The BBC had a piece dedicated to 30 years in Hip Hop on the bbc.co.uk website. I didn’t realize the occasion had come, but thought that I’d write a piece on this milestone:

In the article they spoke of Sugarhill Gang’s Rappers Delight, which was a great song which I remember the entire intro to off-by-heart. Not the best lyrical piece, but has great flow and is still a party favourite. In 2000 RIAA reported Rap/Hip-Hop became the 2^nd best selling genre in the US, with 12.9% market share overtaking Country to which it was tied in 1999. This is a monumental achievement for a “dark horse” genre that has become truly main-stream in the past decade.

Now I would have liked to have the time to delve deep into my psyche of what songs made me love Hip-Hop, but in many ways it was more the hardcore rap, or lyrical synthesis that I really loved. Hip-Hop as a genre is its own, and rap is in some ways bred outside of Hip-Hop. I know it’s a term, and it’s a loose one at that, but hip-hop used to include R&B and the likes many years ago. For instance, Jurassic 5 is more Hip-Hop whereas Wu-Tang is straight Rap. The classification isn’t essential, as the Sugar Hill song that they are referring to as the “break through to main-stream” would have been classified as Rap.

It wouldn’t be a tribute without giving my respects to the men who died giving their gift to Hip-Hop, so here is the R.I.P portion:

Now the greatest rapper that ever was, in my overly biased opinion was, as all my friends know, The Notorious B.I.G. He may not have had better lyrics of word magnitude as say Wu-Tang (perhaps my #2), or the raw poetry sex appeal of Tupac (a great, but not my #3…), yet what he did have was the most eloquent flow that ever graced the airwaves. He knew how to nurse a beat into something amazing, from his “slow-flow remarkable” up to his linguistic “machinegun funk” attacks with his tongue.

His album Life After Death is the joint highest selling solo rap artist CD to date in the US, at 10x Platinum or Diamond (tied with MC Hammers, Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em, which only took 10 months to hit Diamond status! U definitely Can’t Touch This). I’m not sure where some sites get their information, but I went straight to the source and checked RIAA.com.

I will never forget Christopher Wallace, or what he gave to the rap industry. I’ve decided on the next anniversary to do a tribute rather than go on for pages here. He is the best, and that is all I need to say. Or maybe one more thing: I have a 5 foot by 6 foot hand painted Mural that an artist composed for me of the man. That truly says it all. My favourite CD is of course Ready to Die and favourite track is Juicy, although I have many others such as Machine Gun Funk and Gimme tha Loot.

Tupac was also a pioneer, if it wasn’t for the media and some unlucky circumstances around his death and the subsequent Who Shot Ya misunderstanding perhaps they would be still alive (BIG and Tupac). Yet that would be my conspiracy hat talking, and in many ways it was probably just a bunch of punks who killed the rap greats, rather than Puff and Knight or the LAPD or whatever other conspiracy.

Tupac wrote some amazing raps, my favourite being Changes, as it was laced with emotion and lyrical skill: it finally showed the world what Rap could be. Funnily enough his though of “never be a black president” were wrong, so Barack would now tell him. He was truly an exceptional artist, and his CD All Eyez on Me went 9x Platinum. The industry felt his death, and continues to feel it to this day.

I’m not trying to be morbid in this blog, but it seems a lot of the best died at a young age, and without contributing what they could have. So I now move on to Big Pun; who was the Latin preacher of lyrical rendition. He was much like BIG with the flow, but with his Latin roots had a different way of laying it down. He was much more focused on the quick-to-slow transitions and liked his songs to have a happy-go-lucky feel with a gangster edge.

I really miss Big Pun, as there were very few people making “his” style of music, and now it has all but died with him. My favourite CD is Yeeeah Baby as it is one you can listen to front to back with no problem. And of course it has his highest chart reaching track Still Not A Player, which is a great song. Laughing At You is great, as being a computer guy, you always get some flack down the roads to your success.

Big L was one of my favourites, as his fast paced wit was great. A line that I always remember was “I was ‘po’, I couldn’t afford the ‘or’”. He has a lot of witty banter in his rap, and it made me laugh. Another loss to the game; and his death was one of the worst in that it was a case of mistaken identity, which is terrible. Ebonics is a great song, as it was a “teaching” song. Probably his best CD is still his first with Lifestyles Ov Da Poor and Dangerous.

