This is my awards for the people, events, and things in Hip Hop which either have been slept on like Monica Lewinsky or overrated for some reason.





• Unsung Hero — Gangstarr
With three (soon to be four) real dope albums under their belts you'd think they'd get some real type of props.

• Unsuspecting Sucka — Company Flow
Yeah, yeah, they have intricate lyrics and rhyme patterns. Yeah, they rap about deeper subject matter than most MCs. Still, they sound like shit and they're production is plain and simply wack.

• Unsung Hero — O.C.
Y'all sleepin, y'all sleepin! This cat dropped the nicest album of 1997. With his smooth voice and ability to come simple yet nice, or come lyrical as on "War Games," O.C. is hot. As a matter of fact, I liked Jewelz better than his last album.

• Unsuspecting Sucka — Canibus
Aka Cornybus. I guess he's one of those MCs for you new school heads. While I must admit he comes with some ill ass lines here and there, he also beats metaphors to death and tries too hard with his delivery. He sounds constipated, which explains why he's always mad and trying to battle someone. Somebody tell the kid entire songs of metaphors are boring and an unnatural, forced-sounding flow is wack.

• Unsung Hero — Mr. Walt
He's not only Evil D's brother, he's also one half of the Beatminerz, and I should add the better half. While his brother gets all the glory, Mr. Walt quietly makes banging beats that have carried the Beatminerz. Check the credits on Beatminerz produced records and you'll see Mr. Walt's name under the dopest tracks.

• Unsuspecting Sucka — Sway and King Tech
For y'all who aren't familiar, Sway and Tech host the biggest Hip Hop radio show in the U.S. They started out in San Francisco and soon branched out to Los Angeles as well. Now they're syndicated across the country. They act like they're the kings of Hip Hop, but for us in the know, these cats were doing house music not more than seven years ago; one of them isn't from Oakland as he claims; and they DJ on a station that claims to be "the Hip Hop station" — a station which wouldn't touch hardly any Hip Hop two years ago. That isn't so bad, but they defended the station, selling themselves out.

• Unsung Hero — Follow the Leader
While Paid In Full gets the attention, Follow was actually a better produced and written album. Check Rakim's rhymes on it — they're supreme. And he rocks over some dope ass Eric B. produced beats. Y'all been sleeping on it for more than ten years now, so wake up.

• Unsuspecting Sucka — Common
Say what? Common? Yeah, you heard me. The same MC that was talking a gang of shit about selling Hip Hop out in "I Used to Love H.E.R." is now doing radio friendly tracks with Chantay Savage and Erykah Badu. The brotha can rhyme his ass off, but he needs to check himself on this one.

• Unsung Hero — Schoolly D
Most of y'all probably have never even heard of this guy. He's an old school (mid '80s) MC from Philly. But beyond that, he's also probably the pioneer of so-called "gangster rap" and he helped put Philly on the Hip Hop map.

• Unsuspecting Sucka — Native Tongues
Uh huh. They're butt. I can't exactly label them as completely wack because — I can't front — I have liked several Tribe songs and a few De La cuts, but all in all, this crew has put out too much stuff that would put an insomniac to sleep.

• Unsung Hero — Breaking Atoms
The original Main Source was unfuckwithable. The rhymes were nice, the beats were niiice, but y'all slept.

• Unsuspecting Sucka — No I.D.
Here is a cat with skills at beatmaking. So why the hell did he decide to save his best beats for himself instead of Common and put out a solo album with hot beats and his wack so-so boring lyrics? Waste of beats, waste of time, and if you bought the record (I got mine free luckily), you wasted money.

• Unsung Hero — Kool G Rap
Shit, if I have to explain why this man deserves respect, you're at the wrong page. He's one of the top MCs of all time. He's been New York's main "gangsta rapper" since the late 19080s. He's heavily influenced MCs like Raekwan and Nas. Only thing is, he hasn't had any good beats to compliment him in a while.

• Unsuspecting Sucka — DMC
No, not Run-D.M.C. I'm talking about the DMC DJ competitions. They're wack now with no energy. And they've also become a little too commercial. But don't worry, the ITF (International Turntablist Federation) wil be taking over soon. Speaking of the ITF, read on.

