buckshotstheone
03-28-2011, 04:51 PM
Today I look at "Fear of God" and ask if this puts him in the "top 5" category or if he could ever even qualify
http://www.reppghhiphop.com/2011/03/28/pusha-t-a-top-5-mc/
Last week saw the first official solo release from one half of the Clipse, Pusha T’s Fear of God (http://www.2dopeboyz.com/2011/03/21/pusha-t-%E2%80%93-fear-of-god-mixtape/) mixtape. A collection of 13 tracks with mostly original songs and a couple freestyles thrown into the mix, the reaction has been everything from touting Pusha as a top 5 MC to calling the mixtape boring and proof that he needs his brother to make anything memorable. What it has no doubt done is open up the discussion regarding Pusha T as a solo artist and not just a piece of the brilliant Clipse/Neptunes formula which has been going strong for almost a decade now. But the question remains, can Pusha really be put on a list of best solo artists since he’s only had 1 solo release, and is this solo project good enough to bring him out of the group shadow or does it just prove that sometimes you need that other rapper to help carry an album?
Some of the best rappers started as part of a group. Busta Rhymes originally was a member of Leaders of the New School before realizing that he had a unique style that allowed him to branch out on his own. Ice Cube left N.W.A. and formed quite the successful solo career, and Q-Tip had a decent little hit when he broke away from A Tribe Called Quest to make his own side project. But it doesn’t always work, even if the music is dope sometimes the perception that you won’t be as good by yourself isolates listeners from even bothering to check your shit, just ask Buckshot and Erick Sermon who both dropped incredible solo debuts that never really got noticed like they should have.
But more important than who succeeded and who failed after breaking away from their crew is whether or not you can classify an MC as a great when the majority of his work is part of a group. If you always had that other person in your corner then how can you be one of the top rappers in the game? This the reason they have a tag team belt in wrestling, because when you’re a group all your stats are looked at together and part of what’s taken into account is the chemistry you have with other group members where as a solo artist has to carry all the weight, so it puts them in a different class.
Nas carried his entire debut with only one guest verse, Jay-Z’s Black Album had zero features on it and it’s a straight up classic. It’s not easy to keep peoples’ attention for 50 minutes by yourself, to have them care about 3 straight verses from you, 14 songs with only your voice. So regardless of Clipse’s near perfect catalog, Pusha has had help from at least one other person the entire time, so how could you even consider him a top 5 MC when he only has one solo release? He’s never carried a project on his own up until now and one of the best tracks on Fear of God (http://www.2dopeboyz.com/2011/03/21/pusha-t-%E2%80%93-fear-of-god-mixtape/) is the track with Rick Ross and Re-Up Gang member Ab-Liva, so again, he ain’t carrying tracks on his own (although the two best songs on the tape, “My God” and “Alone in Vegas (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLBgI7KfJWM)” are both straight up solo joints).
When you’re a member of a rap collective, whether it’s a duo or group, your skills will always be measured with that of your rhyming partners. No matter how ridiculous you may be with your bars, when you only have to provide one verse per track then it’s a lot easier, you have someone else helping you with concepts and ideas instead of you having to do all the work and keep your listeners intrigued for the entire time. That’s not to say Pusha isn’t one of the best MCs out right now, but let’s not elevate him to a level which puts him in a class with rappers who’ve been on their own since day one. And let’s not act like he ain’t even the best member of his group. At this point we need more than one mixtape before we call Pusha T a top 5 MC. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but it’s still too early to tell.
http://www.reppghhiphop.com/2011/03/28/pusha-t-a-top-5-mc/
Last week saw the first official solo release from one half of the Clipse, Pusha T’s Fear of God (http://www.2dopeboyz.com/2011/03/21/pusha-t-%E2%80%93-fear-of-god-mixtape/) mixtape. A collection of 13 tracks with mostly original songs and a couple freestyles thrown into the mix, the reaction has been everything from touting Pusha as a top 5 MC to calling the mixtape boring and proof that he needs his brother to make anything memorable. What it has no doubt done is open up the discussion regarding Pusha T as a solo artist and not just a piece of the brilliant Clipse/Neptunes formula which has been going strong for almost a decade now. But the question remains, can Pusha really be put on a list of best solo artists since he’s only had 1 solo release, and is this solo project good enough to bring him out of the group shadow or does it just prove that sometimes you need that other rapper to help carry an album?
Some of the best rappers started as part of a group. Busta Rhymes originally was a member of Leaders of the New School before realizing that he had a unique style that allowed him to branch out on his own. Ice Cube left N.W.A. and formed quite the successful solo career, and Q-Tip had a decent little hit when he broke away from A Tribe Called Quest to make his own side project. But it doesn’t always work, even if the music is dope sometimes the perception that you won’t be as good by yourself isolates listeners from even bothering to check your shit, just ask Buckshot and Erick Sermon who both dropped incredible solo debuts that never really got noticed like they should have.
But more important than who succeeded and who failed after breaking away from their crew is whether or not you can classify an MC as a great when the majority of his work is part of a group. If you always had that other person in your corner then how can you be one of the top rappers in the game? This the reason they have a tag team belt in wrestling, because when you’re a group all your stats are looked at together and part of what’s taken into account is the chemistry you have with other group members where as a solo artist has to carry all the weight, so it puts them in a different class.
Nas carried his entire debut with only one guest verse, Jay-Z’s Black Album had zero features on it and it’s a straight up classic. It’s not easy to keep peoples’ attention for 50 minutes by yourself, to have them care about 3 straight verses from you, 14 songs with only your voice. So regardless of Clipse’s near perfect catalog, Pusha has had help from at least one other person the entire time, so how could you even consider him a top 5 MC when he only has one solo release? He’s never carried a project on his own up until now and one of the best tracks on Fear of God (http://www.2dopeboyz.com/2011/03/21/pusha-t-%E2%80%93-fear-of-god-mixtape/) is the track with Rick Ross and Re-Up Gang member Ab-Liva, so again, he ain’t carrying tracks on his own (although the two best songs on the tape, “My God” and “Alone in Vegas (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLBgI7KfJWM)” are both straight up solo joints).
When you’re a member of a rap collective, whether it’s a duo or group, your skills will always be measured with that of your rhyming partners. No matter how ridiculous you may be with your bars, when you only have to provide one verse per track then it’s a lot easier, you have someone else helping you with concepts and ideas instead of you having to do all the work and keep your listeners intrigued for the entire time. That’s not to say Pusha isn’t one of the best MCs out right now, but let’s not elevate him to a level which puts him in a class with rappers who’ve been on their own since day one. And let’s not act like he ain’t even the best member of his group. At this point we need more than one mixtape before we call Pusha T a top 5 MC. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but it’s still too early to tell.