Conway & The Alchemist - Lulu EP (Discussion Thread)

[TheDarceKnight]

Alchemist is my guy! And definitely Top 5 today, and he's been a favorite of mine for a minute, but I find it weird when I see dudes talking about Top 5 of all-time. When you do that, you discount a lot of legends who put in work on actual classic tracks and albums over the past 30+ years. They didn't just have hot beats at the time, they shaped what high quality Hip Hop production was. And set the standard.

Primo is the GOAT, as far as I'm concerned. And it's all opinions, but I think you have to speak on impact and the amount of classic work a dude has done. Dilla, Dre, Marley Marl, The Bomb Squad, Q-Tip, Large Professor, Pete Rock, RZA, Just Blaze, Erick Sermon, Buckwild, Organized Noize, Diamond D, Beatnuts, Easy Mo Bee, Showbiz, Larry Smith, Ski, Kanye, Prince Paul, Madlib, Sam Sever, Quik, etc. There are a lot of dudes that really have entire classic albums and tracks under their belt. Stuff that'll never not be legendary. We have to always keep them and their legacies in mind when we start throwing around Top 5 lists and all that. They put a lot of work in. That shouldn't be overlooked.

But back to the topic, Lulu is dope. This is vintage Conway right here. I wanted a verse from Q though, they cheated us with just throwing that hook at him.

Good quality post. Top 5 all time ya crazy high territory. I think top 5 all time is a little Hugh for Al right now. He cracked my top 10 all time not that long ago, and I don’t think that’s too unfair to those that paved the way.

while we can’t forget about sooooo many legends that came before, I do think 25 years in the game is enough to be viable for top 5 status at some point. If the work rate continues and he fully produces a classic album (I don’t think he has just yet) then id be willing to reassess things.

it’s tough to do any top 5 list (or even top 10) because at this point hip-hop has been around so long that there is just so much quality material over the years, and making a top 5-10 with 3x as many good candidates is difficult.

Very good post though. Daps and rep.

 

[Piff Perkins]

The thing that stands out to me about Alchemist vs the people I'd place in my top 5 off the top of my head (RZA, Premo, etc) is that he never fell off. RZA fell off, hard, a long time ago. Premo has been stuck in a rut where he's been remaking the same 3-5 tracks over and over to diminishing returns. Pete Rock is still cool, but when he releases those beats from the 90s that he never let people hear it becomes clear that there's a difference between his new shyt and the old shyt. Alchemist just keeps releasing dope shyt. Same with Madlib. Same with Just Blaze. Same with DJ Muggs. That has to count for something. Not saying I'd put Alch ahead of Premo...Alch would slap me if I did lmao. But I don't remember the last time I heard a Premo beat that was "great."

 

[TheDarceKnight]

The thing that stands out to me about Alchemist vs the people I'd place in my top 5 off the top of my head (RZA, Premo, etc) is that he never fell off. RZA fell off, hard, a long time ago. Premo has been stuck in a rut where he's been remaking the same 3-5 tracks over and over to diminishing returns. Pete Rock is still cool, but when he releases those beats from the 90s that he never let people hear it becomes clear that there's a difference between his new shyt and the old shyt. Alchemist just keeps releasing dope shyt. Same with Madlib. Same with Just Blaze. Same with DJ Muggs. That has to count for something. Not saying I'd put Alch ahead of Premo...Alch would slap me if I did lmao. But I don't remember the last time I heard a Premo beat that was "great."

Not a bad point.

I'd toss Nottz in there too. Dude has been dropping nothing but fire since the late 90's and is most people's favorite producer's favorite producer. That's an overused phrase but it applies to Nottz. It's been a long time since he's consistently worked with major artists, but he's dropping just as many full albums as Alc, Madlib, or Muggs...he's just doing it with super unknown and obscure artists.

EDIT: I'm not trying to toss Nottz into the convo to further complicate things. But I'm just saying that consistency for 2 decades and change counts for something when talking about producers like these.

 

[Awesome Wells]

Good quality post. Top 5 all time ya crazy high territory. I think top 5 all time is a little Hugh for Al right now. He cracked my top 10 all time not that long ago, and I don’t think that’s too unfair to those that paved the way.

while we can’t forget about sooooo many legends that came before, I do think 25 years in the game is enough to be viable for top 5 status at some point. If the work rate continues and he fully produces a classic album (I don’t think he has just yet) then id be willing to reassess things.

it’s tough to do any top 5 list (or even top 10) because at this point hip-hop has been around so long that there is just so much quality material over the years, and making a top 5-10 with 3x as many good candidates is difficult.

Very good post though. Daps and rep.

True! There are just too many legends. So I always have a hard time going through everyone's catalogue and picking out just 5-10 people for a list. It's tough to even think about. Certain people just did so much, so I always have them at the top. But there are a lot of unsung dudes who really paved the way with some serious classic work, who never really get shouted out.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Just listened to that new podcast with Griselda. Conway said

- he cut 3 or 4 from this project that will go on others (like king to a god this month)

- he hated 14 Kis until after the project dropped

- he said he just records and lets Al do the sequencing

- he and schoolboy q recorded fork in the pot and another joint with a that got cut from crash talk.

- he confirmed most of the OG hall and Nash 2 got put on other projects due to “label politics”. I assume Shady

 

[Stone]

Just listened to that new podcast with Griselda. Conway said

- he cut 3 or 4 from this project that will go on others (like king to a god this month)

- he hated 14 Kis until after the project dropped

- he said he just records and lets Al do the sequencing

- he and schoolboy q recorded fork in the pot and another joint with a that got cut from crash talk.

- he confirmed most of the OG hall and Nash 2 got put on other projects due to “label politics”. I assume Shady

What podcast is this?

 

[mortuus est]

@TheDarceKnight
saw this

 

[TheJet]

You been noticing it too huh. Al is too damn good man.

Like the one he did on LT2?

 

[T.H.E. Goat]

I got Al in my Top 5



Covert Coup, Russian Roulette, and Albert Einstein are classics in my opinion

 

[Monoblock]

Anybody notice that at the very beginning of Calvin (:016 second mark) it sounds like Lloyd Banks adlib on it? Sounds just like him if it isn't. Wonder if this was originally suppose to go to him. We know he working again.
0:13 second mark on See Me Bright.

 

[CHAIN]

Anybody notice that at the very beginning of Calvin (:016 second mark) it sounds like Lloyd Banks adlib on it? Sounds just like him if it isn't. Wonder if this was originally suppose to go to him. We know he working again.
0:13 second mark on See Me Bright.

Nah, bro.
That's Conway's voice.
But Alchemist would do some shyt like that like when he used Nas laugh on Its Mine on Prodigy's Gnarly.

 

[T.H.E. Goat]

Nah, bro.
That's Conway's voice.
But Alchemist would do some shyt like that like when he used Nas laugh on Its Mine on Prodigy's Gnarly.

lmao, I still randomly think about this

 

[TheDarceKnight]

@TheDarceKnight
saw this

Spoiler

It’s crazy to read those comments and realize how new and young so many rap fans are. I feel old as hell that people on there are referencing stuff like Covert Coup as of it’s old school/throwback material.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

But Alchemist would do some shyt like that like when he used Nas laugh on Its Mine on Prodigy's Gnarly.

That you know that. It’s a god damn shame the Gnarly was cut from Albert Einstein. It’s easily the best joint out of the leftovers they released. It might’ve been top 5 if they left it on there.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

What podcast is this?

My bad. The podcast is called Itsthereal

dope podcast in general. They had all of Griselda on last week