Albums Roc Marciano - Marcielago (Discussion Thread)

[TheDarceKnight]

he produce his own shyt?

Heavily. All his solo projects from Marcberg to now range anywhere from entirely produced by him to usually half. Sometimes less but not often. When it's not him it's almost always Alchemist and Arch Druids (Animoss and Don Cee).

Spoiler

Marceberg - 2010 (Roc produced all of it)

Greneberg EP with Alchemist and Oh No - 2011 (Alchemist and Oh No produced most of it I think but Roc did 1 or 2 beats)

Reloaded - 2012 (Roc produced half of it with Alchemist, Animoss, Don Cee, and Q-tip doing the rest)

Pimpire Strikes Back - 2013 (Roc produced almost half of it with Madib, Alchemist, Evidence, and Lord Finesse doing the rest)

Marci Beacoup - 2013 (Roc produced all of it and it was originally meant to be other cats doing all the rapping over his beats)

Rosebudd's Revenge - 2017 (produced half of it with KNXLEDGE, Animoss, and Don Cee doing the rest)

Rosebudd's Revenge 2 - 2018 (Roc produced about half of it with mostly Animoss and Don Cee doing the rest)

Behold a Dark Horse - 2018 (Roc produced half of it with the rest by Alchemist, Q-Tip, and Animoss, and Don Cee doing the rest)

KAOS - 2018 (produced entirely by DJ Muggs)

The Prequel - 2019 (Roc produced all but the 1 beat that Just Blaze did.)

Marcielago -2019 (Roc produced 80% of it, with the rest by Alchemist and Animoss)

He has upcoming albums produced by Alchemist, a collab album with Ka called Meta Clergy, and maybe more.

 

[bigillwill06]

yo so been listening past two days non stop. Only thing still not feeling is saylavi, that beat just sucks to me right now. Everything else got that classic sound tho Roc did it again yall

 

[choc_cardigan]

If the product great and chickens good you might see me in a hooptie supplying your hood

 

[TheDarceKnight]

I don’t know how the movie game is with sample clearance issues but I can understand why Roc is interested in scoring movies.

It sounded silly when I first heard it but I actually think he’d be good at it. At least with certain types of films.

 

[ManBearPig]

I really liked it

 

[TheDarceKnight]

I think it’s at least debatable. It’s hard because this current era he pioneered is in full swing.

And I don’t want to throw shade at most of the music I listen to right now, but I think there’s a strong argument that without Roc dropping Marcberg, then Reloaded in 2012, and Ka dropping Grief Pedigree in 2012...that there’s not nearly as big a lane for WSG, Conway, Benny, Mach-Hommy, Knowledge the Pirate, Fahim, 38 Spesh, Camino, Lord Flee, RJ Payne, Rick Hyde, Eto, Dark Lo, Hus Kingpin, Rozewood, Lucky Se7en, Al.Divino, Estee Nack, and the list goes on.

DOOM is crazy influential as an emcee and a producer and I don’t want to downplay that. DOOM influenced some of the other true greats like Mos Def all the way to younger cats like Earl. And even Roc and Ka were influenced by DOOM.

I’m just saying that a ton of cats are eating in 2019 because of albums like Marcberg and especially Reloaded. Roc even talks about this on Ephesians on this new album.

To be brutally rooted in truth/
I came with the tools/
when the system needed a reboot/
I got the grease on my boots/

 

[Supa]

I think it’s at least debatable. It’s hard because this current era he pioneered is in full swing.

And I don’t want to throw shade at most of the music I listen to right now, but I think there’s a strong argument that without Roc dropping Marcberg, then Reloaded in 2012, and Ka dropping Grief Pedigree in 2012...that there’s not nearly as big a lane for WSG, Conway, Benny, Mach-Hommy, Knowledge the Pirate, Fahim, 38 Spesh, Camino, Lord Flee, RJ Payne, Rick Hyde, Eto, Dark Lo, Hus Kingpin, Rozewood, Lucky Se7en, Al.Divino, Estee Nack, and the list goes on.

DOOM is crazy influential as an emcee and a producer and I don’t want to downplay that. DOOM influenced some of the other true greats like Mos Def all the way to younger cats like Earl. And even Roc and Ka were influenced by DOOM.

I’m just saying that a ton of cats are eating in 2019 because of albums like Marcberg and especially Reloaded. Roc even talks about this on Ephesians on this new album.

To be brutally rooted in truth/
I came with the tools/
when the system needed a reboot/
I got the grease on my boots/

That's the point right there. DOOM is the godfather. Roc carried the torch after him but you can hear DOOM in most of the underground whether it's the beats, flow, or the rhymes.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

This is his best release since reloaded

I gotta sit with this. I did listen to Behold a Dark Horse again tonight.

I like that it’s
A: a little bit shorter
B: good blend of classic and experimental production
C: the flow seems a little more measured and not as fast as some joints on here.

Don’t get it twisted. This is definitely in AOTY discussion. I just have to get used to Roc flowing a little faster than what I’m used to on some of these. Some of his faster flows work better IMO with drums (like on Congo and Diamond Cutters).

