no limit appreciation thread

[jwb]

To their credit, No Limit always bridged the gap between the West and the South. Beats By The Pound were able to to combine elements of West Coast production, like high-pitched synths (see “I’m Bout It”) and live basslines, with southern style drum programming to create a recognizable style that became the label’s trademark. You can find their staccato drum cadence on standouts like TRU’s (this time only featuring the three Miller brothers, P, Silkk, and C-Murder) “No Limit Soldiers,” Mystikal’s “Born 2 Be A Soldier,” and Soulja Slim’s “From What I Was Told” among many other songs in the label’s vast catalog. Beats By The Pound handled almost all of the production duties for the label’s artistic and commercial peak from 1995-1999.

https://genius.com/a/in-1998-master-...ip-hop-history

[jwb]

so as i've indicated earlier in thread, no limit represented the transition from west coast dominance to southern dominance in hip hop, at the end of a period where the main competition was east coast vs west coast and nobody paid any attention to the south.

When you listen to no limit songs, you can hear the clear as day west coast/g funk influence. Perhaps no album is more indicative of this than Ice Cream Man, the 1996 Master P which was the last major release by him prior to blowing up onto the pop charts with Ghetto D.





And Ghetto D only continued along that trajectory.




The link between south and west coast goes back, like I said. Beyond just hip hop, it's interesting to think about how Cali rap was so heavily influenced by P Funk which in itself drew heavy inspiration from Funk and Blues traditions which have in themselves a heavy southern influence, partcularly from New Orleans, hometown of no limit and Master P.

Yet No Limit wasn't a purely southern group. Like I said, the west coast influence was obvious and in earlier albums Master P was just as likely to claim Richmond, Cali as he was New Orleans. Around 1998, No Limit took the hip hop world by storm and dominated the charts with a handful of artists and dozens of albums that did serious record sales.

Almost as quick as they rose to prominence, they were quickly eclipsed and superceded by another New Orleans rap outfit, Cash Money. Unlike No Limit, Cash Money was a uniquely southern sound and had several rappers who could actually spit. Cash Money would first take the hip hop world by storm, then fade somewhat, then resurge and become a permanent fixture in hip hop lasting to this day.





[youtube]sWHSGQbEEus[/youtubr]

[jwb]

[SGR]

Love No Limit. I own more No Limit albums than I probably should. I think the most underrated MC from No Limit was Mac - never thought he got the respect he should've.



Probably in the late '90s, there was no production crew that was more overworked than Beats by the Pound. Imagine how many oz's of weed those dudes burned through in the process of making all these albums?



I still got both of Mac's albums on CD somewhere - checking Amazon now, I could sell 'em both for around $100 - assuming there's a buyer out there willing to pay for it.