I keep getting reminded how I've never really given The Roots a try. I gotta get on that.

I didn't say anyone was brainwashed by popularity, I said they were fooled by catchy hooks and good beats (which are both good but means nothing when talking about whether you're a good rapper or not).

Take The Game for instance. His first two albums have been big budget projects where he was able to go and get a lot of banging beats and good features (and it looks like the same will happen with his third), so despite the fact that he is a very average MC with incredibly limited subject matter (same recycled gun raps and talk about cherry 6'4s, G-unot, and name dropping as many rappers as possible while you're at it) a bunch of people dick ride him. Got it?
I don't know what you mean by in the middle. As for who I think is talented and popular, off the top of my head I would say Jay, Nas, Pac, Big, Method Man (well, when he was popular, I don't think he is anymore), OutKast, and I'm sure a few others.

And yes, when people were mentioning MF Doom as one of the best rappers out I was rolling my eyes at them.

I never thought of The Game having a lot of good features. It's not just features and beats that make his albums. He is actually pretty talented and has some songs that really show off his range, but not many. He's a bad example here IMO. MIMS and Soulja Boy are what you are lookin for.

I cannnnot hate on that list, fair

Home Grown! Vol 1&2 are basically a 'greatest hits', I would start there for basics.

My favorite Roots albums are Game Theory, and Phrenology, although those albums are more of their recent material

People like Game because he makes great music, has a good voice, a solid delivery and excellent beat selection. He is incredibly solid and even with his annoying name dropping and redundant subject matter, he's still much better than anyone else. I'd rather listen to Game rap about Compton 100 more times over a super hard Nottz or Timbo beat than 99% of other "mainstream" rappers.

Lil Wayne is the most overrated rapper in existence and I'm going to kill someone if I have to listen to the A Millie beat ever again. MF Doom is one of the worst and he is only well liked by dorks who don't know anything about anything. Terrible lyrics, awful voice, boring delivery. He sometimes has great beats, but he ruins them by sucking so bad at rapping.

Kid Rock is underrated and hated on by many rap fans for unknown reasons quite a bit. Devil Without A Cause is a great album and some of his later work is awesome to me as well, e.g. American Badass, All Summer Long, etc.

Anyone listen to Nappy Roots? They have a new CD coming out this week, I think.

Just dug out this bad boy on a burnt cd, easily stuck in my top 5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNHCjN5eFLo

worst song ever

There is a new Re Up Gang Cd out. It's super tight to me.

I am anxious to hear that new Nappy Roots.

yeah but its only like half new material which is kinda disappointing, still good though

i've probably posted in this thread already, but the problem with these threads is that people confuse "good" with "catchy", and "hip-hop" with "simple rhymes and tired metaphors over a nice beat"

i don't hate people who make catchy music to sell records because it's their profession. i hate that they do it and think they make good hip-hop.

and what makes your opinions on music more important then anybody else here? lol

wtf? Nah man!

Yeah, it's just, he didn't make those beats ya know. I don't like giving him credit for that. A lot of game fans talk about his delivery but it's the same over and over (and it's tough not to call him for being so similar to Dr Dre (or dre's ghost writers if you prefer)). Honestly do you really listen to Documentary and DA anymore? It was hot to me when it came out but I can't listen to most those tracks anymore, it's got no depth to me.

Lyrics and diverse flows are important to me though, unless I'm at a party or club or something.
There's a rapper like Lil Wayne every few years. Everyone that was jocking 50 cent a few years ago, Eminem before that and ja Rule a few years before that is jocking Lil Wayne now. I mean not the exact same people but the same demographic.

Don't know **** about Kid Rock, haven't heard anything about him in a long ass time.

His opinion.

And I hope that avatar is a joke, because Cam'ron pretty much handed hip hop a gigantic L when he was on O'reilly.

Hey I think I can mention someone no one else has said yet----

Masta Ace

Peep Disposable Arts and A long Hot summer, a couple of the best albums to come out in the 21st century. The Show is his latest work but I haven't listened to that yet.

oh i love cruising in my ****box to sittin on chrome!

new free Murs and 9th Wonder album

http://inversehiphop.wordpress.com/2...free-download/

good stuff if you like them, if not check um out anyway

how can you even compare lil wayne and eminem to ja rule, 50cent etall.

lol man you take this **** too seriously. cam was hilarious on o'reily. I dont give a fk what hip-hop's image is, its a bunch of criminals anyway they deserve their image. you are the same dude that probably says "yo man we have to take it back to the 5 elements of hiphop! those were the days!"

You really like that song? I am super surprised. haha It's always driven me nuts.

i understand your point as far as fanbases but i dont think em belongs in any sort of category with wayne and ja. em will prob go down in top ten of all time, wayne and ja...no. nothing to even say about ja, hes a joke but waynes **** is pretty bad and usually nothin but a decent beat and his wierd delivery that teenage white girls love for some reason. his rhymes,metaphors, verses are usually horrible and all his songs are meaningless. his new stuff is even worse because of that auto-tuner and when hes not using that he tries to sound like he wants to cry or somethin (see set this stage on fire) hes trash and i wish ppl would get the **** off his dick

The only way he was hillarious was because he was a ****ing idiot the whole time. And believe me, if you were on any rap related message boards you'd know that my opinion definitely wasn't in the minority.

Cam'ron's a class clown. He shouldn't have been any where near a serious discussion, especially when he's going to be seen as representing hip hop. But hey, hip hop is all a bunch of criminals and I'm some lame that wants the five elements back so who cares. Lol, you sound like an O'reilly viewer. I don't care about the five elements but they're a lot more important than wack ass dipset (minus Hell Rell).

Well yeah I was just talking about marketable images, not skill. Eminem doesn't have a chance at a top ten IMO but he's certainly a great rapper.