Eight Far-Fetched Classic Rap Album Comparisons by Rappers

 •  News  •  by XXL Staff  •  11 Comments

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  • Kid Cudi_Lead
    Eight Misleading Classic Rap Album Comparisons by Rappers
    Yesterday, via Twitter, Kid Cudi announced the title of his fourth album called <em>Indicud</em>, which was described as “my version of [<em>2001</em>]”—referencing Dr. Dre’s seminal sophomore album. It’s too early to tell if it’ll sound anything like <em>2001</em> (or have such a cultural impact), but if the Lonely Stoner believes so, who can knock him? <p>While <em>XXL</em> firmly believes rappers—like anyone else—are entitled to their opinions, oftentimes when they match their work to influential album titles, it rarely lives up to the hype—often built by the rapper and its cohorts. From Saigon claiming his long-delayed debut as “better” than <em>Illmatic</em> to Wale likening his work to <em>Reasonable Doubt</em>, there’s nothing wrong with comparing, as long as the work speaks for itself. With that said, here are eight other cases that <em>XXL</em> considers far-fetched rap album comparisons by rappers. —<em>Christopher Minaya</em> (<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/cm_3">@CM_3</a>)</p>
  • #Cudi_Thumbnail
  • Fabolous
    Fabolous
    "What Jay-Z did [with <em>American Gangster</em>]...he took that Frank Lucas character and put it in the frame of his Jay character," Loso said to MTV in March 2008. "That's what I wanna do. I don't wanna say I that I'm actually the character, but take some of his scenarios or some things I went through and tell it in my tone."<p><strong>Album:</strong> <em>Loso’s Way</em> (2009)</p><p>Loso did not have his way in capturing as much essence of his film (1993’s <em>Carlito’s Way</em>) as Jay-Z did with (2007’s <em>American Gangster</em>).</p>
  • Saigon - 620
    "I will say that there's not been an album in the past 20 years that is going to better than mine,” Saigon told <em>The Source</em> in 2007. “My shit is better than <em>Illmatic</em>.”<p><strong>Album:</strong> <em>The Greatest Story Never Told</em> (2011)</p><p><em>The Greatest Story Never Told</em> almost never got told; it took four years to drop, and it is as close to <em>Illmatic</em> as oil is to water.</p>
  • Wale - 620
    Wale
    “I’m just trying to make a classic album, something that you can put up there with <em>Reasonable Doubt</em> and all the stuff that’s blasphemous to compare your work to now,” Wale told <em>XXL</em> in August 2011. “Why can’t I say my album is just as good as <em>Reasonable Doubt</em> or I’m trying to beat <em>Reasonable Doubt</em>? That shit is blasphemous to say.”<p><strong>Album:</strong> <em>Ambition</em> (2011)</p><p>It was an ambitious dream that was not realized.</p>
  • Ross - 620
    Rick Ross
    “<em>Trilla</em>!” Ross told <em>DJ Booth</em>. "Biggest album of the year! You know what I mean? I just remember bein’ a kid when Michael Jackson’s album <em>Thriller</em> came out. It was one of the first vinyl albums I bought, along with Run DMC’s <em>Walk This Way</em>. I just played it over and over for a year long. I just wanted to make my sophomore album that intense; just wanted to electrify everyone. Now the boss is gonna come up to the next level, not just to be as ‘good as the first time’—but at the next level!”<p><strong>Album:</strong> <em>Trilla (2008)</em></p><p>Rozay managed to dismiss the sophomore jinx and remained consistent, but <em>Trilla</em> was no <em>Thriller</em>.</p>
  • Wiz Khalifa - 620
    Wiz Khalifa
    “It’s inspired by Prodigy’s <em>H.N.I.C.</em>,” Wiz explained to MTV in February. “When he dropped that, I felt like that sounded so strong.”<p><strong>Album:</strong> <em>O.N.I.F.C.</em> (scheduled to release on 2012)</p><p><em>H.N.I.C.</em> broke bread, ribs, and hundred dollar bills. <em>O.N.F.I.C.</em> is unlikely to mirror much, if any, of the content P rapped about on his solo LP.</p>
  • Ross & Drake - 620
    Drake on Rick Ross
    "This guy right here," Drake said to MTV in September 2011 about Ross’s upcoming LP. "That <em>God Forgives, I Don't</em>; the only way I can describe it is like <em>Doggystyle</em> or <em>Ready to Die</em> or Clipse <em>Lord Willin'</em> or any of the albums that I collected and held on to as a kid—whether it was cassette or CD."<p><strong>Album:</strong> <em>God Forgives, I Don’t</em> (scheduled to release on 2012)</p><p>Comparing Rozay’s upcoming LP to <em>Ready to Die</em> might be blasphemy; thankfully, God forgives.</p>
  • T.I. - 620
    T.I.
    "This is the most significant return from incarceration that the game has had and experienced since [All Eyez on Me]," Tip told <em>Rolling Stone</em> in 2010. "And just given the enormous success of that project, everyone’s expecting the same results."<p><strong>Album:</strong> <em>King Uncaged</em> (shelved/renamed <em>Trouble Man</em>/scheduled to release on 2012)</p><p><em>King Uncaged</em> never got the chance to be compared to 2Pac’s <em>All Eyez On Me</em>, and the initial hype has simmered down for <em>Trouble Man</em> to retain the flame.</p>
  • Diggy - 620
    Diggy
    “It’s about growth,” Diggy told Karen Civil in March. “You look at a whole bunch of people. Look at [Jay-Z’s first album] <em>Reasonable Doubt</em>, when that first came out, that wasn’t anything. And look at Jay now. You could look at Bruno [Mars] recently. When <em>Doo Wops & Hooligans</em> came out, like 50,000 first week and ended up going double plat.”<p><strong>Album:</strong> <em>Unexpected Arrival</em> (2012)</p><p>Diggy arrived at the conclusion that his low-selling album warranted comparison to Hova’s debut LP. The kid really has great expectations.</p>

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  • Chadfella_UK

    Way to completely flip what the young dude said. His comparison to The Chronic was merely a production based one, in that he was gonna either rap and/or produce every song, just like Dre did with masterpiece. In no way was there any indication that he thought it would have the same cultural or critical impact of the chronic. But when you’ve got a slow news cycle i suppose you gotta do what you gotta do.
    This is why niggas keep telling you to step your journalism game up, cuz on a more respectable forum (rolling stones, nme) this could be tantamount to libel..#justsayin..

