R.A The Rugged Man

RA the Rugged Man is a MC based out of New York and currently has 4 official albums of which two are currently unreleased and he also has one album in the making. These albums are Night of the Bloody Apes (1994), American Lowlife (1999), Die, Rugged Man, Die (2004), Legendary Classics Vol 1 (2009), and then theres Legends Never Die which is set to be released some time later this year.

Trailer:

 RA is regarded by many in the "underground" hip hop scene to be one of the best rappers to ever exist and sometimes he's even considered the greatest of all time. He's done features with lots of big names in the rap game, such as Killah Priest, Notorious BIG, Masta Killah, Kool G Rap, and MF Doom. He is one of my personal favorites and has been for a while, he has one of the best flows I've ever heard and for the most part the quality always remains consistent. One thing that always comes to mind is what Biggie said when asked about RA "And I thought I was the illest". Something else to keep in mind about RA is he was rapping when hip hop was still a predominantly black art form. Now I suppose hes not as famous as people like Eminem for bringing white MCs to attention and showing that they can have skills too, though unlike Eminem RA has stuck true to his Hip Hop roots, you dont see RA doing songs with people like Rihanna and rapping about how he's not afraid and holding hands.

If you've never listened to RA before I suggest picking up a copy (legally, gotta support the artists!) of "Die, Rugged Man, Die" which in my mind is his best work to date and really shows off his skills with such songs as "Lessons" and "Chains" you cant go wrong! Especially when it has features with Masta Killa and Killah Priest! Now heres a link to listen to the album online for free but also buy it if you decide you like it, which I guarantee you will if you listen to it the whole way through.
http://naturesounds.bandcamp.com/album/die-rugged-man-die


"I made peace with myself now how bout that
I hated life I wanted to die a few years back
I was mentally ill it's hard to come back from that
But I got through it now I got my sanity back
Y'all are like H-B-O fighters get the money and fame
Get beat up like Klitschko and Sugar Shane
Or get beat like Vernon Forrest or Prince Naseem
And you all turn pussy when you get that green
I got love for Havoc from Mobb Deep
When I was broke sleepin' in the street
He hooked me up with a free beat
Alchemist you still my little buddy
Althought you stole that Royce the 5'9 +The King+ beat from me
I ain't down to sign autographs and shake ya hands
I don't want trendy ass followers as fans
I don't wanna sell records, I don't wanna be big
I don't want MTV runnin' up in my crib
I don't wanna be light in the music biz
I don't want fans that don't know who G Rap is"
-"Lessons" by RA The Rugged Man

Uncommon Valor

EL-P

I remember when Flossin was first introducing me to Hip-Hop (and what a world it is!) I was knockin on El-P thinking he was too weird and out there, but he grew on me after a while. I guess I shouldn't be so quick to judge artists and what they do before I give them a fair chance, cause he became one of my favorites. Both lyrically and as a producer, hes different and out there which I guess I kinda like. It gives a person a break from the typical looped beats or "candy ass beats" as I like to call them.

Big ups to El-P!

CAGE-HELLS WINTER

This is my favorite song off of Hells Winter, it shows Cages story telling abilities off, along with showing his typical morbid subject matter. He is one of my Favorite MC's and always remained consistent not considering his most recent album "Depart from Me" I also love the production (although I'm not sure who did it?). All in all a good song, a good beat, and good lyrics. Its often compared with this song by Atmosphere:

You tell me which one you prefer? The first is more dark and morbid the whole way through. The Atmosphere one is more abrubt and shocking.

New plan

I think what I'm going to try to do now, seeing as I cant get motivated to pick artists and write a huge thing about them, I'm just going to write about songs I like and my favorite artists at the moment etc.

Nas

The first musician I decided to write about is Nas (Nasty Nas, Kid Wave), he is a mc based out of Queens, New York and hailed as one of the greatest rappers of all time and honestly I'd have to agree (at least when it comes to more typical Hip Hop). His first release was entitled Illmatic, it was released in 1994 and is one of the best debut albums I've ever heard. He showed that he was already a master of wordplay at the ripe age of 21, my favorite track off of the album is "One Love" it shows a friendship between Nas and a friend in jail, keeping him up to date on life on the outside.

"What's up kid? I know shit is rough doing your bid
When the cops came you should've slid to my crib
Fuck it black, no time for looking back it's done
Plus congratulations you know you got a son
I heard he looks like you, why don't your lady write you?"

When talking about Nas its impossible to ignore his beef with Jay-Z, in 2001 Jay-Z released a song called "Takeover" in which he called Nas out, calling him fake and many other things. Nas returned the favour and released one of the greatest diss tracks off all time, "Ether". He took the whole idea of beef to a whole other level with that track, he's not discreet in the slightest and he threw his whole aresenal at him, its even rumoured that Jay-Z cried when he first heard Ether. Many consider it over rated as far as diss songs go but I couldn't disagree more it is put on a pedestal for a reason. Jay-Z and Nas squashed their beef at a concert where they performed "Dead Presidents" together.

"Rockefeller died of AIDS, that was the end of his chapter
And that's the guy y'all chose to name your company after?
Put it together, I rock hoes, y'all rock fellas
And now y'all try to take my spot, fellas?"

My personal opinion on Nas is hes one of the greatest lyricists to ever grace Hip Hop and that he'll undoubtedly be remembered as such. Hes right up there with the likes of Rakim and Ghostface Killah, and he is still putting out albums so he'll only grow, as such he has plenty of time to surpass the greats and possibly become the greatest. Now to rate his albums:

1. Illmatic. By far his best album, lyrically it shows just straight up RAW talent which is something that has all together died in this day and age, so you gotta look to the past to set the standard.

2. I Am... This is a great album and I put it as number 2 because the whole album tells one big story that chronicles his entire life, I tend to be a fan of albums that fit together like that. It just means that the artist took the time to plan it out, I got respect for that.

3. Stillmatic. I put this as number three simply because of the lyrical destruction of Jay-Z, that song alone is a large piece of Hip Hop history and as such so is the album. It also just has consistently great songs, such as "One Mic" and "Got Yourself a Gun". "Rewind" is a lyrical masterpiece, he raps a story that is lyrically great but not only does he just rap it...He raps it backwards. Pardon the vulgarity of the lyrics I'm about to put up, its just the best part of the song.

"She fell to my bed and gave me a hug
I told her, "No hell"
She talkin 'bout, "Me kiss"
Bobbed her head then spit the nut back in my dick
Started suckin with no hands, a whole lotta spit
Then got up and put her bra back on her tits
Got fully dressed and told me, "Stressed really I'm"
Picked up her Gucci bag and left her ----- behind
Walkin through the door, she rang the bell twice
I vomited Vodka back in my glass with juice and ice"

I'm only going to rate those albums because those are my favorites, I'm sorry ahead of time for my terrible grammar and lacking knowledge of the English language. As long as I got my point across though, I dont really care.

More coming soon!

Explanation

I created this blog mostly for myself, something to do in my extra time and some motivation to get out there and explore music a bit. The basic idea is this, pick a musician every week and listen to as much of their music as possible, exploring their lyrics as much as I can, listing the order of my favorite albums by them and why etc.
Most of the artists I choose will likely be rappers. Seeing as almost all the music I listen to is Hip Hop.
Anyways, happy trails! New posts coming soon!