"World According to RZA" was such a banger...

[claaa7]

when we're talking production, you can tell RZA didn't give no half-assed beats for this project. i remember some interviews from back then and he seemed really excited about it but from what i understand the album was actually recorded around 2000, 2001 but the LP got caught up in label bullshit. i can't say i listen to it very often but i got it in the collection like any other RZA produced album and i just dusted it off today and this shit slams hard as hell. Rakeem always has crazy nice drums and i really like the choices for samples and range of different styles he went through here + the sound is really crisp and clear thanks to Jose "Choco" Reynoso who always do a ill job working with the Abbot.

of course it can be pretty hard to listen to an album full of lyrics that you mostly can't understand but the beats really carries it and the features from Ghost, RZA and U-God is welcome. the French guys got ill flows too. do y'all bang this every now and then and what's your thoughts on it?


(listen how hard those drums knock)







also which part of it do y'all think is better?

The Scandinavian (tracks 2-5)
The French (tracks 7-11)
The German (tracks 12-15 + 19)
UK/Italy (tracks 16, 17, 18)

personally i go with France

[angry!]

yeah...

i spin the instrumentals all the time...

i always thought it was a genius project, and the ambition/concept was groundbreaking...

once again, RZA was ahead of the curve!!!!!!!!!!!!

a lot of niggas werent embracing the international platform, during the SALES SPIKE era... where every bullshit album with a budget was doing numbers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

not to say RZA was the first to embrace the international following, but he saw the future once again...

because when artists lose their luster in the states...

where do they go lookin to find success?!!?!?!?!?!

THATS RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i dont really fuck with the retail copy though... strictly the instrumentals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[claaa7]

^ true, RZA has always been about evolving and exploring new things. shame Volume II with the African emcees never happened. i think you should give the retail copy another spin though, some of these rappers actually makes the beats justice without making no sense to me. especially the french cats, their language really translates well into emceeing imo.

i must say RZA really pulled off the two R&B tracks with Xavier Naidoo too, especially the one with Deborah Cox was crazy.

[angry!]

if i dont understand what youre sayin...

its not gonna move me...

i can get into a flow, but even then...

put it like this...

if you dont understand english...

and you hear a cormega, prodigy, or an ODB...

its probably gonna sound OFF!!!!!!!!

they have off-kilter, original styles, and it doesnt really translate!!!!!!!!!!!

i think emceeing is somethign that should be done exclusively in english, some of the latin fusion shit here and there is dope... but the rhyming, and technical skills, that exist in emceeing... dont really carry over into other languages IMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the french been doin it forever... but that will NEVER permeate internationally!!!!!!!!!!!!

if you wanna cross over... start rhyming in english!!!!! because otherwise youre working with a ceiling overhead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TAURO]

I was left disapointed because I didn't like the beats Rza gave to the british mc's.

[TAURO]

Originally Posted by angry!

i think emceeing is somethign that should be done exclusively in english, some of the latin fusion shit here and there is dope... but the rhyming, and technical skills, that exist in emceeing... dont really carry over into other languages IMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How can you be so sure unless you understood other languages? I can tell you for a fact that a lyrical mc that spits in spanish is just as ill when it comes to flow and execution as anyone who raps in english. One thing that makes it sound so ill in spanish is that the language lends it's self very well to multis which make very complex wordplay flow easily.

[kempa]

i remember the first time i heard it i absolutely hated the whole album; never played it again until a friend played it at a party couple of years back.
now i love it
the scandinavian part is my shit

[angry!]

Originally Posted by El Don

How can you be so sure unless you understood other languages? I can tell you for a fact that a lyrical mc that spits in spanish is just as ill when it comes to flow and execution as anyone who raps in english. One thing that makes it sound so ill in spanish is that the language lends it's self very well to multis which make very complex wordplay flow easily.

which is why i said i fuck with some of the latin fusion shit..

but even then...

who can really pull that off?!!??!!?!?

its not a long list man...

and the illest latin niggas... made their butter rappin in english!!!!!!!!!!!

youre NOT gonna expand your draw, rapping in german!!!!!!!!!

emceeing came from the hood man...

its a form of communication, expression...

if i cant catch your words, that leaves me judgin the emcee off the flow... and if i didnt understand a word coming out of cormegas mouth, he probably wouldnt sound so dope!!!!!!!!

which is why IM TELLING YOU... i get lost in translation!!!!!!!!!!!

and a lot of the dopest latino niggas, rock spanglish, where they bend words, and drop in and out of native lingo... i hear this goin on in parts of europe too!!!!!!!!!!!!!

emceeing was built in english...

i respect the efforts to establish emceeing in other languages... but the draw just isnt there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

american hip hop is embraced across the globe...

international rap, is not!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Gitche Manito]

Originally Posted by claaa7

also which part of it do y'all think is better?

The Scandinavian (tracks 2-5)
The French (tracks 7-11)
The German (tracks 12-15 + 19)
UK/Italy (tracks 16, 17, 18)

personally i go with France

I love this album too, but strangely enough the French part is the one I like the least.

Maybe it's because I'm a French speaker and I can see the travesty that French rapping is due to some very particular caracteristics of the French language that don't go well with the art of rapping (and signing for that matter).

The beats are all dope though. Great album.

[Gitche Manito]

Originally Posted by claaa7

some of these rappers actually makes the beats justice without making no sense to me. especially the french cats, their language really translates well into emceeing imo.

Funny you feel that way. But the French langague is composed strictly of Iambic stressed syllables, which makes French rappers go to extremes in odrer to make the French langague fit the typically unstressed end syllable of hip-hop.

[TAURO]

Originally Posted by angry!

which is why i said i fuck with some of the latin fusion shit..

but even then...

who can really pull that off?!!??!!?!?

its not a long list man...

and the illest latin niggas... made their butter rappin in english!!!!!!!!!!!

youre NOT gonna expand your draw, rapping in german!!!!!!!!!

emceeing came from the hood man...

its a form of communication, expression...

if i cant catch your words, that leaves me judgin the emcee off the flow... and if i didnt understand a word coming out of cormegas mouth, he probably wouldnt sound so dope!!!!!!!!

which is why IM TELLING YOU... i get lost in translation!!!!!!!!!!!

and a lot of the dopest latino niggas, rock spanglish, where they bend words, and drop in and out of native lingo... i hear this goin on in parts of europe too!!!!!!!!!!!!!

emceeing was built in english...

i respect the efforts to establish emceeing in other languages... but the draw just isnt there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

american hip hop is embraced across the globe...

international rap, is not!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know that you mentioned latin fusion but I mean't those that rap 100% in spanish.

Also while it is true that american rap is fully embraced across the world, I do think that you are underestimating the impact of rap in other languages. I don't speak or understand french for example but I do enjoy listening to quite a bit of it, not to mention when you put into account all the countries that speak french, when you look at it like that you can see that it would not be hard for them to make that paper.

[battle?]

great album,"Please, Tends L'oreille" uye kills that beat

[biblebullet]

i give spin it from Time to Time, loved the concept and the album. Beats were on pnt and as stated the rapping to was on pnt. I enjoyed the french part.
I was very disappointed that the Volume II with da african MC's didn't happen.

[Dr. Simon Hurt]

incredible beats...but it just made me wish it was either a rza solo or a clan album.

does anyone have the original version of track 19? it originally had some strings which were removed for the album version... i want to say it was leaked on wutangworld.com...sounds so much better.

[8]

Agreed.