Enough of the R.I.P. I will move into my favorite Group and they deserve a whole section, as they truly consist of 8 (+1) separate visionaries:

I couldn’t write a single more sentence without bringing up what The Wu-Tang Clan did for rap in the mainstream. To this day, they are the most wide-spread affiliate rap group in the world, with well over one hundred known affiliate groups. Their original Staten Island style from NYC was never-before-seen by the rap industry. The way they brought in the Shaolin-styled combative lyrics were nothing short of extraordinary. The shogun mentality of the rap was excellent, and there has never been a group of more talented rap artists then the Clan.

From RZA, the head of the group who brings the talent together with his massively gifted productions has long been my #2 in the individual rap game. He pushes out Tupac in the fact that he can rap and produce, which given time I am sure Tupac could have accomplished, but just didn’t. My favourite CDs by RZA are all the Bobby Digital CDs, perhaps Digital Bullet. My favourite track would be Mantis but there are lots. In many ways any CD under the Wu umbrella are his own masterpieces.

RZA holds so much respect in the Clan, that he chooses the direction of their CDs. The Wu-Tang Clan is different in the respects that they have freedom to wander. They aren’t artists on a label per say, as they all have different labels for their solo work (for instance ODB signed for Roc-a-Fella, and Meth for Def Jam). RZA calls it “a financial movement. So what do you wanna diversify? Your assets”. The FBI infilitrated the Clan via Caruso; due to their apparent link with gunrunning and the Gambino crime family. Probably all nonsense, but RZA forced Cappadonna to fire him as his manager, and severed all ties after finding the truth. This shows his influence.

GZA, RZA’s cousin, the genius, has an amazing amount of poetic skills. His rap is knowledge, and as he says, knowledge is power. Liquid Swords is perhaps the best individual CD the Clan ever produced, with Cold World or 4^th Chamber being my absolute favourites. I love the Shogun intro, I actually own that movie!

Method Man. The name everyone knows due to his “sell-out” profession, which I think is very harsh. He is an excellent rapper; some of his verses on other artist’s tracks are so good that they make the artist look terrible. He has slain so many tracks with other artists that they question releasing it. That’s how good Meth is on the microphone; just that he, along with Redman, market themselves so well, is they own gift. Too many haters! Best CD? Tical. Best songs? A tie between Bring Da Pain and All I Need. Very different tracks, but both ones that make it on my Top 20 of all time.

To the late ODB (Ol’ Dirty Bastard) who gave so much, and with his acceptance of his “crazy-man” aura, gave it his all. I just listened last night to Return to the 36 Chambers, his opus, and still I love every minute of it, the album cover still cracks me up. He is so original, that I believe no-one could ever touch him in that arena. The Choppin’ Heads song with RZA is so simple, but so gifted. Shimmy Shimmy Ya is sung by everyone when you play it, but Proteck Ya Neck II The Zoo is perhaps the best on the CD for lyrical slaying skills.

Ghostface Killah, the raspy voiced rapper who is by in large the most successful individual in the group next to Meth. He has made so many good LPs over the years, it’s staggering. My favourite? Ironman. It’s something about the first CD of artists that seem to always be the best. It’s when they are raw and uncut with only a producer stopping them from going wild. Daytona 500 is an awesome song, that beat is out-of-this-world.

Raekwon, the quick tongue biggie-hater-come-lover masterpiece maker. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx is a great CD, one that should be in all your collections. Raekwon is a steady-eddy rapper who continues to produce great music, and along with Ghostface had the ability to move into the mainstream with ease. My favourite songs would be Guillotine (Swordz) and Criminology.

The not-in-the-first-cd artist Masta Killa, had a great first release. Sure, it took him 10 years, but in many ways I can see why. He must of poured his heart into the CD, as the intro song No Said Date was phenomenal, the beat (to RZAs credit) made the song, but the lyrics bounced the beat perfectly. I lied about him never being in the CD, as he does have one verse on Da Mystery of Cheeseboxin’ but he was incarcerated for most of the production.

Inspectah Deck was always the man who spit the hot verse on a battle track for the Wu-Tang. He is the one who opens up both Protect Ya Neck and Triumph, two of the best intro’s I’ve ever heard. “I bomb atomically, Socrates, philosophies and hypotheses can’t define how I be dropping these mockeries”… is just insane. His solo CDs never lighted any fire for me, so I won’t pretend.

U-God, was by-in-large dead weight in my opinion. He had some good verses on some songs, like Triumph with “A jungle junkie, vigilante tantrum A death kiss, catwalk, squeeze another anthem Hold it for ransom, tranquilized with anesthesia My orchestra, graceful, music ballerinas”. Other than that, I struggle to find relevance. He got in a tiff with RZA in 2001, and was lucky RZA accepted him back.

