With dudes who haven’t even dropped official albums almost retiring, as well as BS publicity stunts like Jay-Z pretending to throw in the towel after The Black Album, it begs the question:
If you could force one MC to retire/quit today, who would it be and why?
After posing the same inquiry yesterday on Twitter, the replies produced the usual suspects – 50 Cent, Ja Rule, GURU and Lil’ Wayne – but also some interesting choices that I didn’t expect, such as “Ghostface, ‘cos he now has more dud albums than classic ones”, “MF Doom, boring monotonous flow that a bunch of fanboys jizz over” and “Jay-Z because he needs to focus more on putting out talent instead of holding people and saving the shine for himself”.
Personally, it’s a tough call. Six months ago I would have suggested that Grand Puba bow out gracefully, but then he went and dropped a decent record on us…then of course we have the 90’s rappers who still seem to exist on the outskirts of anybody’s attention. Guys like Mack 10, Warren G and even effin’ Afroman continue to release music in some capacity, but hardly seem worth mentioning. Fuck it, I just did. Anyways, I’ll try to concentrate on characters that at least have some kind of national profile, even if it’s only on blogs.
These rappers need to give it up:
Flavor Flav – If the banner ads are to be believed, everyone’s least favorite rap funnyman just released an R&B song? Maybe the reality shows weren’t such a bad idea after all.
Papoose – The only reason I ever gave this rapping android a minute of my time was the fact that G Rap gave him a nod early on. Now he’s too busy making songs called ‘Swaggacation’ and smuggling metal files in cakes into wifey in the bing.
Lloyd Banks – I once heard this great Funkmaster Flex session on the Best of Banks mixtape. It was obviously a fluke, this guy has all the personality of a pet rock. At least Yayo makes himself useful and beats-up teenagers.
Common – I had already turned against Lonnie once he started making hippy shit that your grandmother would find soft, but after that teh ghey club album he did, he needs his rap pass revoked.
The RZA – There have been a few times that Prince Rakeem has held it down in the booth, but based on the Bobby Digital albums alone, The Abbott needs to stay behind the boards.
There’s plenty more….
Kanye.
Flavor Flav is old now let him doing whatever he wants. he’s still more relevant than soulja boy.
Lloyd Banks’ third album can be dope but let we see the direction that he will take with this.
Papoose’s buzz iz dead like he was in prison.
Common’s The Believer LP is needed next year.
RZA is a producer, let him doing soundtracks
and if OB4CL2 is crazy, doing beats again.
wtf? have you been smokin that Paco aka Pitillo aka Kete aka Baserolo aka Mono aka Bazuco?
Common & RZA ????
Busta Rhymes and Snoop Dogg. Both have been trend hopping tools for almost a decade now.
That fella with the dreads from Leaders of the new school…whats his name?
The one that stopped being innovative and ran after every great producers to make weka records, while cats like Ludacris stole his creative mojo…
fuck…whats his name…? The Dungeoun dragon guy…!
yo dont hate on Common. he is not on his way out. that last album was far left but so what. he is a dope lyricist and prolly one of thhe last real mc’s left. respect him. everyone else… not so much! lol and whoever said GhostFace… people get snuffed for sayin adness like that!
Big Shug, Diamond D, Snoop, Daz, Method Man, and of course, Too Short….
are you fucking stupid? the rza spits fire… the bobby digital albums have all been good… and common? i can’t take unkut seriously anymore… wu-tang is forever
DMX-the crackrock took the life and soul outta the dog. Now he’s just a middle aged bald black man, with felonies and a drug problem. What a rarity.
JadaKiss-his voice is getting more faggot-like each record.
Del-his style worked when he was younger and crazier, but old crazy people aren’t cool, they’re just creepy.
MC Lyte-heard she is trying to make a comeback. Hope she isn’t.
Havoc solo albums-he should never be allowed to put out solo material. Ever.
Cage-went from wigger to faggot in one record.
You should quit because you spent time writing something with no positive value. Basically you’re a fraud.
Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe, LL Cool J, Ice Cube, Game, Charles Hamilton
u out ya mind with banks and common listed
how about uncle murda and anybody who was on the r.o.c in the 90’s
Nelly, anyone?
Shouldn’t he and Chingy and J-Kwon and the rest of these faggot ass St. Louis rappers be on this list?
How dare anyone say Common! That’s home right there.
