Favourite rappers that never made it

pragmatic1

For every legendary MC that made it big theres probably ten equally talented Mcs that didnt make it because of luck.

What Mcs do you think could have been legendary if circumstances would have been better.

Heres my list:

Sauce Money-Used to ghost write for jigga.

Deadly threat-LA rapper that made a few songs with snoop and had a track on the friday soundtrack. Probably one of the best lyracists from LA at that time.

Smiff n wesson-They had one fairly popular album but they never matched it again. The whole BCC were like a brooklyn wu tang.

Cappadonna-His verses on winter wars and iron maiden are sick. Unique flow.

Cormega-Every bit as good as nas and one of the best ears for beats. Think nas done him dirty with lables.

AZ-Similar to above. Nas could have had one of the illest crews in hip hop if he had any vision. But hes an artist and not a business man.

Alcoholics-One of the best crews from the west coast. More into hip hop and partying than the usual gangbanging stuff. Sick Mcs and always good beats.

Outsidaz-At one time could count Eminem, Redman and Lauryn Hill as extended crew. Off the wall lyrics like early eiminem and redman and good beats.

Jimmy Iovine

The D.O.C.

Not sure whether I should really mention him considering his debut effort is platinum certified. He was the first person I thought off when I read this thread. Every time I hear one of his songs I think what might have been had he not been in that accident.

After the accident he started writing lyrics for Dre and (I'm pretty sure) Snoop. They then got the credit for it and The D.O.C. slipped further away from the spotlight that should have been his all along.

I heard recently that he's distancing himself from Detox, which in my eyes means it's gonna basically be a bit of a disaster.

Anyway I'll leave ye with this track from his first album. Quality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiPbeIXZpD4

mufcboy1999

freddie gibbs was and still am a big fan, hopefully we gona get his debut album this year, he was screwed over by the industry (interscope and jimmy iovine in this case) next best thing to 2pac in terms of content and style as a rapper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egf2j73UmBA

AZ for me too, he didnt get any mainstream reconigtion compared to other members of the firm and as the work he done as a solo artist, doe or die is one of favourtie hip hop albums, this man has everything you'd want in a rapper in my opinion and is still making good music today he's currently looking for a label to release doe or die 2 on the last time i heard, think it should be out this year he is waiting for dr dre to produce it along with a few premo tracks so fingers crossed for that one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIhxgeki3BQ

Royce da 5'9, could of been a lot bigger than he is in terms of commercial success. I think bad luck had a part to play in royce's early career he could have been signed to shady/aftermath a lot sooner if he didn't fall out and beef with d12 and eminem for so long, the renegades track is a perfect example when em took royce of for jay z. He's on shady now and has a new single called writers block ft eminem of the new album out this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvSqNdXZjT0

others in with a shout, pharoahe monch, lloyd banks, reks, shyne,roscoe, papoose, bishop lamont

iamstop

Sir Menelik

pragmatic1

mufcboy1999 wrote: »

freddie gibbs was and still am a big fan, hopefully we gona get his debut album this year, he was screwed over by the industry (interscope and jimmy iovine in this case) next best thing to

Interscope have wasted a lot of talent over the years. I'd say its mostly down to dre being such a perfectionist. But then again how hard is it to give them a few beats and let other producers take it from there. Its a shame whats going to happen to Bishop Lamont, Bobby Creekwater, Stat Quo, The Last Emperor, etc.
+1 on Pharoahe Monch

evil_seed

Pharoahe Monch and Tech9 imo

Raekwon

Canibus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZA1-d6ASCY

Ras Kass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE-txEEkJeE

Two incredible talented MC's that have had nothing but bad luck throughout their careers with record labels, associated acts or their own overinflated egos constantly tripping them up.

Orizio

I mean, Canibus and Ras Kass were never going to make it big commercially whatever their luck - both have awful beat selection, no understanding of how to craft an album and have little to no artistic ability.

MrKingsley

Hittman for me definitely.

Loved all of his stuff on 2001 and gutted that he hasnt at least released a solo album.

