S. Samuel
Congrats to Has-Lo gaining the "Eye of The Tiger" over Young Chris with a 75% win in Round 1. Today, we travel out to the Midwest to see if St. Louis' Chingy can hit the jackpot or if Wichita's XV has his X's and O's lined up. Whose list gets the props? You decide!
| CHINGY’S PICKS | | | XV’ PICKS |
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Lil Wayne. We all know he has dope punchlines […] but he’s been dope since the Hot Boys. I’ve always been a fan of Wayne’s style and he makes great music. He’s a great emcee. |
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Busta Rhymes. He’s an honor to work with and [it’s] an honor to have a feature from. In the world’s eye, I feel like people don’t give him the credit that he’s really due for his wordplay, his flow patterns and his breathing control. And he’s made a lot of f*cking great albums. |
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Fabolous. Fabolous, I would have to give the same reasons as I gave for Lil Wayne. Fabolous has always been a dope emcee. His punchlines have always been hard and he’s got swag. He doesn’t just do the lyrical rapping. He can also get on some chick records and still make the street music. So Fabolous is all-around too. |
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Common. He’s been consistent and kind of has the Jay-Z factor without being as cool. He can appeal to the masses throughout generations. He was able to put out Like Water For Chocolate for generations that I couldn’t really get with but I can still tell you about [2005’s] Be and the effect the album had on artists coming up like me. Even now, he’s still making albums and being relevant to the mainstream, commercial and underground. So Common has to be my number two. |
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Ice Cube. I’m surprised he’s not on the Hall of Fame list. Ice Cube comes from gangster rap, those N.W.A. days. You look at him and see that he’s coming from the streets hard. But at the same time, he’s coming with some knowledge on albums like Amerikkka’s Most Wanted. He’s always been hitting people with the knowledge in his music. If they’re not listening, that’s on them. He’s a legend. |
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OutKast. I always considered them with the Eminem’s and the Jay-Z’s and the Biggie’s and all that because they’ve been together ever since 1994. So they’re going in there. |
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UGK. I have to name them because they’re some legendary guys from the South. I was listening to UGK when I was realyl young. They had that gangster pimp type music that made you want to ride on somebody and pull some chicks. But at the same time, it made you want to go drop the top off of your ride and have a good time. It was feel-good music. They are the kings of the underground. That’s what it is. |
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Ludacris. He’s another artist that I feel kinda gets slept on. I think he’s kind of like OutKast. He’s been a commercial success since the beginning. He blew up with a commercial record but he has always spit and made great albums. I wasn’t really a big fan of Battle of the Sexes, I feel like he was really consistent [with other albums]. So I definitely will say Luda. |
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Big Pun. Big Pun was lyrical, very stylish and had his own way of rapping with his style. He didn’t let his size stop him either. Some guys like Biggie were heavyset and Pun was a heavyset dude, but it didn’t stop him. He was always stylish, flow was tight and his music was great and legendary. May he rest in peace. |
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50 Cent. 50’s my final pick. I’ll tell you this about 50, 50 is one of the very few artists that has [maintained] what he’s stood for ever since he came into the game. I see so many artists, and I respect their evolution, but 50 Cent is the one artist that’s stayed true to what he stood for when he came into the game. So sometimes people will say, “Yeah, I wish he would give us Get Rich or Die Tryin’ again,” but they don’t realize they were just in that moment. He’s still making that type of music in every album, mixtape but you just don’t notice it. That initial hype isn’t there anymore because [back then] he was shot like 21 times and Eminem was signing him. But he’s still saying the same sh*t and that’s why I gotta name 50. A lot of people hated on his last album but it was crazy. |