I think Lil Wayne should disappear for awhile. Tony Yayo, The Game, Damn near every new southern rapper except B.O.B., Jim Jones DEFINITELY! Mase too! Fabolous, cuz that new shit is wack. go back to the first album fucker! And sad to say, but KRS-ONE. That’s my dude, but now he is just boring.
ballerina P and reggie noble
Who mentioned Method Man? Kill that noise, Method Man is still amazing. I’m convinced the reason he gets hate is because he’s had butter flow and sharp lyrics for so long now that we take him for granted. His albums were inconsistent but he never fell off, not even close.
Busta is too when he wants to be but most of his output is garbage nowadays so there’s still a strong argument for forcing him to give it up. He does drop a song like “Throw The Water On ‘Em” occasionally, though. Just for reference.
Kanye, Common, Fat Joe, Game and Jeezy need to get kicked out of rap. Soulja Boy and Shawty Lo and folks like that too obviously, but we already know that.
Big Shug should never have been let into rap in the first place. Neither should Guru, which, thank God, is something more and more people are finally starting to admit.
any rapper south of virginia, excluding scarface n luda
Common? Are ya’ll serious? Come on!!!!
Nas, obviously. An utter waste of space since 2004.
AZ had a nice little renaissance run from the Livewire/Serious 12″ in ’04 to the Memphis Sessions in ’07 but it’s been straight downhill since then with a flood of shite albums so it’s time for him to hang it up or stick to guest verses.
Large Pro really needs to stick to producing at this point.
And, finally, Alchemist who has an uncanny tendency to ruin perfectly fine QB thug tracks with his awkward, dry crackafied voice.
What the post above this one says.
It’s funny. The obvious one is busta rhymes who will jump on a remix of whoever is ‘hot’ at the moment.
Fat Joe also, singles with nelly, wayne, akon, you can see him swinging off the tip of everyone’s dick.
#1 Fat Joe
#2 Ice cube
#3 KRS
#4 S N double O P
#5 Mos def
And everybody u mentioned, expecially Papoose (it aint gonna happen), Mack 10 + Guru
RehDogg. ‘Nuff said.
At this point LL should stick to promoting his Sears clothing line and his workout book.
I agree on Busta, who has seemingly reinvented his persona to thug/coke dealer. He now comes off like a bigger clown than when he actually dressed/acted like a clown. Homie dont play that.
Common is my vote. But I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Andre 3000.
LOL @ RZA and Common.
haters
Hey Disco Vietnam-you are a faggot. Your twitter board proves that.
This is utter bullshit and the author bleeds pop music from his ears. If you wanted to be an attention whore you could have just posted your picture. Sorry ass blaugger
Eminem – songs are str8 kiddie shit
Sheik Louch – wtf is he talkin about anyway?
Budden – his 15 minutes should have been up already
Diddy – for obvious reasons
Kanye – no need for an explanation
and anyone with autotune in their song
i’ve said it before i’ll say it again, i hate common, to add to the list, fitty cent, jay-z, ja rule, nelly, all southern rappers minus Bun B and a few other underground cats, the game, sadly gfk is getting old and you can hear it when he sings old motown crap, wtf gfk? redman, basically anyone on the radio being played on primetime, black eyed peas, wyclef, eminem, dr dre, flo rida, soulja boy, birdman, everlast, i’m on some energizer bunny ish i could keep going
does diddy even rap anymore? that guy must be so off my radar i didn’t even consider him, there are probably scores of other (c)rappers out there that i really didn’t care to mention
Hate to say this but..
Rakim if his new single is anything to go by.
Cam’ron and Dr Dre’s number one groupie The Game.
The comments people are leaving here are crazy. I don’t think we (fans) should tell someone like Guru, who has atleast 3 classic albums, to stop making money off something they love doing.
Ghostface? Dr Dre? Method Man? Nas? AZ? Andre 3000? Puhleeeze.
Hahaha Eminem definitely juvenile and childish, yet he is getting maaad old. Time to hang it up.
BTW the stopwatch makes me think this post is more about rappers who need to retire/hang it up as opposed to those who never should have picked up the mic in the first place. That list is endless.
Guru did a record with Autotune… clearly this muhfukka should be first to hang it up.
Any weed carriers/b-teamers who ran with rappers whose careers are over. The train has left the station.
DMX for sure. You heard his new shit? Painful.
both members of EPMD. Possibly my favorite duo ever… but yeah, after that last joint? Nooooo.
Nelly- and besides, he should be happy: he lasted waaaay longer than anyone thought he would.
-D!