Oh well

Raekwon

Orizio wrote: »

I mean, Canibus and Ras Kass were never going to make it big commercially whatever their luck - both have awful beat selection, no understanding of how to craft an album and have little to no artistic ability.

I just think that if they were both handled better by their record labels & had access to top quality production teams from the get go they both would have been much bigger then they were. They both have undoubted talent, it just seems like it was squandered away as they were forced down the independent label/mixtape route and into obscurity.

mufcboy1999

pragmatic1 wrote: »

Interscope have wasted a lot of talent over the years. I'd say its mostly down to dre being such a perfectionist. But then again how hard is it to give them a few beats and let other producers take it from there. Its a shame whats going to happen to Bishop Lamont, Bobby Creekwater, Stat Quo, The Last Emperor, etc.
+1 on Pharoahe Monch

ye it is bud, i think interscope more than any other label have wasted real hip hop talent. bishop and bobby creekwater are gone already bud.

in fact they screwed bishop big time listen to this interview, the chap actually got physically sick from stress due to being on a major, he's dropping his new talent and then he signs back his old artist in game that for me shows no progress aswell as lack of confidence in himself because he's not willing to risk his arm or his reputation to put out a bishop lamont etc the same way as he gave a snoop dogg,nate dogg,xzibit,50 cent,eminem etc a chance.

dre has dropped some serious talent down the years busta rhymes, rakim etc, and now you have game over there and he cant get a release date and the albums been pushed back like 2 years now, the only rappers that have the power to out on aftermath when they want are eminem and 50 because them 2 are the biggest comercially and thats where jimmy iovine comes into play too and thats wrong.

watch he will do exactly to kendrick lemar to what he done to bishop lamont, at the end of the day bishop lamont is just as talented as lemar if not more.

dre is jimmy iovines puppets to put it nicely.

just watch this interview, bishop actually hits home with a few things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGb7Y-MTKYA

CorkMan

Nasty Nas and Slim Shady.

pragmatic1

Orizio wrote: »

I mean, Canibus and Ras Kass were never going to make it big commercially whatever their luck - both have awful beat selection, no understanding of how to craft an album and have little to no artistic ability.

Nah I dont think theres another rapper that can touch ras kass lyrically.

Orizio

pragmatic1 wrote: »

Nah I dont think theres another rapper that can touch ras kass lyrically.

Nothing to do with what I said.

Orizio

Also, I'm a big Cormega fan when he was good, but he was never close to being on the level of Nas in his prime. Nas was a flawless MC in the Illmatic/IWW era.

pragmatic1

Orizio wrote: »

Nothing to do with what I said.

Yeah it does. You said he has no artistic ability. He obviously does when hes such a good lyracist.

Boom_Bap

Ras Kas is lyrically brilliant. His first album is close to perfection. After that it's just bad decision after bad decision. He tried to jump into the limelight with Rasassination and the album was all over the place. And as Orizio says, it's just been really poor production after that, and poor direction as an artist. His latest album ADIDAS is difficult to listen to in that he sounds great, but what he's rhyming over sounds terrible. And someone should have told him to cut out at least 7 or 8 of the tracks.

In relation to Canibus, getting into bed with Wyclef ruined him in my opinion. The hype and output from him before dropping his debut was astounding. Then a major disappointment when listening to his record. Most recently The C of Tranquility showed moment where his choices where getting better, but clouded by too many songs that he just doesnt sound right doing.

2040

pragmatic1 wrote: »

Smiff n wesson-They had one fairly popular album but they never matched it again. The whole BCC were like a brooklyn wu tang.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXyVpoGsLjg

Boom_Bap

Looking forward to Monumental.

Thier second album was also amazing under the name of Cocoa Brovaz. But with thier sound they would never make strides in the mainstream.

Shapey Fiend

Haven't listened to much Rass Kass but the beat on that track posted here is fantastic.

