Mike Jones or the Ying Yang Twins?
 

I'm in desperate need of a new CD, and I'm liking the songs I've heard on the radio by Mike Jones and the Ying Yang Twins (or whatever).

So, if you were to pick up just one, which would you get (and why)?

I would check out The Ying Yang Twin's older cd's...their new one just didn't cut it.

I thought their new one was OKAY. Wait (The Whisper Song) got played out really bad but there's a couple of good tracks on there. I agree their older ones are better, but didn't think the new one was all that bad either.

As for Mike Jones....ugh I'm not a big fan of the Swishahouse stuff.

At the risk of threadcapping, I honestly thought this thread was going to ask which one's worse. These are two prime examples of what mastery good production can do for someone. I barely consider either one rappers, since skills are completely lacking.

Jones is one of the whiter sounding rappers to make it big in recent memory, with his clever habit of taking a line and simply repeating it four times. Ying-Yang twins have some of the most basic, redundant lyrics you'll hear in hip-hop.

But something tells me you've gotta be feeling the beats, because these guys don't have a track with strong lyrical content on their resume.

Honestly, I've never really cared much about rap lyrics. If the beat's good, that's enough for me. Well, that and a decent sounding voice...as long as it sounds good, I don't care what they say.

With that said, what's good these days? Anything? My commute to work is so short that I don't get to hear what's new on the radio. Besides, I usually listen to ESPN radio anyway. So if anyone has some good recommendations, I'd love to hear 'em. My favorite artists back in the day were always Rakim, Public Enemy, Ice T, and X-Clan. Man, that's some old shiz, but if there's anything remotely good out now, I'd like to know....

I've always been the same way, but it's gotten to the point where the lyrics are so awful that I can't even stomach the track. It's fine in moderation (although I despise the Ying-Yang Twins), but too much of it winds up sounding like the same thing.

If you're looking for the radio for good hip-hop, you've taken on quite the challenge. Unless you live in an area where hip-hop is encompassing, you'll have a tough time finding anything that's not from the Top 40. Hip-hop's fairly big around here, but the radio stations are lousy and play the same stuff constantly. But since I'm pretty close to Detroit, I don't have to go that far to pick up a station with some great, fresh stuff.

Since you're big on the beats, I'd have to say to look for stuff from producers instead of emcees. Can't go wrong from most stuff from Timbaland, Heatmakerz, Neptunes (although they've become stagnent recently), DJ Premiere, and Swizz Beatz. Chances are, you've heard tracks they've produced and just don't know it yet.

I've felt the same way recently. I listen to HipHop Nation on Sirius sometimes at work, and a lot of the stuff starts to sound all the same. And some of the crap shows no imagination or creativity whatsoever - I willingly defend hip-hop against people who love to shit on it, but even I had to roll my eyes to hear crap like "Hoe Sit Down". You got an opportunity to make a record, and that's what you came up with?!

I feel like Big Daddy Kane back in the day: How U get a record deal??

Al and James...your best bet? Find the intstrumentals.. ;)

Then again, the repetitiveness of the tracks might get on your nerves too..

I'd go with the Ying Yang Twins. IMO, the best songs on that CD are the ones not played on the radio (My Brother's Keeper, 23 Hour Lockdown, Live Again feat. Adam Levine).

Mike Jones is a one trick pony. "Who? MIKE JONES. MIKE JONES." How this clown gets paid to rap is beyond me. I'm convinced anyone who likes this guy is an idiot.

= J

Anyone know of good rap sounds that include scratching? I've got a couple compilation discs, but I can't seem to find the musicians when I go to Best Buy or where ever. Perhaps I don't know where to buy AND I don't know what to buy. haha. I'm a mess. I just want some good music dammit.

Al, I'll look up some of those producers to see what I can find. Thanks.

Dude, you should just leave the Mike Jones and Ying Yang stuff to the 12 year old MTV2 watchers and pick up something like Solesides Greatest Bumps. Its a 2 disc set with a wide variety of hip hop styles from a really strong crew. Or get Madvillain - Madvillainy, Viktor Vaughn - Vaudeville Villain, Edan - Primative Plus or Beauty and the Beat, Jedi Mind Tricks - Violent By Design, Deltron 3030, Cannibal Ox - Cold Vein, El-P - Fantastic Damage, Company Flow - Funcrusher PLus, Dr. Octagon, Peanut Butter Wolf - My Vinyl Weighs a Ton, Lootpack - Soundpieces! Da Antidote, and so many other great albums you could buy from artists like Gravediggaz, GZA, Aesop Rock, Mr. Lif, Black Sheep, De La Soul, Del, Ghostface, Quasimoto, Blackalicious, Gangstarr, Souls of Mischief, Pharcyde, Jeru, Geto Boys, Funkdoobiest, The Streets, K-os, Dizzee Rascal, Leaders of the New School, etc etc etc etc

Oh and for the heck of it, get MC Paul Barman - It's Very Stimulating.

Daaaaang, dadaluholla. I need to get some serious albums. Just titles like Greatest Bumps and Beauty and the Beat makes me want to listen to some of these. If you were to rank those, what would be the top three?

I noticed Gangstarr in there. I totally forgot about them. Loved them in college. Don't they have a greatest hit album out too?

Heh. I thought this was a "Whom do you hate more?" type poll. I'd only probably want to pick up Paul Wall's CD and that's if it was free, or cheaper.

As far as ranking...

MF Doom does some of the best in hip-hop now. The problem is he has about 30 aliases so you have to know which is which. I highly recommend:
Dangerdoom - The Mask and the Mouse (came out Tues)
Madvillain - Madvillainy (2004)
King Geedorah - Take Me To Your Leader (2004)

Search for other threads, I had some ones where I mentioned 20-30 albums that were essential.