Nore,Cage,Redman,Lord Jamar,Ras Kass(what happen??)Queen Latifah,Them Dogg Pound dudes,Mase,Lil Kim,U-God,Lil Cease,Pitbull,B-Real,Kool G Rap,Craig G(that’s right i said it),Kool Keith,Krumbsnatcha,Cappadonna…
..o yea could someone tell wyclef to hang it up already
WHO CARE’S?YA KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IS AGE.ALL OF THE ABOVE GOT OLDER,SO THEY CHANGE UP OR WATER DOWN THERE MUSIC CAUSE THERE TRYIN TO GET THE YOUNG KID’S.AND GHOST IS STILL DOPE!ANYWAY MY POINT IS U CAN GROW OLDER IN HIPHOP AND STILL MAKE SOME DOPE MUSIC!
Finally
1.KRS-ONE-
2.RZA
3.COMMON-(ASAP)
4.U-GOD
5.Fat JOE
6.GURU(w/out PREME=Fail)
7.JAY-Z-(LONG OVERDUE!!!!!)
8.Masta Killa-(is this even a surprise???)
9.DR.DRE-(stick to beats)
10.Q-tip(get back to beats,PLEASE!!!!)
@Silent
I hear you about artist getting older,and[trying]to appeal to kids,but the majority of the”emcees”turned entertainers are not even making HipHop or Rap records,or Pop for that matter.I don’t even know what to call it anymore.
The sad part about these dudes trying to appeal to kids,is that they still wind up broke and bitter,the kids don’t feel them”and we veteran fans write them off.The sadder part is there is room for more.
THE END-FINALLY
1.NICE & SMOOTH-(just tour,1st & 2nd albums)
2.KOOL G.RAP-(sounds too much like his students these days)
3.LL COOL J-(a legend, catalogs and Flicks-NUFF SAID)
4.GHOSTFACE-(R&B???FULL-LENGTH???-FAIL)
5.GRAND PUBA-(love the God,but he can’t rock the mic anymore,full lengths are weak)
I either want Game to,
A) man up his pen skills and shut the fuck up
B) Get beat the fuck up and then shut the fuck up
C) Quit and shut the fuck up
Just please shut the fuck up.
Other than that too many rappers ain’t got a position they don’t deserve. Papoose is where he is because he couldn’t blow and it’s not like you hear his shit anywhere besides the net.
Common’s album was hot. Complete contradiction? Yeah but I don’t give a fuck.
Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes and the such don’t phase me. I don’t peep shit music.
Definitely Jay-Z. American Gangster was ok musically, but the whole premise behind the album was gay. And I will Give nas 1 more chance to try to drop a good album, but after that, I’m writing him off and only listening to his 90’s sh*t.
also…LL, Busta, Beanie Sigel, AZ (I hate to admit it), Lupe Fiasco…
1. Madlib – His rhymes are in deep trouble…
2. Xzibit – Pimp My Ride swept him right out of the game…
3. Grouch, Eligh and Lucky I Am – Problematic…
4.Alchemist – BETTER STOP RAPPIN..
5. Evidence – HAHAHAHA
Shamz, that is a terrible list. Evidence has a nice flow, and G & E make great records. I see you with Xzibit and Madlib, but not those guys. Also, anyone who says G-Rap is a tard. Seriously, anytime I buy some album that he does a guest verse on, and it is the hottest verse on the album.
“Lloyd Banks – I once heard this great Funkmaster Flex session on the Best of Banks mixtape. It was obviously a fluke, this guy has all the personality of a pet rock.”
bahahhaa
also,
eminem, busta rhymes, and most southern rappers..oh yeah and tupac, still releasing albums..and rakim. It was over for him when I enjoyed kanye’s verse more than his on that “classic” airforce tribute track
rza is a better rapper than any other rapper mentioned in this entire piece of shit article
random 10-second segments of either of the first two Digi albums are better than most rappers’ careers. including bong bong.
You know what’s crazy…Some clown calling himself a Hip Hop Historian, but stand’s up for G & E or Evidence on the rhyme tip..
I’m laughing at you man…..Must be studying the wrong history or some shit ….FALL WAY BACK….
Jay-Z (steadily worse + worse since his debut album)
LL Cool J (shoulda retired a while ago)
After ‘8 Diagrams’ and ‘Digi Snax’ I think RZA should retire from production.
guru.big time.
kool keith.sadly.
todd smith.at least.
and a bunch of effin ‘newcomers’.
Common is definitely #1.