Other groups that needs a mention:

NWA made gansta-rap commercial, this is something that can’t be understated, as for the longest time it was seen as garbage to the airwaves. The songs that really broke through was Straight Outta Compton, Express Yourself, and F**k tha Police, which all appeared on their second CD Straight Outta Compton. I don’t want to go on to much about NWA, as it is a great group, but not one of my personal favourites. Easy-E was a loss to rap, but again I don’t feel was that influential in his time.

Outkast goes down as one of the best for many reasons, but for me the biggest is the way they have evolved themselves to live in the ever-changing Hip Hop industry. I am amazed at their ability to metamorphose, much like Prodigy has done in the electronica industry. With the two arists Big Boi and Andre, they are one of Hip Hops gift.

If you doubt their abilities in any way, just refer to RIAA who show they are the artists of the most successful rap album, and sit at 11 times Platinum. An amazing achievement for their CD SpeakerBoxxx/The Love Below. My favourite CD is Aquemini, as it has so many songs I love: Rosa Parks, Skew it on the Bar-B, and Da Art of Storytellin’ (Part 1). Wheelz of Steel is another track that is on ATLiens that I also love. Their new stuff is OK, but not what I consider their best.

The solo artists outside of the Clan that have influenced Rap to no-end:

Redman is a great artist. Every CD he makes, causes me to laugh at some point. Whether it’s the skits that we get every time, or the lyrical foreplay that he does so well. He is truly one of the comedians of the rap-game, and perhaps gave a spin to rap that wasn’t there before. I have all his CDs, and will continue to collect them. My favourite? Malpractice. Best song? Enjoy Da Ride. Perhaps an example where Meth killed someone on their own track? “When it’s goin’ down, call me quicksand”! Redman is perhaps one artist who gets better and better.

Jay-Z is both a great producer, rapper, and business man. He has made some great CDs, and it took me a while to truly appreciate his abilities. I know a lot of people in the hardcore side call him a biter, but I don’t buy that crap. Everyone has similar styles and word usage in their songs, and Jay-Z invented a lot of them. That debut song of In My Lifetime showed some incredible flow that “Jizza” can throw down.

My favourite CD has to be In My Lifetime Vol. I, but Reasonable Doubt goes down for honorable mention. My favourite song(s) on IML v.1 are Streets Is Watching… what a sick beat and melody, and City Is Mine, The. There are so many on this CD though, so I don’t want to go nuts! I love the line “I bare arms like short sleeves”, just classic stuff. I mean he made 11 CDs… 8 Grammies, and 31 nominations (including the wins).

Puff Daddy/Sean Combs or P. Diddy as he goes by now, was one of the greatest producers. Notorious owes a lot to Puff, yet I’ll get into that come the RIP Tribute planned for this year. The recent CD by Puff blew me away, as I was not expecting it to have so many well written songs. The production, of course, was tight as well. So of course my favourite Puff (as an artist) CD has to be Press Play he definitely out did himself on this one (#1 on the US Billboard). After Love is a great track.

He has 3 Grammies and 8 nominations (including wins), he has 3 albums he produced on the Rolling Stones Greatest 500 Albums of All Time.

Run-DMC (technically a group, but always considered as one) although not perhaps the best lyricists have to go down as hugely influential, and the hit song It’s Like That is still played at b-boy arenas all over the world. Ice Cube had some great tracks in the day, and really pushed gansta-rap into it’s own genre especially with that killer song with Dr. Dre called Natural Born Killaz. The beat on that song is so good, so hardcore, that it will go down in history.

Dr. Dre is a revolutionary producer, and The Chronic and 2001 were spectacular solo albums. 2001 is probably the most played CD by a solo artist, as it has so much talent and so many good beats, it’s almost too much for one CD. As Dre put it “give me one more platinum plaque and f**k rap, you can have it back”. My favourite solo song by Dre has to be Forgot About Dre, I know the whole song of-by-heart and the combo with Eminem is unbelievable.

Eminem for that matter has to go down as being one of the big names of influence in rap. Of course he got a lot of flack for his style, his edgy words and somewhat insane lyrics, but that is what defines an influential artist. In that he was Caucasian really makes no difference, but the media did everything it could to under-pin that the artists who sold the most rap CDs was white. To me, this means nothing; he is just a great rapper who brought a fresh new style to the marketplace. He will never be duplicated, as his style is so cutting-edge and original and any others who try to copy it will be labeled a cheap replica. Best CD? The Marshall Mathers LP. Best track? I’d say Stan due to its revolutionary style, yet I also like Drug Ballad and Kim.

