Just Blaze vs. Alex Da Kid

Written By S. Samuel

ROUND 2, Eminem's Recovery producers Just Blaze and Alex Da Kid meet up - this time without Slim Shady. Whose list gets the props? You decide who makes it to round 3!

Kanye West
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JUST BLAZE’S PICKS     ALEX DA KID’S PICKS


Beastie Boys has to be in my Top 5, as a group. And you gotta remember, one thing about the Beastie Boys is that none of them ever really had “verses”. Everything was them playing off of each other. They write collectively. It wasn’t like, “I’m gonna write my verse and then you’re gonna write your verse.” You can’t break them up. They deserve a spot on my list. So I’m gonna have to say that’s one.

I have to put The Clipse’s Pusha T in the list. When it comes to Pusha T, I just feel like his flow is amazing. If you take the time to listen to his flow, it’s just super amazing. He never fails to amaze me. He’s so consistent. I know even before I hear his raps, his flow is going to be perfect. I just know that everything is going to make sense. He’s just hard and so I like him in my list.

I would have to go with ’95 Prodigy. I loved everything about him back then. There was a point where he was the best out, in my opinion. You think back to how many great opening lines Prodigy’s had in songs. From “Shook Ones” to “Survival of the Fittest” to “Godfather Part III” to “Quiet Storm”, he was the maestro to the opening line. So I would definitely put mid-1990’s Prodigy on the list.

I’ve always liked Kanye West. Kanye has to be given Top 5 props because he’s so honest. Sure he’s got a great rapping style but when you really look at him as an entertainer, looking at him as as artist, he’s just so honest. There’s no sugar coating when it comes to him. Whenever you see Kanye, you know you’re gonna hear how he’s feeling. And so I love that. Hardly anybody is like that. That’s what I love the most about Kanye.

D.O.C.’s gotta be in there. You gotta remember with him, there really wasn’t a West Coast vibe around his era. He was from Texas [and] formed a group with artists who were from the West Coast, but his album just felt more universal. I think what we consider these days as the “West Coast” sound was more so like the G-Funk era. Up until that point, everything that for the most part was coming out in terms of hip-hop was still different spins on it. It was like the East Coast sound was more rhymes and imitation and then D.O.C. kind of came out of nowhere, relatively unknown, from Houston, rapping the way he [did]. He’s definitely one of the greats. He put out one album and that one album still stands the test of time even to this day.

I would have to put the whole Dipset in there. I have to put Juelz Santana, Jim Jones and Cam’ron as a whole in there. I’m such a big fan of the Dipset. I love the fact that they had a reunion, I love that they’re really back together. They’re in my list also because they’re just like their own sound. It’s very hard to create your own sound and style of music and so you know a Dipset beat when you hear it. And it’s also just the fact that they’re so street. What they rap about is just interesting to me.

I’ve gotta keep it to what I listened to growing up and so I have to name Brother J from X-Clan. If you listen to a lot of those old X-Clan albums, they specialized in just jacking everybody else’s beats and rhyming on ’em. So listening to an X-Clan album felt almost like you were at a house party. It sounded like somebody was just on the mic freestyling. His rhythm, his flow, his vocal presence, the knowledge he was kicking, all those factors are important. At the time, a lot of people were trying to kick knowledge but not too many could do it like him. Whatever you listen to at 12, 13 years old, it always sticks with you for the rest of your life. Even though he was rapping over everybody else’s beats, his rhyme, his cadence, his flow, his rhyme patterns and just what he was saying in general, it’s always stuck to me over the years. I can still go back to those first two albums.

I don’t know why Ice Cube isn’t in the Hall of Fame. He should be there. But specifically, I love the old Ice Cube. Like, the Ice Cube I really like is when he was in N.W.A. and even [right after he left the group]. Just looking at all the beefs and battles he got into and saying something different. I remember listening to him coming up in England and I had never really heard West Coast rap before so when I got to hear it, it was so different for me. I loved it.

My last pick would probably be Chuck D. Public Enemy’s concept and pride in black nationalism at the time was important. It was such a movement more so than anything else. He might not have had the best rhymes or flow, but his voice and his presence made you stop and listen. His voice was one of the few that actually had the ability to control the people.

I definitely have to end the list right and go with Andre 3000. Three stacks without a doubt. It’s just because he’s so versatile. He can sing, he can rap, his flow is insane and even [contains a message in his lyrics]. All those things drive me crazy. It’s just the overall package with him.

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Written by S. Samuel

Steven Samuel is the co-founder of SOHH.com.

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