Honestly, if I had to pick like 3 from those I mentioned I'd go with:

Viktor Vaughn - Vaudeville Villain because it was the album that actually made me start liking MF Doom again. Since you know some of the older school hiphop you might remember Mf Doom as Zev Love X from KMD? He was on that Gas Face track with 3rd Bass.

Solesides Greatest Bumps because its a lot of music for your money and it gives you a chance to get some prime examples of material from quannum artists like Dj Shadow, Blackalicious, Latyrx, etc...

Peanut Butter Wolf - My Vinyl Weighs a Ton because like that solesides set it gives you a wide variety of artists and styles form the Stones Throw label. People like Madlib, Quasimoto, Charisma, Lootpack, Rasco, and the last track by Zest is a killer. There is some pretty sweet scratching on this too which I know you were interested in.

I would also suggest picking up an album like Soundbombing Vol 2 which is a great disc to introduce yourself to artists like RA the Rugged Man, Company Flow, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, High And Mighty, Mad Skillz, Common, Dilated Peoples, and Tash form the Alkaholiks.

Probably not my absolute favorite albums, this way you get to know some of the artists and if you like them you can check out their other material. Oh and anything produced by EL-P is going to have really hard hitting crazy beats if you enjoy beats (Cold Vein, Fantastic Damage, Funcrusher PLus).

Oh and yes Gangstarr does have a 2 disc greatest hits album but all you really need is Hard to Earn. That album is sweet!

If you want to buy some actual gangster stuff unlike these wannabe thugs these days, the only route you can possibly go is old school Geto Boys and Rap-A-Lot label stuff. Scarface, Bushwick Bill, Willie D, and later on... Big Mike. "Til Death Do Us Part" is an amazing album especially the near 10 minute epic BRING IT ON which features just about every rapper on their label.

Excellent list!

I would add:

The Perceptionists - Black Dialogue
Dilated Peoples - The Platform
Dilated Peoples - Expansion Team
Dilated Peoples - Neighborhood Watch
Jurassic 5 - Quality Control
Jurassic 5 - Power In Numbers
Akrobatik - Balance
Mr. Lif - Emergency Rations
Mr. Lif - I, Phantom

Yeah I have been meaning to get that Perceptionists disc!

^ You should. It's insanely good.

I remember that CD and that song Big Mike was the shit. I think he has something new about to come out soon. Your post just made Amazon.com some money cause I am about to go buy that CD. I had the tape back in the day :lol:

Only Cds i've heard worth picking up this year are....


Common - Be
Kanye West - Late Registration
Sean Price - Monkey Barz
Little Brother - The Minstrel Show
Gorillaz - Demon Days

Seems like people here love the underground stuff, which is fine, but there is some good mainstream stuff out there (you just have to look harder...).

Most of the time, the radio just wants them to drop a 'crunk club hit', and the artist(s) has many good songs on their CD...but you'll never hear them.

Oh well.

= J

Some of the best hip hop releases of this year (aside from those already mentioned)

Zion I - True & Livin'
Blueprint - 1988
Felt 2 (Murs & Slug) - A Tribute to Lisa Bonet

Blueprint's got some real nice scratching on a couple songs; the concept of the album is cool - he's taking it back to 88 (considered by some to be the best year in hip hop) with a lot of the production and rhyme schemes, which ironically sounds remarkably fresh.

Honorable mention to J-Live - The Hear After, which is kind of hit and miss but lyrically this guy's on, and a lot of the beats are bangin (some are pretty bad too, which is why it's not with the above albums that are really consistent.) Some singles worth checking out are Aaw Yeah, Fire Water, Harder, and Here (feat. Soulive)

Isn't it sad that you have to look hard for the good MAINSTREAM stuff? Seems like you would have to look hard to find the good underground stuff, you know... since its underground.

You don't have to look for mainstream. By definition, mainstream is easy to find, whether it's good or bad. It's the stuff on the radio, on MTV.

Unfortunately there's not much good mainstream stuff. I'd say Kanye and Common are about the only mainstream acts i really like this year, when it comes to albums. There've been good singles - Missy's Lose Control was cool, and I'd argue that Wait (The Whisper Song) is the freshest song that mainstream hip hop has seen in a couple years.

Get the MF Doom discs! I haven't enjoyed rap for years, and that guy has got me back into it! Listen to this thread! Buy these CDs!

I agree with some of the previous posts about checking out Kanye West & Common for some mainstream rap. I'd also recommend checking out some Immortal Technique (revolutionary vol. 2 is his best).

I also really love jurassic 5, but not everybody I know likes the. MF Doom is also very good. For a more quirky album, check out Deltron 3030 (The rapper, Del, raps in the song, 'clint eastwood' by Gorillaz) It's a concept album about the year 3030, one of the few solid rap albums of the last 10 years.

Hope that helps.

I ended up picking up Gangstarr's Hard to Earn and I'm lovin' it. This used to be one of my favorite discs and I can't believe I ever got rid of it in the first place. DJ Premier knows how to make a beat.

I also got MF Doom's Madvillainy, the only disc any of you mentioned that I could find at Best Buy. It's okay. I think it's one of those discs that'll grow on me, but I'll admit, it didn't blow me away. There are a few songs on there that I really liked, but the rest I'll have to listen to a few times.

Yeah I was the same way with Madvillainy. I don't think Madlib's beats were as strong as they should have been. After a few listens, you find yourself wanting to go back and check out certain tracks again.

Email me sometime and maybe I can hook you up with some stuff.
uaeb at hotmail dot com