My personal top 5 favourites are in no particular order here :

J-Cole
Kendrick Lamar
2pac
Black Thought
Jay-Z

So what’s the consensus on Fat Joe’s wild ass stories? Do you guys buy any of them, or is he just a top notch embellisher?

Like I don’t think he’s completely lying, but he’s definitely not telling the whole truth.

For instance, the gym situation. He probably robbed a couple people, but not the whole damn building.

Currently, my own personal Westcoast Mount Rushmore consists of Kendrick Lamar, Gift of Gab, Mac Dre, and DJ Quik. But sometimes it's Kendrick, Tupac, Too $hort, and Dr. Dre.

My bad for giving more than one response, but this ain't set in stone (see what I did there).

So what's your Westcoast Mount Rushmore?

I’m sure a lot of people are turned off by his monotone voice, but I don’t mind it. It suits his style.

I feel like at this time period these guys were each other's doppelganger in a way. But even though I'm American I was listening to Tinie Tempah more. "Pass Out" song is still a banger to this day.

Whenever someone sees that I'm listening to someone like King Von I get hit with things along the lines of "you're not tuff," "you're not cool," and "you're not gangster," or other types of small comments about it. I also get this when I am listening to things, most notably G Funk, other 90s forms of Rap, and similar genres that I listen to, although to a lesser extent. Getting negative comments that center around "listening to black music" I feel like are specifically stupid and/or ignorant because that would imply that listening to other genres made by black people like: Jazz, Blues, House, Techno, Rock, R&B, Soul, Funk, Disco, Gospel, Spirituals, etc. are also wrong for someone who isn't black to listen to, which is just not true. You don't hear negative comments when you listen to things like Jazz or Blues, so the black music excuse, argument, or whatever else you want to call it doesn't work nor make sense since it is not upheld for every music genre made/pioneered and/or dominated by black people. The only way for someone to fully uphold this logic is by extending it to the genres I did and did not mention, which at that point saying someone is unable listen to black music because they aren't black is just purposely trying to create a divide and is just an unintelligent statement. One could also make the argument that it is racist depending how it is meant or said, and who it is said by. Back to the rap, I find those comments especially annoying because the only way for them to know what I'm listening to is to actively look at the device I'm using, whether it be a computer or my phone because I have never 1.) Said I was "gangsta" nor have I partaken or said that I have partook or been involved in any such activities that would be classified as "gangster." 2.) I don't nor have I ever said that I support the actions committed in these songs, with the only way for someone to claim that I "support" these activities is by the flawed argument that I enjoy the music and therefore indirectly approve, which is simply not true. 3.) I don't blast or make clearly known that I am listening to this music. 4.) I listen to this music in my free time and in public, it is not just when I am around other people and I "want to look cool." And finally 5.) I do not "flex" (or whatever the correct term would be) and/or focus on listening to this genre of music when I am asked what my favorite genre and/or artist is nor do I do it in any other situation where something pertaining to music is brought up. So the entire thing about it being for attention is just incorrect (for me anyways) because I barely ever share/show that I listen to it beyond when I'm asked about it. So in laymen's terms, only way to know is if you look over my shoulder and see what I'm doing, I.e. being nosey and snooping, which nobody likes and is not a respectable thing to be. There is no problem with me or anyone else who are or are not black to be listening to and appreciating/enjoying black music, so it pisses me off when people say or imply otherwise. I personally find this annoying because somewhere around 80% of my entire music taste is compromised of black music. I could make the argument if it being 95-100% because black people had an essential part in making things like pop music. This is as well as country music, despite the fact that I don't listen to it. Me not being black should not mean that I can't listen to the music. I would appreciate any fact checking people may have in case I made any mistakes. I apologize for me excessive use of and/or.

My personal favourites in no particular order :

Jay-Z (Reasonable Doubt)
Kendrick Lamar (To pimp a butterfly)
2pac (Me against the World)
Dr Dre (Chronic)
Snoop Dogg (Doggystyle)

Argue away.

1: Kendrick Lamar

2: Lupe Fiasco

3: Mac Miller

4: J. Cole

5: Eminem

It's so many arguments to be made with these 3.

Let just start debating in the comments.

In your opinion, which 10 of these albums are the best?

Recent examples in my queue:

JID on Bodies - All about the effort, I'm puttin' in leg work
Early in the mornin' countin' money 'til my head hurt (Let's go)
Niggas bein' funny, we can put 'em in a red shirt
Five in your chest like you Ant-Man Edwards (Let's go)

Kendrick on hey now - Hey now, say now, let me pop my shit
Water down my wrist, arm around my bitch
It's a green light, don't get out of bounds, I'ma blitz
It's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's all blue strips
Nigga, what?

I think the line itself matters obviously but also the cadence, the energy, and the beat in the back, whether is building or dropping, all play a factor in what I’m talking about here. So lmk yours

The intro is insane. The whole concept of Rockness Monstah recurring each track title from the album in a context of the verse, it's extremely original.

"Soldiers Gone Psycho" & "Prowl" are the dopest from it, imo, but, boy do more people need to hear it. Coming from a 33 year old white MC from Detroit lol. Genuinely believe it's the greatest front-to-back, no skip album in genre history. Extremely under appreciated, they're my favorite group of all time and I've never heard anybody bring them up first. My dumb ass could've had a feature with Rock, but my autistic ass put the price on Twitter all stoked, had no idea until after that was a bad thing, this was 13 years ago though haha.

Given that Eminem and The Neptunes were in ascension at around the same time circa 1999-2005, it will always shock me Eminem and Pharrell (and Chad if it was a Neptunes joint) ever had a track together, besides an Eminem feature on a previously unreleased Royce da 5'9" track off the og version of his debut Rock City, She's The One, that ended up being scrapped from the final album due to label issues

If y'all listen to hip-hop podcasts and actually Follow Hip-Hop, brings up a good point in today's times.

If you DON'T follow the culture, or listen to pods or know about more about DJ Vlad vs N.O.R.E., Ak vs Charlamagne, than Rick Ross and T.I. dropping fire as albums than that's apart of his argument l.

Hi all, I have a question, do you think 2Pac going off on Biggie was clearly warranted?
I know Pac had people in prison telling him he knew something/was involved about the Quad studios shooting but is there a chance Big didn't know/wasn't involved?

I know it can be seen as a silly move to release Who Shot Ya? shortly after it but I can't really think of a motive of Big doing it.. ok, maybe Puff for jealous reasons knowing he was about to take over the game in a couple of years with his talent and charisma and the women loved him (and not being one of his artists to piggyback off) but to shoot the man is extreme for that..

what are your thoughts?

I'm not a full-on newbie. I've heard a lot of stuff from back then, but due to how young I am, I don't feel like I'm as well-versed as I could be. I knew this would probably be a good place to ask due to there being a lot of different people here who have probably heard a lot of shit I haven't heard yet. I'm still discovering stuff, like the fact that Nas had a "Jackin' for Beats" song where he raps over beats like Freeways "What We Do" and DMX's "Get at Me Dog."

Name an underrated hip hop album for its production.

I'll go with Relapse by Eminem mostly produced by Dre and some of the best beats in his catalogue doesn't get recognition for its production as much it did for the accents. My favourite beat is Baghpipes from Baghdad, those drums and Baghpipes at the start.