Eazily I approach, the 100 GREATEST RAP (OR HIP HOP OR WHATEVER YOU CALL IT) TRACKS OF THE GODS because I ain't no joke.

I've always felt like when I turn on hip hop radio here I do not hear anything but west coast + southern stuff and that was true back then as well. I mean obviously I missed something but it's not like I made an effort to avoid it or anything, Jay-Z just didn't register - if anything was blasting through the neighborhood it was shit like 2Pac, Spice 1, Mac Dre, E-40, Too $hort, Luniz, Keak Da Sneak etc. plus maybe "Ugh (na na na na)" lol (PG OTM about the Bay always making time for Cash Money, plus dudes like T.I., David Banner)

now that I think of it maybe it's just a holdover of the 2Pac/Biggie beef

That def sounds right to me from what I remember. They shy away from East Coast stuff. I grew up in Cali and have lived in NYC for 9 years. It took me moving out here to start really digging into NYC rap.

Spotify playlist: http://open.spotify.com/user/miketd/playlist/3Gre0dm7q3UC0vQfspoPRu

Never thought of big pimpin as nyc rap, it was all over mtv etc and was straight pop

plus its got ugk and timbo

I haven't watched MTV since Yo! MTV Raps went off the air. UGK didn't get the Bay Area exposure that the New Orleans/Cash Money stuff did, for some reason, I only found out about them years after the fact (lol Outkast namedropping)

Only one song for me so far: Still D.R.E.

xxpost Making a different point, guys. Settle down.

I'm not gonna argue that Big Pimpin is not a pop song (obviously it is) but in terms of radio programming and regional popularity in the Bay, the more I think about it I'm inclined to think that the Pac/Biggie murders really are the key thing... listening to/promoting east coast stuff seems border-line heretical around here. 2Pac is like a patron saint. Even years after the fact I can easily imagine how Bay Area stations wouldn't be super-keen on promoting one of Biggie's buddies, no matter how pop. Pac seems to have rather clearly lost the legacy sweepstakes for the rest of the country though - Biggie's revered as one of the greatest rappers of all-time, Pac is kind of a footnote, an also-ran. (I don't give a shit about either of them, tbh)

I don't think Pac is a footnote at all, given the ridiculous amount of posthumous stuff released (not to mention the "Tupac is still alive" stuff)

it's not like that posthumous stuff is doing his catalog any favors though. it's just cash-in shit.

who is it that actually cashed in btw? is it all suge? family? or?

pac was bigger in chicago than biggie

im not claiming to know what the bay was like fwiw -- i would just be genuinely surprised if big pimpin didnt have a pretty big profile & im not sure if shakey's detachment i.e. not watching MTV might be coloring his interpretation of the bay's bay-centric-ness

also virtually everyone ive talked to sees circa 2000 bay music as pretty much the worst era for bay rap

who is it that actually cashed in btw? is it all suge? family? or?

I don't really know ... would assume it's suge, dude has bills to pay

circa 2000 bay music as pretty much the worst era for bay rap

not gonna contest this point lol

wasn't mama pac behind the posthum stuff

i am the final spottieottiedopaliscious voter

defeat me and you will go on to battle your rival, gary

"i wish" was in my top 10 because "i wish" is the best, also voted "what's up fatlip" and "shimmy shimmy ya" and "party and bullshit"

It's weird how some of this just passed me by for some reason I've never heard any Big L stuff but I've heard bits of that song as samples in a lot of places.

I always have stages where I'm not paying attention to rap music for a while and then get back into it and try to catch up, and some things just never click. Tupac, Boot Camp, Bone Thugs, and Chronic 2001 don't do anything for me at all; I couldn't get into them retroactively for some reason.

wasn't mama pac behind the posthum stuff

only a couple bits of it iirc. even if she was involved with anything on "Tha" Row, one can bet she wasn't paid.

no, looks like I'm wrong, and she was behind all the "remixed from Makaveli masters" and "edited to say G-Unit instead of Snoop Dogg" type nonsense.

3 of my noms so far, (eye know, opp, rapper's delight). Should have voted.

mike t-diva's Spotify playlist comes up blank on my computer so here's an alternative I was working on during the rollout (everything available except BIG, De La and Fat Lip).

http://open.spotify.com/user/dorianlynskey/playlist/0iJcQ4wdgCOURbEHP0wbCD

voted for:

96. Fat Lip - What's Up Fat Lip [5 votes, 126 points, 2000]
89. Jeru The Damaja - Come Clean [5 votes, 140 points, 1993]
87. Ludacris - Southern Hospitality [6 votes, 143 points, 2000]
86. Smoothe da Hustler ft. Trigger tha Gambler - Broken Language [4 votes, 146 points, 1996]
83. Heltah Skeltah ft. OGC - Lefleuf Leflah Eskoshka [4 votes, 151 points, 1995]
79. Jay-Z ft. U.G.K. – Big Pimpin’ [5 votes, 154 points, 1999]
78. The Notorious B.I.G. - Party and Bullshit [5 votes, 156 points, 1993]
76. Ol' Dirty Bastard - Shimmy Shimmy Ya [8 votes, 158 points, 1995]

rest of the list is great too, tons of songs on my shortlist

Great results so far.

