Man, I was whipping the Ford Tempo like a Corvette in HS to that tape. Front to back. That, 'The Diary' and 'Me Against The World.'
But those multi rhyme stanzas, so to say, were something serious. Would you say that they originated from G Rap? If one listens to early G Rap, they can clearly hear it. Like Nas referenced G Rap rhyme scheme on 'NY State of Mind' from 'Streets of New York.' Not totally, but it was a reference point IMO.
Bottom line, how does G Rap figure into your greatest emcees? There's the influence but there's also dudes that took it to another level.
I don't make lists anymore but how do you gauge an influential artist?
I moved & was living in a city where for years kats set their OT crack operations & dirt to such a level that this kat's lyrics were coming alive before my very eyes.
The whole hood seemed like it was fucked up & damn sure remember being @ hole in the wall spots & clubs with hood chicks who had the crack smoke & woola smells in their hairs & weaves
Knew a chick who's whole family of aunts, uncles, some cousins & moms were fucked up on that shit - that documentary on Detroit where they talked about whole families getting strung out trying to keep up with what they felt was some flyshit rang true unfortunately.
Used to frequent them check cashing spots & see all types of wild shit b4 having a bank account.
Ls were blazing in basements, college kids, hip hop lovers, small time hustlers, hard working kats & young fast lil hood chicks were all trying to find & define their way amongst the madness.
Muggs used to freestlye off top like a motherfukka - some sharpening their swords others just babbling some bullshit for stress relief.
The music & times were changing but shaping many who need some direction.
BIG rose up out of that era.
If alive now, he'd have to do some major growing for his seed & decide to either change his music & his hustles as you couldnt actually live that life he rapped about while being a popular mc;
then, if u lived that shit for real, u werent rapping about it {u never heard E40 spitting about how he could have left big man in them streets from slipping now did u?}.
LL could have put this out in 88 or 94 to fit that genre but it wasnt about that to him nor was the music about that.
Kats he knew personally werent small time.
Like he said, he "had dangerous friends" & "if u talk to much,u get that ass shot up"
Times changed, the music reflected it & this^^^^^^^ was before everybody who thought they could do it tried to do it.
Big actually said that he'd make shit up if it meant not being fucked up anymore - some kats aint feel that same way.
He had the ears of kats living it though & put a crossover spin on it by being nice enough to rock the rhythm with his charm & abilities when given the chance once Puff showed him where that $$ was @.
Underground backpack shit turned gritty overnight so it seemed as one aint know who had what in their backpacks in the mid 90s
Honestly, I just gauge them on the quality of work & impact for that particular time period as I never believed in that subjective Superman vs MuhammadAli comic book, barber shop type speak & never was a component of list.
Nas & Pun both admit that they took a certain style from the Kool Genius of Rap as theirs - Pun said every time he saw him, he'd call him Sensei.
Nas even took it further & said
GRap & Kane set a standard of what ill was mid 80s which made others step their shit up.
Rakim set his standard of what hard & ill was to him & the people gravitated to it maybe a yr earlier.
Redman, Treach, Busta & BIG set their standard for how to rock the mic, the records & record sales b4 selling mad records meant getting props.
When kats got to storytelling with the grit & grime, they turned that shit into some motion picture type descriptive big screen lane.
Eventually, I knew some kats who have done serious time with skills would get their shot like Black Rob & DMX the way the trend of the music was going.
There was competition but muggs were also competing against themselves to get THAT shit out to the hip hop fiends who craved some more dope shit distributed mainly by mixtapes.
G Rap set a standard for them multi stanzas but that hunger, grit of the times & drive to be that kat who kicked that ill shit by any means pushed others to try to outdo themselves & whatever was out @ the time.
So like you said, G Rap is the easiest reference point but its also ironic & funny how Mobstyle, kats who have become renown for what they really did in them street, got blackballed & overlooked by the industry so to speak (even though they warned about the impact of doing that shit for real) yet a few yrs later, kats were trying to rap like how they lived.
Again Times & music changed along with the diversity that was once there.
Fredro basically said in '92, his team had to lead that East coast gangsta rap shit to hold the fort down against that raw shit coming up out of the West during the Afrocentric, say no to crack era.
Kats on the hill werent far behind
U "remember them nikkas"
That other clique from all over that borough were in the wings ready to let em know what they were about too.
{That RosiePerez HBO Showcase she had}
Shit was rough & real back then
SO what G Rap may have 'started' or became known for in concept, kats took it to other levels only a few yrs later, competing wit themselves, the audience & their peers.
peace
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