But this is incredible. Like others have said, the only beat that’s too weird for me right now is Saylavi. And I definitely think this is his most lyrically dense album so far.

 

[Piff Perkins]

Great album. Still consuming but I feel like this is better than Behold A Dark Horse, and thus his best album since Reloaded.

I wonder if Roc feels he is under appreciated? Most rappers feel that way lol, but in Roc's case he paved a lane for a style that a lot of dudes are running with...some of whom have found more success than him. When you hear the Griselda guys talk about influences it's the standard NY rapper fare: Hov, Nas, 50 Cent. It's not just them...it's like there's this gap from the end of 50's reign to now, where nothing is acknowledged...including Roc's run.

I've seen Earl Sweatshirt and Ka dap him up but that's about it. Schoolboy Q also showed him some love on IG recently.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

That's the point right there. DOOM is the godfather. Roc carried the torch after him but you can hear DOOM in most of the underground whether it's the beats, flow, or the rhymes.

That’s true. Daps and reps. And I appreciate the discussion.

But by that logic we can’t say anyone is influential, right? Because everyone is influenced by someone. Phonte laid the groundwork for cats like Drake and Cole. And Drake was massively influenced by Phonte. But does that then mean that Drake can’t be influential too? And I hate that example because I’m not a Drake fan, but it came to mind.

I think Roc opened up a lane for certain subject matter to become very popular in the underground again. Roc Marci was the first to sell goon music as high art. Sean Price maybe is really the guy that reinvigorated the goon scene for the 21st century, but Roc adder more of the luxury lifestyle raps and pimp game on top of the shoot ‘em up hustler raps. And from a business perspective he was one of the first to sell limited physical copies for higher prices before putting his stuff on streaming.

Reloaded is a special album man. I just think it’ll be looked at as one of the most important releases of this century so far, and it’s definitely one of the most influential albums of the 2010’s.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Great album. Still consuming but I feel like this is better than Behold A Dark Horse, and thus his best album since Reloaded.

I wonder if Roc feels he is under appreciated? Most rappers feel that way lol, but in Roc's case he paved a lane for a style that a lot of dudes are running with...some of whom have found more success than him. When you hear the Griselda guys talk about influences it's the standard NY rapper fare: Hov, Nas, 50 Cent. It's not just them...it's like there's this gap from the end of 50's reign to now, where nothing is acknowledged...including Roc's run.

I've seen Earl Sweatshirt and Ka dap him up but that's about it. Schoolboy Q also showed him some love on IG recently.

No doubt. I’d throw Sean Price in the gap between the 50 era and the current goon era as well.

And Roc actually says Sean Price’s co-sign on that Snow Remix did a lot to help further his career.



And honestly this may be a controversial take but as much as Roc also says the Alchemist co-sign was major for his solo career, I think Roc also heavily influenced Alchemist. Alc was calling Roc his favorite rapper in the Marcberg/Reloaded era to anyone that would listen, and Roc helped get Alc into that heavy drumless loop era he was on in the few years following Reloaded. And Alc has worked so much this decade and helped so many young cats...so in a way...I think Roc influenced an entire slew of cats from new school to old school that Alc worked with this decade.

 

[FromBillionsCameOne]

Bro is dumb nice

 

[Dead End]

Damn, this came out of nowhere. Looks like he's doin a show here this weekend too but I can't make it SMH

 

[Newark88]

We may have to do a separate thread altogether about Roc changing the underground culture in the 10’s. Because it’s definitely a discussion worth having.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

I wonder if Roc feels he is under appreciated? Most rappers feel that way lol, but in Roc's case he paved a lane for a style that a lot of dudes are running with...some of whom have found more success than him. When you hear the Griselda guys talk about influences it's the standard NY rapper fare: Hov, Nas, 50 Cent. It's not just them...it's like there's this gap from the end of 50's reign to now, where nothing is acknowledged...including Roc's run.

Sorry to make two replies and have them fly in the face of each other.

But on one hand if he feels under-appreciated I think it’s halfway brought on by himself for lack of a better phrase.

His music is an acquired taste. Especially the past handful of projects. It’s super dense lyrically and the production is getting very experimental. I have 2 friends that love this type of music but prefer Griselda releases like Tana Talk 3 or Reject 2 that are easier listens. If you aren’t heavy into layered lyricism and unique flows then I can see how he’d be a harder sell. Especially if you mostly bump music in the car.

He’s called his music “anti-establishment”, so he shouldn’t be surprised if not as many people latch onto it. Roc also rarely does interviews, does limited press, and his music is contingent on his voice...and by that his voice is not conducive to live shows. By raising his voice to perform live he takes away by what makes it so dope on records. I just can’t see Roc Marci introducing a ton of new listeners through live shows, because a dope thing about his music is it doesn’t sound live and hype.

That’s one reason I wish he’d throw just a couple more conventional bangers on each project. But it’s no big deal I guess.