Several One Sentence Thoughts On Rap Music

I'm pretty confident that Illmatic, by Nas is the best rap album of all time.

While I don't want to front on A Tribe Called Quest, I think it's entirely possible that Outkast is the best rap group ever.

While I don't want to front on The Low End Theory, my favorite Tribe Called Quest album is Midnight Marauders.

I still think my favorite rap album is Reachin', by Digable Planets. It's possible that's no longer the case, but I think so.

Eminem somehow loses credibility for me by associating himself with terrible rappers.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Jay-Z is the best rapper ever.

I miss good rap music.

Colbert State of Mind

Props to EMT for sending this to me.

Viacom has blocked the video but listen to the audio. Video has been fixed. You're friggin' welcome.

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Dear Lord Jesus, Thank You For Jay-Z

Holy fucking shit, Jay-Z's new album, The Blueprint 3, is so good I almost don't believe it. Every time I'm about to give up on rap music, Jay-Z comes out with a new album and this one is no exception. Let me just say this, is his song "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-tune)" the beat is supported the whole way through by a clarinet (it's possible that it's a saxophone). And it's not like, "why is there a clarinet on a rap song?", it's more like "why isn't there clarinet in every rap song?" I don't know what else to say. It's just so damn good.

Jay-Z aside, I don't really know what else to think about the rest of the rap world. As good as Jay-Z has been since 1996 is how bad the remainder of rappers have been since then. The exceptions, Eminem I guess, are few and far between. Even guys who were great at one point, let's say Nas or Q-Tip or Method Man, have been wack for years. I'm in a quandary of sorts in that I know I love rap music, yet there isn't any new rap music that I like even a little bit. I can name a hundred rap songs that I love, but none of them have come out since I was in high school. I know it's not that I've changed, because every time Jay-Z comes out I love it, and I can appreciate that Eminem was perhaps the cleverest rapper ever and threw down some great shit. I know in my heart then, that new rap music just sucks.

Hopefully they're just going through their adolescent phase, kindof like rock and roll in the '80s, before they blow it back up. Of course, for every Nirvana and Pearl Jam from the '90s there are a hundred Matchbox 20s and Nickelbacks sucking the life out of rock and roll.

Anyway, thank you Jay-Z.