Yo P&J, I'm really happy for you, Imma let you finish, but ILX had the greatest 2009 poll of all time! All time! (2009 ILX Trax Poll Results: TOP TEN TODAY)

In my defense, I'm not actually the rap noob that I'm coming across as. For years I was all about golden age/native tongues/backpacker/indie type stuff & I still like some of that (the Finale record was on my top albums list), but it has only been in the last five years or so that I've embraced post-mid-90s hardcore/gangsta stuff (which I had avoided for ethical reasons which were probably pretentious to begin with, but seemed esp. negligible when I realized a lot of the stuff I was missing out on was totally slammin). And it has only been since about the release of Underground Kingz that I've taken an especial interest in dirty south stuff, new & old, so yeah, I'm def a novice to the sub-genre in which the word "trap" would typically be exchanged, tho not necessarily so to rap as a whole.

gatekeeping in full effect itt!

finale record is real good, but i think i picked up a bad mix or rip, the vocals don't stand out like i think they're supposed to, either that or i can't seem to focus on them. been meaning to pick up another copy so thanks for the reminder. if you ever see that EA advert with Pete Rock, check out his T-shirt!

the opposite jabba imo

xxp: duly noted

now my turn to look ignorant. what is Finale?

detroit rapper, production by black milk, dilla, detroit usual suspects

funny how detroit picked up where NY fell off, gives creedence to dallas penn's "most hip hop cities in america" theory where the more fucked you are, the better the hip hop

album A Pipedream and a Promise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLUBqx1tGWk

i can go for really long periods of time without understanding rap slang after i've been exposed to it. sometimes the metaphors are too obvious to ignore, but sometimes it's kind of a fun mystery.

i think people itt are giving ESOM a much harder time than it deserves. yes there's at least two too many hova verses, and they do get worse as the song goes on, but it's a fully functional pop song that's fun to listen to mostly because of the great chorus but also because of the bouncy, sunny beat. i don't agree with number one single of the year, and i'd probably prefer if it were out of the ILM top 10, but can we just admit it's not a bad song? sometimes people here are too grumpy for their own good.

besides the song hasn't even charted here (yet)

empire state may not be a bad song but it ain't much of a good song either.

the number of verses is definitely a problem. sometimes i'll keep listening to it just to hear that great bridge, and I get really disappointed if a chorus ends and it's still Jay droning on "LIGHTS IS BLINDING BLAH BLAH BALH"

anyway the thing is any halfway catchy Jay single had a good chance of being a ubiquitous Billboard/Pazz & Jop #1 at this point in his career, it just took this long because most of his post-retirement singles have been dogshit

anyway the thing is any halfway catchy Jay single had a good chance of being a ubiquitous Billboard/Pazz & Jop #1 at this point in his career, it just took this long because most of his post-retirement singles have been dogshit

I hadn't thought of it this way but it's totally true.

wrt esom i liked it a lot when i heard it on the radio @ my friend luca's house while he was making dinner but like it was just some song on the radio that you could listen 2 while chopping carrots but when its got all this bluster and "crossover hit" and I <3 NY stencilled all over it it seems kinda dead and gross and I liked it a lot more before all that

yeah the first few times i heard it i was all "hey this is great please make this the next single, anything to get Run This Town off the radio"

WE ARE YA I SAID IT WE ARE

yeah i guess a weird comp 2 make is this song Galway girl which is ireland's most famous accordion player(tm) and steve earl and was a massive radio hit when i went to college but bc nobody really talked abt it beyond yeah this song is alright the fact that i was allowed to internalise "this is where im from and they mention salthill in it" seemed ok and personal and mine but when I got back to galway and it was this horrible fist-pumping thing at the end of the night in student-ey bars it was just really distorted and gross and I guess some songs are able to take this much better than others like some songs become really tasteless and empty when they're anthems

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFlfSeh-Ts8

is the song, i didn't embed cos isn't that the rule?

wait ok it ignores the url tag my bad

I understand what you're saying, Plaxico. I guess too much of the wrong kind of exposure to anything will make you hate it, even if you liked it originally.

20 -- Jay-Z - Empire State of Mind (ft. Alicia Keys) (13 votes, 144.5 points, 1 #1 vote/s) (1 in P&J, 44 in p4k)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjsXo9l6I8

just blew me away: the hook, the video, all Alicia's bits really. Jay's fine, although I wish he wouldn't chuckle at the 'bus route' bit. If I had to criticise it, it would be for the cliches: de Niro, Biggie, concrete jungle etc. It doesn't need them - it's epic already. -Ismael Klata

lol @ this placing immediately after all that

loooooooooool

Somehow I've managed to avoid hearing this song; should I bother?

I still like "Run This Town" a lot btw

Euler, you can click on the video and hear it. I love it, but then I'm not from New York. It sounds big and anthemic and a lot of fun.

"Run This Town" is v. underrated, "Empire" overrated.

xpost

yeah I know; I guess b/c it placed here I ought to bother. Basically all I hear about the song is "boo, this is boring, lame latter-day Jay-Z" and you know, attention is limited.

"run this town" and "empire state of mind" both suck, at least we're done with jay

Jay's comeback ranked (according to me): American Gangster >>>>>>>>>>>> Blueprint 3 >>> Kingdom Come

Jay's career ranked (according to me): every album before 2004 >>>>>>>>> every album after

otm

I just love the hell out of the American Gangster album, sorry guyz.

There have been very very few British entries on here so far. I count only Florence and Basement Jaxx (although I don't know where a lot of the dance tracks originate)

darkstar, fuzzy logik & egypt, crazy cousinz and guido are all UK too

AG is aight, things about the vox/production bother me but it holds together better than the other 2 (although I'd rank even Kingdom Come over BP3). Still I'm not convinced anything he's done the last few years even meets the low bar set by the Blueprint 2. (xpost)

Jay's comeback ranked (according to me): American Gangster >>>>>>>>>>>> Blueprint 3 >>> Kingdom Come

^ This is accurate, American Gangster is a hell of an album and I'd place it in my top 4-5 of Jay's.

should i even pick the fight of asking what pre-retirement albums you prefer it to? i'm thinking i shouldn't.

For my money, American Gangster is Jay-Z's best album since Reasonable Doubt. I like it even better than the Blueprint and the Black Album.

This is some crazy talk.

better than the blueprint!!!!???

O_O

For my money, American Gangster is Jay-Z's best album since Reasonable Doubt. I like it even better than the Blueprint and the Black Album.

co-sign

http://i44.tinypic.com/34gskdl.gif

1. Reasonable Doubt
2. American Gangster
3. The Blueprint
4. Vol. 1
5. The Black Album
6. Vol. 3
7. Vol. 2
8. Roc La Familia*
9. Kingdom Come*
10. Blueprint 2
11. Blueprint 3*

Though these are probably due for some re-appraisal.

one thing I have learned is not to talk to anyone on ILM about Jay-Z

better than the blueprint!!!!???

Yeah. Ignoring the historical significance, that is. There's a lot more depth of emotion and thought on American Gangster, whereas on The Blueprint he's more like a sociopath faking emotion. (Which is doubly funny because AG is the one where he's supposedly role-playing.) Plus, AG has ballsier production and just plain better songs--"Ignorant Shit," "No Hook," "Success," "American Dreamin'," "Blue Magic."

*supposedly = supposed to be