KRS (on record)
Large Professor needs to stop rapping and stay on the grandfather / high school science teacher tip.
The entire Babygrande Records roster needs to stop rapping.
I hear a lotta Jay-Z hating here…maybe its 50 leaving these HATINGAZZ post. Don’t ya’ll know that Jay is the only bamma keeping radio kinda honest. Without DOA, the radio would be all AUTO-TUNE all the time(rap, R&B, evenheard a raggae joint). His raps still actually contain real words that actually make sence when he puts them in sentence form. Name one more rapper that get airtime????? Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with wanting to make a club bangers, but that’s not what rap is or how it should be.
PS…check out the new Rakim joint Holy Are You, dat bamma is back.
MF Doom, boring monotonous flow that a bunch of fanboys jizz over”>>> you must be stupid !!!!!
The 4 “artists” at the top are causing the rest of the rappers to fight over crumbs. Their perversion of what rap really is has made many rappers do some pretty unthinkable things. Remember this is their profession and they all have families that gotta eat. So my child starving or me trying out the autotune bullshit. They know it’s bullshit, but back to the wall mode.
So in no particular order: Jayz, Kanye, Lil Wayne and Soulja Boy have to go. I also wouldn’t be mad if the Black Eyed peas followed them.
And why didn’t Drake tear his vocal chords instead of his ACL?
Hopefully that bitch move on stage aborted that trainwreck.
DOOM should quit? You out of your effin mind?
What about guys i wish didn’t retire like the Nutcracker and Lil’ Dap or Brainsick Mob, or MC Fatal, Shelrumble, King Son, Nat the Cat from Rhyme Syndicate, Harry-O, Godfather Don, Larry-O from real live, Son of Bazerk, etc. etc.
Just all of’em, rap’s dead, stop playing with its dead corpse, 89-95 is the shit, now it’s just a bunch of immature toys, trying to put their dicks into some fake digit-fluo-chickenhead.
nice post, hahaha, this makes me wonder tho has ANY rapper ever aged gracefully in hip hop? If so who? It seems like only blues musicians have ever really managed to pull that off
Q-tip is a good one, too. He is finally releasing Kamal the Abstract in 2009? WOW.
Most of these dudes have like a 10 year gap in their catalog (Qtip, Puba, Large Pro etc). Where the fuck they been-and why are we still talking about them?
I liked Holy Are You the 1st time it came out with Fat Joe and Raekwon…if u know ur records u know what im talking about. Rappers dont need to quit cuz I still enjoy something from someone once
in a while but they do need to step it up a bit. They cant compete with Fergie on the charts and in sales, u guys have to realize this. Shes got tits and somewhat of an ass and shes caucasion…Fergie for the win. Sorry Its the truth. Why do you think everybodys music sound like it does? Fergie son…..Fergie.
i think kool keith is still good….but he has had alot of hit and miss shit lately…to me his best shit in a long time is the PROJECT POLAROID album and the DR. DOOOM 2 album that came out last year…as far as who should retire i think 95 percent of everyone out right now either commercial or underground should retire…..
Comment by T.S. 08.07.09 @
I still pump that Nogatco Rd. every now and again.
Kool Keith has ALWAYS been hit or miss, so I give him a pass.
Plus, he was ahead of his time. His lyrics in 88 are on par or better than the shyt today.
Shamz, take the pole out of your ass for a few seconds. Those mentioned artists make good music.
EVERY RAPPER AFTER 95…MAYBE 96…AND ALL THE ONES THAT STARTED RAPPING AFTER THOSE YEARS.NUFF SAID
I read thru all the lists and my question is: Who should keep rappin’? HAHA That might be an easier question. Yeah, Common is still dope, really dope. Peace
First off, Black Eyed Peas shouldn’t even be mentioned on this site. Fergie and her man face needed to leave music years ago. Second, I don’t know why so many people are hating on Common. I can see getting mad at his GAP loving pussy boy style, but as far as lyrics go he is still better than most on this list. For those who need to leave, lets just start with anyone on G-Unit. Next, Soulja Boy, Little Wayne, and Rick Ross need to go. I can also do without Pitbull. But I will let ALL of them stay if I never have to hear from Bone Thugs ever again (including all their old shit.
Madlib definetly needs to quite rapping, actually he never should have started. The guys nice on the beats, but on the mic he sounds retarded. Not retrded like Biz either, more like Corky Thatcher and / or Rain Man.