There are a lot of technically proficient rappers out there who can't make good tunes. I think that's a lot of the reason the likes of Slaughterhouse are going to fall flat on their face. They've stuck 4 guys together who don't compliment each other at all. They just try and outrap each other every verse and none of them can do a hook to save their life.

All that lyrical miracle stuff is old at this stage. Good production and songwriting are more important.

Raekwon

Boom_Bap wrote: »

Ras Kas is lyrically brilliant. His first album is close to perfection. After that it's just bad decision after bad decision. He tried to jump into the limelight with Rasassination and the album was all over the place. And as Orizio says, it's just been really poor production after that, and poor direction as an artist. His latest album ADIDAS is difficult to listen to in that he sounds great, but what he's rhyming over sounds terrible. And someone should have told him to cut out at least 7 or 8 of the tracks.

In relation to Canibus, getting into bed with Wyclef ruined him in my opinion. The hype and output from him before dropping his debut was astounding. Then a major disappointment when listening to his record. Most recently The C of Tranquility showed moment where his choices where getting better, but clouded by too many songs that he just doesnt sound right doing.

My original point was that if Ras Kass & Canibus had been on better record labels with access to better production teams and overall 'handled' better then they would have been much bigger then they were. That's all I was saying. In other words if they were signed to the likes of Def Jam, Rock-a-Fella, Bad Boy, Loud RCA ,etc, from the get go then it could of been very different story for both of them.

In the case of Ras Kass he was treated really badly by Priority Records, they gave him the bare minimum budget to record Soul on Ice & Rasassination, hence him mainly working with second rate producers, but the albums sold quite well even though they had little or no promotion. So when he looked for a bigger budget to record Van Gogh it was refused, even though he had recruited the likes of DJ Premier, Dr Dre, The Alchemist, Rockwilder, Easy Mo Bee, etc to produce the album. The album subsequently got shelved, Ras Kass got dropped from the label and faded into obscurity.

I agree with you about Canibus though, his association with Wyclef Jean & Jerry Duplessis ruined his career before it even got going. His first albums were so bad infact that his first and only major label, Universal/Uptown Records, dropped him and he has never recovered from that, apart from the criminally underrated Rip The Jacker (produced entirely by Stoupe) and his latest C of Tranquility (produced by DJ Premier, Jake One, Scam Jones).

Xlami

I'm sorry Malice never made it bigger, still young enough. His verse in this Game song is one of my favourites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh_fTmDbnGk

Nolanger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRvtgFB_7z0

evil_seed

Would have to add Killa Mike now known as Mike Bigga. He's murdered manys the rapper on their own ****

Boom_Bap

evil_seed wrote: »

Would have to add Killa Mike now known as Mike Bigga. He's murdered manys the rapper on their own ****

I think he's back to Killer Mike now

But he is mega large in the 'south' of the US

Zero-Cool

Like OP said, such a pity the Outsidaz never made it big. The Night Life EP is the best EP I ever heard and still gets played regularly. Can't recommend it enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PKxwWlaUL4

godspal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFM-qq3lvc4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnTSmInzdr0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mRyxFHgt1o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6tvmLRvAvw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY3Woskun-M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO-Qc4uKlEk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZHFM8rdWz8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72Ln2KYOVqM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnD_CXnXEB8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyLqmHyQCE4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kcCcyPi-2A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhCD485TY-A

This is probably as close as I can get to a list of every rapper that should have made but didn't.

coolio kidddd

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

The D.O.C.

Not sure whether I should really mention him considering his debut effort is platinum certified. He was the first person I thought off when I read this thread. Every time I hear one of his songs I think what might have been had he not been in that accident.

After the accident he started writing lyrics for Dre and (I'm pretty sure) Snoop. They then got the credit for it and The D.O.C. slipped further away from the spotlight that should have been his all along.

I heard recently that he's distancing himself from Detox, which in my eyes means it's gonna basically be a bit of a disaster.

Anyway I'll leave ye with this track from his first album. Quality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiPbeIXZpD4

Also of no one can doo it better unbeliveable
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpSJjIaEalE&feature=related