• Unsung Hero — ITF
The ITF is taking over where DMC left off. Expect the ITF to be the premier DJ competitions in the world soon.

• Unsuspecting Sucka — Reverend Run
I'm sorry, but a gospel Hip Hop record? Gospel and Hip Hop do not mix. Might be good for a few laughs...maybe.

• Unsung Hero — DJ Mighty MI and Domingo
DJ who and whathisname? Mighty Mi is the producer for the High and the Mighty, an indy group outta N.Y., and Domingo is a producer from Brooklyn who's not well known but has done some well known tracks for heads like Fat Joe and others. Nuff nuff respect to the underground producer everywhere.

• Unsuspecting Sucka — Big Daddy Kane
Damn, and I used to love some Kane shit too. After those first two albums though, he fell off badly. Now he's trying to make a 1998 comeback, and it's not happening. He came wack as shit and ensured that his retirement isn't in jeopardy.

• Unsung Hero — ISP, X-Men, and the Beat Junkies
Three DJ crews who have strived to keep a crucial aspect of Hip Hop alive and well. Without people like them, Hip Hop might have died by now.

• Unsuspecting Sucka — Wu-Tang Clan
Ahh shit, I know I upset some of you now. I know how y'all love Menstrual Man, the Lizard and the Gizzard, Infected Dick, Goat Face Chiller, Crapinasauna, Gayclown the Chef, and Old Turkey Baster. Y'all got mad respect for the "Gods." The Gods who slap up Black people over nothing, the Gods who get drunk and start shit with other rappers, the Gods who did St. Ides commercials. Yeah, the cats can rhyme, but they all kinda sound the same. And RZA's production is getting more and more monotonous. Not to mention how they dis others for not "keeping it real" while they do R&B duets with every trick R&B singing bitch and her mama.

• Unsung Hero — Killarmy
"But wait, I thought you didn't like Wu-Tang." Aight, well Killarmy is an exception. People slept so hard on their album. They came like Wu should've come with non-jiggy lyrics and grimy beats.

• Unsuspecting Sucka — DJ Shaddow
How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways. You a suburban white sucka. You bring a wack to death alternative crowd into Hip Hop. Your beats are horrible. Yet, somehow, this white kid from the country who does far more alternative music and house than he does "Hip Hop" somehow gets labeled as a Hip Hop producer. Why? Because he steals Hip Hop beats, ideas, and arrangements — all to make other kinds of cornball records.

• Unsung Hero — Cormega
Only cause he had the sense to leave the Firm.

• Unsuspecting Sucka — Nas and AZ
You could add the rest of the Firm to the list, but I'll concentrate on these two Sprite drinking kids. Now, none of us can front: Both of these cats can rhyme like a muthafucka. But what the fuck do they rap about? Champage and cars over R&B laced tracks...real exciting. What a damn waste of talent.

• Unsung Hero — Lil' Kim
Huh? Don't wory, I haven't gone crazy. And no I ain't jocking her wack ass rhymes. I just respect her for not being afraid to flaunt her sexuality like all the male MCS do.

• Unsuspecting Sucka — Ras Kass
He ain't wack, and he got some nice stuff, but people on his dick like he's rap God. Face reality: He ain't that good.

• Unsung Hero — B-Real
Cypress' first album is classic, but the rest of the shit is pure garbage. Not only that but he abandoned the Hip Hop street crowd and went for the white boy crowd. But I'ma give him his props for going back to his community — ghetto Latinos — and putting out an album not for the white boys: Psychorealm. Hopefully he'll stick with the Latinos and stay away from the rock crowds from now on.

• Unsuspecting Sucka — Mic Geronimo
Damn, this is one head who really disappoints me. I loved his first album. The beats were nice and he flowed over it smoothly with his own stylee. But the new shit is fuckin horrible.

• Unsung Hero — Style Wars
Fuck Wild Style. Style Wars is the rill shit y'all. This is the realest Hip Hop movie ever made.

• Unsuspecting Sucka — Jaz-Z
Aight, maybe you already knew he was a sucka. But this brotha has mad potential. He can rhyme his ass off, but he stuck on jiggy mode. I liked some of his first album though. Bring back the old Jay-Z from the "Hawaiin Sophie" days, with his fat ass gold rope and Hawaain shirt.





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