Is this thread about Eminem or Ice Cube? Cube gets lionized as a Rap Pioneer but he gets far too little credit for just being a great rapper. Listen to his contributions to NWA and Amerikka's Most Wanted and on and on and on. He really has one of the great flows in all of rap and he can come off as furiously angry and hilariously funny at the same time, which is no mean trick. Cube also deserves credit for at least trying to advance the cause of rap even today - listen to 'I am the West', a very funky and legitimate attempt to bring gangsta rap into the 21st century, even as the rapper acknowledges that he is getting a little old for this sheet. Stuff like this is getting buried under an avalanche of pop hop crapola and its a shame.
Ice Cube is definitely in my top five. I won't compare him to Eminem because I don't really like Eminem. Nothing personal. I'd just rather listen to Cube.
|