murksiderock
Superstar
I've mentioned this before, but just to rehash, I was a Hussle fan in life, but not a Stan or someone checking for his work every drop. I liked him, and when I heard he had a release I'd get around to checking it out, spin it a time or few and that was it...
I never thought he was an amazing rapper or even all that underrated, but I thought he made above-average music and had an "it" factor so I'd put people on him if they asked me who I was on...
About a year and a half ago, I went thru a process of spinning his entire catalog. In life, I first started listening to him around '09 (Hussle In The House era), but became a big fan when Crenshaw dropped, that's the release that gave him credibility in my mind and I'd listen to his work afterwards...
I guess my mission was borne of the fact there were so many strong opinions on his work post-death, on here and offline, many of which weren't people who were publicly vocal about fam, and as I said for myself, I wasn't a huge fan nor listener before Crenshaw so I wasn't familiar with his entire work. So I guess I really wanted to give myself the finality of what I thought about his work in total...
I'll summarize it like this, he passed at his artistic peak. His last two drops (2017 No Pressure tape and 2018 Victory Lap) are what I'd call clear classics. Just based on those two, his lyricism displayed a ton of high level skill, Nip was a "paint a picture", spoken word type lyricist with heavy emotion behind it, his lyrics matched the beats he was over, he was rounding into a complete rapper. I actually notice this shift in increased lyricism beginning around Mailbox Money (2014), but the subject matter and ease of flow wasn't consistent until No Pressure...
But Mailbox Money is where to start if you want to begin hearing the maturing voice of Nip, it steadily built on each subsequent drop...
Everything before that had its moments where you could see the appeal, but was an imperfect rapper, all the way back to the OG Slauson Boy...
I've heard people say his catalog was undervalued, I'm not sure I agree with that. He has a lot of work on the board in an over 13-year career---->his career was longer than Big and Pac and Pun and Eazy and others, and he dropped at least once a year. So it was respectably lengthy, even if he wasn't this major top billing superstar rapper. It was lengthy enough...
I wouldn't call his overall catalog undervalued, and I think he obviously had a presence and aura that people conflate with his music, that cause other people to value his work higher---->and that counts for something, by all accounts the man had a PRESENCE. It works in reverse too, many people downplayed his work and popularity post-death, which I also think us unfair, it's absolutely false to call him an unskilled rapper or say "no one knew who he was"...
He wasn't a superstar or titan in the game but people had name familiarity with him if you were even passively in tune with 2010s hip hop...
Ultimately, I understand how long time heads are more emotionally attached to his work. If you aren't one of them, his last two drops are as official as anything released in 2017 and '18, those showcase Nip at his best. 2014 to '17 saw a rapidly maturing Nip, and '13 and prior Nip saw a guy who had "something", but was overall cluttered and not consistently high level rap...
I never thought he was an amazing rapper or even all that underrated, but I thought he made above-average music and had an "it" factor so I'd put people on him if they asked me who I was on...
About a year and a half ago, I went thru a process of spinning his entire catalog. In life, I first started listening to him around '09 (Hussle In The House era), but became a big fan when Crenshaw dropped, that's the release that gave him credibility in my mind and I'd listen to his work afterwards...
I guess my mission was borne of the fact there were so many strong opinions on his work post-death, on here and offline, many of which weren't people who were publicly vocal about fam, and as I said for myself, I wasn't a huge fan nor listener before Crenshaw so I wasn't familiar with his entire work. So I guess I really wanted to give myself the finality of what I thought about his work in total...
I'll summarize it like this, he passed at his artistic peak. His last two drops (2017 No Pressure tape and 2018 Victory Lap) are what I'd call clear classics. Just based on those two, his lyricism displayed a ton of high level skill, Nip was a "paint a picture", spoken word type lyricist with heavy emotion behind it, his lyrics matched the beats he was over, he was rounding into a complete rapper. I actually notice this shift in increased lyricism beginning around Mailbox Money (2014), but the subject matter and ease of flow wasn't consistent until No Pressure...
But Mailbox Money is where to start if you want to begin hearing the maturing voice of Nip, it steadily built on each subsequent drop...
Everything before that had its moments where you could see the appeal, but was an imperfect rapper, all the way back to the OG Slauson Boy...
I've heard people say his catalog was undervalued, I'm not sure I agree with that. He has a lot of work on the board in an over 13-year career---->his career was longer than Big and Pac and Pun and Eazy and others, and he dropped at least once a year. So it was respectably lengthy, even if he wasn't this major top billing superstar rapper. It was lengthy enough...
I wouldn't call his overall catalog undervalued, and I think he obviously had a presence and aura that people conflate with his music, that cause other people to value his work higher---->and that counts for something, by all accounts the man had a PRESENCE. It works in reverse too, many people downplayed his work and popularity post-death, which I also think us unfair, it's absolutely false to call him an unskilled rapper or say "no one knew who he was"...
He wasn't a superstar or titan in the game but people had name familiarity with him if you were even passively in tune with 2010s hip hop...
Ultimately, I understand how long time heads are more emotionally attached to his work. If you aren't one of them, his last two drops are as official as anything released in 2017 and '18, those showcase Nip at his best. 2014 to '17 saw a rapidly maturing Nip, and '13 and prior Nip saw a guy who had "something", but was overall cluttered and not consistently high level rap...