Slick Rick has to come into play, as he was the best story-teller to every roll his tongue. I really liked his music, and the sound of his voice. He is one of the few English rappers who have made it big (perhaps Streets the only other?) in North America. He wears his eyepatch due to a fight in jail… he went to jail for chasing a man down the street with a robe and loaded pistol firing…

He is Slick Rick, and he is definitely one-of-a-kind. Children’s Story and Mona Lisa are great songs from his early days. Yet perhaps the best CD is The Art of Storytelling for its over-all greatness and variety. La Di Da Di on Doug E Fresh’s album is one of the best story telling songs every written (he has so many…) and Snoop reinvented it for his own album.

Snoop Dogg, I actually almost forgot him and added him at the last minute. How insane that would have been! Snoop was again revolutionary in that he invented his own language and words in songs, and then they became literally slang in ebonics. Something that perhaps many rappers can be honored for, but none so easily traceable to their source, for Shizzal! Snoop has made himself an enterprise, offering TV shows, Albums, productions, and even porn videos. He is listed as a Dr. Dre “protégé” but in many ways, he is very much his own man.

I’d say he is one of the few artists who best CD’s are a tie. Doggystyle, his debut CD was exceptional, and The Doggfather his follow-up didn’t let us down. Although I’d say his music went a little to the wayside as time went by, probably due to him stretching his entertainment empire thin, but he still good value. Murder Was The Case, Gin and Juice, and of course Who Am I (What’s My Name) were some greats from his first. Doggfather and my personal favourite of all time 2001 are some of the greats from his second. Lodi Dodi was quoted as one of his best, but I feel all credit is to Slick Rick the Ruler, and Snoop makes sure to give him the credit in the intro. Still though, to this day, many people mistakenly think Snoop wrote this song.

The best CD in the past 30 years:

To summarize the above list of artists and groups, here is what I believe is the best CD to come out during the 30 years of Hip Hop; some artists are not listed above, as although they made a great song, did not perhaps make the influential push that the others did.

Without further ado, here is the list:

The state of rap today:

I feel it’s fitting to end on the fact that rap has taken some what of a down-turn in recent years. The commercial appeal has appeared to out-weigh the need to throw down great tracks. Artists such as Ludacris try to skirt the edge of commercial and hardcore/rap, and do it quite well. More than likely rap will merge with R&B or some other forms and may come out the entire better for it.

It seems fitting that the 30 year milestone has come at a point where the path of Hip Hop or Rap has come to a crossroads.

I could have added more, but it all ends somewhere. Thanks for reading.

While walking in the “Plus 15s” in Calgary, which is basically a network of hallways that connect the various businesses and buildings downtown, I began to notice the Mindless Walkers. The reasoning behind the name is they are 15 feet of the ground, or a storey. This isn’t my point, but it does need explaining, to show why it is frustrating. There are many people using these Plus 15s all throughout the day, especially at peak times such as mornings, lunch, and evenings. Most people work the 8 to 5 routine, and for that reason we see the volumes at that time.

The reason I decided to go on a little bit of a rant today, was that there are so many people meandering around in the walkways. I mean, I go on walks myself to stretch my legs, but I walk in a straight line and don’t stop in the middle of the isle. You also get the people who either don’t see, or don’t care, that leave trailing shoulders. There has been more than one occasion when I’ve wanted to drop my shoulder and knock them on the ground for being so arrogant. There is more than one person in the world, but some people forget that.

The most annoying is the wanderer, though. They are the ones that walk as if they are high on Special K or something; at a half slant. They walk cross legged or cross footed and step in your path. You can watch them from 20 feet back and seem them diagonally cross the hall. It’s silly, and it is not very respectful to the others around you. I have been cutoff so many times, or stepped on, or bumped into, when they are paying attention. It's one thing to bump someone or cut them off while you are distracted looking at your phone, for instance, but to do it when you are fully aware and walking is ridiculous.

I understand the fast paced people, who have places to go and people to see, that is fine. I understand the slow people, they are infirm, elderly, children, or the like… again fine. Yet it’s the fully competent and able adults that get in your way that really “grind my gears”. And that’s all I needed to get it off my chest… a one page blog. Thanks for reading, if you were looking for real content, I know you must now feel cheated!

If you, on the other hand, found this amazing intriguing perhaps this article is right up your alley... or walkway.