What do you think is the worst album ever made by an all-time great rapper (or group)?

I'd say Lost Masters 2 by Kool Keith.

Is it too soon to nominate Relapse?

Yeah, judging by "Crack a Bottle" and "We Made You," it sounds like Em's lost it. And this is coming from someone who thought Encore was more good than bad.

But I really doubt Eminem will ever equal the nearly transcendent awfulness of Kool Keith's worst work. Here's a sample of the type of lyrics that are on Lost Masters 2:

"Yeah, the song repeat, the public complain
Every jam is whack, the piss, comin on the number ten station
The number one nation, shit turds
On B-E-S spins like Casey Kasem
Hand y'all the records
Shove all that bullshit up your asshole
Local bastard with upset stomach who barely fart gold
On new hot nine, old release the SCUD missile
Shittin the toilet tissue, defecation is the issue
My dick rise up, in the condom with elevation
I make money, like you hustle
My way up, ride planes bitch like you you and you
Open your fuckin package, ground delivery
FedEx KFC bucket full of horse shit
The farm send you motherfuckers the turtles
I give you doodoo, kidnap with voodoo
Hold your diarrhea blast, come straight forth
Bitch, cock your ass, chocolate brown
Cover your white poodle, fuck you
Shove the bullshit playlist up your boo boo
Plastic ass nigga, you ain't accurate ass nigga
That clown-ass buildin beside track, he get sidetracked
Lick dick fast nigga cut grease
Twelve inches fucked up, Marc turn that shit off, they suck
Play me, when you get that grey beard
I don't give a fuck"

Born Like This by DOOM certainly comes to mind. I can't believe that someone that at one point in time was, bar none, the best rapper alive put out an album as terrible as Born Like This.

I'd say the overall worst release from a great rapper is Dr. Dre's "2001" though. The guests are fucking terrible, and Dre only sounds a little better. People STILL make jokes about his lines on "Fuck You".

Really? I thought Born Like This was a good album - maybe not his best, but certainly a more than respectable effort, even if some of the tracks were a few years old. What did you think was so bad about it?

As for 2001, I agree that it's a weak album, except for a few tracks, and that the guests are terrible, except for Eminem. But I wouldn't call Dre a great rapper in any sense. An important producer, yes. A great - or even particularly good - emcee, no.

On "Born Like This" DOOM sounds old and tired. The beats don't grab me at all either. On something like "Madvillainy" or "Vaudeville Villain" I could fill up an entire notebook with great quotes, on "Born Like This" I can't even fill up a signature.

He also seens to be under the influence of the idea that putting a "Z" at the end of every song title is awesome (Batty Boyz, Cellz, Angelz, etc).

Born Like This has its moments, but it's most certainly a disappointment. Not horrible, but not great either.

quote:

Originally posted by Lawrence_Of_Suburbia:
On "Born Like This" DOOM sounds old and tired. The beats don't grab me at all either. On something like "Madvillainy" or "Vaudeville Villain" I could fill up an entire notebook with great quotes, on "Born Like This" I can't even fill up a signature.

I guess I see what you mean. There aren't that many quotable lines. But the flow is still there.

Where I disagree with you more is the beats. They all sound good to me, even the recycled ones.

What I like best about the album is the long Bukowski feature on "Cellz".

Encore was sooo much worse than Relapse. Are you kidding? Also, Speakerboxx by Outkast? Stankonia is one of the best rap albums ever, and Speakerboxx was awful. Goes to show that Andre 3000 carried the group.

To me, what carried Outkast's best work was Andre and Big Boi working together. Both Speakerboxxx and The Love Below suffered because they did not work as a duo, though The Love Below ended up having more standout tracks.

I haven't heard Relapse yet, so I can't say how I would compare it to Encore. I do think Encore was bashed by a lot of critics just because Eminem didn't have the shock of the new anymore. It's not as powerful as Marshall Mathers or as funny as Slim Shady, but the absurdist humor and the flow are still there.

I respectfully disagree re: Speakerboxx/Love Below

in fact, if anything, I'd say that Speakerboxx was the better of the two. Love Below was a noble experiment, had some fun tracks, but it also had some lousy ones as well. I think Speakerboxx was more consistent.

But I do agree that they work better as a duo. And don't they have a new on one the way sometime this century? Looking forward to that.

quote:

Originally posted by cuneyt81:
I respectfully disagree re: Speakerboxx/Love Below

in fact, if anything, I'd say that Speakerboxx was the better of the two. Love Below was a noble experiment, had some fun tracks, but it also had some lousy ones as well. I think Speakerboxx was more consistent.

Actually, I agree that Speakerboxxx is more the consistent of two, and probably the better one. But the best tracks on The Love Below ("Spread," "Happy Valentine's Day," "Hey Ya!," "Roses") are stronger than the best ones on Speakerboxxx.

Yeah, maybe. Though I'm not sure I'd agree with you on which ones were the best tracks from TLB. I think "She Lives in My Lap" and "Dracula's Wedding" are two of the best. Just me.

Anyhow, I have the double album slimmed to a 70 minute album that's about 60% Big Boi and 40% Andre. Works out pretty well.

I normally don't do forums except on RT, but I had to make one for Meta just for this topic at least...

I'm going to go ahead and nominate Relapse anyway. None of it's been TERRIBLE, and his newest single "Beautiful" is his best yet, proving that they are following a trend of getting better each song. But it sounds just like his Encore stuff-- he doesn't have any energy. His lyrics have gone down a fair amount, and the beats just don't have that furious motivation behind them. I mean, he was--and hopefully still is--a lyrical genius. Even if you didn't like him, you have to admit that there wasn't a single better lyricist out there. If Relapse ends up being really good, then I'll be happy. But I think Em might be screwing his legacy with this one.

Outside of that, what about Jay-Z's Blueprint 2? It was still good, but that was a huge disappointment for me. Then again, he still bounced back, so it's always possible for anyone else.

Is it me, or is Eminem rapping in an Arabian like accent? Anyways, Relapse does not sound as good as his previous stuff except for "Beautiful." From the Slim Shady LP to The Eminem Show, Em was the best rapper out there. Encore was also pretty good, but I'm not so big on his Relapse stuff.

I think that "Hey Ya" alone beats speakerboxx. That's one of the best pop songs of all time. But back to the topic, I think Stankonia is top 5 rap albums ever, and Speakerboxx/The Love Below was lame. Encore, while lesser than other Em efforts, was decent, and Relapse is decent too. Just cause they aren't GREAT doesn't mean they're awful. Also, I said Speakerboxx because TLB was a pop record, not rap. Also, any Public Enemy album that isn't "Fear of a Black Planet" or "It Takes a Nation of Millions" is pretty rough to listen to.

quote:

Originally posted by EdwardNigma:
Also, I said Speakerboxx because TLB was a pop record, not rap.

touche

quote:

Originally posted by gw795:
Is it me, or is Eminem rapping in an Arabian like accent?

It's more of an Arian-Arabian manboy tone.

Speaking of Outkast..

Idlewild...

At times, it felt like a collection of left-over tracks from the Stankonia & SB/TLB sessions.

quote:

Originally posted by decaturpsalm:
Speaking of Outkast..

Idlewild...

At times, it felt like a collection of left-over tracks from the Stankonia & SB/TLB sessions.

Idlewild is kind of a hodgepodge and parts of it are kind of lightweight. But really, the problem is length. Cut it down from 80 minutes to 40 or so and you'd have an excellent album. This is true for most decent to good hip hop albums. Why do so many mainstream hip hop artists feel like they have to make a 70 plus minute record. Does halfway decent rapper think they have a classic in them?