picked up a copy of 41Fivin’ a few years back at a swap meet in Daly City. Still one of the gems in my collection, and a record a lot of people haven’t even heard of. Here’s a few more songs then since you have me reminiscing Zone.
Sir Mix-a-Lot - Posse On Broadway (The Godzilla Remix)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/627682702708e9f8/
Sir Mix-a-Lot - Posse On Broadway (The Godzilla Remix Edit)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/62768346d95274f9/
^^ Not sure if Mix ever rocked the curl, but the versions of Posse on Broadway with the Bowie Fame & Godzilla samples is awesome.
King Tee Feat. Ice Cube & MC Breed - Played Like a Piano
http://www.zshare.net/audio/62768397e9578156/
DJ Quik - Quik is the Name (Remix)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/62768567f6f954ce/
DJ Quik - Summer Breeze (Remix)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/6276862802ed823b/
I don’t think Quik has ever made a remix that wasn’t equal to the original in quality. One of the best to ever do hip hop ever IMO.
BTW Blaqout is nuts.
October 31st, 2009 at 1:24 pm
I may be biased because I am an eazy e fan so I agree totally. I like all the nwa members but eazy was my favorite