I think the people who should retire will probably get the hint when you stop listening altogether. No more downloading crap music. Everytime someone listens to one of their lyrical turds they get more inspiration to fart on the mic. If you stop they will stop.
MF Doom, boring monotonous flow that a bunch of fanboys jizz over”>>> couldn’t agree more.
common’s wack-shit:banger ratio has grown steadily since “like water” but you can’t write him off because you know he’ll drop a gem every few years. considering the times, that’s a solid rep.
i remember seeing a common show in ’99 and he had four costume changes in an hour set. yeah, most of that shit was wack but when he did ‘bboy’ it was ’94 again.
Any rapper from Atlanta except luda and outkast circa 1994-2000
fabolous, well atleast on music..
kanye west, lil wayne,camron, mobb deep,t.i., tony yay, nino bless, and most if not all of wu tang..
them be boring without good production (which is like %40 of the time)
you guys are fucking nuts the rappers that shouldn’t retire are Guys like Jay-z and Ice Cube they still make sense. and Ice Cubes Last two albums were hot they were angry and like old cube.
guys that should retire are the likes of Eminem (who really shouldn’t have rapped anyways) 50 cent who really only had one or two good albums. not even great ones. Flo Rida could take a hike too common Right Round??? hip hop really sucks right now that I think about all the new artists out…. maybe thats why even black people are starting to make decent country music????
i have to agree that it seems like mf doom has fallen slightly off, most of his last album born like this was pretty decent, though he got ethered by slug and kurious on his own shit, the former just murdering the beat, which is rare for someone that usually raps about feelings and relationships, though check his track 66th street from one of those sad clown bad dub albums, i bought that on vinyl its so ill, i have to say i used to be one of the biggest doom fanboys, but i guess i put my junk back in my pants because his last few efforts were so-so, basically i haven’t enjoyed an entire album of doom since the madvillain album
Lil’ Wayne, Young Jeezy, Lil’ Jon, T.I., and all the South bullshit Hip Hop rappers, if it could be called Hip Hop…
The glaring example is Joe Budden, who is still known more for his one single than the rest of his career.
Comment by J. Pitts 08.09.09 @
Why do people hate on J.Budden? I have heard some great stuff lyrically from him over the past two years. The 3 sides to the story joint(? on the title) is a great song that was slept on.
Robbie STFU……….Ghostface and Jay-Z you need to quit writing I hope this isn’t a quote from you….cos he now has more dud albums than classic ones Ghost last 3 albums were classic material.American Gangster is one of the most focused and creative albums of 2007. Are you kiddin me…Get up on Hip Hop
People hate on J Budden because he sucks.
Mike jones, Jay-Z, Common, Chopper something ( the guy from making da Band) Dem Fanchise boyz, Lloyd Banks, Nelly…Jermaine dupri,krs-one, Papoose, Fat joe etc…….
Puffy, for being the Mario Van Peebles of rap. I would say Eminem but if he holla’d at Premo for an entire album he would smash the game to pieces.
Vinnie Paz
Lloyd Banks? Wow. Personality? maybe. I don’t care about his appeal in the every day world, I just need to hear lyrics about how girls ain’t sh*t. Besides, he’s still getting money. Why stop?
Tupac.
I guess Rakim used the David Axelrod sample of the same name. Like dude said in the comments further above rae and joe flipped it. I gotta check this out.
Dunno Robbie…you actually given Banks’ last few tapes a listen? dude can really spit… and he’s even started to get a lil more introspective with it… Pap? Not so much.
Papoose? This guy is still rapping? I thought he gave up rapping? Isn’t he washing windows on street corners? Who know who should quit? 50 Cent!
http://therapup.uproxx.com/2009/08/dmc-senior-citizen-rap-is-here-to-stay.html
pretty much every rapper heard on the radio here in st.louis needs to give it up….today
Fat Joe, Trick Daddy, The Game, Snoop Dogg,Flo Rida, Dung Jeezy, Boyz in the Hood, Jody Breeze all these kats need to quit. Busta too I was neva really a fan of his. Him and Fat Joe seem to be nut jumping and dick ridin just to stay relevant it aint happennin. Your time is up (thats if you had any in the first place). Snoop your verse on the Khalid joint reaaaalllly sucked. Please put the mic down. You aint had a hit since Doggystyle anybody that buys your album is prolly all west coast. I cant stomach you no more please quit
damn i never saw so much hating in my life, nearly all these comments are fucking faggotry
wonder how many of the chumps who nominated guru jumped on the guru salute/tribute thread with some ‘rest in power’ bs