Hazarding a guess at the top 20: Juicy, Follow the Leader, Paid in Full, Shook Ones Part II, Gin & Juice, CREAM, TROY, It Was a Good Day, Mind Playing Tricks on Me, How I Could Just Kill a Man, Triumph, Flava in Ya Ear, The Message, Straight Outta Compton, Passing Me By, something else from Dre, something from Tribe, something from Jay-Z, and a couple of PE tracks. Based on my album predictions I'm probably wrong but I'm going to throw it out there anyway.

i think ante up will be top 20. and nuthing but a g thang.

Goddamn this list is taking me on a nostalgic tour through my childhood. But I'm ashamed to admit that I had never heard that Ice Cube song and it is THE MOST BADASS THING EVER. Don't know how I avoided diving into his discography despite loving Today was a good day, which I placed pretty high

Voted so far:
94. T.I. - Rubberband Man [5 votes, 128 points, 2003]
77. Dr. Dre - Still D.R.E. [6 votes, 156 points, 1999]
76. Ol' Dirty Bastard - Shimmy Shimmy Ya [8 votes, 158 points, 1995]

oh, and la di da di xp

Yes, I think you're right. I was tapping these out from memory on my phone last night and knew I'd forget a couple of obvious ones. Feel like I'm underrating 80s Def Jam too but not sure if there's an unchallenged Run-DMC or Beastie Boys pick. With the likes of Mobb Deep or the Geto Boys there's really only one consensus contender. From the 00s, maybe What You Know as well? I can't see 99 Problems, Get Ur Freak On or BOB having quite the same impact in this context that they would in a cross-genre best-of-00s poll. But I expect (and hope) to be surprised in all kinds of ways.

I would assume "I Got 5 on It" is in the top 20; it's one of those cases where everyone loves the single, even though few care about other things the act did.

Similarly, I think "Regulate" will place quite high.

I voted for both and have never heard a single note of anything else Da Luniz did.

And from the 00s, I think "Drop It Like It's Hot" got plenty of votes... Though knowing the average age of ILXors, probably not as much as "Who am I? (What's My Name?)", which I assume is in the top 20 too.

voted for both and have never heard a single note of anything else Da Luniz did.

Haha, I gave them both high votes too, and I've never heard anything else by Luniz either (and I'm only vaguely familiar with Warren G's other output).

Hazarding a guess at the top 20: Juicy, Follow the Leader, Paid in Full, Shook Ones Part II, Gin & Juice, CREAM, TROY, It Was a Good Day, Mind Playing Tricks on Me, How I Could Just Kill a Man, Triumph, Flava in Ya Ear, The Message, Straight Outta Compton, Passing Me By, something else from Dre, something from Tribe, something from Jay-Z, and a couple of PE tracks. Based on my album predictions I'm probably wrong but I'm going to throw it out there anyway.

― Strictly vote-splitting (DL), Wednesday, June 8, 2011 5:01 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

"Scenario" and "It Takes Two" and "Children's Story" and "Top Billin'" should place pretty high too

don't think "How I Could Just Kill A Man" will be that high up but maybe i'm underestimating it. i think Jay-Z will suffer from vote-splitting and nothing of his will be very high. "Big Pimpin'" might even be it for him on this list.

gonna do a couple now and then some more after 6.

75. Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew - The Show [4 votes, 168 points, 1985]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDkqz5C62SM

wait shit i forgot to write in 1 first place vote but the points were still right.

my #1! TOO FUCKING LOW!

74. The Coup – Me and Jesus the Pimp in a ’79 Grenada Last Night [5 votes, 168 points, 1998]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbiot-mH0EQ

Nice contrast

72. LL Cool J - Rock the Bells [6 votes, 172 points, 1985]

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

72 or 73?

I'm glad at least one tune by The Coup made it, even though my favourite is "Fat Cats, Bigga Fish". But "Me and Jesus..." is hella chilling too, storytelling rap at its best.

Whoa, apparently there is a novel based on the lyrics "Me and Jesus the Pimp..."!!!

http://www.amazon.com/Too-Beautiful-Words-Monique-Morris/dp/0066211050

"Rock The Bells" also comically low

73 sorry. 72 is...