Blaze Magazine – The 50 Greatest MCs Ever!

Blaze Magazine (February 1999)

The late Blaze Magazine’s 50 Greatest MC’s list. Their Top 5, Dead or Alive, pre-millenium:

1. Rakim
2. KRS-1
3. The Notorious B.I.G.
4. Big Daddy Kane
5. LL Cool J

No Eminem (it was 1999) and my personal fav, no Ghostface (pre-Supreme Clientele).

I distinctly remember feeling a ways when this issue dropped that neither Guru (RIP) nor Black Thought made the cut. And Pharaohe Monche should never be last on any MC list. The rest of the field after the vid (courtesy of Moblito’s, because I damn sure was not about to type all those names out.).

6.Kool G Rap

7.Tupac

8.Slick Rick

9.Jay Z

10.Ice Cube

11.Grandmaster Caz

12.Chuck D

13.Run

14.Melle Mel

15.Nas

16.Too Short

17.Kurtis Blow

18.Posdnous

19.Kool Moe Dee

20.Redman

21.Lauryn Hill

22.Scarface

23.DMC

24.Busy Bee

25.Q-Tip

26.Common

27.Raekwon

28.Gza

29.The DOC

30.Kool Keith

31.Ice T

32.Treach

33.Dre (OutKast)

34.Doug E. Fresh

35.Grand Puba

36.Method Man

37.Snoop Dogg

38.Fresh Prince

39.Cee-Lo

40.Eazy E

41.MC Lyte

42.Busta Rhymes

43.E-40

44.Biz Markie

45.Ras Kass

46.Schooly D

47.Queen Latifah

48.Lord Finesse

49.MC Ren

50.Pharoahe Monch

Notorious BIG x 4080 Mag Cover

Call me Frank White.

The late, great Notorious B.I.G. on the cover of  the late 4080 Magazine. Risked life and limb digging this joint out of the piles and piles (Stress, Rap Pages, Ego Trip, et. al.) of mags by the miles that are stashed in the crib. Well worth it. Full size after the break.

PDFs of Davey D’s cover story (“Hip-Hop…Where Do We Go From Here”). Hope he doesn’t mind.

WhereDoWeGoFromHere1

WhereDoWeGoFromHere2

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Mr. X to the Z

Xzibit was definitely one of the most entertaining and insightful interviews I have had with an artist in a long minute. I remember getting a pair of promo 12″s of “What U See Is What U Get” and being floored after throwing them on my Technics. Loud Records also sent me a copy of the video on a promo VHS tape that was made out of styrofoam—damn, VHS—which I proceeded to show to any and everyone I could.

The production on the track is credited to Jesse West who Hip-Hop heads may know as rapper 3rd Eye. Why am I mentioning this? Because, 3rd was the first guy rapping on Super Cat’s “Dolly My Baby (Remix)” that also happened to feature the Notorious B.I.G. and Puffy kicking his verse with an extreme horrible flow.