    • Ha

      And on more “respectable” forums, commenters don’t drop N-Bombs regularly, and actually spell things correctly. #JustSaying

      • Chadfella_UK

        Bitch please, i have better things to do with my life than re-read a comment left on a hip hop blog comment to check for spelling errors. I was typing off the top of my head and yeah i made mistakes..so what, we al make grammatical mistakes homie. Are you going to revoke my degree or come to my job and fire me? you grammar nazi’s make me laugh your so pathetic. Deal with the issue at hand, only those with little or nothing to say on a given topic resort to nit-picking grammatical flaws in their opponents arguments in a comical attempt to give their lives some rationality of meaning. As for your comment about the n-bomb, we are on a hip hop site discussing a hip hop topic. The word nigga (not nigger) is inextricably linked with hip hop culture, despite what Oprah would brainwash your dumb ass into thinking…#justsaying…

        • Tre

          Chadfella_UK which one is more pointless, the blog, or your comment with all the inaccurate spelling? Ultimately if you have the time to post some extensive explanation as to why you’re spelling incorrectly, or why the writer should step it up. If you feel as though you can do a better job (which I’m sure you can’t) then why don’t you apply for the position and quit bitching? Of course you can take time out to tell someone how they should do their job, anybody can do that. A guerilla could teach a monkey how to sling his shit further. At least he thinks so. But that’s beside my point. My point is simple. Stop bitching about how someone does their job, and fill out an apply for the position if you think you can do it better. Step your bitching and moaning game up

          • Chadfella_UK

            Bruh, i gota job already, one that i happen to love and is not to far away from blogging to be fair. Why i would apply for a job at a sinking ship like XXL mag is beyond me. So that i can compose articles about the relevance of Nicki Minaj to the rap game?? erm..NO THANKS. i chose to speak on this as i thought the comments section of blog sites were a medium for viewers to express their views, whether positive or negative, on a given topic. Excuse me if i got the wrong end of the stick there. Hip hop happens to be something i truly LOVE, hence my sometimes overly impassioned soliloquies on the subject. I just hate to see the culture i grew up on man-handled by a bunch of journalists too lazy to do their job properly. Tbh i dont really care what xxl mag put on their site, but i just hate the fact that idiots with no knowledge of hip hop may come across this trash and think this is how stupid we all are as a unit, and i aint tryna be called dumb by association. I am not trying to impress anyone with my diction up here because whether you believe me or not, im pretty sure im educated enough to construct a sentence devoid of grammatical errors if the situation demands it. Sloppy journalism deserves sloppy diction in my book..lol.
            Sloppy spelling aside, What id be more worried about is your obviously poor command of the english language..peep this sentence for example “Ultimately if you have the time to post some extensive explanation as to why you’re spelling incorrectly, or why the writer should step it up.” My nigga, re-read that shit and you’ll see its all kinds of fucked up, at least with bad spelling people can still get the jist of what im saying, your sentence fails to make grammatical sense and that is alot harder to forgive. Also, seeing as everyone is playing grammar nazi’s today, i think the spelling you were looking for was “gorilla” (as in the primate) not “guerilla” (as in armed civilians employing army tactics)…#justsaying…

  • Eddie

    Right, that’s why tidbits about “cultural impacts” were alluded with brackets. Not made as assertions.

    Rappers produce, feature, and act as songwriter all the time. Dr. Dre’s not the only example of a multi-tasking act, but Cudi specifically claimed, “It will be my version of The Chronic 2001.” Unless you’re Cudi himself, that’s impressive you understand what he’s “merely” implying.

    • Chadfella_UK

      Im sorry, i wasn’t aware that rappers making albums with a few songs on were they don’t actually rap but only produce was a common occurence? examples?
      All im saying is i read the Twitter comment a while ago and understood completely what he was alluding to. Although me and the homies were laughing to ourselves thinking some fool is gonna take this comparison outta context..and then they did..lol.
      It’s annoying how certain aspects of hip hop are completely untouchable and the mere mention of them can spew up pointless blogs like this. The dude clearly meant he would follow the concept of the album, but idiots chose to misconstrue that into..”My album is going to be equal to or greater than The Chronic.
      I used to come to this site for insightful and unique commentary on the day to day goings on of the hip hop world, now its just a sensationalist site, like mediatakeout, catering to the the desires of the lowest on our community. Step your game up xxl..step it up…

  • po

    dizzy has a song called 88 & drake wears shirts w an owl. f these faggots. smart people know what both those mean

  • Mario

    “His Version” He Meant What he Said You Fucking Idiots, And I Completely Agree With Chadfella_UK This Site is Starting To Suck What Happened To BOL, And Seriously Spelling Shit Wrong Thats What You have To Comment on Your a Fucking loser.

  • SmokeyRebelz

    XXL’s Christopher Minaya… you are on some serious hater isht!!!! Wait for the other albums to come out before you dismiss them…

    • Mario

      Word Up. Except For Ross All His Work Is Garbage.