Seattle Washington: The Best to Never Do It

The folks here at SH Collective were gracious enough to let me do another post after I messed up their couch like I was Rick James. As a result, I had to put my cleanest hip hop fitted back on and put the lifestyle blogging to the left for a second. We’ve had a few heated discussions over at my home site, Three Ways to Take It, about my girl Hip Hop. We talked about the best MCs to do it in the past few years, we’ve talked about the biggest fails of ‘09, but we haven’t talked about those cats who dipped their toe in the game and left us wanting more. Y’know those cats that are talked about in barber shops, street corners, the couches of someone’s home and of course on the blogs, but little place else. They can also be known as The Best to Never Really Do It.

I feel that some of these cats are as good, if not better, than these guys with national notoriety. They either had a rough break with a court case, their CDs just didn’t have that promotional push that stars (with gimmicks) tend to get or they just decided to bow out before they really blew up. Either way, they’ve undoubtedly inspired their peers and the audience with their albums, features and random freestyles. If you don’t believe me, please leave a comment, but for right now the dude named after the rainy city in the West is about to brainstorm a little…

Andre 3000
The epitome of the “Best to Bow Out” before the mainstream got him. Andre grew from an outstanding Southern rapper to an artist pushing the limits creatively to now someone folks crave to get back in the game. I’ve recently heard his name mentioned in lyrics by several talented MCs and he hasn’t dropped a hip hop album since Love Below. Technically, not since Stankonia. The man features on a few select tracks and he outshines the artist on their own tracks as if he was Eminem. No shots. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that 3000 needs to put down the movie scripts and get back in the booth now.

Beanie Sigel
Many rappers have had run-ins with the law, but only with a select few have has it made a significant impact on their career. Beanie Sigel, unfortunately, is part of that clique. “The Reason” and “The Truth” were great albums, but “The B.Coming” put Beanie on the map. After being released from jail and then the Dame Dash/Jay Z split, things are still up in the air for the Broad St. Bully. One thing can be sure though, Beans was by far the most talented cat Jay Z signed to the Roc.

Jadakiss
As the standout MC of the Lox, it was only a matter of time before Jada went on his own path. The man released one album and he had folks in the game calling him a Top 5 MC like he was in the game as long as LL Cool J. His battles with the above mentioned Beanie Sigel and the leader of the Roc, Jay Z, further showed his lyrical prowess. This last album may not have been all that we were waiting for, but I doubt this great MCs career is over.

Clipse (Pusha T & Malice)
Another great example of artists and their label woes. “Lord Willin’” was a classic, put the group on the map nationally and solidified Pharrell’s reputation as a superbly talented producer. However, after an extended hiatus excitement over the group soon waned. Then “We Got It For Cheap Volumes 1 -3″ dropped. I never heard more eloquent, vivid and yet indecent lyrics. These mixtapes along with “Hell Hath No Fury” have put them in contention for being one of the best rap duos ever. We’ll see if “Til The Casket Drops” takes them off this list next year.

There are many more to list, so tell me – who else hasn’t gotten their just due?

Seattle – Bout to Make Myself Right At Home – Washington

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 at 8:00 am. It is filed under Featured, SH Collective Music and tagged with Featured, Seattle Washington, SH Collective Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.