Favorite Dead Rappers (excluding 2Pac & Biggie)
 

Please don't simply list a bunch of rappers who have shuffled off this mortal coil.
Tell us which ones you actually like and why.

I like Tim Dog (died February 2013) because he built his career by dissing Compton and NWA in the late 80s, which was pretty funny.



Later he made some interesting music with Kool Keith (the duo was called Ultra).



Tim Dog's career lasted many years and he generally held onto his old-school delivery. And he stayed vulgar to the end.

I'm going to get in on the ground floor with some Big L love. He just had a great style that sounds like an intersection between everything that had happened in hip hop in late 80s and first half of the 90s. His first album has come to be one of my favorites of the 90s.

Ol' Dirty Bastard...

He was bizarre...and he completed the Wu tang circle with his crazy ass raps. Baby, I got yo' money.

^ Yeah Big L and Big Pun would be the obvious ones. Pun was probably one of the all time most gifted rhymers in the way he was able to deliver complex verses at a high speed. As for L his use of local slang and unorthodox rhyming schemes were what made him such a unique entity. Would have been interesting to see what they two would have done next, I know Pun was trying to lose weight at the time of his death; he did a lot of stuff with Fat Joe and the like so he may have had a crack at the mainstream. Alternately he may have opted to remain somewhat underground as he was a prominent figure in the battle scene of South New York. Big L was also a notorious rap battler but the fact L had just signed with Rockafella leads me to beleive he probably would have went on to garner considerable media attention and be held in the same regard as Jigga and Nas in the eyes of the casual follower as well as increasing his popularity tenfold.

Other than them two, I never really hear much about Mac Dre. Although he's released a ton of music and was credited with being the innovator of some Bay Area movement, he's rarely discussed. I've never seen him as one of the greats, but I guess I can dig his style, it's by in large more party orientated (or at least what I've heard is)

Word up. I haven't listened to that album in forever, but I'm about to. Also, did that documentary on him ever get released?

Eyedea has become a favourite of mine. I don't have much of his material downloaded but regularly scour YouTube for anything he's on. Great lyrics, and usually interesting production.

ODB has some of my favourite verses ever too.

Not to forget MC Guru of Gang Starr.

Capital Punishment from Big Punisher. If you could get over his pauses where he would stop to take breathes because of his weight. I feel like Fat Joe just stepped in and took over where Pun would have finished but Pun would have did it better lyrically.

I've never really listened to Mac Dre but I like the song you posted. It definitely has that Heiroglyphics sound, which I guess is the Bay Area style.

All excellent. I'm particularly partial to Eyedea just because he was a skinny white boy who was better than almost everybody at an early age. I still occasionally think about how easily he could have lived if only he went to sleep face-up when he overdosed.

ODB was, in my opinion, one of the most interesting rappers to ever live.

Guru.. I don't even know what to say. He helped make hip-hop something that everybody has heard.

Yeah, I need to retract my comment on the other thread.

Another one of my faves that I feel gets overlooked when it comes to talking about dead rappers is Proof. He has two solo albums and the work he did with D12.

Em does tend to mention him pretty often though throughout various songs because of how much of a mentor he was to him.

I never got very familiar with D12 but Proof always seemed like the best of them. There's a reason that Eminem respected him.


I'm going to bring up another one that makes me sad: MCA aka Adam Yauch

There's no way those kids would have made it without his deep voice floating in the sea of nasal sounds that was the Beastie Boys. Here's a song with some of my favorite MCA stuff.

this talk of Eyedea on the other page, have any of you guys heard Sadistick's album which talks about his death amongst other things.
It's called Flowers for my Father and it's one of the best hip-hop albums I've heard in the last few years, and there's been a lot of good ones.

Yeah, that's a good album. Need to listen to it again as it kind of just passed me by.

I found it to be deeply engaging, I was hooked on every word.

The Beasties are awesome. Incredibly solid discography.

I feel the need to mention Pimp C. Him and Bun B had INCREDIBLE chemistry together with Pimps high pitched voice and Bun's low southern drawl.

Yes, I agree with that. He's definitely one of the best dead rappers in the game.

Yeah Pimp C and Bun B are some of the lucky rappers who were born with an incredibly distinctive voice. I think that definitely gives them an advantage over competition.

Subroc, Keith Cowboy, Scott la Rock.

All of mine have already been said.

Was never big on Pun though. Dunno why.

Hahaha, I see what you did there! ;)

I'm going to include a producer because I think that's legit:

Really didn't like the only DJ Screw album I listened to. I can see the influence and what not, but it bored me.

Unintentional, but, I'll take it :cool:

Good ones but you didn't say anything. I'll get Subroc for you:

Subroc was Zev Love X's brother and collaborator on one of the best rap groups of whatever time that was. That was KMD and Zev Love X is now MF Doom. Subroc died in a tragic jaywalking accident which is one of the reasons that DOOM got darker with age.



Nice choice. And DJ Screw rapped a bit - like on this song:

CHarizma who was with peanut butter wolf was dope too

It can wear on you after awhile, and none of the rapping is that great (even UGK, which I suppose were still in their formative years when he was churning out tapes), but some of his stuff sounds like dripped out RZA to me, kinda jazzy and soulful but low key. I couldn't find the stuff I was most familiar with on Youtube, Spotify has some good selections though.

Which album would you say is better, "3 in the morning pt 1" or "3 in the morning pt 2"?

Just felt as if Rich Cronin (of LFO) needed a mention here. He was known to put a little Rap into his Pop.

You got me again man. I just started gettin into his stuff recently, having just seen him on Spotify. They have a million little compilations and mixtapes under him, but I'ma check those albums out for sho. Which one were you more into?

I was going to say this myself. His style of rapping actually reminds me of Big L in a weird way. Love this track especially:

Charizma kinda looks like Kendrick Lamaar do'

Xplicit
 

Jam Master Jay, Chris Kelly

You mean Kendrick Lamaar looks like Charizma. :)

oh well yeah.

Haha, I was actually asking b/c I hadn't checked out his albums either! I've heard tracks from him before and have been interested, but I've never really known what was the best album of his to start with.

I listened to "3 'n the Mornin': Part Two [Blue]" and that seems to be very highly regarded. Available on Spotify too.

Jam Master Jay
Guru
Eazy E
Old Dirty Bastard
Heavy D

Just remembered this guy, Esco:


Escobar practice hours 2 - YouTube

Jermain Defoe's brother.

Sick MC.

I'm not sure who my vote is for, but safe to say Tim Dawg is off the list...

Tim Dawg faked his own death

From A.V. Club

Holy crap!