I could have sworn we have had this exact same conversation at iLLmuzik before. I tried to search for it but all kinds of shit came up and I have no idea if it was here or at another forums because I follow so many forums and blogs.
I just remember the clear difference in people who thought LL took it and the people who thought Canibus took it. And I remember getting almost lynched for saying LL beat Canibus. I think it was at UGHH or something.
What I wanted to add was this New York track from LL and LL in general is part of a phenomenon I am seeing in Hip Hop where people "grow" and forget what it was like when they first started. It's weird to me. I own only 2 LL albums, Bigger and Deffer and Momma Said Knock You Out. All the other ones I have were bought by my wife. Well I never really had LL in my top 10 personal favs or greatest and one day my boy Aaron called me out on that. He swears LL is the GOAT. I kinda laugh at that so he breaks out a Rock The Bells Extended Mix that came out of vinyl. And dude... LL went in fucking sane for about 8 minutes. So here it is:
Aaron's point was that people sleep on how ill LL was because he was way before his time. It kinda gave me a respect for LL that I never really had. Aaron felt that LL's content and delivery of this single song was better than anything Canibus has ever done. This of course is opinion and is debatable to the point of being moot cause I disagree but I hear where Aaron was coming from. When you look at the body of his work and his impact on the game and even this beef with not just Canibus, but Moe Dee and Ice Tea, it is hard for me to deny him his props and say he ever lost to anyone in a straight out battle. Hov would probably be the only one who could prob body LL in a verse let alone a whole song because of Hov's general existence and how it came to be.
So anyway... my point is that over time, people forget and change to the point that they don't even see it. This quote:
"Artistry is no longer encouraged. Wack shit gets played on the radio and becomes number 1."
Guess who said this shit? Sean Muthfukn Puffy Combs. That's right.
Which to me is like hearing a crack dealer complain about how there's drugs in the community. Like he somehow forgot he is partly if not solely responsible for what is happening in Hip Hop right now. Like Jada Kiss said, if Big were alive, none of this Making the Band shit would have ever happened.
I see LL the same way. It is like he has been in the game so long and had so much success that he forgot what really being dope is. How can someone drop a sick ass classic like Who Shot Ya drop some hot as garbage like New York New York? Like he has a bunch of people around telling him he is the GOAT and that everything he touches turns to gold.
And to be clear, I was very surprised and enlightened by Puffy's interview where he dropped that quote. He went on prove my point about how people forget shit and I saw how it applied to me. I forgot that All About the Benjamins is like the most played song of all time. And how many dope ass artists he had come out of Bad Boy, Biggie, The Lox, Black Rob, G-Dep...
So now I don't even care about all the sell out POP shit that has gone down.
Anyway, success and what it can do to people is weird to me.